Tiffany Jackson-Jones (April 26, 1985 – October 3, 2022) was an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player and coach. She played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and a ...

, earning All-American honors. Jackson played professionally in the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of twelve teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the Natio ...

(WNBA) for the New York Liberty,

Tulsa Shock The Tulsa Shock were a professional basketball team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded in Detroit, Michigan before the 1998 WNBA season began; t ...

, and

Los Angeles Sparks The Los Angeles Sparks (LA Sparks) are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was foun ...

. She also played in the

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League ( he, ליגת העל, ''Ligat Ha`Al'', ), is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Israeli Football League – the state's league of Israel. The league is contested b ...

for

Maccabi Ashdod Maccabi Ashdod B.C. ( he, מכבי אשדוד) is a professional basketball team based in the port city of Ashdod, Israel. The team currently plays in the Israeli National League. History The team was founded in 1961 by "Maccabi Ashdod Sport ...

. She later returned to Texas as an assistant coach for the Longhorns.

Early life

Jackson was born in

Longview, Texas Longview is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, and county seat of Gregg County; a small part of Longview extends into the western portion of neighboring Harrison County. Longview is located in East Texas, where Interstate 20 and U.S. Highways ...

, on April 26, 1985. She began her high school career at Lincoln High in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

, where she led the school to consecutive appearances in the Class 4A state championship game in her sophomore and junior years. Jackson transferred to

Duncanville High School Duncanville High School is a secondary school located in Duncanville, Texas, United States, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The school is a part of Duncanville Independent School District. The school includes grades 9 through 12. The high schoo ...

in Duncanville as a senior and won a Class 5A state title. She was named an

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n by

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

and the

Women's Basketball Coaches Association The Women's Basketball Coaches Association is an association of coaches of women's basketball teams at all levels. The organization was formed in 1981, with the goal of addressing the needs of women's basketball coaches. The mission of the WBCA ...

College career

Jackson enrolled at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...

and played

for the

. In 2004, the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) named her the Freshman of the Year. As a sophomore in 2006, Jackson was named a first-team college All-American by the USBWA and was selected to the third team by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

(AP). She received honorable mention as an All-American from the AP in both her junior and senior years. She earned all-conference honors in the

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its f ...

in all four seasons, including first-team selections in her last three seasons.

Texas statistics

Professional career

The New York Liberty of the

(WNBA) selected Jackson in the first round, with the fifth overall selection, of the 2007 WNBA draft. Jackson made her WNBA debut on May 20, 2007, in an 83–71 win over the

Chicago Sky The Chicago Sky are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Sky compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Eastern Conference. The franchise was founded prior to the 2 ...

. During her rookie season, she led the league in games played (34). She later finished fourth in total rebound percentage (17.5) and fifth in defensive rebound percentage (23.6) the following year. On June 14, 2010, the Liberty traded Jackson to the

for Plenette Pierson. In the 2011 season, Jackson had her best pro season, averaging 12.4 points and 8.4 rebounds with the Shock. She again led the league in games played (34) and finished second in minutes played (1152) and offensive rebounds (100), third in minutes per game (33.9), fourth in total rebounds (286) and rebounds per game (8.4), and fifth in defensive rebounds (186). While playing for Tulsa in September 2015, Jackson was diagnosed with stage III

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a r ...

. After undergoing treatment, Jackson resumed her career with the

in the

, with whom she had been playing during the WNBA's offseason since 2013. She signed with the

of the WNBA in February 2017. In February 2018, Jackson re-signed with the Sparks. Although she intended to play one final season with Los Angeles, she retired from the WNBA in April 2018 to return to her alma mater and become an assistant on Longhorns head coach

Karen Aston Karen Sue Aston (born July 26, 1964 in Benton, Arkansas) is an American basketball player and coach. She is currently the head coach of the UTSA Roadrunners women's basketball team. She has served as the head women's basketball coach at Texas, Cha ...

's staff. Jackson continued playing with Maccabi Ashdod until 2020. She finished her career with the club with multiple league championships, and led them to their best finish in the EuroCup in 2015, when they qualified for the semifinals.

Career statistics

WNBA

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2007 , style="text-align:left;", New York , 34 , , 0 , , 13.9 , , .416 , , .000 , , .570 , , 3.1 , , 0.6 , , 0.6 , , 0.3 , , 1.4 , , 5.1 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, style="text-align:left;", New York , 25 , , 0 , , 19.8 , , .516 , , .000 , , .630 , , 5.7 , , 1.0 , , 0.9 , , 0.3 , , 1.9 , , 8.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2009 , style="text-align:left;", New York , 34 , , 9 , , 14.6 , , .450 , , .000 , , .719 , , 3.4 , , 0.7 , , 0.6 , , 0.3 , , 1.2 , , 5.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2010 , style="text-align:left;", New York /

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

, 34 , , 17 , , 21.1 , , .395 , , 1.000 , , .787 , , 5.1 , , 1.1 , , 1.1 , , 0.2 , , 1.7 , , 6.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2011 , style="text-align:left;",

, 34, , 32 , , 33.9 , , .456 , , .000 , , .776 , , 8.4, , 2.0 , , 1.1 , , 0.6 , , 2.7 , , 12.4 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 19 , , 10 , , 20.7 , , .393 , , .000 , , .654 , , 4.5 , , 0.7 , , 1.3 , , 0.2 , , 1.4 , , 4.4 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 7 , , 0 , , 10.1 , , .400 , , .000 , , .750 , , 1.9 , , 0.1 , , 0.5 , , 0.1 , , 0.5 , , 2.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015 , style="text-align:left;",

, 12 , , 0 , , 23.2 , , .500 , , .000 , , .833 , , 4.3 , , 0.7 , , 0.5 , , 0.4 , , 1.3 , , 4.1 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

, style="text-align:left;",

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, 26 , , 1 , , 5.7 , , .462 , , .000 , , .625 , , 1.2 , , 0.1 , , 0.0 , , 0.1 , , 0.4 , , 1.1 , - , style="text-align:left" , Career , style="text-align:left" , 9 years, 3 teams , 225 , , 69 , , 18.3 , , .443 , , .333 , , .712 , , 4.5 , , 0.9 , , 0.8 , , 0.3 , , 1.6 , , 6.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2007 , style="text-align:left;", New York , 3 , , 0 , , 14.3 , , .471 , , – , , .778 , , 4.3 , , 1.0 , , 0.7 , , 0.3 , , 2.0 , , 7.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015 , style="text-align:left;",

, 2 , , 0 , , 10.5 , , .000 , , – , , .500 , , 2.0 , , 0.0 , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.5 , - , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:left;",

, 1 , , 0 , , 0.0 , , – , , – , , – , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , - , style="text-align:left" , Career , style="text-align:left" , 3 years, 3 teams , 6 , , 0 , , 10.7 , , .381 , , – , , .727 , , 2.8 , , 0.7 , , 0.7 , , 0.2 , , 1.0 , , 4.0 Source:

Coaching career

Jackson spent four years as an assistant coach with Texas. In April 2022, she was announced as the new head coach for

Wiley College Wiley College is a private historically black college in Marshall, Texas. Founded in 1873 by the Methodist Episcopal Church's Bishop Isaac Wiley and certified in 1882 by the Freedman's Aid Society, it is one of the oldest predominantly black col ...

Personal life

Jackson was married to Derrick Jones. Their son was born in 2012. Jackson died from

in Dallas on October 3, 2022. She was 37.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Tiffany 1985 births 2022 deaths 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women 21st-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American women African-American basketball players All-American college women's basketball players American women's basketball players Basketball coaches from Texas Basketball players from Texas Deaths from breast cancer Deaths from cancer in Texas Duncanville High School alumni Los Angeles Sparks players New York Liberty draft picks New York Liberty players Parade High School All-Americans (girls' basketball) People from Duncanville, Texas Sportspeople from Longview, Texas Power forwards (basketball) Texas Longhorns women's basketball coaches Texas Longhorns women's basketball players Tulsa Shock players