Friends and family mourn the death of Tiffany Jackson
DUNCANVILLE, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - Tiffany Jackson, a Texas standout and former WNBA player lost her battle to breast cancer this week and more people in the Duncanville community are sharing stories and memories of her.
To the world she was a basketball star, but to friends and family, she was so much more.
The North Texas basketball star still found a way to inspire young women, despite her cancer diagnosis.
"Her smile, that smile was infectious, on and off the court when we were at Texas," friend and former teammate at the University of Texas, Ashley Jackson said. "I played with her three years before she left for the WNBA. But our time together was just fun."
Friends and former teammates shared memories of Jackson.
"Her will to win and her will to be the best is something that I never seen before. In the yearbook, her quote was that she had dreams to play basketball overseas and come back and be a commentator," Duncanville ISD Assistant Athletic Director, Kenya Larkins-Landers said. "Well, not only did she play basketball overseas, she was a star."
"She's always the person to get everybody together. She wants everybody to be on one accord," close friend and teammate, Dominic Seals said. "She's the person that throws the parties, the fun stuff. Just an all around sweet person."
The 37-year-old passed away this week during her battle with breast cancer.
"A big, big, big, giver. Actually, she had the AAU team named after her first, before everybody start getting these teams. It was TJack," friend and WNBA teammate, Andrea Riley said. "You know? So it's just a lot of kids that she impacted, the community and she's going to be missed."
After graduating from Duncanville High School, she played at The University of Texas and was later drafted into the WNBA.
"She worked so hard, I think people don't understand how hard she worked," Riley said. "Even though she was one of the talented, one of the big names. She worked hard with the best of them. You just couldn't deny her."
Jackson's friends said she took that approach with everything in life.
"She was more than basketball...she was my sister, that is my sons godmother," Seals said.
In April, she was able to live out her dream of becoming a head coach at an HBCU, after being hired at Wiley College.
"She showed them the opportunities that they have if they work hard," Larkins-Landers said.
Jackson's friends said her death serves as a reminder for women to stay educated and updated on your health because breast cancer has touched all of us.
"The effect that it is having on everybody in our community," Larkins-Landers said. "It is just so important to take care of yourself. It is important to continue the screenings."
Friends said they'll remember the mother, wife, mentor, teammate and role model.
"We're not going to never get another Tiffany Jackson back, nowhere. The only thing we can do as friends and as family is keep everything she had going, going," Seals said.