Jacob Brian Jaacks a.k.a. Jacob Crane (name changed because of divorce) (born April 24, 1977) is an American professional basketball player from Iowa, U.S. Jacob was a ,

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers. When on Of ...

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

. Jacob attended

Ankeny High School Ankeny High School is a public high school located in Ankeny, Iowa, United States. It is part of the Ankeny Community School District, and serves grades 10 through 12. History AHS opened in 1913 and graduated six seniors in the spring of 1914. ...

as a freshman and sophomore where he played basketball, but never on the

varsity team In most English-speaking countries, varsity is an abbreviation of the word ''university''. In the United States and Canada, the term is mostly used in relation to sports teams. Varsity in the United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, varsity team ...

. As a junior, his family moved to

Cedar Rapids Cedar Rapids () is the second-largest city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River, north of Iowa City and northeast of Des Moines, the state's capital and largest city. It ...

, Iowa, where he attended Cedar Rapids Jefferson High School. In his senior season he was named to the Mississippi Valley Conference team and helped lead the team to State (they lost to West Des Moines Valley in the quarterfinals). Jacob accepted a scholarship to play at the

University of South Dakota The University of South Dakota (USD) is a public research university in Vermillion, South Dakota. Established by the Dakota Territory legislature in 1862, 27 years before the establishment of the state of South Dakota, USD is the flagship univ ...

for coach

Dave Boots David W. Boots (born November 18, 1955) is an American retired basketball coach. He was the former head coach of the University of South Dakota men's basketball team. Boots played at Division III Augsburg College and later coached there. He was n ...

. He was red-shirted his freshman year because of his lack of physical size and strength. His freshman campaign was successful in earning him a spot on the All-NCC freshman team. Soon afterwards, he decided to leave the University of South Dakota for

Marshalltown Community College Marshalltown Community College (MCC) is a public community college in Marshalltown, Iowa. It is part of the Iowa Valley Community College District. The campus is located just to the south of Marshalltown along Highway 30. A second campus, Iowa ...

to pursue his dream of playing for a large, Division I university. Jacob played for Mike Marquis at Marshalltown Community College where he was named a

JUCO A junior college (sometimes referred to colloquially as a juco, JuCo or JC) is a post-secondary educational institution offering vocational training designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations and workers in s ...

All-American. The team compiled a record of 29–5, and lost to the eventual Junior College national champions,

Indian Hills Community College Indian Hills Community College (IHCC) is a public community college in Iowa with campuses in Ottumwa and Centerville. IHCC serves both traditional residential students and commuter students, primarily from a ten-county area in southeast Iowa as ...

. Before the season started, Jacob was recruited by numerous major division I universities. When the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 coll ...

extended a scholarship, Jacob accepted. Under Coach Tom Davis at Iowa, Jacob played on a team of upperclassmen. The team had a successful season but lost in the Sweet 16 to the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...

(the eventual champion). Jacob's senior year brought in the era of

Steve Alford Stephen Todd Alford (born November 23, 1964) is an American men's college basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach for the Nevada Wolf Pack of the Mountain West Conference (MWC). Born and raised in Indiana, he was ...

. With many seniors on the previous year's team now gone, Coach Alford had to quickly fill in players with a very short recruiting period. The result was a mediocre 14–16 record, with wins against Kansas, Ohio State & UConn. Jacob finished his career averaging 12.2 points and 7.3 rebounds for the University of Iowa Hawkeyes. After his senior year, Jacob signed with the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Atlantic Division (NBA) ...

of the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United ...

. After the

preseason In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of Se ...

, he was released by the team and immediately signed a contract to play in France for

Limoges CSP Limoges Cercle Saint-Pierre, commonly referred to as Limoges CSP or CSP, is a French professional basketball club based in the city of Limoges. History The club was founded in 1929, but its peak was during the 1980s and 1990s, when they became t ...

basketball club. After winning a championship with Limoges and winning the French league rebounding title, Jacob returned to the U.S. and played for the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its home ...

summer league team. After several years of trying to make an NBA roster, Jacob decided to concentrate on only playing professionally in Europe. He retired in 2011, after 11 seasons professionally. Jacob played in Spain, Italy, France, Turkey, Israel, Ukraine and Germany. Jacob currently resides in Iowa where he is happily working in the financial services industry with the 801 Group at Morgan Stanley.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaacks, Jacob 1977 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Germany American expatriate basketball people in Israel American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in Spain American expatriate basketball people in Turkey American expatriate basketball people in Ukraine American men's basketball players Basketball players from South Dakota BC Kyiv players Centers (basketball) Gijón Baloncesto players Hapoel Afula players Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball players Israeli Basketball Premier League players Limoges CSP players Marshalltown Tigers men's basketball players Pallacanestro Biella players Pallacanestro Pavia players Pallalcesto Amatori Udine players Power forwards (basketball) Saint-Quentin Basket-Ball players South Dakota Coyotes men's basketball players Sportspeople from Rapid City, South Dakota Telekom Baskets Bonn players Teramo Basket players