Troy Jackson (January 11, 1973 – February 20, 2011) 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 Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. The younger brother of retired

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

player Mark Jackson, he was a member of the

AND1 Mixtape Tour The AND1 Live Tour, formerly known as the AND1 Mixtape Tour, was a traveling basketball competition and exhibition that existed from 1998 to 2008. It was presented by ''B-Ball and Company'' and the basketball apparel manufacturer AND1. A group of ...

, known by his streetball nickname "Escalade". Jackson was listed by AND1 at 6'10" and 375 pounds.

Biography

Troy Jackson weighed close to as a senior at Hills East High School in

Long Island, New York Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

, but his performances at

Rucker Park Greg Marius Court at Holcombe Rucker Park is a basketball court at the border of Harlem and the Coogan's Bluff section of Washington Heights neighborhoods of Manhattan, at 155th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, just east of the forme ...

caught the attention of Bill Hughley, coach of

Wallace Community College Wallace Community College (WCC) (formally known as George C. Wallace Community College) is a public community college in Dothan, Alabama. It is named after the father of Alabama governor George Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25 ...

Selma, Alabama Selma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, in the Black Belt region of south central Alabama and extending to the west. Located on the banks of the Alabama River, the city has a population of 17,971 as of the 2020 census. Abou ...

. Jackson enrolled at Wallace, and even though he continued to play at 500 pounds (or more), he received all-region honors as a sophomore. "People wonder how I played at 500-plus pounds. But to me it felt natural," he later said. Jackson's accomplishments in community college led to a scholarship offer from the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public university, public research university in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. Chartered in 1798 as the Jefferson Seminary, it became in the 19t ...

, though the school demanded that he lose weight. Jackson complied, and by his senior year at Louisville, he had slimmed down to about after adhering to a strict diet. Jackson only played twenty games for Louisville over two years, averaging 3.0

points per game Points per game, often abbreviated PPG, is the average number of points scored by a player or team per game played in a sport, over the course of a series of games, a whole season, or a career. It is calculated by dividing the total number of poi ...

and 1.6

rebounds per game 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

in a reserve role. However, he became well known to basketball fans through the AND1 Mixtape Tour, a traveling

streetball Streetball (or street basketball) is a variation of basketball, typically played on outdoor courts and featuring significantly less formal structure and enforcement of the game's rules. As such, its format is more conducive to allowing players ...

exhibition which he joined in 2002. With the AND1 Tour, Jackson used the nickname Escalade, a reference to the

Cadillac Cadillac Motor Car Division, or simply Cadillac (), is the luxury vehicle division (business), division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Its major markets are the United States, Canada and China; Cadillac models are ...

SUV. His teammate Antwan "8th Wonder" Scott told the ''

Herald Sun The ''Herald Sun'' is a Conservatism, conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the American Rupert Murdoch, Murd ...

'', "He's a big guy, but he can entertain and he can seriously play." Jackson appeared on the cover of ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

'' and was described as a "streetball legend" by the magazine '' Jet''.Melody Hoffman.
AND1 baller joins fight against sexually transmitted diseases
. '' Jet''. April 7, 2008. Retrieved on June 28, 2008.

Personal life

Off the basketball court, Jackson worked as an advocate for STD prevention. He died in his sleep of

hypertensive heart disease Hypertensive heart disease includes a number of complications of high blood pressure that affect the heart. While there are several definitions of hypertensive heart disease in the medical literature, the term is most widely used in the context of ...

on February 20, 2011.Troy Jackson, Street Basketball Star, Is Dead at 38
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. February 25, 2011. Retrieved November 8, 2014.

References

External links

College statistics
at

Sports Reference Sports Reference, LLC is an American sports statistics company that operates databases of several sports. They include Pro Football Reference for American football, Baseball Reference for baseball, Basketball Reference for basketball, Hockey ...

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Troy 1973 births 2011 deaths AND1 Street basketball players American men's basketball players Junior college men's basketball players in the United States Louisville Cardinals men's basketball players Basketball players from Queens, New York 20th-century American sportsmen