Background
Jackson, Tammy was born on December 3, 1962.
Jackson, Tammy was born on December 3, 1962.
She attended Buchholz High School in Gainesville, where she played high school basketball for the Buchholz Bobcats.
Jackson played college basketball for the University of Florida, and played professionally for the Houston Comets and Washington Mystics of the Women's National Basketball Association. She is an Olympic bronze medalist. After graduating from high school, Jackson accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, where she played for the Florida Gators women"s basketball team from 1982 to 1985. During her four years as a Gators, she scored 1,895 points, completed almost 56 percent of her shots from the floor, recovered 1,141 rebounds, and blocked 121 shots on defense.
She was a three-time first-team All-Southeastern Conference (Securities and Exchange Commission) selection, and a senior team captain.
She remains the third leading all-time scorer in Lady Gators basketball history. Jackson was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 1995, and honored again as an "Securities and Exchange Commission Great" in 2003.
Jackson graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor"s degree in health and human performance in 2007. After her college playing career was over, she played in various international leagues due to the lack of women"s professional basketball leagues in the United States.
When the Women's National Basketball Association began play in 1997, the Houston Comets picked Jackson in the second round of the 1997 Women's National Basketball Association Draft and she became one of the original players in the league.
She played all but two games of her Women's National Basketball Association career with the Comets, mostly in a reserve role, as she played in 143 games and started nine of them. She retired at age 39 in 2002. At the time, she was the oldest player in the Women's National Basketball Association.