Jackson Plays With A Heavy Heart

Most athletes learn, at an early age, to play through physical pain.

Kareem Jackson has learned to play through emotional pain, as well.

Jackson, a 6-foot-2 junior transfer, who was penciled in last fall as Washington State’s backup point guard, was prematurely pressed into starting duty last week on the Cougars’ road swing through Oregon.

He responded admirably, despite a tender ankle and a heavy heart, laden with despair over the violent death of his grandmother.

That Jackson scored 13 points, handed out five assists, made three steals and turned the ball over only once in 33 minutes against OSU, was impressive.

That he did it less than nine days after helping bury his grandmother - the victim of a robbery-related murder in her Oakland, Calif., apartment - was remarkable.

“It was tough,” admitted Jackson, who lives with his mother in the same apartment complex where his grandmother, Verda Fletcher, was killed on Dec. 26. “I was very close to my grandmother, so it kind of took a toll on me and my mind-state.

“It’s not the fact that playing basketball is hard for me, it’s what’s happening off the court that’s really making it so rough.”

Jackson, who missed almost four weeks of practice and WSU’s first two games because of a severe ankle sprain suffered in the Cougars’ exhibition opener against High Five America, played in a 90-74 win at San Jose State the night after his grandmother was killed.

It was only his third game of the season.

Fletcher had planned on making the drive from Oakland to watch her grandson play against SJSU, but she was murdered the day after Christmas after apparently surprising a burglar.

Jackson went to be with his mother, Brenda Fletcher, after the game. And when the family visited the apartment where his grandmother was slain, Jackson found the Christmas gift he had sent her - a deep-fat fryer - still lying unwrapped under the tree.

“Someone had broken in and taken some of her stuff,” Jackson recalled. “She had sent me a gift, and I was hoping to come home and thank her.

“Then to go to her house and see that she didn’t even get to open my present - that was hard to take.”

The apartment complex where the murder took place is located in one of the roughest sections of inner-city Oakland. Tragedy is nothing new to Jackson, who spent several days at home following his grandmother’s funeral and missed WSU’s home losses to UCLA and Southern California.

“I was actually scheduled to come back that Thursday (of the UCLA game),” Jackson explained. “But my mother had already lost her sister and brother, so she’s the only one left on her side of the family. It’s been hard for her, too, so I just wanted to be there for her after the murder.”

Cougar coach Kevin Eastman told Jackson to take all the time he needed to tend to matters at home.

“I told him when he left us to ‘just take your time, whatever you need, you’ve got,’ ” Eastman explained. “And if he came in tomorrow, even if I knew we weren’t going to have Donminic back, and told me he had to go back home, I’d tell him to go. We’d make do.”

For now, though, Jackson feels it is best to get on with his life - which includes basketball, the sport that has given him a chance to escape the dangers of the inner-city.

With the academic status of Ellison still uncertain, he is preparing to make his third consecutive start in Sunday’s 12:30 p.m. Pacific-10 Conference matchup against Washington in Seattle.

Eastman seems confident that his team can win with Jackson at the point, even though he feels the former junior-college standout at Sacramento City College, is still hobbled a bit by the ankle injury.

“Certainly the way he played in Oregon showed that he can be a real integral part of our team,” Eastman said. “He’s really the first sub who has stepped up for us offensively.

“In the games last week, you could see he’s getting closer to what we saw last year (at Sacramento). He was progressing so nicely in the preseason and then - boom! - he went down with that injury.”

Fortunately, for Eastman, Kareem Jackson learned, at an early age, to play through pain.

Any pain.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: ELLISON’S PLAYING STATUS REMAINS UNCLEAR The status of Washington State point guard Donminic Ellison for Sunday’s game against Washington remained unsettled Thursday night, according to Cougars coach Kevin Eastman. Ellison, suspended by Eastman last week for academic deficiencies, practiced with the team Thursday afternoon. But Eastman, who was out of town Wednesday, said he did not return in time to visit with Ellison prior to Thursday’s workout. Eastman said there is still a chance Ellison could be reinstated in time for Sunday’s game in Seattle, provided he has taken care of his academic situation in a satisfactory manner. Ellison is eligible to play under university and NCAA standards, but not Eastman’s, the coach has said.