Jacob Jaacks
 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born |
April 24, 1977 Rapid City, South Dakota |
| Nationality | American |
| Listed height | 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) |
| Listed weight | 260 lb (118 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Jefferson (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) |
| College |
South Dakota (1996–1997) Marshalltown CC (1997–1998) Iowa (1998–2000) |
| NBA draft | 2000 / Undrafted |
| Playing career | 2000–2011 |
| Position | Power forward / Center |
| Career history | |
| 2000–2001 | Limoges CSP (France) |
| 2001–2002 | Saint-Quentin (France) |
| 2002–2003 | Lauretana Biella (Italy) |
| 2003–2004 | Edimes Pavia (Italy) |
| 2004 | Farho Gijon (Spain) |
| 2004–2005 | Lauretana Biella (Italy) |
| 2005–2007 | Snaidero Cucine Udine (Italy) |
| 2007–2008 | Kyiv (Ukraine) |
| 2008–2009 | Teramo Basket (Italy) |
| 2009–2010 | Hapoel Afula (Israel) |
| 2010–2011 | Telekom Baskets Bonn (Germany) |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
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. Jacob was a 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m), 260 pound (118k) power forward/center.
Jacob attended Ankeny High School as a freshman and sophomore. He played for the underclassmen teams, but never played on the varsity team. As a junior, his family moved to Cedar Rapids, where he attended Cedar Rapids Jefferson High School and was coached by Rick Williams. After playing very limited minutes as a junior, Jacob started his senior season and was named to the Mississippi Valley Conference team. He helped lead the team to State, but eventually lost to West Des Moines Valley in the quarterfinals.
After short recruiting period, Jacob accepted a scholarship to play and the University of South Dakota for coach Dave Boots. He red-shirted his freshman year because of his lack of physical size and strength. His freshman campaign was very successful 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 to pursue his dream of playing for a large, Division I university.
Jacob played for Mike Marquis at Marshalltown Community College for his sophomore campaign. Jacob had a very successful year and was named a JUCO All-American. The team compiled a record of 29-5 and lost to the eventual Junior College national champions, Indian Hills Community College. Before the season started, Jacob was recruited by numerous major division I universities. Once the University of Iowa extended a scholarship, Jacob accepted immediately.
Under legendary Coach Tom Davis at Iowa, Jacob flourished in his role on a team of numerous upper classmen. The team achieved a great amount of success with Jaacks playing a key role, but eventually lost in the Sweet 16 to the University of Connecticut (the eventual champion).
Jacob’s senior year brought in the era of Steve Alford. 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 lots of memorable wins (Kansas, Ohio State & UCONN), as well as many memorable losses. 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 of the NBA. After the preseason, he was released by the team and immediately signed a contract to play in France for Limoges CSP basketball club. After winning a championship with Limoges and winning the French league rebounding title, Jacob returned to the USA and played for the San Antonio Spurs 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.