Tag: Jacqueline Towns

As a basketball scout, my partner in …

As a basketball scout, my partner in life, Thom, typically spends many spring and summer days on the road traveling across the country and Canada watching high school level players. Often in a gym from morning till night, he is assessing skills and abilities that are then sought after by college coaches looking for that next big talent. It was 2010 in Little Rock, Arkansas, that he first met Jackie Cruz-Towns, mother of NBA star Karl-Anthony Towns, at a national AAU event. Jackie sauntered up and said, “You must be somebody important, you’re taking notes.” A smile the size of her son’s talent was on her face. Karl was a rising sophomore that year.

The Wolves are preparing right along …

The Wolves are preparing right along with them, trying to be ready should the green light come. But they also remain in a period of mourning, for Karl-Anthony Towns’ mother, Jacqueline, and for a relative in Malik Beasley’s family, both of whom have been lost to complications from coronavirus. What has made matters worse for the Wolves is that the shelter-in-place orders enacted to try to limit the spread of the virus are also limiting their ability to connect with members of the organization that are hurting. “Anytime you lose somebody, especially somebody as important as a parent, you want to be there for them and you want to support them,” president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas said. “We’ve tried really hard, anything and everything that we can to connect with Karl and his family and other players and other staff members that are going through it. But it’s not the same. You can’t hug somebody, you can’t spend one-on-one time with them. You can’t help them through this pain in a physical, personal way.”

For Beasley, it all starts with safety. …

For Beasley, it all starts with safety. If the players, coaches and fans aren’t healthy and are at risk of contracting a virus that has killed more than 50,000 in the United States and a couple in the Timberwolves family, the discussion should stop right there. “I just want to make sure our health is fine and make sure we’re good to go,” Beasley said. “That’s what we got to do, got to make sure we’re healthy.”

Whether it happens sooner or later, the …

Whether it happens sooner or later, the Wolves will be ready when the day comes to get back on the court. But the preparation will continue with heavy hearts from losses that have underscored just how real this threat is. “We’ve done everything that we can to stay connected, to stay engaged, to provide resources, to provide support,” Rosas said. “But it’s painful. It’s frustrating and it’s disappointing. You just want to grab KAT and give him a hug and let him know we’re here with him. I’d love for our 15 guys and our coaching staff and our front office to be together through this. But it’s where we’re at in this point in time. Whether it’s calls, texts chapel services, we’ve continued to support him and his family as best as we can.”

Jerry Carino: Beautiful full-page …

Jerry Carino: Beautiful full-page tribute to Jacqueline Towns in today’s Courier News and Home News Tribune. Jackie was laid to rest today. Our prayers are with her family.