Tuesday, January 23, 2001
Aaron Jack
ends career
Health forces early retirement
By Jason Lincoln
The Battalion
Texas A&M senior forward
Aaron Jack announced the end of his
college basketball career Monday af
ter suffering his fifth concussion on
Jan. 13 against Colorado.
“I feel like I’m divorcing 15 years
of my life,” Jack said. “It’s been a
tough thing to deal with. Obviously,
I’ll miss the competition, the games,
battling with the other guys, chatter
ing at the refs, all the little stuff. But
I have to focus on my health and
make sure I’m okay.”
Aaron is a tremen
dous young man,
and it's unfortunate
that his long career
had to end in this
manner. ”
Melvin Watkins
A&M coa.ch
The blow that ended his career
was incidental contact during the
Colorado game, as he connected
with Stephane Polle’s shoulder
while attempting a rebound.
The All-Big 12 forward trans
ferred to A&M after suffering a pair
of concussions in the first four games
at Penn State in 1995. After a third
concussion on the first day of fall
practice in 1996 and the Nittany Li
ons decided to release Jack. Jack was
not prepared to stop playing basket
ball and transferred to A&M at mid
term after meeting with doctors.
In his three seasons at A&M,
Jack developed a reputation not
only for his scoring or his re
bounding, but for his give-all at
titude and on-the-floor leader
ship with Aggie basketball.
“Aaron is a tremendous
young man, and it’s unfortu
nate that his long career had to
end in this manner, but his
health is the top priority,” said
A&M coach Melvin Watkins.
“Aaron is the epitome of what
a student athlete should be. To
our young kids, he’s been as
much of a teacher and coach as
he’s been a teammate. We cer
tainly wish him the best of
luck, and we know he has an
outstanding future.”
During the off-season. Jack
celebrated when the NCAA
granted him a medical redshirt
for the 1995 season, allowing
him one more year of basket
ball. But Jack’s senior season
never got off to a start, after he
suffered his fourth concussion
during fall practice.
Jack returned to the injury-
plagued Aggie lineup in early
December, and playing in 14
games scoring 68 points, grab
bing 68 rebounds and averaging
22 minutes per game. In those
games, Jack sprained his ankle
against North Carolina while
posting a game high nine re-
Sports
THE BATTALION
FILE PHOTO/The Battalion
pusmig a A&M,Senior forward Aaron Jack announced his retirement Tuesday,
bounds and then suffered a hy- J J
perextended knee in the first round of October,” Jack said. “I haven’t been player in the Big 12 confer
perextended knee
the Rainbow Classic in Hawaii. Jack
did not return to full strength before
the Jan. 13 concussion.
“I’ve been disappointed with the
year I’ve had. It seems like I’ve been
banged up the whole year, starting in
able to give my full effort to the team
or the guys . But on the other hand, 1
got 14 extra games that I didn't think
I would have. I just have to take a
step back and look at it in that way.”
At age 24, Jack was the oldest
conference and
was just one of two seniors on the
Aggie squad. With Jack’s departure,
former walk-on Andy Leatherman,
a junior point guard, is the only
See Jack on Page 9.
Page 7
Aggies face Big 12
foes in losing streak
T he Texas A&M
men’s basketball
team starts another
rough week of Big 12 play
on the heels of a five-game
losing streak.
The Aggies (6-11,0-5
in Big 12) finished last
week 0-2, with losses to
No. 20 Texas, 76-58, and
No. 4 Kansas, 100-70.
This week, A&M hits
the road to take on Oklahoma State
on Wednesday at 7 p.m. and then
returns home to face 17th-ranked
Iowa State on Super Bowl Sunday
at 3 p.m.
First-Half Warriors
There was a silver lining in the
losses to the Jayhawks and Long
horns. The Aggies showed flashes of
the team they hope to become and
played two of their best halves of
this season.
Against Texas, A&M actu
ally led by six points, 34-28,
at halftime. The Aggies held
the Longhorns without a field
goal for the last 11:54 of the
first half.
Against Kansas, the Aggies
bounced back after falling be
hind 11-2 in the early mo
ments. A&M cut the lead to
26-24, but Kansas ended the
first half with a 24-5 run.
“If you look back at the
tape of the Kansas game,”
said A&M men’s basketball
coach Melvin Watkins, “the
first few possessions we ex
ecuted, and we were excited
about that. Hopefully, what
we can learn from that, is
that if we do execute,
whether it’s Kansas or anyone A&M plays Oklahoma State and Iowa
else, we have a chance to be a State on the road this weekend,
decent team. Now we just file photo/Thh battauon
have to find a way to do it more
than 10 to 12 minutes at a time.”
Unfriendly Confines
Going into the Oklahoma State
game, the Aggies move from one
hostile environment to another.
Against Kansas at Allen Field-
house, A&M played before 16,300
fans, the largest crowd it has faced
all season.
See Aggie Men on Page 9.
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