8 Comments

Great stuff Clay, as always!

Expand full comment

Clay,

Jacki was by far the best I ever saw in high school. In fact the game you have on tape was played in the West Coast Jamboree at Deer Valley High School. There was a lot of talk before the game about the match up between Jacki and Vicki Baugh and Jacki got the best of her. Another time in her junior year I was at Florin High School during the state Division 4 and Divison 5 playoffs. St. Mary's Stockton was playing at Arco Arena Sacramento. A halftime score came to us with St. Mary's down by 22 points, and Jacki had scored only 2 points in the first half. I told the people around me that St. Mary's would win the game, and we would see Jacki and St. Mary's the very next week at Arco for the finals. Jacki scored 33 points in the second half and lead the team to the finals . We in Northern California saw the REAL Jacki Gemelos for 4 years. She had and still holds every scoring record in the West Coast Jamboree .

Scoop Jackson

Expand full comment
author

Thanks, Dave -- and for those outside the Bay Area, Dave Jackson is a girls' basketball legend. He founded the West Coast Jamboree, and is beloved by all in the NorCal community.

Expand full comment

Best player I have ever seen in High School. The best game I remember was when Carondelet traveled to St. Mary's and had the opportunity to watch Gemelos and Appel battle it out. I have a photo of the two of them together and It was great to see such great competitors and at the end they were great friends.

Expand full comment
author

They also played for the same club team, EBX. Jayne loved playing with her. Are you still in the Bay Area?

Expand full comment

Still here. I was looking through a bunch of photos that I took of her. Some were at the WCJ and other games. She had a basketball IQ that was unbelievable and had a way of making every player on her team better.

Expand full comment

Wow!!! Thank you for such a beautiful article. I have tears in my eyes.

Expand full comment
author

Thanks so much ... I feel like I was one of the few who saw her before the injuries, and the story just had to be written.

Expand full comment