Tory Jackson

Tory Jackson was an outstanding four-year basketball standout at Buena Vista High School. The 5-foot-10 guard scored 2,518 career points, the most of any boys’ basketball player in Saginaw County history, and the fourth-most in the state of Michigan. Jackson, who was named to the Saginaw News Dream Team three times, helped Buena Vista to Class C state championships in both 2004 and 2006. The four-time all-state honoree was named the Associated Press Class C Player of the Year in both 2004 and 2006. He capped his senior year by averaging 30.5 points, 7 assists and 7 rebounds and was named Most Valuable Player of the Michigan All-Star basketball game. He played 10 years as a member of the Michigan Hurricanes’ AAU basketball teams and named to the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions all-tournament team in 2004 and 2005 while being named MVP of the 2005 All-Ohio Nike Cup. Jackson received a number of full-ride offers before accepting a basketball scholarship at the University of Notre Dame. He played in 136 games during his four-year career – the most in school history – and his 122 starts place him third in school history. Jackson averaged 9.1 points, 5.1 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game during his stellar college career as Notre Dame made the NCAA Tournament three times. He never missed a game while at Notre Dame, a span that included 93 victories – the most of any senior class in school history. He was named to both the Big East All-Rookie Team and Notre Dame’s Outstanding Freshman Award in 2007 – the same year he received the team’s Best Defensive Player Award, and he also received Notre Dame’s Best Outstanding Playmaker Award in 2008 and 2009. Additionally, his 694 career assists and 211 career steals both rank second in Irish history. Jackson, who scored 1,231 career points, became just the second player in Irish history to score over 1,000 points and dish off more than 600 assists. His 392 assists in Big East play rank fifth in league history. Jackson led the conference in assists in three of his four seasons. Sherman Douglas of Syracuse is the only other Big East player to accomplish that feat. After graduating from Notre Dame, he played in the National Basketball Association’s Developmental League with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants where he averaged 7 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists per game. He then played professionally overseas in Mongolia. Jackson, who coached at Buena Vista in its last year of existence, now serves as the boys’ varsity basketball coach at Bay City John Glenn High School.