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Malik Jackson, a 2020 graduate of Dublin High, had certainly found a path of success in college.
After playing a couple years of community college basketball, Jackson found himself on a scholarship at the University of Alaska-Anchorage.
Jackson was on pace to graduate this May with a degree in political science. And he was enjoying his time playing at a very strong Division II program.
Then came January of this year and everything changed. He started feeling flu-like symptoms such as headaches, shortness of breath, chest pains and night sweats.
He kept going, fighting through the pain, figuring like any highly competitive athlete, the symptoms would eventually go away. But they didn’t and in fact got worse.
Jackson had trouble walking three flights of steps to get to his dorm room one night after practice.
Off to the emergency room he went for a battery of tests. When the doctor returned to the room, he told Jackson what was wrong — leukemia.
He was airlifted from Anchorage to Seattle to the University of Washington Cancer Treatment Center. From there, doctors recommended he return close to home for further treatment.
Jackson was able to transfer to UCSF Benioff in San Francisco, where he is currently undergoing treatments of chemotherapy, as well as blood and platelet transfusions.
He is able to stay at home and go into the city for treatment. That has helped with the mental side of things.
“He’s been undergoing chemo for one week now,” explained Marc Traylor, Jackson’s brother. “At first it was mixed emotions for everyone, but we all are just going to keep fighting the battle. He’s got his head held high.”
Traylor played basketball for Dublin coach Tom Costello at Tennyson High before Costello moved out to Dublin — where he would coach Jackson at Dublin.
Costello was obviously taken aback by the news.
“Malik is a great kid,” Costello said. “I saw him a lot this summer as I keep the gym open so our alumni can come by and workout.”
As you might expect, Jackson is approaching the long fight with the intensity of a highly competitive athlete.
“The doctors have said he could be back on the court playing in 8-10 months,” Traylor said.
The illness has also taken its toll on the family financially as they have had to cut back on work to take care of their son.
A GoFundMe page has been started in Malik’s name and has already raised over $20,000. If you wish to donate, please click on this link https://gofund.me/4fbd52b1.
There is a long way to go but things have been going well.
“Please keep sending prayers and keep positive,” Traylor said.
NCS wrestling
The East Bay Athletic League brought home two titles on the boys’ side and two titles on the girls’ side.
Tyson Tran of Granada beat Caleb Quintua of Casa Grande 9-3 to win the 159-pound division.
Asher Nischke of Livermore won the other title with a 15-0 technical fall at 287 pounds over Braeden Carroll of Novato.
Two other EBAL boys lost in the finals, with Christophe Anderson of Liberty beating Yousuf Amin of Dublin 11-4 at 122. Remington Escobedo of Del Norte pinned Trevor Economos of Monte Vista at 2:50 at 152 pounds.
On the girls’ side, Navjot Waraich of Dublin beat Avery Seidenspinne of College Park 6-1 at 100 pounds. SJ Martin of Granada won the 120-pound championship with a pin of Suea Gonzalez of Benicia in 3:30.
There were three girls who finished second. Grace Leach of Alhambra beat Charlotte Marachor of Dougherty Valley 12-0 at 115; Shayna Ward of Oakland Tech beat Maile Nguyen of Granada 14-2 at 125; and Savannah Talmadge of Clayton Valley beat Lana Nguyen of Dublin 8-4 at 130.
NCS soccer
There was a major shakeup in the girls’ Division I tournament as the top-seeded Carondelet was beaten by No. 9 seed Acalanes 3-2. The upset leaves No. 4 Amador Valley to host Acalanes in the Wednesday semifinals at 7 p.m.
Meeting in the other semifinal is No. 10 Monte Vista at No. 3 Bishop O’Dowd, also at 7 p.m.
In the boys’ D-I semifinals, top-seeded Dougherty Valley will host Berkeley on Thursday at 7 p.m. The other semifinal sees No. 2 De La Salle host No. 3 Clayton Valley at 7 p.m.
The boys’ D-II semifinals see No. 2 Granada hosting No. 3 Pittsburg on Tuesday at 7 p.m. No. 4 Archie Williams (formerly Sir Francis Drake) is at No. 1 Cardinal Newman, also at 7 p.m. for a spot in the finals.
NCS basketball
In the boys’ D-I tournament, the semifinals fall on Tuesday night.
Top-seeded Dougherty Valley will host No. 4 Clayton Valley, with No. 6 Amador Valley going on the road to play No. 2 Redwood. Both games are at 7 p.m.
In the girls’ D-I playoffs, No. 5 California is at top-seeded Clayton Valley on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Redwood (6) is at Bishop O’Dowd (2), also at 7 p.m. in the other semifinal.
The girls’ D-III tournament semifinals, also on Tuesday, sees No. 5 Dougherty Valley head to Eureka to play top-seeded St. Bernard’s. In the other semifinal Fortuna (6) is at No. 2 Saint Mary’s.
The Open Division semifinals on both sides take place on Wednesday.
On the girls’ side, the big one will see No. 2 San Ramon Valley host No. 3 Carondelet for the third time this season. No. 1 Acalanes will host No. 4 Cardinal Newman, also at 7 p.m.
In the boys’ division, No. 4 Dublin will play at top seeded De La Salle in a 7 p.m. game. San Ramon Valley (3) plays No. 2 Salesian at Albany High in the other semifinal.
Editor’s note: Dennis Miller is a contributing sports writer for the Pleasanton Weekly. This column originally appeared in Tri-Valley Preps Playbook, a weekly sports e-newsletter published by Embarcadero Media Foundation.
