The Guru’s WNBA Report: Jasmine Thomas: The Big Assist - Athletes Helping Others

By Andy Lipton

Leading the ‘Break

 

 Memo to State Farm:  Next time you shoot a commercial with a respected athlete, call Jasmine Thomas to be in it.  

Like a good neighbor, friend, and family member, Jasmine is THERE.  There to help others, as she has done a myriad of times.

 

Now in her first year as the Director of Player Programs and Development Coach with the Dallas Wings of the WNBA, recently retired after a long (13 years) and successful career as a basketball player in the WNBA (3 times WNBA All-Defensive First Team) and a celebrated player in college at Duke University (All-American) and in high school, Jasmine has believed that her life’s work is not just about herself, but about others as well.

 

As a college student-athlete at Duke University, Jasmine excelled on the court, in the classroom, and in the community. 

 So much so, she was given the honor of being on the Senior CLASS Award Second Team, an award given in her senior year at Duke, a prestigious award which recognizes NCAA Division I senior student-athletes for their achievements in the community, the classroom, and in athletic competition and for their character.

 

At Duke, Jasmine visited families at the local Ronald McDonald House which provides accommodations for families whose children are in a nearby hospital. Providing comfort to those families was all the more special since she was a McDonald’s All-American basketball player in high school.

 

Another special communal activity that Jasmine enjoyed at Duke was mentoring young student-athletes who were about to begin their college journey.

 

Jasmine also participated with her teammates in the Duke’s Read with the Blue Devils program which involved reading to students in local schools.  Among other events, she helped at the Durham Soup Kitchen, visited kids and families at Duke Hospital, and participated in Project Share to help the needy at Christmas.

 

As a player in the WNBA, Jasmine got involved in a cause that was also personal to her, the fight against breast cancer, a disease with which her mom and close relatives have been afflicted, losing some relatives to the disease.  

 

Jasmine has been involved in the Kay Yow Cancer Fund, helping raise funds for the Fund through numerous events and activities, and bringing awareness to the disease as well as the Fund’s activities. The Fund raises money for cancer research and underserved programs that provide access to quality cancer healthcare, and brings awareness about all cancers affecting women.

The Fund is named for the late Hall of Fame N.C. State coach Kay Yow, who guided the United States women to Olympic gold in South Korea in 1988 and succumbed to breast cancer in 2009 after battling the disease to remission several times following her initial diagnosis in 1987. 

 

Thomas has tied her work with the Kay Yow Cancer Fund to the WNBA”s Breast Health Initiative.

Like the playmaker she was as the Connecticut Sun’s point guard, getting her teammates involved in the offense, Jasmine is committed to getting others involved in communal work by giving them guidance on how to do so.  This current season, she has helped Kalani Brown, one of the Wings players, set up a fund raising effort for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.

When Thomas played for the Sun, she collaborated with Sharing Shoes, a charitable organization formed by two young men from her hometown in Fairfax, Virginia to collect new and gently worn basketball shoes for underserved athletes.

And Thomas has joined the Good Game Foundation, designed to help fund new not-for-profit organizations.

And if the list is not long enough, she has participated in the Wings’ Unify Game that is a Special Olympics event which brought back memories of the time in high school when she participated in a Special Olympics event.

As it turns out, State Farm is aware of Jasmine Thomas. Thomas has twice received the WNBA Cares Community Assist Award which was presented by State Farm.  

Hey State Farm, time to give Jasmine Thomas a call.