Fallen Soldier

Jacki Gemelos Keeps Fighting Despite Five ACL Surgeries

This motivational William Quigley painting hangs in Gautier’s office; Gemelos keeps getting up. (Aaron Fischman/Slam Online)

At halftime of a Sacramento Monarchs game, 11-year-old Jacki Gemelos was asked to make six free throws in less than a minute. She missed her first shot, but calmly proceeded to swish the next six.

By the time she was 15, Gemelos had already committed to the University of Connecticut, the powerhouse school for which her favorite player, Diana Taurasi, played at the time.

As she prepared to enter college in 2006, Gemelos was nationally ranked as the No. 1 women’s basketball player in her class.

But ever since the final game of her McDonald’s All-American senior year at St. Mary’s (CA)—a season in which she averaged 39.2 points and 8.9 assists per game—her once-expectedly smooth path to the WNBA has become riddled with obstacles.

Seven years and five ACL surgeries later, including three surgeries to her left knee, she still hasn’t played a single WNBA game. Read more >>