Jackson-Breland Helps Chart New Path for Wake Forest and Her New York Community

Keeva Jackson-Breland believed she was coming to Wake Forest to be a dominant force on the hardwood. Her mother, Ellis Matilda Jackson believed Keeva was coming to Wake Forest to earn a degree.

However, before coming to Winston-Salem, Keeva's brother, Keven Jackson, was an intricate part of her early basketball development and her life overall as were her mother and father.

"Keven, who attended UVA, Howard Dental School and has been a D.D.S. for 30-plus years, would always choose me first when we would play pickup basketball games when we were growing up," she said. "However, he did not choose me because I was his sister, it was because I was better than most of the guys!"

Keeva remembers fondly her upbringing and the importance of hard work, loyalty, being kind and ensuring she obtained a job with a pension.

Her father, Clarence William Jackson, was an architect for the board of education for 40 years and her mother was a social worker her entire life. Jackson-Breland ended up taking several civil service tests, before settling in a position in the office for people with developmental disabilities. She worked there 32 years, retiring in 2021.

Ultimately, the entire Jackson family were trailblazers on the court and in the classroom.

Growing up in New York, Jackson-Breland was coached in the Empire State Games by the New York State Hall of Famer Risa Zander, who just happened to be good friends with Wake Forest women's basketball head coach Wanda Briley. She also had scholarship offers from Florida, Georgetown, Boston College, Fordham and Northeastern, eventually narrowing her decision down to Wake Forest and Boston College.

"Wake Forest was initially my first or second choice, but I felt comfortable going there because of that relationship," Jackson-Breland said. "I didn't even visit Wake Forest. I went because of my coach, Risa Zander. I felt a warmth and connection there. My mother and father were good with it, and we all knew Wake Forest was excellent academically.

"The goal was to get a degree. My main thing back then was playing basketball. I was a basketball addict."

Jackson-Breland made an immediate impact for Briley's Demon Deacons, leading the team in scoring, rebounding, blocked shots and steals as both a freshman and sophomore.

"I could do everything on the court," Jackson-Breland recalled. "I could handle the ball, rebound and shoot. I knew how to do everything, and that translated to my experience at Wake Forest. I grew up playing with guys, so I was tough. I was strong. I was a multi-talented athlete. I'm not sure how I rebounded so well, because I wasn't a great jumper. But I knew how to box out."

Dr. Janice Collins joined the team just one year behind Jackson-Breland and Sonya Henderson, who were the first two Black Wake Forest women's basketball players.

"She was a force to be reckoned with," Collins said. "She was smart and nice, but loved to win on the court. Keeva was a leader, competitor and captain.

"She was versatile. She could dribble, shoot and hit the boards. She was an amazing player and an all-around force on the court."

Adding Jackson-Breland and Henderson jump-started the recruiting efforts for the Demon Deacons, according to former assistant coach Lori Bailey.

"She had her own style that worked," Bailey said. "It was very effective, and you never knew what she was going to do. When she went to the basket, which was frequent, she was uniquely talented. Keeva had skills and abilities unlike anybody else on the team. She was talented and a fierce competitor."

'Her skill level was so much higher than any woman that we had ever had on the basketball team," said Dr. Herman Eure - Professor Emeritus of Biology. "She was amazing, both quick and fast.

"She was on track to be an All-ACC level player. Keeva was the person to whom the coach went to in tight situations when they needed a bucket."

Eure got to know Jackson-Breland and her family during the recruiting process and their bonds became strong during her four years at Wake Forest. 

"Dr. Eure was the leading force in my life at Wake Forest," Jackson-Breland said. "He was like family. My mother met him and knew that I'd always have a place to go. Sonya and I babysat his children. We just had a place to go, and Dr. Eure was always there for us. He was like a father figure to me. I had my own father, but I was away. He made being at Wake Forest something that I felt comfortable with."

Jackson-Breland averaged 14.5 points and 8.5 rebounds a game as a sophomore, adding 82 steals and 19 blocked shots. 

"I was the best in my high school and I feel like I carried that through to college," she said. "You couldn't tell me I wasn't going to the NBA. I meshed well with my teammates. Coach Briley and (Lori) Bailey were always there for me. They opened up their house for me like I was family. I felt comfortable both on and off the court."

The Demon Deacons suddenly became a hot ticket, with the stellar play from both Jackson-Breland and Henderson, who was a Winston-Salem native with a local fan base.

"The great playing from Sonya and Keeva, combined with the team's talent, brought out the fans." Collins said. "They brought the fans and the thunder to our little gym and our base grew. So much so that our games were moved to the coliseum to handle the growing fan base, which was quite an achievement."

Entering Wake Forest as one of the first two Black women's basketball players along with Sonya Henderson wasn't much of a factor in her decision making process nor was it an issue that concerned Jackson-Breland.

"Somebody might have said something about that when I was signing my letter of intent," she said. "I don't recall it being a big deal. I was raised where I went to a private grammar school and a private high school, so I was always around Caucasian people. Very few people of color were in school with me, so it was no different for me. Both my parents were professionals and we lived in one of the best houses on the block. I didn't have a problem assimilating to the environment that Wake Forest had to offer.

"I'd never experienced racism. When you're an athlete, it's different. Sports bring people together. I didn't experience any of that. We were athletes, and we played basketball. We played with everybody, whether they were White or Black."

Jackson-Breland suffered a knee injury as a freshman, but was able to play at an elite level through it, but it progressive got worse and worse. By her junior season she needed cartilage removed and she was never again cleared to play collegiate basketball.

"Just like many other athletes, her life was in that sport, so it became a tough situation," Eure said. "She wasn't playing, and had to deal with rehab while not knowing if she would be able to play again or not. It was tough on her. When she became injured, it changed a lot for her."

Where once everything in her life revolved around basketball and her friendships with roommates Collins and Henderson, Jackson-Breland withdrew both mentally and physically from the team the rest of her time at Wake Forest.

"I had to ask a few people lately about what happened in my senior year," she said. "It's kind of a fog to me. Why wasn't I around the team? Even though I was injured, why wasn't I traveling with and sitting with the team? Coach Bailey told me I didn't want to. They tried to encourage me to continue be part of the team, but me not playing was so devastating that I couldn't.

"I was young. I didn't know how to handle it and went my own way. I wasn't with the team at all my senior year and I'm sorry for that."

Despite the disappointment stemming from the career-ending injury, Jackson-Breland stuck with her academics and graduated from Wake Forest with a Bachelor of Arts with a concentration in Speech and Communications. 

"It was all about winning, and about getting our education," she said. "Education was the most important thing, but basketball happened to come with it. My mother told me not to come home without my degree.

"I was a basketball junkie, but I got my degree. It was devastating, but I got through it."

Jackson-Breland credits her family's work ethic for making it possible to persevere through it all.  

"I probably followed in my mother's footsteps," she said. "It wasn't my passion, but I grew up with a mother who was  a certified social worker all of her professional life. That's all I ever knew. She was a domestic violence counselor and also worked with  people with mental health issues. I followed the path she laid and I went into the career of helping people. 

"The way she treated all the kids in the community, she was a people person. When the opportunity presented itself,  I fell in love working with people with disabilities. It was something I really enjoyed doing."

During her tenure, she earned Employee of the Year honors when she organized and led a weekly bowling league for people with developmental disabilities.  Jackson-Breland also initiated an annual social worker conference to provide training for co-workers on best practices for working with people with developmental disabilities. 

The bowling league and conference became something everybody really looked forward to, and were the first projects of this kind in the state of New York,"

Jackson-Breland is being recognized for her contributions to Wake Forest Athletics with the 2023 Trailblazer Award.

"Keeva Jackson and Sonya Henderson changed women's basketball from the perspective of skill level in recruiting," Eure said. "Women's basketball was never the same from that point. Players like Janice Collins and Helen Williams came, because these two were already here. They changed the face of women's basketball. They were so much better than anyone else, that it's unbelievable."

Jackson-Breland credits her mother for her incredible basketball journey and for helping forge the path that led to Wake Forest.

"Being part of a team — that is what I thrived on," Jackson-Breland said. "That's all I knew. I was always playing basketball when I was young. I had tennis, dancing and piano lessons when I was young. My mother provided so many opportunities for me. But the only thing I stuck with was basketball.

"That's why I went to Wake Forest. She thought I went to Wake Forest to get my degree, but I thought I went to Wake Forest to play basketball. In fact, I stayed an extra semester and graduated in December of 1985. I also earned a Master of Science in Education from Queens College in 2000."

Her father, Clarence William Jackson, passed away August 5, 2001. And, her mother, Ellis Matilda Jackson, passed away on Sept. 3, 2022 at the age of 88.

"She was not only my mother but she was my best friend and hero," Jackson shared. "My mother's  death was the worst day of my life.  Without her strength, none of my life's  achievements would have been possible.

"I am appreciative of this award and I credit many people who helped me along my journey."