Attending Hiram College was not something that senior Trent Jakacki saw in his future, let alone continuing to play basketball in college. That being said, the Terriers’ senior wrapped up his collegiate career by becoming the 30th player in school history to record 1,000 points.
“Obviously it is a really cool accomplishment being able to do that in college because not many people get the opportunity to be able to do that,” Jakacki told The Weekly Villager on March 24. “It was pretty awesome to be able to have the opportunity to score as many points I did in the time frame that I did. I was fortunate enough to have a big junior season which ultimately led to that.”
In only three years at Hiram, Jakacki scored 1,263 points, putting him 14th on the list of the most points scored by a Terriers’ men basketball player, grabbed 309 rebounds, dished out 189 assists and collected 108 career steals. Not only did Jakacki join an exclusive club, but made school history as he and his father Josh, Crestwood’s boys’ basketball coach and former Hiram standout, became the first father-son duo to each score 1,000 points with the program.
“Not many people get the opportunity to follow in their father’s footsteps. I was fortunate enough to have him as a role model in my life,” Jakacki said. “He is in the Hall of Fame at Hiram so that was always something I looked up to him about because I knew he was a great player and it showed.”
Jakacki officially reached 1,000 career points when the Terriers faced North Coast Athletic Conference rival Wabash College in a road game on Nov. 30.
He said that what made achieving that distinction even sweeter was that the same crowd that cheered for him while he played at Crestwood High School was also there to support him during his Hiram career.
“I am very blessed to have the support system that I had,” Jakacki noted. “Not just my family, but the community of Crestwood and our family friends came to almost all of our home games.”
Having dominated for three years at Hiram, it marked the end of a collegiate basketball journey that originally started at Baldwin Wallace University.
The 2021 Crestwood graduate acknowledged that he originally intended to try and play collegiate football when evaluating his options. His plans changed as his senior year was marred by the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Jakacki, with the pandemic taking away most of his extracurricular activities, one of the only things he had was playing pick-up basketball with his father in the driveway at least twice a day.
“We did not have school and we could not really go anywhere so I really worked my tail off in COVID more than I ever had,” he added. “I didn’t want to put that work to waste.”
Jakacki said that Hiram College was not on the top of his list of schools to attend when he evaluated his options, hoping to build a legacy for himself and not follow in his father’s footsteps. He originally selected Baldwin Wallace because he felt it was a perfect location, just far enough from home but not too far in that he couldn’t frequently make trips home.
After Jakacki’s freshman season, he decided to make a change as he was not happy with his playing time.
“I didn’t really want to go into the transfer portal,” he said. “I always had Hiram in my back pocket, so it was close to home and it was the right decision for me and my family to come to Hiram.”
While Jakacki may have wanted to spread his wings away from Mantua, he decided that returning home was just what he needed. He said that there was a lot of expectations thrust on him when he started at Hiram, being the son of a player who was in the Hall of Fame, but he set out to make his mark as Trent Jakacki, not Josh Jakacki’s son.
“I would say I am more of a pure scorer than he was,” Jakacki said. “From what I have heard, he was more of a point guard than I was, and he was a lot more athletic. I felt like I was a decent facilitator, but he was more of a true point guard, and I was a little bit better a shooter than he was.”
Although Jakacki left his mark on the program, his only regret is not having at least one more year as he felt the team was finally starting to hit its stride in his senior season.
Despite having laced up for the last time, Jakacki said that he plans on staying involved by being available any time his father or his older brother Mason, who coaches the Crestwood boys’ middle school team, needs a hand.
