The voice of USF Athletics routinely puts down his radio headset and picks up the pen to share his perspective on the history of USF Athletics.  

Louk has been broadcasting games for 29 years and is the resident historian in the Athletics Department hallways. 

By JIM LOUK

Voice of the USF Bulls

First, the numbers.

Jessica Dickson scored 2,402 points at USF, the most of any Bulls basketball player, male or female.  She averaged no less than 16.7 points per game in any of her four years.  She played in 125 games, starting every one.  As a junior, she led the nation in scoring for 11 weeks. She hit 83 percent of her free throws and made 154 three point shots. She never scored less than 500 points in a season.

Now, the story.

Jessica Dickson grew up in Ocala.  Her first exposure to basketball was an intense one, fighting for a chance to play on the court with her brother and other male family members.  It wasn't easy, remembers her mother, Kathy Thomas.

"They told her they wouldn't let her win.  She would have to earn it.  And she kept coming back and coming back," Thomas said.

That trial by fire sparked the love of basketball in Dickson that still burns today. 

"I knew at the age of 8," said Dickson.  "I wanted a life in basketball.  I wanted to do this."

Fast forward to high school.  A tall, slender post player, Dickson started at Ocala Vanguard as a freshman. Her coach kept her inside the paint, not allowing her near the 3-point line.

If they only knew.

It was there that Jose Fernandez first saw her, and Fernandez had been on the road enough, and in enough high school gyms, to know exactly what he was seeing.

"What stood out was her athleticism and how hard she competed at both ends of the floor," recalls the Bulls' longtime head coach.  "I thought if we get that kid, we can build on that." 

"Her drive to win; her drive to get things done and make her team win was impressive," recalls then USF assistant coach Harry Elifson. "We decided she would be our number one recruit. We worked hard to get her, and she kept getting better and better".

And sure enough, USF, a young program with a young head coach, was the right fit for Dickson.

"I wanted to go to a program to help build it, and I knew Jose was on to something.  I wanted to contribute," she said.

And so she did.

"She put the program on the map," says Fernandez.  "She was a program-changer."

Her game changed, too.  The high school post player worked tirelessly on her offensive skills. "She really developed her game and her range," said Fernandez. "She lived in the Sun Dome."

Dickson came to USF with a great skill set; she scored 540 points in her freshman year alone.  But the truly great players still strive to get better, and Dickson's work ethic served her well.  She made only eight 3-point shots in that first year.  Two years later, she hit 68.

"My work ethic comes from my mom," said Dickson. "She instilled in me never to quit.  She told me the things I want won't come easy.  I took that attitude to USF."

"We stressed educational values," said Thomas.  "Basketball can't be the only thing. You must have humility. You must be a caring person."

"It's easy when your best player is your hardest worker," said Fernandez. "She didn't allow herself to have a bad day.  When your most talented player is the first one in the gym and the last to leave, it sets a standard that others follow."

Now, Dickson will join Wanda Guyton as the second women's basketball player in the USF Hall of Fame.  She has the distinction of being the first former student-athlete to be enshrined in her first year of eligibility.

"There's not many Jessica Dicksons out there," said Fernandez.  "I was lucky to be able to build a program around her."

Jessica Dickson will be inducted in to the USF Hall of Fame on Sept. 28, with Chucky Atkins and the late Lee Roy Selmon.

GO BULLS!