After a weeks-long battle with COVID-19, Jacqueline Cruz-Towns, the mother of Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns, died Monday as a result of the virus, the team said.
Cruz-Towns, 58, had been battling the virus for over a month, and Towns initially revealed her condition in an Instagram video March 24. Cruz-Towns had been on a ventilator in a medically induced coma, Towns previously said. Her death is one of the first COVID-19-related deaths to shake not just the Minnesota sports scene but the sports world at large.
"Jackie was many things to many people — a wife, mother, daughter, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend," a family spokesperson said in a statement released by the Wolves. "The matriarch of the Towns family, she was an incredible source of strength; a fiery, caring, extremely loving person, who touched everyone she met. Her passion was palpable and her energy will never be replaced."
Towns' father, Karl Sr., had also tested positive for the coronavirus but was recovering. Towns has spoken often of how proud he was of his mother and the strength she often displayed.
That included her battle with COVID-19.
"There's nothing like her passion, her emotion," Wolves President Gersson Rosas said Monday. "She was a classic team mom that you never see in professional sports. … She had 15 kids every time she came around us. It just drew me back to Little League or high school where you see a parent that's just passionate."
Gov. Tim Walz was informed of Cruz-Towns' death during his press briefing Monday.
"I'm sorry to hear that. I've had the privilege and the pleasure of meeting Karl. You find very few people with just such a positive outlook," Walz said. "I'm deeply sorry for the loss in their family. Unfortunately, this is starting to hit more and more."