In a touching gesture of love and remembrance, Jordyn Woods surprised her boyfriend, NBA star Karl-Anthony Towns, with a 1990s Isuzu Trooper on his 30th birthday. The vehicle carries sentimental value, as it was once driven by Towns’ late mother, Jacqueline Cruz-Towns, throughout his childhood. This overtly emotional gift serves to honor Towns’ mother and calls attention to the strong connection between the two.
Jacqueline Cruz-Towns died in April 2020 after complications from coronavirus at the age of 58. Her memory looms large over Towns’ life. It’s not a burden — it inspires and informs the choices he makes at important personal and professional crossroads. Towns’ comment over the course of a summer conversation with Woods Summer seemed to relive the giddy, formative experience of building an NBA offense together. I think it’s primarily because I just really loved my mom’s car that she drove when I was a little kid. It was this stirring that fueled Woods’ search to find the vehicle.
Isuzu built the Trooper’s final model in 2002. That did poorly so the company replaced it with the Isuzu Ascender/Axiom. Despite its discontinuation, Woods was determined to find an Isuzu Trooper similar to the one Towns cherished from his youth. And then she worked her shenanigans magic and found a way to have that precious electric crayon shipped halfway across the country, all the way to the East Coast. Then she spent six full months restoring it prior to Towns’ coming-of-age celebration.
On the day of his birthday, upon receiving the gift, a tearful Towns was overcome. As we cruised down the highway in the restored Isuzu Trooper, he yelled, “This is my baby!
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