Jana Cross Gobble
Jana Cross will go down as one of the most accomplished players in Lady Lion basketball program history. During her time at Freed-Hardeman, she accumulated more national and conference awards than any player to come before her.
Cross wasted no time making her presence known upon arriving at FHU, earning TranSouth Conference Freshman of the Year honors during the 2006-07 season. Throughout her career in a Lady Lion uniform from 2006 to 2010, Cross earned multiple individual honors and was selected to represent FHU and the TranSouth conference all four years she played.
Cross was an NAIA All-American and TranSouth Conference First-Team selection all four seasons with the Lady Lions. Additionally, she was selected to be a part of the State Farm All-American team, Academic All-Conference Team, and Academic All-American team three years in a row during her career at FHU.
At the time of her induction, Cross was the second all-time leading scorer in FHU Lady Lion basketball program history with 2,222 career points. Throughout her career she played in 123 games, averaged 18.1 points per game and shot 57.3 percent from the field.
“Jana began making a huge impact on Lady Lion basketball the first day she arrived on campus,” said Dale Neal, head coach for the Lady Lion basketball program. “She became the first and only four-time All-American. She always set high standards for herself in everything she strived to accomplish; in athletics and in her personal life. She was a great influence on others and always represented her team with dignity and class while being a tremendous role model and inspiration to others.”
In December 2014, Cross obtained her Master’s degree in Instructional Design from West Texas A&M University while maintaining a 4.0 GPA.
At the time of her induction, Cross taught math at Leoma Elementary School in Leoma Tennessee, where she also served as the head volleyball coach. She has also served as the assistant coach for the women’s basketball team at Loretto High School in Loretto, Tenn.