Ohio Hall catches up after COVID by enshrining classes of 2020, 2022
The Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame, after a one-year hiatus due to COVID, inducted its classes of 2020 and 2021 in a ceremony at the Hyatt Regency Columbus Saturday night. Jeff Gibbs (East ‘98) was one of its inductees. He watched the ceremony via Facetime, or Skype, or something, from Japan — where, as a 6-foot-2 power forward, he is still playing professional ball. At age 41.
“I do love the game of basketball,” Gibbs said from Nagasaki. “I’m motivated to play as long as I can play at a high level and contribute. That, and I’ve got four kids to put through college.”
The Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame is littered with Columbus athletes, including an array of City League legends. In fact, picking a City League starting five makes for a fine argument.
In the backcourt, how about Jim Cleamons (Linden McKinley ‘67) with Larry Jones (East ‘60) and Michael Redd (West ‘97)? Not bad. With apologies to Frank Howard (South ‘54), I’ll put Herb Williams (Marion Franklin ‘77) in the middle and ask Ed Ratleff (East 1968) to play a stretch-four.
My sixth woman is Kim Jordan (Wehrle ‘76), whose skills were a generation ahead of her time.
Remember, this exercise is confined to City League players who are in the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame. Others — and there are a raft of them, from Bo Lamar (East ’69, who went on to lead the country in scoring) to Estaban Weaver (Independence ‘97, known as LeBron before there was LeBron) — will have to wait for their day.
Does Gibbs crack the starting five? It’s a fair question. A case can be made that he is one of the best City League players of all time.
Then a six-footer who was born to play the post, like a baby Charles Barkley, Gibbs was always a curiosity and a freak. He averaged 17 points and 16 rebounds at East, but recruiters backed off because it was thought his future was in football, and because … what do you do with a sawed-off power forward?
Gibbs matriculated to Otterbein, where he led the country (all divisions) in rebounding three years in a row. In 2002, when he led Otterbein to the Division III national title, he had 37 points and 24 boards in the regional final, 30/15 in the national semis and 25/25 in the championship game.
Gibbs was an All-American in both basketball and football at Otterbein. He got a sniff from a couple of NFL teams that deemed him too small for a tight end. As he was settling into a life of work and Worthington League hoops, he got a fateful phone call: He was invited to try out for a German team that was in the area, at East High for a day, as a matter of fact.
That stuck. Gibbs spent six years playing in Germany. He relished dunking on 7-footers and became known as “Mr. Incredible.” Twelve years ago, he followed a coach to Japan. He’s still there, still dunking on 7-footers and winning championships.
Presently, he’s averaging 13 points, seven rebounds, three assists and 1.5 steals. He is playing for a third-division team that is on the climb. A league title has been secured. He’s near the end of the first year of a three-year contract that is designed for him to transition into coaching.
“I can still jump,” Gibbs said. “I can still dunk. My wife always says, ‘Play until the wheels fall off.’ I joke, ‘I’ve only got one wheel now.’ ”
Gibbs blew out an Achilles in May 2016 and was dunking again four months later.
Good on him. Precious few basketball players in the world are able to carve out a pro career that stretches 18 years. I’ll go out on a limb and venture that Gibbs is the only one who has done such a thing as a 6-2, low-post player.
Good on all the 2020 and 2021 inductees to the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame. I’ll mention just a few more here:
The trail-blazing Bishop Hartley girls from 1976 and 1978 were inducted as teams. Their coach, Beth Conway, and two Hawks players — Julie Plank and Toni Roesch — were inducted individually. Antonio Daniels (DeSales ‘93) and KB Sharp (Bexley ‘98) were also inducted.
Gibbs wanted to give a shoutout to his wife, April, and his children, Trey, Faith, Bella and Peyton.
“I’d also like to recognize all the City League guys I played with and against,” Gibbs said. “I’m not sure there’s enough recognition from my era, and now. Other than that, I really don’t know what to say. It’s surreal to me that someone even thought of me with all these great names.”
One last thing for fans of The Basketball Tournament, which Gibbs helped to the 2019 title as a member of Carmen’s Crew: Gibbs is working on getting Jared Sullinger, who is playing in China, to get back on the court for the 2022 TBT. Stay tuned.
Read More: Ohio Hall catches up after COVID by enshrining classes of 2020, 2022