Jeff Gibbs was not originally a basketball player - well, not primarily.

 

“I was a better football player than a basketball player,” says the veteran of 22 professional basketball seasons in Germany and Japan.

Gibbs only ended up at Otterbein because the Division II school he signed with wouldn’t let him play both sports.  He might be one of the newest members of the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame, but before all that, Jeff Gibbs was a tight end.  

 

He went pro after college, just not in the way anyone expected. A few months after winning the Division III national championship in basketball, Gibbs got NFL tryouts with the Chicago Bears and Atlanta Falcons.

 

“It was before Travis Kelce and Antonio Gates and the guys who play tight end now,” says Gibbs. “Just like I’ve been told my whole life, they said I was too small.”

 

The NFL’s loss was basketball’s gain.  Gibbs is “99.9% retired” at the moment, but would still take your call, if you’re in need of a 6’2” post player who was born during the Jimmy Carter Administration.

 

It’s an unusual resume for a Hall of Fame basketball player, but Gibbs has put together one of the most successful pro careers of any Division III basketball alum.  It was built on a legendary championship season in 2002, where he averaged 24 points, 16 rebounds, three assists, two blocks, and two steals per game.

 

His 83 rebounds in just five games (top seeds got byes back then) remains the overall NCAA Division III Tournament record - good for 16.6 per game.  He was the Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player and the NABC National Player of the Year.

 

Gibbs is not stick thin in the way many athletic rebounders are, but he’s incredibly quick, has extremely long arms, and his body is essentially one giant fast-twitch muscle.  The lower center of gravity that comes with his size and body type means when he beats you to the spot, he’s also got the leverage to move you wherever he wants, and the explosiveness to sky above opponents half a foot taller (if not more).

 

Gibbs matured during college. He recalls almost being kicked off the team freshman year for missing too many film sessions. “Why would I need to watch film? I just didn’t get it.” But his game was elite from the start.

 

“Of course we knew about him,” says Dick Reynolds, the former longtime Otterbein head basketball coach who led the Cardinals to the Division III semifinals in three decades - 1981 and 1991, before winning it all with Gibbs in 2002. 

 

“He was almost certainly a higher level player, but they wouldn’t let him play both basketball and football, and he had a cousin here at Otterbein.  We just got lucky.”

 

“I grew up 20 minutes away, but I’d never heard of Otterbein,” says Gibbs. “After the first school didn’t work out, I was just applying anywhere.  I didn’t even care about playing at that point; I just wanted to go to college.”

 

For three years, Gibb’s Otterbein squad was good, but nothing special.  A second round NCAA Tournament loss as a freshman, and then bowing out in the OAC tournament in his sophomore and junior years.  That 2001 team was 13-12.  There was nothing to indicate the run they’d experience in 2002.

 

“We had a good nucleus coming back,” recalls Reynolds, “But Jeff made everybody better.  We played Ohio Wesleyan and Wooster in the preseason and lost both by double digits, then Jeff came over from football and we went 30-3.”

 

There were one-point losses at conference foes Muskingum and Ohio Northern and a 106-59 loss at Mount Union which Gibbs had missed for a football All-Star game.

 

“I thought it was a typo when I saw the score,” says Gibbs. “It was just me and Kevin Shay as seniors.  I don’t think we had any juniors.  It was a young team.  Shay was the vocal leader.  I just led by example.  I just wasn’t going to let us lose.”

 

“I had a photo in my office,” says Reynolds. “I had been on the [NCAA Tournament] committee the year before and the liaison for one of the teams at the final four.  There was a picture in my office with the floor in Salem, and I’m at the very end of the bench, as the liaison.  I told Jeff,  ‘I should be on the other end of that bench this year,’ and sure enough, I was.”

 

That relentless drive to win - a refusal to give up - characterized Gibbs life and career.  When the NFL didn’t work out, he was stuck painting houses and working on Plan B.  Then a call came from the German second division team who offered him a plane ticket and a contract practically sight-unseen.  After two stellar seasons, he jumped to the top division and led the Bundesliga in rebounding four straight years - an amazing feat for a player listed generously at 6 '2".

 

Charles Barkley is the easy comp.  Both Barkley and Gibbs were undersized rebounders with deceptive athleticism.  In terms of on-court demeanor, I think of Michael Jordan - confident, not afraid to speak up and demand excellence from those around him.  A better comp might be Carmelo Anthony - the way Gibbs put the team on his back and willed them to a magical title.

 

“We played Bethany first,” recalls Gibbs of the Cardinals’ Tournament run.  “They were good, sure, but that was not a tough test for us.  Randolph-Macon was next.  I got into foul trouble.  They kept coming at me, and I was not disciplined enough to stay down.”

 

Otterbein held off Randolph-Macon, 85-72, but Gibbs was not satisfied.

 

“I really felt I let the guys down and I told them ‘I’ll never put you in that situation again.’”

 

Gibbs kept the promise.  The next night, he scored 37 points with 24 rebounds and led Otterbein past DePauw, 87-79, setting up a national semifinal match-up with Carthage.

 

In that game, Otterbein fell behind by as many as 14 in the first half but, always a second-half time, the Cardinals battled back.  Shay hit a jumper to tie it at 46.  The lead went back and forth until Gibbs tied it at 66.  Mo Ross hit a huge three that proved to be the winner, and Gibbs locked in the victory with a free throw, 70-66.

 

“He was a unique guy,” says former Carthage head coach Bosko Djuickovic.

 

“He didn’t look like he could do what he did.  He played like THE guy, competed every play, every rebound.  Gibbs is one of my favorite all-time D3 players to watch.  I was happy for Dick Reynolds, a friend of mine, happy for Otterbein, I just really hated to have it happen against us!”

 

“I know a lot of people say that was the real championship game,” says Gibbs.  “They were a three headed monster.  I remember Antoine [McDaniel], Jason Wiertel, and I want to say Rob [Garnes.]”

 

Gibbs’ ability to remember specific games, names, and statistics more than two decades after they happened is unreal.  He can rattle off teammates, stats, and scores from pivotal moments across his career.  I’m sure these were not the feats that made him a cult hero in Japan, nor what got him the nickname “Mr. Incredible,” but they’re incredible nonetheless.

 

The national championship game started much the same way.  Elizabethtown came in much more heralded and took a big early lead and was still up by 11 with 15 minutes to play.  From there Otterbein outscored the Blue Jays 48-18 and romped to a title.

 

Gibbs finished with 30 and 15 against Carthage, then 25 and 25 in the final.  It’s the stuff of legend and why he’s now in the Small College Hall of Fame.

 

“We just kind of blended together,” says Reynolds of the title magic. “Everyone knew Jeff could lead us.  If you have an athlete at that level, you may have problems with ego. Jeff was never like that.  He was grounded.  He knew who he was.  He was balanced - always balanced.”

 

Gibbs learned enough over the years, winning titles in Germany and Japan, to have a lot of wisdom to impart - on younger teammates, on his own kids, on the next generation of Otterbein players.

 

Gibbs is the Otterbein career leader in field goal percentage (63.8%) and career rebounds with 1496.  The NCAA doesn’t have complete rebounding stats, but that number should put him second all-time and second in rebound average.  He also scored 1924 career points.

 

Gibbs also played for the first WeAreD3 TBT team in the Million Dollar Summer basketball tournament, then used his home-state connections to join Carmen’s Crew, the Ohio State alumni team, where he was a key cog in two title wins that earned him claimed a share of $3 million in prize money.  Gibbs was a fan favorite throughout and a great story for announcers to tell - the little guy from Division III who out-rebounded everyone and played in Japan well into his 40s.

Last season, Gibbs commuted to Japan, splitting a few weeks as a coach and a few back in Ohio to see his girls play basketball and softball.  The injuries piled up for his Japanese team towards the end of the season, so he put the uniform back on for a couple of months.

 

The legend of Jeff Gibbs may never end.  King Kazu - Kazuyoshi Miura - plays pro soccer in Japan for the Fukushima United at age 59. I didn’t ask if they knew each other.  There’s talk of coaching or maybe being an agent, helping another generation of underappreciated players navigate their pro careers.

 

Gibbs is slowing down a bit, though.  Not on the court. He led the Otterbein alumni team to its first ever win against the current varsity roster. That was also the first time Gibbs was home to play in the game. But he’s looking forward to being present for things he’s missed off playing the game.

 

“This - the Small College Hall of Fame - is going to be the first award I’ve received where I’m able to accept it in person,” he says with a huge smile. “I’m really looking forward to it.”