Around the ’Bein.
Gibbs Scores a Championship in the Off-Season
Gibbs plays professionally overseas in Japan.
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Wherever Jeff Gibbs ’02 goes, championships seem to follow. Gibbs, who led Otterbein to the NCAA Division III men’s basketball championship in 2002, chalked up another title last summer; this time helping lead Carmen’s Crew (comprised of former Ohio State University players) to The Basketball Tournament (TBT) championship this past summer. The TBT, in its sixth year, is a single-elimination tournament held each summer and broadcast by ESPN. This year’s tournament featured 64 teams with a winner-take-all cash prize of $2 million. Gibbs scored 11 points, all in the second half, and grabbed five rebounds in the 66-60 victory over the Golden Eagles, a team of former Marquette University players, in the championship game held Aug. 6, 2019, at Wintrust Arena in Chicago. The 6-1 power forward, who plays much bigger than his size, started all six games for Carmen’s Crew and played fearlessly. “Some of the guys we played against didn’t know who I was,” said Gibbs, who was a late addition to the team. “A couple of games, they put guards on me. I just posted them. They had to
OTTERBEIN TOWERS FALL/WINTER 2019
switch and put a big guy on me.” Gibbs, a two-sport All-American in football and basketball, graduated as Otterbein’s all-time leading rebounder (1,496) and ranked fifth on the all-time scoring list (1,924). In football, the tight end finished his career holding records for most touchdowns (29), most receiving yards (2,476) and ranked second in receptions (162). Following Otterbein, Gibbs focused in on making it into the NFL, getting tryouts with the Chicago Bears and Atlanta Falcons. “They told me what everyone’s told me my whole life,” Gibbs said to a Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch reporter the day after winning the TBT. “Great hands, great speed, great route running, but you’re just a little too short.” So it was back to basketball for Gibbs, who found a home playing professional basketball in Europe and Japan. Gibbs, in the midst of his 16th season overseas, played his first six years in Germany, where he was known as “Mr. Incredible,” and the last 10 years in Japan, earning championships and all-star honors in both countries. The 39-year-old Gibbs plans to play one more season after this and then retire from professional basketball. Gibbs, who has four children ranging in age from five to 15, plans to come home and get into coaching, preferably at the collegiate level, after he leaves basketball. “Honestly, my dream would be to come back to Otterbein and be the head coach,” Gibbs said. “I’ll be busy when I retire, watching all my kids play sports.”◆
