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From the Bench: A Friendship Forged in Football Continues Decades Later Between George, Gibson

By Jeff Toquinto on February 19, 2017 from Sports Blog via Connect-Bridgeport.com

It’s in the early 1990s and the setting is rural Gilmer County. There’s a pickup truck filled with young athletes, many in the back don’t know one another.
 
Understand, these athletes aren’t inside the pickup truck. Rather, they’re piled in the back of the truck like kids used to do when heading to get ice cream after a win in Little League.
 
The difference here is that these weren’t a bunch of 12-year-olds or pre-teens. Instead, these were college athletes – including plenty of freshmen – who were being introduced to the then Glenville State College transportation system at that time in order to get physicals so they could compete.
 
In the back of that truck were a pair of first-year players. Former Roosevelt-Wilson standout and current Bridgeport resident Chris George was one of them. The other was a youngster from an even smaller part of West Virginia – a freshman from Van High School named Tony Gibson.
 
Most locally know both names now. George went on to hold for some time the college football record for most receptions as a wide receiver. Gibson went on to coach all across the country and is today the defensive coordinator at West Virginia University.
 
For whatever reason, the two struck up a conversation in the back of that truck. It was also a chance for George to hurl his first not-fit-for-publication insult at what would end up being not only one of his best friends in college, but a dear friend that he confides with to this very day.
 
“That was kind of an odd beginning,” said George, who today is a successful worker in the pharmaceutical industry. “I can guarantee you there wasn’t a thought in the world of what we would be doing 25 years from now at that time. I don’t think we were thinking about what we would be doing beyond that day.”
 
Gibson remembers that day as well.
 
“I don’t remember the conversation we had, but that’s where we met; bunched together in the back of a truck,” said Gibson. “We’ve been friends ever since.”
 
Great friends, as a matter of fact. Shortly into that first year, the wide receiver who was considered not quite good enough to compete at the college level when walking on at West Virginia University in George and the defensive back at Van who was just too small and too slow to compete at the college level found similarities beyond the underdog tag that were compatible and the friendship took root.
 
“We ended up rooming together that second semester of my first year and we roomed together after that for years at Glenville,” said George. “What a great time. We didn’t worry about anything, had a good time playing ball and we sure weren’t planning out life.”
 
Certainly, no one planned things out knowing that during his senior year at GSC Tony Gibson would get married. He and his wife Kerry even had an early addition to the family – Chris George.
 
“I don’t know if he moved in with Kerry and I or she moved in with us,” joked Gibson. “His alarm clock was my wife ... My wife would have to wake him up every morning and every morning, just like a kid, he’d say 10 more minutes.”
 
For those that know George, they know that being in his presence is to be completely on-guard. He enjoys nothing more than getting under someone’s skin; to find something to pick at and try to make someone crack. George doesn’t deny it and, to this day, sees it as a badge of honor and something he reserves for those he cares about the most.
 
“If you’re not making fun of your friends to their face or trying to make them miserable as much as possible, then you’re not their friend,” George said with a laugh. “It’s not just me. Trust me, Gibby can give it out too.”
 
As it turned out, George’s onslaught of pranks, insults, and general chaos was a perfect training ground for Gibson as he would climb up the coaching ranks. From GSC, Cumberland University, West Virginia Tech to West Virginia University, Michigan, Pitt, Arizona and back to WVU, George’s well-known antics provided the type of barrier training all coaches need when coaching at a high level.
 
“Chris doing what he did helped me out as a coach. He just did a lot of stuff to get to you,” said Gibson. “One of the things he really enjoyed was scaring people. He’d hide under clothes, behind a tree or would be waiting for you when you walked into a house. There was always something with him.”
 
While the pair was developing a friendship, they were also developing a mutual respect for one another’s skill set. Both skill sets laid the foundation for a run under then Coach Rich Rodriguez that was the greatest in Glenville State football history.
 
“The first thing that struck me about Gibby was that he knew the Xs and Os better than anyone. (GSC Defensive Coordinator) Dean Hood was his mentor and he bought in to Dean’s dynamics of strategy,” said George. “The other thing that struck me was that he was a fighter, a complete fighter and no one was going to take what he earned.”
 
And that included his starting spot in the defensive backfield that he earned as a sophomore.
 
“He was undersized and had average speed. Every year they brought in someone to beat him out that was 6’2 and ran a 4.4 and Gibby would beat him out,” said George. “He had a bigger heart than everyone that was across from him. They knew it and the coaches knew it too and Gibby didn’t leave the field. You add to that a level of toughness that most people may not know about and you had a guy anyone would want on their team.”
 
Just how tough?
 
In 1993, when GSC had managed to go from a team that only a few years earlier had scored a total of 20 points in an entire season to the national championship game, Gibson proved to anyone that doubted what George already knew.
 
That 1993 season, the Pioneers weren’t just good. They were good enough to play for the NAIA title and flew to Ada, Oklahoma where they would battle East Central Oklahoma on their home field. GSC would fall by a 49-35 score that year, but there was more than just pain on the scoreboard.
 
“Gibby broke his arm in the first half of the game, taped it up and finished it. No one really knew how bad it was until we sat on the runway after the game for two hours while he was having surgery,” said George. “I found out later it was completely broke to the point that they had to do surgery and put pins in his arm. He had put too much work in to not finish it out. That told me what I already know and that he was all heart on the football field.”
 
While George remembers his friend’s toughness, Gibson recalls the ability of George on the football field. He said then, and especially today, it was definitely major college talent.
 
“He’s as good as anyone I’ve coached or coached against. The thing you first noticed was he didn’t have the size of a Calvin Johnson or blazing speed, but he was quick. He had incredible hands and he played the game the right way,” said Gibson. “I’ve been around top level programs for a while now and he could play anywhere. To catch that many balls at any level tells people you’re a special player.”
 
Incredibly, in his career George caught 430 passes for a massive 6,177 yards with 52 touchdown receptions. His 11.5 receptions and 160.8 yards receiving per game are still standards. In 1993, he caught a mind-numbing 144 passes for 2219 yards.
 
George said Gibson helped with those numbers. And he helped in a way that made George proud.
 
“I remember when I was playing and lined up and Gibby would stand even with the guy guarding me on the sideline and talk crap to him, heckle him; I mean he was just brutal,” said George. “He’d come up with a nickname for whoever it was and wouldn’t let up. Just about every game the guy guarding me would ask me to please tell him to shut up. You know you had the guy broke at that point. I loved it”
 
It wasn’t just on the football field where they grew to respect each other. George said Gibson was one of the most generous guys in college and remains so to this day.
 
“You have to understand there was nothing to do but hang out at Glenville. We’d get 20 guys in an apartment and just give each other a hard time. The thing with Gibby was if he was in that room and had a $20 bill that meant everyone had $20 because he was going to share it,” said George. “That’s not changed. Some people know the stuff he does to help out the area where he grew up, but there’s a lot of stuff people don’t see. I know what he does and it is part of how he grew up tough and persevered.”
 
Gibson said he learned giving from his mother and father. He learned compassion and wanting to help others through family and friends.
 
“A lot of people may not realize my father was a coal miner and my mother was a housewife and they ended up splitting up and I ended up staying with a lot of different people growing up. My brother took care of me, I stayed with family members in Van and stayed with my grandfather and so many others; too many people helped me out to name them all, but I owe each one of them,” said Gibson. “That’s where that comes from. You have a responsibility to give back and take care of others because others took care of me. When I got to college, guys like Chris became a big part of my support structure and helped mold me.”
 
Considering you had George, coaches like Dean Hood head butting players and splitting his head open long before Owen Schmitt did it, a wild and youthful Rich Rodriguez and so many other characters at Glenville during that run, some may question Gibson’s last statement. In all seriousness, despite the characters involved in Gibson’s college run, there was character involved with those individuals and that made all the difference to both as they began to feel their way out into what would be their professional lives.
 
“The thing with Chris was he was really positive and I could bounce things off of him and we even started talking about what we wanted to do. I knew I wanted to coach and he would always ask me why I would subject myself to that,” Gibson said. “I was pretty sure that was the path I was going to take and even though I thought Chris would make his money playing football, I knew whatever path he took would be a successful one. I’ve been right on that.”
 
Today, decades removed from where they once were at GSC, the two remain close friends. Although they don’t talk nearly as much due to living in different areas, having family commitments and jobs that take up the bulk of their time, they stay in touch as much as possible.
 
The beauty of it – nothing has changed.
 
“The thing for me now is to watch him on TV. I want to see him doing well, but it’s just as important for me to see an unflattering shot of him on the sideline, freeze the TV to get a photo and text it to him. I really love the ones where he looks big because I’ll say if the camera is supposed to add 10 pounds and ask him ‘are there 12 cameras on you.’ I see my job now, with all his success, is to bring him down to earth, said George. “You have to understand, though, he gives it out just as bad and has no trouble doing it.
 
“The thing is, I couldn’t be more proud or happy for him,” George continued. “He wasn’t given his success. He’s battled things growing up and later in life that very few know about. He’s earned his spot.”
 
The admiration was returned by Gibson, even as he recanted the last Chris George insult.
 
“Chris’ friendship is important to me on so many fronts. Whether we’ve done good or bad, I know I’m going to hear from him. He knows the times I’m in a dark place or pissed off and he’ll text me or call me to make me laugh and cheer me up,” said Gibson. “When I’m stressing and need a laugh, he’s there. He just got on me about not getting back with you (for this blog). He asked me if my wife put my cell phone on the dresser and was I unable to reach it.
 
“That’s the package with Chris. He’s always there to pull you up or bring you down in a good way,” Gibson continued. “He’s a friend for life. He’s one of my best friends and we’ll be that way until the day we die. You can’t put a value on that.”
 
George echoed a lot of those comments, and even managed to do so without hurling an insult or two. He said the thing that proves Gibson is legitimate is how he’s handled his success.
 
“The Tony Gibson you see today, that’s the same guy I met back at Glenville. He’s not changed and I don’t ever see him changing,” said George. “I don’t think I’ll change either, which may or may not be a good thing. The good news is that I know I can count on Gibby to be along for the rest of our ride.”
 
It’s a ride that started, in all places, in the back of an old pickup truck. And the ride is still going strong today.
 
Editor's Note: Top photo shows Chris George, left, and Tony Gibson on the sidelines during their run at Glenville State College, while the second photo shows the pair away from the field during their college days. In the third photo, the two are shown at a GSC awards banquet and in the fourth photo Gibson and George on Chris' wedding day to his wife Alicia. The bottom photo is a recent picture of George and Gibson at WVU. Photos courtesy of Chris George and Tony Gibson.


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