After tragic loss, Leland player tackles 'life stuff' head-on.

JORDAN GIBSON takes a brief break from
physics class at Leland High School. Gibson,
whose father died nearly a year ago, helped
lead the Comets to a berth in the Class D
quarterfinals this season.

Flash back ten years ago, to just about any Sunday in the Leland gym with 20 or so guys huffing and puffing themselves through an afternoon workout.

One of the rare players exempt from huffing is Josh Cracker, a fairly recent Leland High School graduate. Unbridled from the restraints of high school basketball competition — taking low percentage shots won’t land you on the bench in a Sunday pick-up game — Craker scores in ways difficult to believe for a small-town player on an average team.

Twenty-four foot jumper. Good. No-look flip. Swish, and two.

And there on the sideline, dribbling a basketball as he has since graduating from a stroller, is Craker’s younger brother, Jordan Gibson. Although Jordan is the son of Ellen and Gerald Gibson, on this day he is clearly his older brother’s son, taking in every move, every shot like a student who is being given the answers to a test he has yet to take.

“I’ve always loved playing basketball,” said Jordan Gibson. “My older brother got me started when I was young. He picked me up and let me dunk it in a (toy) basket.”

Gibson is coming early and staying late for the weekly pick-up games, hoping to be the 10th player before or after the majority of guys fill the gym. On occasion he gets a chance to play, even if just catching the ball presents a challenge.

Now let’s go back five years ago.

Jordan Gibson is in the seventh grade, and already is not the last player chosen for Sunday pick-up games. He’s been practicing his shot every day, and given an opening can get it off and score even against taller players. As a team manager for the Leland varsity basketball team the previous year, he kept up what has grown into a routine — arrive early for practice, leave late.

Basketball is firmly embedded in his daily routine.

Going back one year is painful for Jordan.

He will always remember March 24, 2007, as the day his father took his own life. As a junior in high school and already captain of the basketball team, Jordan faced a tragic event that will forever be a part of him. Through no fault of his own, he stared at two paths. One led up, the other down.

“He chose the path that everyone wanted him to take,” said Jason Stowe, Leland elementary teacher, basketball coach and Jordan’s second cousin. “He has grown from a good basketball player to a fine young man in one year.”

Far from shrinking from life, Gibson took his father’s death as a challenge to accomplish more — and then did just that.

Gibson, now in a beefy 6-foot-1 frame, recently helped lead Leland to a 21-5 overall record in basketball and a berth in the quarterfinals of the state Class D tournament.

During the regular season he averaged 13 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists a game. He shot an amazing 40 percent from behind the 3-point line, his specialty, even though other teams placed one of their best and tallest defenders on him.

“It made me more determined,” said Gibson of his father’s death. “When something like that happens that is a big event, it makes me want more to succeed.”

Only a short walk through the halls of Leland School is needed to confirm that Stowe’s opinion is not clouded by being Gibson’s relative or coach.

Leland librarian Paula Pryor is co-sponsor of the National Honor Society. Gibson, as a leader in his class with a 3.6 grade point average, is a member.

“He’s a great kid,” said Pryor, adding the words “reliable, compassionate and involved” to describe Gibson. “He’s always the first kid to volunteer, and the last one to leave for all our fund-raising events.”

Leland superintendant Mike Hartigan offered the same assessment — “He’s a great kid” — before being asked the question.

Junior Eric Larsen, who started with Gibson at guard for the Comets, considers Gibson someone he would seek for advice. “He’s a person you would go to,” said Larsen.

Gibson knows how important it is to have someone close enough to share your innermost thoughts. His best friend is Marcus Whittaker, the leading scorer on the Comet basketball team.

“He was there when I took a couple weeks off and I hung out with him. I can always talk to him,” said Gibson.

It helped after his father’s death to know many people in the Leelanau community were ready to help, he added.

“A lot of people came up to me that I never knew existed and said I could talk to them if I wanted,” Gibson said.

One person has always been close to him, his brother Josh. Ellen Gibson explained Jordan’s relationship with Josh, her son from a previous marriage.

“I think Josh bought Jordan his first basketball hoop. I think Jordan was two. Of course, Josh just loved basketball, and wanted to give that to Jordan.”

Jordan reserved his time after basketball games to talk with Josh, first on the gymnasium floor as fans were still celebrating, and later that night on the phone. “That’s the first person he’d talk to. Josh is 14 years older than Jordan. He certainly took on a role he didn’t expect to have,” said Ellen Gibson.

And now Jordan Gibson has a new, although unspoken, role with his mother and 14-year-old brother, Calvin. “I don’t want to say he’s the man of the family because we’ve never talked about it. But he sort of is. He looks after us. He gets up early to do the snow plowing,” said Ellen Gibson, a secretary at Northport Public School.

Jordan and his father were close, said Ellen Gibson. Years ago three generations of Gibsons — Jordan, Gerald, and grandfather Lloyd Gibson — would join in woodworking in their shop in Leland, then share breakfast at the Early Bird. “Losing Gerry was a huge, huge thing. But Jordie, he’s been just a trooper. Jordan has really taken care of me,” she said.

The future looks bright for Jordan, who has been accepted by Central Michigan University, although he did not achieve one goal in high school. This summer while choosing a college to attend, Stowe traveled with Gibson as a surrogate father to several campuses in Michigan. While at Michigan State University, Stowe pulled into the parking lot at the Breslin Center, where the “Final Four” teams in the state tournament played last weekend.

Stowe asked Gibson if he wanted to go inside. Gibson still recalls his answer.

“I said, ‘No, we’ll be there in March playing in the Final Four,’” said Gibson.

Instead, it was Muskegon West Michigan Christian that advanced to the Breslin by defeating Leland in a quarterfinal match played before 1,900 fans last week at Traverse City West. The Warri0rs on Saturday claimed the Class D title.

“I thought we played hard. We just weren’t making our shots,” recalled Gibson. “I thought we had a good chance. Everyone who was associated with our team thought we could. I really thought we could.”

As the final seconds ticked off in the West Michigan Christian game and a career most prep players only dream about ended, Gibson’s thoughts drifted far away.

“I thought about my dad and wished he had been there. I know he was watching, and know he would have been there,” said Gibson.

Don’t write off Gibson’s basketball career yet. Not the quickest player or best athlete on the Comet squad, Gibson has excelled because of those long hours of practice and a sense for basketball that can only be attained through a constant stream of pick-up games. He plans to continue his hard work through the summer in hopes of walking onto the Chippewa program.

“If I don’t make it, I’ll play intramural. I’ll always play basketball,” said Gibson. “I play for fun. Some times if I’m having a bad day or I’m in a bad mood, I’ll go shoot. It’s a way to get away from normal life stuff.”

Jordan Gibson appears well on his way toward succeeding at “life stuff,” having already succeeded at basketball.