Tiger Wheelchair Basketball co-captain hopes bright season
John Gilbert took home the gold at the Parapan American Games, and a chance at the Paralympics could be in his future.
Published Sept. 7, 2007
When junior John Gilbert talks about basketball, he moves.
It's the fourth quarter, and his team is down. He wheels across the worn carpet, back and forth between the imaginary three-point line and its hoop, in the Brady Food Court as he reaches his hands up and curls his arms together.
And for a second in his story, it seems as though he might not score.
The story is a riveting one, and its plot is augmented only by Gilbert's energy as he lets the ball slip into the hoop. Three points. This is the part where the crowd cheered.
This is also the part where they won. Gilbert grins as he recounts the final score of the game his team played in Brazil: 52-50.
That final score against their Canadian rivals earned Gilbert and the 11 other members of the USA National Men's Wheelchair Basketball Team the gold medal at the 2007 Men's Parapan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil last month. It's a story Gilbert has told too to many times to count in the past few weeks, but it's a story he still smiles to remember.
"I wore my medal that night under my clothes in the dining hall, because it felt so good — solid gold," Gilbert said. "To listen to 'The Star-Spangled Banner' in Brazil is an amazing feeling. Knowing you're the best, there's nothing like it."
Gilbert's path to Brazil began in early April when the U.S. team's manager invited him to tryouts in Birmingham, Alabama. Over three days, the 36 hopefuls were weeded down to the top 12, and Gilbert, Tiger Wheelchair Basketball co-captain, became a rookie all over again.
"Learning the way of things took a lot of time," Gilbert said. "But by the third training camp, I was out there with everyone else."
During the games, the team had to restrict itself from scoring in order to keep its points below 100.
"With the exception of the last game, our win margin was 71.3," Gilbert said. "Some ridiculous number. We whooped people something awful, and there's no point in pounding people up that bad."
Thousands of fans attended the games, and when the teams scored, the floors shook.
"Not many people get the chance to play in front of a crowd like that," Gilbert said.
Gilbert's prospects for success on the court could continue even after his season with the MU team ends in November. In 2008, his future might include Beijing, as his gold medal qualified him to compete in the Paralympics. But he still remains modest.
"I don't like bragging on myself," Gilbert said.
But more than 10 years of being a team player have left their mark on him.
"My first priority, of course, is Tiger Wheelchair Basketball, but I will be training for Beijing tryouts the whole season," he said. "I'm going to train my keister off."
In the Parapan American Games, players are classified according to their levels of functional ability, which range from 1, the least functional, to 4.5, the most functional. Only 14 points are allowed on the floor at a time. Gilbert is ranked in the 1 range.
"(This international panel) asks you generic questions like 'How far can you feel?' and 'If you fall down, can you pick yourself up?'" he said.
Gilbert is not one to avoid difficult topics and talks openly about his past and his present.
"I've always been athletic," he said. "Before I was put in the wheelchair, I played baseball. When I was nine, I jumped off a swing and didn't land too well. I didn't know it, but I had a tumor on my spinal chord. My babysitter blamed herself for years, but she had nothing to do with it. No one did."
During Gilbert's landing, blood vessels in his back broke and inflamed the tumor, which burst and severed his spine. In the years since, he has had three surgeries, including one in which two titanium rods were fused to his vertebrae.
"I have a hardware store in my back," he said.
Gilbert tells the story like it is — nothing less, nothing more. His Parapan American Games backpack, a memento of his success, sits on the floor next to him, and as he looks at it, you can tell he is working toward a happy ending. In the past year, he's had many of them.
"A lot of people, when they get in a wheelchair, they get down and depressed, but there are a lot of opportunities," Gilbert said. "I have no regrets at all. You just got to work hard, and you can get anything you want. Nothing was handed to me."
Gilbert, a biology major, spends 20 hours a week working at the Student Recreational Complex, 15 hours in class and 10 hours a week at 7 a.m. practices.
"Sometime in there, I'm supposed to sleep," he said. "Which is what Red Bull is for."
When his cell phone rings, rap blares from its speakers. His room is littered with basketball mementos and Congressional letters and decorated with a Halo 3 poster his girlfriend bought him. He pre-ordered the game back in May, and he's already afraid he might have to miss some of his 15 class hours on its release date.
A poster of Michael Jordan also graces his wall. Gilbert has worn Jordan's number, 23, since he began playing, and, like his hero, Gilbert references a "love of the game" as the reason he keeps at it.
During a Thursday morning scrimmage, when wheels skid on the court, players remind each other to "get in the teacup," Gilbert's new offensive strategy.
"The biggest change I've seen in John is that he has a much better grasp of what it takes to succeed at a high level — all of those subtle things," Tiger Wheelchair Basketball coach Steve Paxton said. "His role as a leader is important to him. We're already so far ahead of last year as far as team chemistry goes that it's exciting to think where we'll end up."
Gilbert has been a part of Tiger Wheelchair Basketball since its inception three years ago.
"Since our program is so new, his success has drawn attention to us in a really good way," freshman Andrew Tucker said. "Even though we're a young team, our players can accomplish huge things. We all really look up to John now."
About halfway through the season last year, the team was pretty down. The team let a few games get away, something Gilbert has no intention of repeating this season.
"We played more of a defensive game here last year," Gilbert said. "And the U.S. team was definitely more offensive, which is what I'm trying to bring back here, because it works. Our biggest rival before was Oklahoma State, but they won't be this year if I have anything to do with it."
