Jerry Dean "Jake" Gibbs (born November 7, 1938) is a former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

player who played for the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one ...

as a platoon

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the cat ...

from 1962 to 1971. Although Gibbs was the regular starting catcher for New York in 1967 and 1968, he was primarily a back-up for

Elston Howard Elston Gene Howard (February 23, 1929 – December 14, 1980) was an American professional baseball player who was a catcher and a left fielder. During a 14-year baseball career, he played in the Negro leagues and Major League Baseball from 1948 t ...

and then Thurman Munson at the tail-end of his career. Prior to beginning his professional baseball career, Gibbs had successful careers in

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

and

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

at the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi ( byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment ...

(Ole Miss) for the

Ole Miss Rebels The Ole Miss Rebels are the 18 men's and women's intercollegiate athletic teams that are funded by and represent the University of Mississippi, located in Oxford. The first was the football team, which began play in 1893. Originally known as ...

. He was also a member of the

Pi Kappa Alpha Pi Kappa Alpha (), commonly known as PIKE, is a college fraternity founded at the University of Virginia in 1868. The fraternity has over 225 chapters and colonies across the United States and abroad with over 15,500 undergraduate members over 3 ...

(PIKE) Fraternity. He returned to Ole Miss to coach the baseball and football teams.

Amateur career

Gibbs attended the University of Mississippi, where he played

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Am ...

for the

Ole Miss Rebels football The Ole Miss Rebels football program represents the University of Mississippi, also known as "Ole Miss". The Rebels compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Western Division ...

team, and also played for the

Ole Miss Rebels baseball The Ole Miss Rebels baseball team represents the University of Mississippi in NCAA Division I college baseball. The team participates in the West Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). They are currently coached by Mike Bianco and pla ...

team. Both teams compete in the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

(SEC). Gibbs led the Rebels to their first SEC baseball championship in 1959. During his junior football season, Gibbs was best remembered for punting the ball to

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 n ...

All-American

Billy Cannon William Abb Cannon (August 2, 1937 – May 20, 2018) was an American football Halfback (American football), halfback, Fullback (American football), fullback and tight end who played professionally in the American Football League (AFL) and Nati ...

in a Halloween Night game at Tiger Stadium. On a third-and-19 with 10 minutes remaining, and the third-ranked Rebels ahead of defending national champion and top-ranked LSU 3-0, Cannon picked up the ball on one bounce at his own 11-yard line and raced past the Rebel coverage unit, including Gibbs, 89 yards for the game's only touchdown. The play helped Cannon win the 1959

Heisman Memorial Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...

. The 7-3 loss cost Ole Miss a chance at the wire service national championships, since those polls were voted upon at the time prior to bowl games and did not take into account Ole Miss' 21-0 humiliation of LSU in the

1960 Sugar Bowl The 1960 Sugar Bowl to the featured the second-ranked Ole Miss Rebels, and the third ranked LSU Tigers. LSU was the defending national champion, playing in its home state, but faced a rematch of a tough 7–3 win in a regular season game. After a ...

, 62 days after the teams played in Baton Rouge. During his senior year at Mississippi, Gibbs led the football team to a 10–0–1 record, with the lone blemish a 6-6 deadlock against an inferior LSU squad (the Tigers went 5-4-1 after winning 20 of 22 games in 1958 and 1959) at

Oxford, Mississippi Oxford is a city and college town in the U.S. state of Mississippi. Oxford lies 75 miles (121 km) south-southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, and is the county seat of Lafayette County. Founded in 1837, it was named after the British city of Ox ...

. The Rebels won the

1961 Sugar Bowl The 1961 Sugar Bowl featured the second-ranked Ole Miss Rebels and the unranked Rice Owls. After winning the game, the Rebels were named national champion by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), although Minnesota was the pick of A ...

, defeating the Rice Owls football team 14-6, as Gibbs scored both touchdowns. The Rebels were recognized as

national champions National champions are corporations which are technically private businesses but due to governmental policy are ceded a dominant position in a national economy. In this system, these large organizations are expected not only to seek profit but als ...

by the

Football Writers Association of America The Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) is an organization of college football media members in the United States founded in 1941. It is composed of approximately 1,200 professional sports writers from both print and Internet media out ...

. Gibbs was named to the 1960 College Football All-America Team. That year, he was also named SEC Player of the Year.

Professional career

Gibbs decided instead to go professional in baseball despite being drafted by the

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 a ...

of the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

and

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conferenc ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

in 1961. Gibbs signed with the

in 1961, receiving a $100,000

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

under the bonus rule. Gibbs signed as a

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system u ...

and

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists wh ...

. He began his professional career with the Richmond Virginians of the

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ( ...

; he recorded five hits in a double header in his professional debut and started his career with an eight-game

hitting streak In baseball, a hitting streak is the number of consecutive official games in which a player appears and gets at least one base hit. According to the Official Baseball Rules, such a streak is not necessarily ended when a player has at least 1 pla ...

. The Yankees

optioned In the film industry, an option is a contractual agreement pertaining to film rights between a potential film producer (such as a movie studio, a production company, or an individual) and the author of source material, such as a book, play, or s ...

him to Richmond in 1962, but his season was limited by injuries. The Yankees asked Gibbs to switch to

in 1963. Gibbs spent the 1963 season with the Virginians, before the Yankees promoted him again in September. Gibbs spent his four first professional seasons in minor league baseball, where his highest season batting average was .284 and he managed to hit 28

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s across the four seasons. With

Yogi Berra Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra (May 12, 1925 – September 22, 2015) was an American professional baseball catcher who later took on the roles of manager and coach. He played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) (1946–1963, 1965), all but t ...

's retirement before the 1964 season, Gibbs competed for a spot on the Yankees' roster. He was unable to appear in the

1964 World Series The 1964 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1964 season. The 61st edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff that matched the National League champion St. Louis Cardinals against the Amer ...

due to broken fingers. He also missed the end of the 1966 season after suffering a broken left hand. Gibbs backed up

for a number of years. When the Yankees traded Howard during the 1967 season, Gibbs became the team's starting catcher. He eventually lost the first-string job to Thurman Munson, but continued as a back-up with the team. In June 1971, he announced his retirement from baseball, effective at the end of the season. He played his final game on September 29, 1971.

Coaching career

Gibbs returned to Ole Miss as an assistant football coach in 1965, working during the Yankees' offseason. In this role, Gibbs mentored Heisman Trophy finalist quarterback

Archie Manning Elisha Archibald Manning III (born May 19, 1949) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily with the New Orleans Saints. He played for the Saints from 1971 to 1982 and al ...

. After the 1971 season, Gibbs returned to Ole Miss full-time as a baseball coach and football recruiter. In 1972, he coached Ole Miss to the SEC championship. The team set an SEC record for consecutive conference wins, and went to Omaha for the 1972 College World Series (CWS), and Gibbs was named coach of the year. Gibbs was named coach of the year again in 1977. Gibbs retired in 1990 with 485 wins, more than any coach in Ole Miss history, though this was later surpassed on March 9, 2013, by Mike Bianco. Gibbs returned to the Yankees' organization in 1993 as the team's

bullpen catcher The bullpen catcher is a member of a baseball team's staff, often a former professional player, who catches the ball for relief pitchers warming up before entering a game and starting pitchers before games. A bullpen catcher differentiates from a ...

. In 1994 and 1995, Gibbs managed the

Tampa Yankees Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough ...

, the Yankees'

Class A-Advanced High-A (officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing) is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A and Double-A, and abov ...

affiliate in the

Florida State League The Florida State League (FSL) is a Minor League Baseball league based in the state of Florida. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A followi ...

Honors

On February 15, 2020 Gibb's baseball number, 41, was retired in a ceremony prior to the Ole Miss baseball game vs Louisville. In 1995, Gibbs was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vo ...

. He appeared at the Yankees'

Old-Timers' Day Old-Timers' Day (or Old-Timers' Game) refers to a tradition in Major League Baseball where a team devotes the early afternoon preceding a weekend game to honor retired players who played for the organization during their careers. The retired play ...

in 2012.

References

External links