Two-Sport Creighton Star Bob Gibson Repeats as State's Best
7/26/2015 8:43:00 AM | Men's Basketball
"The steppingstone to the success I had as a professional was getting the opportunity to go to Creighton University" -- Bob Gibson
Nearly 40 years after his final Major League appearance in 1975, former Creighton and St. Louis Cardinals star Bob Gibson has added to his legacy. For the second time Gibson ranks atop the Omaha World-Herald's "Top 100" of the best athletes in state history, it was announced on Sunday after being updated from its original 2005 release.
To make the World-Herald's list, "an athlete had to embark down an athletic path in Nebraska during high school."
Born in Omaha in 1935, Gibson attended Omaha Tech High School before enrolling at Creighton.
He starred in both baseball and basketball with the Bluejays, and finished his college career in 1957 third with 1,272 career points (he's currently 21st). He remains in the top-five in CU history in free throws made (418), free throw attempts (575) and scoring average (20.19 ppg.). His baseball stats are Creighton have been lost to history and attempts to rebuild via old newspaper articles have been unsuccessful, though it should come as no surprise he was a star pitcher and outfielder while in college.
Gibson later became the first member of the Creighton Athletic Hall of Fame in 1968, joined the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame as an "Institutional Great" in 2005, and was part of the St. Louis Cardinals inaugural Hall of Fame class in 2014. His No. 45 was retired by the Creighton Basketball program, as well as the St. Louis Cardinals, as well. Gibson was also honored with a spot on Major League Baseball's All-Century Team in 1999.
Following his college career, Gibson spent a year with the Harlem Globetrotters famed basketball team before electing to play for the St. Louis Cardinals.
With the Cardinals, Gibson developed into one of the greatest pitchers of all-time and would become a first ballot Hall of Famer to Cooperstown in 1981. Gibson finished with 251 wins and 3,117 strikeouts. His 1.12 ERA in 1968 remains the best in the Majors in the last 100 years, helping win him National League MVP honors and the first of two Cy Young awards given annually to the best pitcher in each league. Gibson's nine Gold Gloves for defensive proficiency rank third all-time amongst pitchers, and he's also one of three men (joining Reggie Jackson and Sandy Koufax) to be World Series MVP twice.
Gibson is one of several honorees on the Top 100 who attended Creighton, which includes the likes of No. 13 Ike Mahoney and No. 65 Carl Vinciquerra.
Rounding out the top five behind Gibson were Gale Sayers, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Bob Boozer and Johnny Rodgers.
To view the complete list, visit http://dataomaha.com/nebraska100.
