Dec. 1, 2005
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH - Roman Gabriel came to NC State to be a star - in football, in basketball and in baseball.
More than four decades later, Gabriel is still known as one of the greatest players in the history of ACC football, even if most people don't remember that he came from Wilmington, NC, to play basketball for Everett Case and baseball for Vic Sorrell as much as he did to be a two-way player for football coach Earle Edwards.
In fact, three coaches showed up for Gabriel's in-home recruiting visit with his parents: Sorrell, football defensive coordinator Al Michaels and basketball freshman coach Lee Terrell.
It made for a crowded living room.
Then again, there were so many schools that wanted Gabriel to play football for them - he remembers getting 72 offers - it took an army of Wolfpack coaches to lure the hulking 6-foot-4, 200-pound quarterback to NC State, which had little success on the gridiron during that era.
"One of the main reasons I went to NC State, other than to get a fine education, is that I did not know at the time which sport I liked the best," said Gabriel, who will represent NC State this weekend in the inaugural class of Football Legends at the ACC Championship Game in Jacksonville, Fla. "I played all three and North Carolina State was one of the few schools that would allow me to play my freshman year, as long as I could keep my grades up."
So when Gabriel came for his on-campus visit, he went to a pair of basketball games at Reynolds Coliseum to see Case's nationally prominent basketball team play, and never stepped foot in the Wolfpack's football home at the time, Riddick Stadium. That was by design, considering the dilapidated condition of the Wolfpack's former home.
In the end, however, Gabriel only played one year of freshman basketball in Case's basketball program. He spent three years playing baseball, leading the team in RBIs and home runs as a junior, but missed his senior season because he signed a professional football contract with the Los Angeles Rams after becoming a two-time All-America quarterback for Edwards' football team.
"The decision was made for me," Gabriel said. "I found out that college life was much more difficult than high school. After my freshman year, I was teetering on not being eligible. I decided I had to drop one and the most logical one to drop was basketball, which is the one I liked as well as anything."
Roman Idelfonzo Gabriel Jr. - son of a Philippines-born fry cook and a mother from West Virginia - eventually became a first-team Academic All-America, adding to the long list of awards he won in his Wolfpack career. He was the first player to ever win back-to-back ACC Player of the Year Awards, was the 1961 winner of the McKelvin Award as the ACC's top athlete and was a multiple All-America.
With his size, Gabriel resembled a modern-day quarterback, even if his record-breaking numbers back then don't come close to what current quarterbacks throw for on a regular basis. In his three-year career, Gabriel threw for 2,951 yards and 19 touchdowns during an era when throwing more than a dozen times a game was rare. By comparison, Philip Rivers threw for more than 3,000 yards and had a least 20 touchdown passes three of his four seasons with the Wolfpack.
At the time, however, the "Bashful Bomber" did unheard of things, like completing 23 of his 28 passes in a game against Maryland. He set the ACC record for touchdown responsibility with 32 in his career. Once against Duke, game film showed that he chucked a desperation pass 78 yards in the air - only to see it intercepted by a Blue Devil defender.
Wolfpack fans of the time begged their star, who came from Wilmington's New Hanover High School shy and unassuming, to "Throw, Gabriel, throw!"
Former Duke All-America Ace Parker called Gabriel the next coming of Johnny Unitas and "the best college passer I have ever seen."
Gabriel was certainly a marvel, even if Wolfpack fans rarely got the chance to see him play. Because of the condition and small size of Riddick Stadium, NC State played only 11 home games in Gabriel's career. During one stretch at the end of his junior year and the beginning of this senior year, Gabriel and the Wolfpack played 10 consecutive road games, including trips UCLA, Arizona State, Wyoming and Alabama.
As a sophomore in 1959, Gabriel led the NCAA in completion percentage, hitting on 60.4 percent of his passes. As a junior, he was ranked eighth in the nation in total offense. As a senior, when Saturday Evening Post named Gabriel its national preseason player of the year, Gabriel earned first-team All-America honors.
"Gabe had a terrific impact on the football team," said Edwards in a 1987 interview. "He sent us in a new direction and much of it he had to do on his own because we didn't have the kind of supporting cast he deserved.
"He started us in the new direction and others followed."
All those frequent road trips didn't help the Wolfpack's won-loss record - State was 11-18-1 his three years as a starter - but they did help fund the athletics department and paved the way for the school to build Carter Stadium, which opened in 1966 at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds.
"Big Gabe" went on to a spectacular professional football career, after being selected as the No. 2 overall pick in the 1961 NFL draft by the Los Angeles Rams. He was also the No. 1 overall pick in the AFL draft by the Oakland Raiders. In 1969, he was named the NFL's Most Valuable Player and made four Pro Bowl appearances. He ended his 16-year professional career in 1977, following five years with the Philadelphia Eagles.
His list of honors include induction into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame (1971) and the National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame (1989).
And one of Gabriel's greatest honors did, in fact, happen at Reynolds Coliseum. On Jan. 20, 1962, his No. 18 football jersey was retired during halftime ceremonies of an NC State-Maryland basketball game.
Gabriel said he is proud to represent the Wolfpack this weekend. And the feeling is mutual.
"It's an honor to us for him to agree to come back and be our first ACC Legend," NC State athletics director Lee Fowler said. "He is one of the best names ever in college and pro football, and definitely at NC State.
"We are honored at NC State to have him available to do that."
For the 65-year-old Gabriel, who now lives in Little River, S.C., representing his school this weekend is just another highlight in an athletics, acting, coaching, broadcasting and fundraising career that goes back more than five decades.
"Well, you know, as long as I have been out of the game, it's nice to know that people still recognize what little I did during my college career," Gabriel said. "There are so many guys who could be there other than myself.
"The way I look at it, I am just a representative of all of us."
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
