The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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Sometimes, he likes to talk to strangers who don't know who he is and tell them about the legacy of success NC State's quarterbacks have had in professional football, even if they don't know it all started with him. They surely know about Philip Rivers, Russell Wilson, Mike Glennon, Jacoby Brissett and Ryan Finley. "I like to tell them about what NC State has done in the NFL," Gabriel said. The gym is a necessity, not a luxury for Gabriel. After 16 surger- ies (a half dozen of which were on one knees), a couple of strokes and a heart operation, Gabriel credits his frequent workouts through the years for saving his live several times now, allowing him to celebrate his 79th birthday back on Aug. 4. Surrounded by friends, including former NC State football coach Chuck Amato and teammate Claude "Hoot" Gibson, Gabriel cel- ebrated one more trip around the sun this past summer at his home in Little River, S.C., not too far from his hometown of Wilmington. The affair was relatively subdued. As he said in an interview a few years back, "My doctor told me if you live a boring life, you will live longer. My life is very boring right now, but I'm satisfied." Roman Ildonzo Gabriel Jr., a product of New Hanover High School, is one of North Carolina's greatest sports treasures, some- one who was hardly boring the first three-quarters of his life. The son of a Filipino immigrant father who worked as a railroad cook and an Irish mother who stayed rooted at the family's home in Wilmington, the tall and muscular specimen was a three-sport star in high school, who went on to become a legend in Raleigh, the toast of Hollywood and the pride of Philadelphia. He spent time at NC State playing three sports as well, though he had to cut back some after his freshman year to be able to maintain his grades well enough to become a 1961 Academic All-American. So, after one season of freshman basketball for basketball coach Ev- erett Case, Gabriel dropped the sport to concentrate on being foot- ball coach Earle Edwards' starting quarterback and baseball coach Vic Sorrell's starting first baseman. (Few people even remember that Gabriel led Wolfpack baseball in home runs and RBI as a junior.) At the time, Edwards liked throwing multiple offenses — the split-T, the single-wing, the belly option — at opposing defenses, not the football to his split ends. "We didn't try to throw it too much," Gabriel recalled. "That's not what college football was about back then. Anything in the air created chaos, and Earle didn't like chaos." Before Gabriel, only one NC State quarterback had ever thrown two touchdown passes in a game (Eddie Green vs. Villanova in 1955). Gabriel did it three times in his debut season of 1959. His numbers in the season-finale free-for-all against Maryland were outrageously unapproachable. He completed 23 of his 38 passes for 279 passing yards, all NC State and ACC records at the time. Gabriel established himself as the gunslinging quarterback of the future while at NC State, but the Wolfpack was rarely successful. Only once in his three years as a starter did the team have a win- ning record, the 6-3-1 mark it posted in 1960. However, the 6-5, 230-pound Gabriel, the biggest player on the Wolfpack team, was a two-time ACC Player of the Year and a two-time All-American. He ushered in the most successful decade in NC State football history. While Gabriel's squad never played in a bowl game or fin- ished higher than second in the league standings, the Wolfpack won four ACC titles in the seven years after he graduated. The two professional leagues took notice of his ground-breaking combination of size and mobility. The AFL's Oakland Raiders took Gabriel with the No. 1 pick of the 1962 American Football League draft. A few weeks later, the Los Angeles Rams took him with the No. 2 pick of the National Football League draft, one spot behind future roommate Merlin Olsen. Like Rivers, Gabriel had to wait his turn to be a successful NFL quarterback, out-lasting other talented players to earn the Rams' starting job. At first, he looked to be the successor to Zeke Brat- kowski. But the next year, the Rams used its No. 1 overall pick to take dual-sport star Terry Baker, who was Oregon State's starting point guard at the 1963 Final Four and the Beavers' Heisman Tro- phy-winning quarterback. He lasted two years in the NFL, before the Rams tried one more highly decorated college quarterback, Tulsa's Billy Guy Anderson, who set NCAA and Southwestern Conference passing records. One Of The Best Ever Quarterback Roman Gabriel Was The ACC Player Of The Year Twice, A Two-Time All-American And The 1969 NFL MVP Roman Gabriel Football and baseball (1959-61) Age: 79 Living: Little River, S.C. Occupation: Retired Did You Know? Gabriel, whose No. 18 jersey was retried by NC State following his senior season, is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, College Football Hall of Fame, the NC State Athletic Hall of Fame and the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, and is a strong candidate to be selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame during the 100th anniversary of the NFL. If chosen, he would become the first former NC State player to earn the honor. JANUARY 2020 ■ 29