Western Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame
Mel Gibson - Men's Basketball - (1960-63)
Mel Gibson was an all-star on Western Carolina's most heralded basketball team as he was a first-team Associated Press and NAIA All-American selection on the 1963 team that won its way to the NAIA National Championship Game. He ranks second on WCU's all-time scoring list and averaged over 20 points per game as a junior and senior leading the Catamounts to 49 wins. He was a key player on USA's gold medal team in the Pan American Games in Brazil in 1963 and was drafted in the second round by the Los Angles Lakers and played extensively as a rookie. He was a successful collegiate coach with 251 wins in 16 seasons at Baptist (SC) College and UNC Wilmington. Gibson had his #20 jersey retired at Western Carolina in the fall of 2005, with the ceremony to hang the jersey held on January 14, 2005.
