With a Hispanic mother and an African-American father, Olympian High junior Dre Gibson enjoys the best of both worlds.

 “The food is the great part about it. You go to my grand-mother’s house on my Dad’s side and she will be cooking some kind of soul food. On my mom’s side we’ll have enchiladas and stuff like that. The whole experience of seeing both sides of my culture and heritage is nice. I have learned what both sides have been through. I am proud to be a part of both cultures,” Gibson said.

 Fortunately, those cultures have been preserved.

 “Both my mom and my grandmother spoke Spanish to me when I was little so I can still understand it pretty well, but I can’t really hold a great conversation in Spanish,” Gibson said.

 At Olympian High the diminutive 5’6” running back is a very big part of the school’s budding football culture. During his sterling sophomore season Gibson rushed for nearly 1,000 yards while leading the Eagles to a 6-4 season good enough for third place in the South Bay League. This year he is hungry for more yards, more wins and a higher finish. And he is not just dreaming about it, he has been spending much of his summer pumping iron in the weight room.

 “This year, I hope to make First Team-All-League and I am shooting for about 1,500 yards. I just want to play my best and we’ll see what I can do.”

 His coach, Mike Hulin, thinks that Gibson will be doing quite a bit for the Eagles this season.

 “We don’t want to put too much pressure on him, but we are expecting great things from him. We expect Dre will make a lot of big plays for us,” said Hulin. “He’s in the weight room just about every day. He ran track in the spring so he has gotten a little faster. That track speed translates well out on to the football field, so we are expecting that when he sees an opening, he will take it to the house. Once he gets into the clear there are very few players here in the South Bay that will be able to run him down.” 

 Likewise, there are very few students that can keep pace with him in the classroom. Gibson is sporting a 3.8 G.P.A. and hopes to study engineering or marine biology once he enrolls in college. On the Gridiron he has one set of goals in the classroom he has others.

 “Academically, I hope that this semester will be the one where I get the 4.0. that I have been pushing for. (Just missing it) has been bugging me throughout my high school career. I am taking some A.P. classes this semester in order to get some more colleges and recruiters out here to take a look at me. I am interested in TCU, Arizona State, Utah and if I can get my grades up far enough, Cal-Berkley.”

 At 5’6” Gibson could be a bit small for Division I football, but he should definitely make an impact somewhere, but on the field and in the classroom.