by: tim adams bearcat insider

OLD SCHOOL BEARCAT
ANTONIO GIBSON
1981-1982
BY: TIM ADAMS
BEARCAT INSIDER
Antonio Gibson was an Associated Press two time honorable mention All American. He
was also a two time All Metro selection and was twice chosen as the Bearcat Outstanding
defensive back. In 1982, Antonio recorded four interceptions and returned them for 105
yards. That yardage is still good enough to rank 9th for interception return yardage in a
season. This excellent safety was a team captain in 1982 and played a major role in his
teams posting back-to-back 6-5 records for Mike Gottfried.
They accomplished this despite playing
tough schedules that included Penn State,
Pittsburgh, Florida State, South Carolina,
Alabama, and Miami of Florida. Gibson played three seasons in the U.S.F.L.
(United States Football League) and five
years as the starting safety for the New
Orleans Saints.
Antonio is one of only five football
Bearcats to receive All American mention
in two or more seasons. The others are
Gene Rossi in 1951 and 1952; Dick Goist
in 1953 and 1954; Jim O’Brien in 1968
and 1969; and Reggie Taylor in 1984,
1985, and 1986. All of them were no
higher than honorable mention selections, but all except Antonio are also
members of the University of Cincinnati’s Athletic Hall of Fame.
ule and were all excited so I decided to go
to Cincinnati. Coach Gottfried told me
I’d be the starting safety going into spring
practice, but it was up to me to keep the
position. That’s really all I needed.”
Ron Zook was Coach Gottfried’s defensive coordinator and defensive back coach
at Cincinnati despite being only 27 years
old, and Gibson loved Zook. “He was my
kind of guy. I learned a lot from Zook. I
tell people to this day, even when I was
playing in the N.F.L., the things that Ron
Zook taught me in college carried me
through the N.F.L. I never had a position
coach better than Ron Zook.”
Gottfried and Zook did a great job recruiting for that Wide Tackle Six defense. In
addition to Antonio, they brought in two
excellent junior college cornerbacks-Freddie Logan and Mark Stanford. Gibson had
a lot of praise for his teammates. “We all
came in and bonded on and off the field.
There were no egos. We were very humble
and had a lot of respect for each other. Our
relationship off the field helped us trust each
other on the field.”
Gibson was a 6’ 3”/201 pound safety
that could run and hit. Remember
this was back in 1981. To add some
perspective to Antonio’s size, George
Jamison was one of the outside defensive tackles on that squad who later had
a long career in the N.F.L. as a linebacker with the Detroit Lions. George was
6’ 2” and 215 pounds. Mike Brookins
was an All Metro linebacker on that
team, and Mike was 6’ 1” and 218
pounds. Gibson was simply physically
scary as a safety. “ I was very active for
my size, and safeties were supposed to
be hitters. But at Cincinnati with Ron
Zook, I learned to be a complete safety.
I wanted to control the game like Kenny
Easley did.”
This story actually starts in Jackson,
Mississippi where Antonio attended
Murrah High School. Antonio was a
big Mississippi State fan and wanted
badly to be a Bulldog, but a minor
injury during his senior season kept him
out of four games and Mississippi State
backed away from his recruitment.
Antonio initially attended Mississippi
Valley State in the summer but left
after a couple weeks to attend Hinds
Junior College in Mississippi. Gibson
explained his change of heart. “I just
mentally and spiritually felt that I could
play Division I ball, and Hinds was
only a few miles from Jackson and had
recruited me hard. I figured I could go
to Hinds, and if I stayed injury free, I
could then go to Mississippi State and
play Division I football.”
The plan was working because after
Antonio’s sophomore season at Hinds
he had an associate’s degree and quite
a bit of attention from Division IA
schools. “I was recruited by Nebraska,
Illinois and Cincinnati, but I also had offers from all the Mississippi schools like
Mississippi State, Southern Mississippi,
and Jackson State. I had been pretty loyal
to wanting to stay in Mississippi, but
after those two years at Hinds, I decided
I wanted to get out of Mississippi. Ron
Zook, now the head coach at Illinois,
recruited me hard for Murray State with
Mike Gottfried, but I wanted to go Division I so I was leaning to going to Illinois.
Then at the last minute they called me
from Cincinnati and showed me the sched-
So many safeties in other defenses can sit
in a zone and let it protect them, but in the
Wide Tackle Six, everyone in the secondary
is exposed.”
For those old enough to remember, Mike
Gottfried used the Wide Tackle Six defense, which utilized only three defensive
backs. Since Antonio was the only safety,
he often had to cover receivers man-toman. The experience proved to be very
helpful for his future. “When they were
recruiting me they told me the safety was
very active against the run and the pass.
The free safety had to play a lot of man-toman defense, and it forced me to work on
my technique and learn to back pedal. It
definitely helped me prepare for the pros.
In 1981, Antonio started his Bearcat
career with a devastating 19-13 home
loss to Division IAA Youngstown State.
That was followed by a 52-0 beating at
the hands of #3 ranked Penn State and
a 38-7 loss to Dan Marino and #4 Pitt.
The Wide Tackle Six defense had given
up 109 points in three losses, but the
squad rebounded to win six of its final
eight games, and the defense allowed
only 78 more points, less than 10 points a
game, for the remainder of the season.
The following year, the Bearcats got
revenge against Youngstown State by
beating the Penguins 52-3, and four of
Cincinnati’s five loses came on the road to
#10 Florida State, South Carolina, #17 Alabama, and Miami of Florida. The Miami
of Florida loss was most memorable at the
end of the year. Miami and Bernie Kosar
would win the national championship the
very next season, but on that day Miami
avoided an upset in the final seconds and
escaped with a 19-13 win over UC.
When Antonio thinks back on his years
at UC, he has only fond memories. “I
truly enjoyed my years there, but I haven’t
been back lately. I’ve been talking to Don
Goodman, and I’m going to try and get
back this fall. I also want to attend the
spring game celebration they have each
year. It was a time in my life that started
defining what I would eventually become
as an athlete and a person.” Antonio and
some of his other teammates, including
George Jamison, are expected to attend
Saturday’s homecoming game against
Syracuse.
Antonio left Cincinnati with an associate degree in business management, but
he is currently working on getting his
bachelor’s degree from Cal University in
Santa Ana. He expects to graduate with
his bachelor’s degree next spring and will
then pursue a master‘s degree in health
care administration.
The only reason Gibson was not drafted
into the N.F.L. was because he had already
signed to play with the Philadelphis Stars
in the U.S.F.L. He played three seasons
with the Stars, and when the U.S.F.L.
folded, Antonio signed as a free agent with
the New Orleans Saints. It was the obvious move since the Saints had just hired
Antonio’s U.S.F.L. coach-Jim Mora.
Today, Antonio is temporarily living with
in-laws in College Station , Texas. His
home in New Orleans sustained significant
damage after hurricane Katrina and is
being rebuilt. He and his wife Betty have
two daughters. Janae is 16 years old, and
Lenexa is 10. For the last decade, Antonio
had a recruiting and staffing service for
primarily construction companies, but he
also had a sports performing business on
the side. He helped high school athletes
and college athletes with their conditioning, skills, and preparation for the N.F.L.,
but since the hurricane, Antonio is attempting to expand his sports performing
business to a full time job. Presently, he is
in discussions with a sizable sports medicine group in Oklahoma about a merger.
If they merge, he will be more active in
recruiting college athletes that want to
prepare themselves for the N.F.L. combine
or free agent camps. This could also make
him a more frequent visitor to his alma
mater to recruit clients. You can visit his
website at antoniogibson.com.
For whatever reason, Cincinnati has not
yet seen fit to induct Antonio into its Hall
of Fame, but he was an inductee at Hinds
Junior College, which has sent dozens of
players to professional football. Hopefully, the powers that be at Cincinnati
will review Gibson’s career as a Bearcat
because he was one of the best defenders
to ever wear the black and red uniform.