It’s been no ball for Gaebe

While Greater Spokane League boys basketball teams and athletes ponder what their upcoming seasons hold in store, Shadle Park senior Nick Gaebe is simply thankful for one last opportunity to compete.

Injuries to both knees left the once-promising three-sport athlete watching much of his varsity career from the sidelines.

Nick, son of Shadle boys basketball coach Tim Gaebe, showed enough talent that he suited up with the basketball varsity a bit as a freshman and was the team’s sixth-leading scorer his sophomore year.

“We had expected him to start for three years,” said his dad.

He was springy enough to approach 44 feet in the triple jump during track and field.

Then calamity struck.

In his first varsity football game as a junior, a non-league contest against Lakeside, Nick dislocated his knee cap and tore the medial collateral ligament in his left knee.

It didn’t require surgery, but he reinjured the knee in early December last year which basically kept him out of basketball until the final third of last season.

Forsaking track to save up for football, Nick was injured again. At football camp in June, he went up for a ball, came down wrong and tore the anterior cruciate ligament and MCL of his right knee. His senior grid season was over before it had started.

Nick couldn’t undergo ACL surgery until the medial ligament healed itself.

“He didn’t have surgery until the second week of July,” Tim Gaebe said.

Less than five months later, Nick is back on the basketball court and awaiting clearance to play as the Highlanders begin the season tonight against last year’s State 4A second-place finishing Central Valley Bears.

“I’m thinking if we can get him after Christmas that would be great,” said Tim. “It looks like now we will have him sooner.”

Shadle is one of at least three GSL teams – Ferris and CV are the others – with a realistic chance to win the league. Nick has worked to remain a part of a team that is a blend of experience and talented newcomers.

He’s also one of numerous athletes on several GSL teams, including CV’s Luke Clift, Lewis and Clark’s Mathew Henry-Proost and East Valley’s Emerson Fulton, who will come later to the GSL basketball party because of a variety of injuries.

“We discussed it and it was Nick’s decision that he was going to make a go of it with a brace and try to get through his senior year,” said his father. “I can’t believe the progress he’s made. He’s flying around and doing really well.”

Nick Gaebe relived the nightmare of his two injuries and discussed his reasons to play basketball as a senior.

The first mishap occurred while he was returning a punt.

“To tell you the truth, when I first got hurt I didn’t know much about knee injuries and didn’t know how serious it was or think much about it,” Nick said.

When he realized his football season was over he undertook physical therapy to get ready for basketball. He started the year, but in the second game, wearing a brace, took a bump and dislocated his patella again.

“It was back to PT again for most of the rest of the season,” he said. “I thought we would have a pretty good year and wanted to be part of it, so it was disheartening.”

He said he didn’t think it would be a good idea to risk the leg in track. Not long after the end of the school season he tore up the other knee and lost not only his senior football year, but also summer basketball.

Watching his teammates play motivated him to accelerate therapy and he’s on target for an early return and hopefully to complete his senior season.

“Once I got hurt, I prioritized on basketball and focused on that,” he said. “Dad has been really good about telling me to come back when I’m ready and that is what I’ll do. As bad as I want to play, it’s not worth it to jump the gun.”

Nick said the GSL has lots of competitive teams, none that are obviously head and shoulders above the rest. A league championship is there for the taking, he continued, and he’s looking forward to Shadle’s giving it a try.

But there’s more to Nick Gaebe’s desire to play than worrying about league titles and state tournaments. This is his senior year, his last opportunity, and he’s taking nothing for granted.

“You take what happens and go forward,” he said. “I have to put everything that happened behind me and think about what I’ve got left.”