Guy Gibbs stood energetically in front of dozens of people on Tuesday, September 24th, sharing his life stories with Regis Jesuit High School students, faculty and fellow alumni in the Performing Arts Center. In the backdrop stood an old-fashioned football helmet and plaques that Gibbs had been awarded for his many achievements, which included his induction to the Colorado Sports Hall-of-Fame. The 85-year-old legend, class of ’47, spoke inspirationally on a myriad of subjects that moved his audience, while managing to deliver some jokes as well. He showed his love and appreciation for his alma mater, a school which helped him grow not only as a person, but as a man with and for others.

“Be nice to people and work hard,” Gibbs said in his speech, reminding us to ask ourselves, “Is the world a better place today because I was here?”

In his speech, Gibbs had two main statements that he thought summarized his life.

“(I am) the luckiest person who ever lived and the personification of being in the right place at the right time,” Gibbs said. Gibbs attributes obtaining his career to these two reasons, since he feels that his luck helped him become a high school teacher when he had never taught before in his life.

Gibbs attended Regis Jesuit from 1943-’47, returning to teach and coach from ’56-’84.

“I loved to come to school everyday,” Gibbs said about teaching at his alma mater. “The association with the teachers and the students was always really great.”

“I know that when I was going to come out here and do this little program, there were so many things that I’m not sure I could even scratch the surface on, both as a teacher, coach, faculty member, because the faculty members when I was here were wonderful,” Gibbs added. “You had the great, great times in the classroom and the teacher’s room. We’d probably miss behave just like kids would.”

Gibbs is mostly known at Regis Jesuit as a thoughtful, wise, kind and humble man who not only attended the school, but loved it so much he came back to teach and coach after graduating from Colorado College in 1951. He spent some time in the marine corps, and then left to become involved with the insurance business.

However, he discovered that he would be a lead candidate for the Regis Jesuit basketball coaching position, and he leaped on the opportunity, later becoming the coach of football and track and field. He wore many hats at Regis Jesuit, having stints as the Athletic Director, Dean of Students and as a college counselor. He went on to spend 26 years as an official for the Western Athletic Conference as well.

While at Regis Jesuit, his teams won at least half of their games in all but 2 seasons of his 1956-’84 coaching career as the coach of football, basketball and track and field. When he retired, Gibbs held the record for most wins by a Colorado coach, with an overall record of 473-156. He was known for being an inspiring coach who brought out the best in his players.

“I think the hardest part of coaching for me was we had probably the worst luck at the end of some basketball seasons, and, as a coach, you always remember the losses.” Gibbs said.

However, Gibbs did not lose often. He retired with a career 75.2% winning percentage.

“The people who get the most out of being an athlete are the ones who don’t start, the ones who have to come to practice everyday, persevere, be a part of a team, know that they’re helping the team be successful,” Gibbs said. “They get a lot out of it, because that’s the way life is.”

Gibbs credits his mentor and Regis Jesuit football, baseball and basketball coach Lou Kellogg for his innate gift to teach and coach his students and players with passion and pride.

“I can remember sitting in a classroom, thinking I would like Lou Kellogg’s job,” Gibbs said. “I always wanted to be Lou Kellogg.”

Gibbs has been described as an influential teacher and coach, and his impact is still being realized by his former students today.

“He understood young men in competition better than anyone I ever knew,” Simon Peter O’hanlon, class of 1965, said about his algebra teacher and basketball coach. “He understood exactly what he wanted done, and he knew he was very good at identifying players who could get it done for him.”

O’hanlon further described Gibbs, noting three words that embodied the legendary Regis Jesuit alum: wisdom, humility and vision.

“Winning the state title in 1964,” O’hanlon said when asked about his favorite Guy Gibbs memory. “In ’65, when I wasn’t able to play for the team, Guy allowed me to be a scout. And he listened to me as a I theorized how we needed to beat Mullen, who had a great basketball team. He went along with everything I suggested.”

Gibbs did not receive approval from all of his family members when he first decided to get into teaching and coaching. His mother did not respond well to her son going into such a occupation.

“(My mom) wasn’t proud of me, she was devastated,” Gibbs said. “She tried to talk to my fiancee at the time, saying don’t let him do that, he’ll be poor his whole life, and my wife said ‘I want him to do what he wants to do.’ So I think my mother finally reconciled the fact that it was probably okay.”

The decision to teach and coach paid off for Gibbs, who enjoyed every waking moment of getting up out of bed and going to Regis Jesuit to do what he loved every single day. Gibbs was gracious enough to enlighten Regis Jesuit with his presence everyday when he worked at the high school, and renewed this enlightenment for the school Wednesday.