Donovan Gibbs - Inducted 2025

(Born 1931. Died 2010.)

1949 Claremont High School/USD. Star running back who led Claremont to three straight unbeaten seasons to begin its national-record 61-game win streak for six-man football. In 1948 Claremont set another national record by scoring 608 points in a 10-game season and Gibbs likely set a national individual scoring record but game stats from all games were not available to determine that. He also starred in basketball and track. In 1949, he led the Honkers to an unbeaten regular season in basketball and he set the state record in the high hurdles and almost singlehandedly won the state track title for Claremont. Baseball may have been his best sport. In 1949, Claremont lost to Sioux Falls in the state Legion finals; Gibbs threw three no-hitters that year. He went to USD on a football scholarship but a severely broken leg in spring drills ended his football career. After recovering from the injury, he signed with the New York Yankees. In 1952 at Class D McAlester in the Sooner State League he was 17-8 and hit .277 as an outfielder in between his pitching starts. The next year he played briefly for Class C Joplin but an injury ended his career. He later played semi-pro baseball in Marshall, Minn., and also played SD amateur baseball before retiring in the early 1960s.