Former Classical football and track star Gibson now an athletic director

Considering the role sports played in Karim Gibson’s life as a young man, it should come as no surprise that 20 years after wrapping up a stellar football and track career at Lynn Classical High School, he’s still involved in athletics.Gibson is the new athletic director and a health and wellness teacher at Community Charter School of Cambridge (CCSC) and the fact that he’s come full circle doesn’t escape him. Gibson played football at the University of Rhode Island on a full scholarship and now he’s in a role that gives him the opportunity to provide students the same sort of support he received in high school.Gibson, 37, was inducted into the Classical Hall of Fame last year both as a track star and a football star.He was a sophomore on the Rams’ 1992 spring track team that won the Class D Championship with only five runners ? Richard Valentine, Marlon Gore, Lex Thornton. Geoffrey Boyd, and Gibson. That year he ran the first leg of the relay, but over the next two years he turned into an all-conference hurdler. He also did the triple jump and the 100-meter dash.At URI he made his mark with football. He was a running back at Classical under coach Dave Dempsey, with Matt Durgin and Darryl Murkison also coaching. At the college level, Gibson was converted into a receiver. By the time he left URI, Gibson was the 10th receiver in school history to catch 100 passes and had the eighth-longest touchdown reception, at 84 yards.”(The Classical coaches) pushed me and paved the way for me to get a college scholarship,”‘ Gibson said. “Football opened a lot of doors for me.”Although the college football experience only lasted four years, the education he received led to a career in education. After graduating from URI, he went on to earn his master’s degree in education as well as a certificate of advanced graduate studies (CAGS).Gibson started his teaching career in the Randolph public schools, and also worked in the Boston public schools and at the Smith Leadership Academy (now the Davis Leadership Academy). During many of the years he was teaching he was also coaching track and field or football.Gibson, who lives in Boston, took some time off last year after the birth of his first child, a son Ilyas, with his wife Alberte. His parents, Llewnella and Ian Gibson — who immigrated from Trinidad and Tobego before Gibson was born — still live in Lynn.He’s returned to education this fall, now at CCSC, which serves 360 students in grades 6-12. Gibson is proud of the strides the school has made in encouraging students, some with no athletic experience, to get involved. He said this fall there are more than 100 students — more than 25 percent of the school’s enrollment — playing a sport. That mark is the highest in the school’s 10-year history.As athletic director at CCSC, Gibson oversees many sports for both boys and girls in the middle and high schools — soccer, cross country, volleyball, basketball, track and field, baseball, softball, lacrosse, and cheerleading.In 2011 he started a charter middle school track and field league which includes 15 schools from Boston, Cambridge, East Boston, Salem, Marblehead, and Hanover.Gibson said there are a few things he stresses as an athletic director. The first is to understand the signs of a concussion, the second is safety, and the third is sportsmanship — playing the game fairly and with integrity.Gibson has spent a large portion of his teaching career in various charter schools and he enjoys the environment.”We have very dedicated teachers,” he said. “We start the day at 7:30 a.m. and we’re out at 4, but I see teachers leaving at 6 or 7:00. The dedication of the teachers is remarkable.”Gibson said he likes the structure and discipline of the charter school and the fact the schools can create from within as long as they stay in line with the Department of Education.”I’m happy now,” he said. “I’m in a good place, doing what I want to do.”