Chet Gabriel

Chet Gabriel was a giant on the basketball court while earning accolades during the early years of Kokomo High School basketball.
Standing 6-foot-8, Gabriel was considered a true big-man on the high school hardwood from 1937-1940. A four-year starter for the Wildkats, Gabriel led the squad to four sectional championships. The 1939 Wildkats finished 22-5 and won the North Central Conference title and the regional championship. His team followed that season with a 20-6 campaign his senior year, when Kokomo again won a regional title. Known for his rebounding during an era when those statistics were rarely kept, he earned all-NCC honors his junior and senior seasons and was named to the Indiana All-Star team in 1940.
He was at Seton Hall University for one season before joining the U.S. Army during World War II. In 1942, he joined former Kokomo teammates Carl Campbell and Norm Hankins as starters for the Blue Devils of Lawrence Tech University, a school in the northern suburbs of Detroit.