Stats do not make the player. There's so much more.
Especially in basketball, where players can be recognized for not just their ability to fill up the points column, but for the gift of galvanizing teammates, leading, facilitating, and when necessary, taking the last shot.
Travis Galbreath, the Ardmoreite Boys Basketball Player of the Year, has all of those qualities, and more.
"His consistency, his ability to make players around him better," Ardmore coach Mark Wilson said of what separates Galbreath from other players. "He showed up in big games at the end of the year. He played his best basketball in the playoffs.
"He leads by example. He's not one of those guys you've got to worry about not being at practice or being late; his work ethic is really,
really good. All those things get kind of overlooked sometimes."
Galbreath's statistics could get overlooked too at first glance. He averaged a steady 11.3 points, 3.9 assists and 3.1 rebounds for the Tigers as a senior. But watch Galbreath as the defense tries to trap him on a double team. Keep an eye on him penetrating in traffic.
There's nary a bad pass. There's rarely a look of panic against bigger, longer or taller players. There's a sense of when to shoot and when to distribute.
Galbreath is a gamer.
"I learned that from my dad," Galbreath said of his father, Travis Galbreath Sr., who played basketball collegiately at Murray State and Pittsburg State (Kan.). "When he was coaching the guards, he said ‘Don't panic. When they come to double team, just play your game.'"
His love of the game, Galbreath Jr. says, has always been a natural thing. It's not something fueled by any outside influences, animosity or the more than 20 surgeries he's endured since his infancy.
Galbreath was born with a bilateral cleft lip and cleft pallet. Galbreath Sr., who is 6-foot-5, says that his son probably didn't reach his full growth potential because of times when he was an infant and he couldn't eat. Galbreath Sr. said his son had to be fed by syringe
until the age of 3.
"From a cleft lip, to open heart, to open air, he's had a little bit of everything," said Galbreath Sr., who also coached his son in baseball, basketball and football throughout his youth. "But he's never mentioned to me personally feeling lesser or having to prove anything."
"I play sports because I love it," Galbreath Jr. said. "Not to prove anyone wrong."
The son has continually played through pain and injury his entire career, as well as undergoing three surgeries since he's been in high school. But in three varsity seasons, Galbreath only missed one basketball game - in his sophomore season. It's no coincidence that the Tigers also made the state tournament all three seasons Galbreath started at point guard.
The ability to keep hitting the floor, the baseball diamond or the gridiron, no matter the circumstances, is something the three-sport star says he's proud of.
It's something Wilson said he's been thankful for, too.
"He's tough. His ankles gave him problems all three years," Wilson said. "But when it comes game time, he's always ready to tape it up and get out there.
"He's played hurt, he's played well hurt. That's not something a whole lot of kids will do these days."
Then again, not a lot of kids are Travis Galbreath.
Erik K. Horne
221-6522
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