The profound simplicity of Coach Gibson

Beloved Black Mountain teacher retires after 34 years

Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
June 10, 2022 

John Gibson, who is retiring after 34 years as a physical education teacher, enjoys a final field day with students of Black Mountain Primary and Elementary Schools, June 3. Photo courtesy of Rachel Sudnik

John Gibson is not a complicated man. He’s quick to smile, likes telling stories, loves to play music and enjoys seeing happiness on the faces of the people around him. 

“It’s still hard to believe I ended up being a teacher,” he said, June 7, to a classroom full of his peers, hours after the last child had left the building for the summer. As the beloved physical education teacher retires from a 34-year career at Black Mountain Primary and Elementary Schools, generations of community members are grateful he did. 

“Coach Gibson” bid an emotional farewell to the profession that brought him into the lives of nearly every child in Black Mountain since his arrival in 1988. It was a job he immediately came to love. 

Raised in Charlotte, Gibson’s family moved to Rowan County when he was a teenager. His first two encounters with the Swannanoa Valley evoked contrasting reactions. 

“I had never even heard of Black Mountain,” he said, recalling a bus trip from his senior year in high school. “I was a decent football player, and my coach arranged for me and my teammate to ride together to visit Western Carolina University to meet the coach and watch a game. 

“There was a bottleneck through Black Mountain, because they hadn’t finished the Richard Petty Bridge, yet,” Gibson continued. “Everything was covered with that highway dust, and there was a sign in front of the old Rug & Jug that said ‘Black Mountain, N.C.’ Everything was so gray, I said, out loud, ‘who would want to live in a place called Black Mountain?’”

His trip to WCU didn’t lead to a football career, but as he began considering his future in the months that followed, a Montreat-Anderson College (now Montreat College) banner caught his eye. He approached a smiling young woman standing at the booth. 

“Her name was Martha Neville, and we are still friends to this day,” Gibson said. “She invited me and my track buddy to come up for a visitation weekend, and none of the other schools had done that. We came up, and fell in love with Montreat as soon as we drove through those gates. We’d never seen anything like it.”

John Gibson celebrates his final day at Black Mountain Elementary School with his co-workers, as the PE teacher retires after34 years with the school. Photo by Fred McCormick

Already an avid hiker, Gibson began exploring the nearby mountains and trails around the campus, and as he grew comfortable in his new home, a local woman named Ellen Begley invited him to a Sadie Hawkins dance. 

“I had seen her before, but I thought she was way out of my league,” he said. “We talked about how we weren’t going to get serious, but we fell in love and got married in 1981. We just celebrated 41 years.” 

The couple later moved east, as Ellen began her elementary education career and John completed his courses at Catawba College, but he knew his wife wanted to return to the mountains. 

“The year I graduated, Buncombe County hired eight new P.E. positions,” Gibson said. “This was our chance.”

His wife accepted a position at W.D. Williams Elementary School, where she would teach for 25 years, while Gibson dressed in a suit and tie for his interview with Jerry Green, who retired as principal of Black Mountain Primary in 2012. 

“It was an incredible opportunity just to be hired at this school,” Gibson said. “I fell in love with it, and this community. There’s not one day since that I’ve ever wanted to live anywhere else.”

Often unsure of himself as a student, the physical education teacher wanted to encourage kids to feel good about themselves. 

“When I got to school and started teaching, it was such an incredible new world,” he said. 

Jenny Johnson was a fifth-grader when Gibson began teaching in Black Mountain, and her year in his class left a lasting impression. He would become a family friend in the years that followed, joining her father, Dean McElrath, on the coaching staff of the Owen Warlassies softball team, which won back-to-back state championships in 1999 and 2000.

John Gibson celebrates his retirement with co-workers, including Jenny Johnson (right of center), who was his student at Black Mountain Elementary School in 1988. Photo courtesy of Jenny Johnson

“I remember all the things about him that are still true today,” said Johnson, who has been teaching in Buncombe County for more than 20 years. “He always has a huge grin, and he has so much love for the kids and what he does. That passion really just overflows into every kid he comes into contact with.”

Gibson’s ability to engage even the reluctant students is remarkable, according to Johnson, who teaches physical education at Emma Elementary. 

“He does a great job making every kid comfortable so they can be successful in his class,” she said. 

Instilling a sense of adventure in the minds of young students has long been a priority for Gibson. 

“I don’t want them to just have fun in my PE class, I want them to grow old having a blast,” he said. “I want my students to be 70 years old, doing whatever they can do. Never stop moving, never stop playing.”

His affinity for creating games that appealed to all skill levels and ages was “legendary” among local students and teachers, according to Nathan Padgett, who interned with Gibson while pursuing his degree at WCU. 

“I learned a lot from him, starting off as a brand new teacher,” said Padgett, an assistant principal at A.C. Reynolds who just completed his 16th year as an educator in Buncombe County. “What’s really funny is I still remember the games we used to play, like rectangle run, crazy eights and poison hoops. His class was so much fun, and learning from him played a big part in getting me to where I am today in this career.”

While Gibson’s games were memorable, the bonds he developed with his students were even more so, according to Padgett. 

Nathan Padgett, currently and assistant principal at A.C. Reynolds, began his career in education by interning under John Gibson, who is retiring after 34 years as an educator in Black Mountain. Photo courtesy of Nathan Padgett

“He built these great relationships with each of the kids, and then later with a lot of their children,” he said. “He just has this way of communicating with people that puts everyone at ease. He’s such a kind, caring and compassionate teacher, and the kids love him.” 

Chesney Gardner was in Gibson’s class for years before her record-breaking athletic career at Owen High School. While she knew she wanted to continue playing basketball in college, Gardner wasn’t sure what she would study when she got there, until interning with her former teacher. 

“That’s where I found my passion for teaching,” said Gardner, a rising senior who is majoring in elementary education and playing basketball at USC-Aiken. “Mr. Gibson is really the reason my dream job is being a P.E. teacher.”

Gardner was one of the many kids who looked forward to Gibson’s class in elementary school, and when she returned to the campus as a high school intern years later, her former teacher’s passion for his work was still powerful. 

“His energy is amazing,” she said. “Every single day he came in with a smile on his face, and he wanted everyone to have fun while being active.”

Games were often accompanied by music, Gardner added. 

“His class was the first time I ever heard the Beach Boys,” she said. “I still listen to them and think about him.”

Gardner, who remains in touch with Gibson, incorporates much of what she learned in his class into her current job at a day camp. 

“Every now and then I email him and thank him for everything he did for me,” she said. “I hope I can do that for kids in the future.”

Gibson’s impact on Johnson, as a former student and peer in the profession, has been similar. 

“I had a great connection with him when I was a student, and so did my daughter when she went there,” she said. “He has this ability to make kids feel good about themselves, and he’s been a mentor for so many people. That’s really how I want my P.E. class to look.”

Strengthening those relationships each day is what he will miss most in retirement, according to Gibson. 

“Kids have this incredible spark, and sometimes you see them go years without getting it,” he said. “Then, you keep encouraging them and being patient, and one day you get to see it. That feeling has always been amazing to me.”

Much has changed in the field of education over the past three decades, but Gibson has remained remarkably consistent, according to Jim Griffin, who taught at Black Mountain Elementary School for 15 years before retiring in 2018. 

“Not necessarily good, not necessarily bad, just changes,” read an excerpt of the speech Griffin shared at Gibson’s retirement party. The piece highlighted the differences in the eras that bookend their careers. “What I do know is there has been at least one thing that hasn’t changed—John Gibson… His love for his students was, and is, evident, each and every day of school— 30 years ago, 20 years ago, 10 years ago and on June 7, 2022.”

Griffin added he was a “better person” for having known Gibson, and encouraged him to embrace the changes that come with retirement. 

While Gibson is ending his professional career, he plans to stay busy in the years to come, spending time with his family, playing music with his friends and sailing. 

“I’ve had great adventures, but I want to have more,” he said. “A lot of my former students are now some of my very best friends, and I love living in the same small town as them. I get a lot of joy just from seeing all of them, and their families, out in the community.”

Although his legacy is vast, his approach to education and life is straightforward. 

“I’ve always felt like I have a very simple brain,” Gibson said. “I like things to be simple and easy, because it’s comfortable. What I’ve discovered over the years is that kindness is easy, and a lot of people don’t realize how easy it is. But a simple act of kindness can not only de-escalate almost anything, it can also be something that a person remembers for a long, long time.”