David Lawrence Gibson (February 8, 1951 – November 22, 2019) was an American professional

Scrabble ''Scrabble'' is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a Board game, game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, re ...

player and

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

professor. Ranked the top player in North America and widely regarded as one of the greatest Scrabble players, Gibson won the North American Scrabble Championship twice.

Early life

The eldest of three children, David Lawrence Gibson was born in 1951 in

Raleigh Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina, where his parents owned an auto parts locating company. A graduate of North Mecklenburg High School and

Furman University Furman University is a private university in Greenville, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1826 and named after Baptist pastor Richard Furman, the Liberal arts college, liberal arts university is the oldest private institution of higher l ...

, he excelled in

but fared considerably poorly in English. In 1975, Gibson and his family moved to

Spartanburg Spartanburg is a city in and the county seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city had a population of 38,732 as of the 2020 census, making it the 11th-most populous city in the state. The Office of Management and Budg ...

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

Career

Gibson was introduced to Scrabble at age 6. He began playing tournament Scrabble in 1983 and won the North American Scrabble Championship (NASC) in August 1994; although he had kept a relatively low profile in the Scrabble community, the win propelled him to No. 1 in the North American rankings. In 1995, Gibson won the "Scrabble Superstars" tournament and its top prize of $50,000. Gibson finished second in the 2012 NASC; only needing to lose by fewer than 169 points to win the title, he ended up losing 298-475 in the final round against Nigel Richards. In 2016, Gibson won his second NASC title in

Fort Wayne Fort Wayne is a city in Allen County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 at the 2020 United S ...

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

. The term " Gibsonization" for a process of pairings in a single-elimination final was named after Gibson due to his tendency to clinch tournaments before their final rounds. Gibson also taught mathematics for some four decades at the

Spartanburg Methodist College Spartanburg Methodist College (SMC) is a private college in Saxon, South Carolina, United States, with a Spartanburg, South Carolina, Spartanburg postal address. The college is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and enrolled 1,128 studen ...

, and was awarded with an honorary distinction of Professor Emeritus by the college in early 2019.

Death

Gibson died aged 68 on November 22, 2019, due to complications from stage four

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...

Major championship wins

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gibson, David 1951 births 2019 deaths American Scrabble players People from Charlotte, North Carolina