Many-Sport Standout Gash Closing High School Career with Repeat Title Pursuit
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
September 3, 2026
Gideon Gash said this fall is marking the end of an era for him athletically.
Throughout his life, it didn’t seem to matter what the sport was, because Gash was playing it.
Whether it was soccer, basketball, lacrosse, football, or track & field, Gash sampled them all, and it didn’t stop when his high school career began.
Last year as a junior at Detroit Catholic Central, Gash continued to play several sports after being named all-state for football in the fall.
During the winter, he played on Catholic Central’s basketball team. In the spring, he decided to go out for track and thrived, finishing second in the 100-meter dash and winning the long jump at the Catholic High School League meet, and then taking third in the long jump at the Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals.
Following that championship meet, Gash returned to the lacrosse team and suited up for the Shamrocks during the final week of the season, which culminated in a DCC Division 1 title. Gash had played lacrosse the previous spring as a sophomore, but decided to focus more on track as a junior.
“I worked out different muscles and different skills and just having that versatility helped me a lot throughout life,” Gash said. “Being able to do different things and learn faster and having to keep up with everyone in terms of basketball, lacrosse, in terms of just raw skills. That helped me a lot in terms of just being able to add to my bag and be the best I can.”
But now, Gash said his multi-sport playing days are all but over.
One of the premier college football recruits in the nation, the 6-foot-4, 210-pound Gash has committed to play at Texas Tech for now, although he recently said his recruitment is “not closed down,” according to an article on Rivals.com.
Regardless of where he ends up, Gash said he plans on enrolling early and starting college in January, adding he made sure to accumulate enough class credits to be able to do so.
That means it’s football from here on out, and odds are he’s going to have a monster senior year for reigning Division 1 champion Catholic Central.
Last year, Gash was all-state in Division 1-2 as a lockdown defensive back, collecting 74 tackles and nine pass breakups. He also was a big-play threat as a wideout, catching three long touchdown passes for Catholic Central in a championship game win over Detroit Cass Tech at Ford Field.
There are times this season where Gash may never leave the field, given he will see lots of time as a dangerous punt returner. In a season-opening win over Clinton Township Chippewa Valley, Gash returned a punt 48 yards for a touchdown.
Playing so many sports throughout his life has shaped him into an all-around force on the football field and helped turn him into a dominating physical specimen.
Gash gained 10 pounds of muscle since last fall and going into his senior year is more chiseled and faster than he has ever been.
“He just loves competing,” Catholic Central football head coach Justin Cessante said. “When we compete and he works the way he does when nobody is watching, and he’s got his agility, his strength and his size, he’s a 10 times better player and athlete than he was last year. I think that attributes to doing all those different things.”
This is the first year Gash is not playing alongside his older brother, Samson, the 2025 Finals champion in the 100-meter dash and all-state wide receiver last fall who is a freshman at Michigan State.
Gideon Gash will certainly be counted on for veteran leadership since Catholic Central entered this season with only two returning starters, although there are several talented underclassmen already with Division I college scholarship offers who are expected to soon make names for themselves on the high school level.
While the next wave of great players is already coming for Catholic Central, it certainly will be hard to replace Gash and how he was able to excel at more than just football.
“I’m going to miss it,” Gash said. “I’ve been playing three sports my whole life, so I’m going to miss it a lot.”
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Detroit Catholic Central’s Gideon Gash (11) is congratulated by brother Samson Gash after scoring during last season’s Division 1 Final. (Middle) Gash breaks up a pass during the win over Detroit Cass Tech.
Bellaire's 'Captain' Robinson Making Senior-Year Impact Sure to Last
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
February 18, 2022
Oh, the glory days.
When Paul Koepke took over Bellaire basketball, he stepped into some mighty big coaching shoes.
He’s got the Eagles on the right track as they work to return to being a powerhouse program. The culture almost fits the visions he’s had since taking over for legendary and hall of fame coach Stan Sexton. They’re 8-7 overall and 6-5 in Ski Valley League play.
But today he’s preparing to lose his only senior starter, Cole Robinson, perhaps better known as The Captain. Robinson may not be as famous as the professional athletes whose careers led to being known as The Captain — baseball’s Derek Jeter and hockey’s Steve Yzerman —but he is to the locals.
“I have a bunch of freshmen,” noted Koepke, who’s been around the Eagles since the early 2000s as a middle school and varsity assistant coach. “I couldn’t ask for a better set up than having him as my captain.”
Robinson, a three-sport star for the Eagles, joined Bellaire’s 22-2 varsity team his freshman year as the postseason run ended with a 50-41 upset loss to Suttons Bay in the Regional. That loss ended a string of deep postseason runs covering decades. It was Koepke’s first year at the helm.
Today the Eagles are preparing to host Fife Lake Forest Area with their captain possibly on the sideline. He suffered an ankle injury in this week’s 44-32 win over Pellston. Koepke helped the senior guard off the floor after his first career injury.
He saw a glimpse of how things could be next year without The Captain, but he loved how his Eagles responded and how Robinson handled it.
The Eagles immediately went into a “win it for Cole” mode. Bellaire hopes tonight’s game will be the only game the 6-foot, 205-pounder needs to sit for a full recovery.
“Cole was on the bench cheering like a mad man after the injury,” Koepke said. “The kids were high-fiving him, and he was coaching kids up.
“We probably had better effort after that,” he continued. “We competed at a higher level, and I think we won that one for Cole.”
The injury didn’t hamper his leadership skills a bit. The Eagles beat Pellston with the same freshmen and sophomores Robinson’s had under his wings for some time.
Robinson has high hopes the young players will help win a District championship like the Eagles regularly did during their glory days. He has yet to win a District title – in any sport – during his years at Bellaire. He’s got this basketball season and his senior baseball season to experience it.
He did experience a first earlier this basketball season. Bellaire beat Gaylord St. Mary 69-62 on Feb. 8, the first win Cole and his senior teammates had experienced over the Snowbirds in any sport.
Robinson, who admits football is his favorite sport followed by baseball, likes helping his young teammates on the court. And he can’t wait to see them on the baseball field.
The Eagles have racked up more basketball wins this season than the previous two combined.
“For us, this is a big improvement,” Robinson said. “We’re a really young team.
“I think we’re going to surprise a few teams in the Districts,” he continued. “It’s going to be a tough one.”
Ellsworth, last year’s champion, will likely get the top seed in the 2022 tournament, hosted by Central Lake. Boyne Falls and Gaylord St. Mary also will vie for the title. The Eagles lost to Ellsworth 70-52 in the season opener. The freshmen were coming off just a two-game middle school season due to COVID-19 cancellations.
“Our record is starting to show we’re not just a bunch of freshmen just being freshmen,” Koepke said. “We’re starting to get pretty good.”
Bellaire starts three freshmen, a sophomore and The Captain.
“This man is selfless,” Koepke said about Robinson. “He’s the first one to come to me when I get there (to practice or games) to give me a fist bump and ask me how my day is going.
“Captain means a lot of things. He’s the last one to go off the bus. He cleans the bus. He’s the last one to leave the locker room.”
Robinson is averaging nearly six points and three assists per game. He also hauls in eight rebounds per contest. He’s coming from an outstanding football season as the Eagles’ tight end, tackle and defensive end. He had two touchdown receptions in the fall.
Jayden Hansen, a freshman, leads the team in scoring at more than 15 per game. Another freshman, Drake Koepke, averages 12 points. Hanson is among Northern Michigan’s leading rebounders. Koepke, the coach’s son, is among the area’s leaders in steals.
“We’re always looking for the third scorer,” Koepke said.
But the starting lineup is set.
“We finally kind of found out these are our guys, our lineup,” Koepke said. “We’re growing now.
“We understand who we are, and now we have to fix some things we struggle with,” he continued. “Right now we have a great attitude, and we are peaking.”
Robinson goes back a long way in Bellaire. He was a water boy for the varsity team when his father, Brock, was the Eagles’ head football coach. Brock died suddenly in 2020, and had served as The Captain’s youth football and baseball coach and high school football coach his freshmen and sophomore seasons.
The younger Robinson also lost his 2020 baseball season due to COVID. But he has persevered. Today he’s a regular on the court coaching youth basketball and his youthful teammates.
“You can say it’s been a little tough —I obviously miss him of course,” The Captain said. “He loved sports just as much as I do.
“I think about him usually before most sporting events – especially football games I’d think about him beforehand.”
Coach Koepke, who also assisted Coach Robinson in football, is amazed by his captain’s career and his contribution to the Eagles’ success.
“He is always a positive person,” Koepke said. “There are so many things he does.”
If the Eagles don’t make the great run this season as they have in the past, the veterans they’ll have next season along with others impacted by Robinson should help them return to the glory days.
“You are going to be a better person because you met Cole,” Koepke said. “That’s basically what Cole is.
“We’re all going to miss Cole. He’s made me a better person for sure.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Bellaire’s Cole Robinson looks for an open teammate during a game against Johannesburg-Lewiston. (Middle) Robinson works to bring down a Bear Lake ball carrier. (Below) Robinson works with players in Bellaire’s youth program on their shooting form. (Top and middle photos courtesy of the Antrim Review; below photo courtesy of the Bellaire athletic department.)