31 Oct, 2008
PINOY PRIDE : ROMAN GABRIEL – FIRST PINOY IN NFL
Roman Ildonzo Gabriel, Jr. who is half-Filipino and half-Irish American, is the first ever Pinoy footballer to play in the NFL from 1962 to 1977. Born in the U-S, Gabriel, 67, was the first Asian-American to start as an NFL quarterback. The 6-4, 235-pound two-time All-American from North Carolina State was inducted into the college football Hall of Fame in 1989. He was the Los Angeles Rams’ first round pick in the 1962 draft, the MVP of the NFL in 1969 and the NFL Comeback Player of the Year in 1973.
Gabriel was born in Wilmington, North Carolina, which is also where Michael Jordan and Harlem Globetrotters star Meadowlark Lemon are from. His father Roman, Sr., an Ilocano, immigrated from the Philippines in 1925 and worked as a laborer in Alaska and California before settling down in North Carolina.
“My dad is my No. 1 hero in my lifetime,” said Gabriel. It was his father who encouraged him to take up sports at an early age. Gabriel was a star in baseball, basketball and football in high school and wasn’t expected to go to college because his parents were poor. But when scholarship offers came in, Gabriel decided to enroll at North Carolina State.
Gabriel appeared in two movies, became a TV commentator and even had a brief stint as head coach of the Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks in the World League of American Football. In the last 20 years, Gabriel has raised over $4 Million for charity with his wife Lisa. He has promoted fund-raisers for the Special Olympics, Salvation Army and victims of multiple scle
