Ramapo High School head football coach Drew Gibbs died of complications from emergency surgery on Tuesday morning.
According to northjersey.com, Gibbs, 59, experienced chest pains and collapsed at football practice on Monday and was rushed to a nearby hospital for emergency surgery. The school informed faculty and students of Gibbs’ death in an email that said Gibbs died of complications “from an aortic dissection and complications from surgery.”
“I was lucky to call him dad, but he had 500 sons,” Gibbs son, Brian, an assistant coach at Ramapo, told NJ Advance Media. “The outpouring of love is incredible. People should know how loved he was.”
Gibbs had been the head coach at Ramapo since 2001 and led the Green Raiders to seven sectional titles with a 183-51 career record. Former NFL wide receiver Chris Hogan played under Gibbs at Ramapo.
Ramapo, who has lost just three games in the last four years, is currently 10-1 and is scheduled to play undefeated Northern Highlands High School in the North 1, Group 4 sectional finals on Friday night. It remains to be seen if that game will be played as originally scheduled after Tuesday morning’s tragedy.
