HS Standout Gabe York suspended for playing in an IBL game

 For those of you who don’t follow prep sports, this may be an interesting story for you. The story concerns Orange Lutheran stand-out  and University of Arizona signee Gabe York.

York is under investigation by his high school and the CIFSS for playing in an IBL game this past weekend.

So lo and behold it seemed to be another standard Division 1 game with Knicee taking on Cov City, nothing out of the ordinary was happening, Knicee was running away with the game and I was strutting around the gym as usual. Then a friend came up to me and said “Look that’s Gabe York right there” and pointed to a player wearing #5 in a red reversible. I replied “No it’s not! It’s against CIF rules to play in any outside league when the season is on”

With my only knowledge of York being his BallisLife videos on YouTube I had to check the stat sheets for myself. I went over to the stats table and looked up and down the stat sheet, searching for Yorks name. The only York name in plain sight was Elijah and he was listed as #15.

I proceeded to scan the stat sheet once more and came across a name I was familiar with. The unnamed player was signed in as #5 with stats being recorded to his name. Yet that person was not in attendance, so I was to say the least “curious”. I went over to the teams bench to talk to a few guys who I presume to be close friends to players on the team. I took a seat next to the first person I seen, and asked “what’s #5’s name?” he responded “Oh that’s Gabe”. Coincidentally as soon as he responded I looked on the court and player #5 (York) drove to the basket with intentions to make an IBL poster, and if you’ve  seen York’s YouTube video’s you would know that’s exactly what he does, Posterize defenders.

So the speculation was indeed true.  I continued asking questions about York and what exactly he was doing playing in the game, and my source said that York  “was begging his mom to let him play so he could warm up and get his game legs back after being out of action for the last 2 weeks  following his appendectomy.”

The story of Gabe’s investigation/suspension broke mid day yesterday (Monday), and all I could think was “Wow, how did these people find out so fast”.

 

Hence, Gabe played on Sunday in the league finishing with 27 points and 7 rebounds, in a meaningless game (for him) where the team he played for, got trounced by 23 points (94-71) and him seemingly not knowing that an obscure rule on page 111 of the CIF “Blue Book”, Section 600 says that no player can participate in an organized event while in-season.

The rule was originally designed to prevent high school basketball players from participating in an AAU exhibition or similar event in the middle of the season. However, some genius has decided that men’s league basketball that most people participate in is considered an “organized event.”

The penalty is a two-game suspension for every one game played. Sunday was the only time Gabe has ever played in a men’s league and will likely be required to serve out the two game suspension.