Impact Of A Scholarship: James Gist

Former Maryland men’s basketball star James Gist went on to become a professional basketball player overseas where he has been recognized amongst the best. Gist’s success didn’t come without challenges, but he says being afforded the opportunity to play basketball on scholarship for the Terps allowed him to battle adversity and have a prosperous basketball career.

Gist attended Good Counsel High School in Olney, MD, where he was a highly recruited basketball player. Maryland was fresh off of its 2002 national championship run, and that caught his attention. 

“Everybody was watching Maryland during those years,” Gist said. “Juan Dixon, Lonnie Baxter, Chris Wilcox, those guys they just were able to do some amazing things that year and even during that time period. The basketball was, I think, the best basketball in the country.”

Gist built his own legacy with the Terps from 2004-08 under head coach Gary Williams. At the time of his graduation, he ranked 4th all-time in program history with 231 blocked shots, 10th in rebounds with 783, and 17th in points scored with 1,414. He also broke out during his senior season, where he averaged a career-best 15.9 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks per game en route to being named Second-Team All-ACC and All-ACC Defensive Team in 2008. 

The 6-foot-9 forward graduated from Maryland and was drafted by the San Antonio Spurs in the second round of the NBA draft shortly after. He joined a franchise fresh off its fourth NBA title the year prior that was led by Hall of Fame head coach Greg Popovich. 

Gist immediately proved himself by having a great summer league leading up to training camp. That’s when he received a call from Popovich and learned he would be sent overseas for a year.

“‘You're not gonna play,’ he said it just like that,” Gist said. “No matter what I was gonna do in that moment from then on, no matter how hard I worked he told me I was not going to play. You got Tim Duncan, you got Matt Bonner, you got Antonio McDyess, you got Theo Ratliff, you got Richard Jefferson who they had just signed, you had Mike Finley who they had brought up all playing the four and five position. I’m already down seven spots and I haven’t even touched the court yet.”

Gist was left with no choice and traveled to Italy to play professionally. Still, Popovich visited him a couple of times during the Spurs’ season to watch him play. Gist finished out the year and returned to San Antonio. Once again, he had a strong summer league and camp, but everything changed in practice one day before training camp.

The second-year player was going through testing and ran the 60-yard shuttle with another young player who was recently drafted - George Hill. Gist ended up tearing his quad as he ran through the finish line. 

“That was such a devastating experience, not only the pain, but just the fact that I'm so close,” Gist said. “And now Boom. I’m out three months.” 

This time Gist was left with two options, but the money overseas was considerably more than his alternative of playing in the NBA G League. He decided to join a club in Russia for the 2009-10 season after he healed from his injury. 

Gist was in a never-ending cycle. He returned to San Antonio a second time, but even after three years, he still wasn’t signed to the Spurs’ active roster. He parted ways with the Spurs and began navigating a full-time EuroLeague career.

Now at 37 years old, Gist has played for 11 different teams and has racked up numerous awards and accolades. He became an ABA League champion, Serbian League champion, Serbian Cup winner and MVP of the game immediately after fully committing to his career overseas in 2011.

He’s also a six time Greek Cup winner, five time Greek League champion and was named to three All-Greek League Defensive Teams, three All-Greek League Second Teams and four Greek All-Star Games. Most recently he became a Pro A champion in 2022. He currently plays for Peñarol, a club in Uruguay. 

Gist was even nominated to the EuroLeague All-Decade Team as the only player to record 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 200 steals from 2010-20.

Gist says none of his success would’ve been possible through all the setbacks without the opportunities he was given at Maryland. His interactions with Williams were especially meaningful.

“Gary [Williams] was really intense. Every player that ever played under him you kind of had to have thick skin or you had to have that intensity because he was going to bring it out of you,” Gist said. “Going through that for four years with Gary really set me up for being able to deal with a lot of things that I deal with up until this day. Being able to adjust, being able to play in one place for multiple seasons is not easy because times change, staff changes and you have to be able to prove that you're still valuable to them.” 

“I don't think I would have been able to do that had I not been coached by Gary Williams,” he added. 

The former Terp ran his own James Gist Skills & Fundamentals Camp last summer and says he wants to get into coaching after his playing career. Gist played under three Hall of Fame head coaches, including Williams, Popovich, and Rick Pitino, when he was playing in Greece. Seeing how they built successful programs was inspiring to him.

Gist also says his scholarship provided him the opportunity to do something in life that not many get to experience. He’s even been in contact with someone about the possibility of starting his own scholarship to provide the same opportunities that the Terrapin Club donors have done for him.

“With the ability to get scholarships you give these kids an opportunity to do something with their lives,” Gist said. “Who knows what I'd be doing if I didn't go to college playing basketball. Who knows what I would have done. But I just want to say thank you for giving me that opportunity and thank you for providing this opportunity for others.”