UMPIRING SUCCESS – Graves County native Tripp Gibson is starting his sixth year as a professional baseball umpire. He served as crew chief last year and, individually, he was ranked No. 1 of all umpires in the AA professional leagues. His past minor league experience includes theses leagues: New York-Penn, California, Florida State, South Atlantic, and Southern.

The coming season will be his first in AAA, the highest level of minor leagues and the direct feeder to Major League Baseball. He will work in the Pacific Coast League.

Gibson lives in Arizona and has been selected as crew chief for Arizona spring training, which could provide him opportunities to umpire Major League break-out games. He is a 2000 graduate of Graves County High School. He played four years of varsity baseball there and was a member of the school’s inaugural soccer team. He then earned a degree at Murray State University.

His parents are Sonny and Marietta Gibson of Mayfield and Yolanda Elliott of Metropolis, Ill.

Gibson also serves as lead instructor at the Harry Wendelstedt Umpire School, the oldest school of its kind. He recently appeared in a video on ESPN. He is the first umpire who trains the reporter. The video can be accessed on the Internet at http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=6171369.