By Derrick Smith

Throughout an athlete’s life, they have people that influence them and make an impact on them. While their presence in life may be for a short time or an extended period of time, the impression they have made will last a lifetime.

Jace Gilbert is a senior at Marlow High School. As he looks back on his career, there are a few people that fit this bill for him.

“My biggest influence is my father,” Jace said. “He is our offensive line and defensive line coach here at Marlow, and he’s been a high school coach my whole life so I’ve always been around the locker room and on the sidelines and it’s just always been something I’ve wanted to do. I’ve always looked up to my dad my whole life on and off the field and he’s always taught me to do things the right way.”

Gilbert is a senior at Marlow High School, where he plays football, basketball, and baseball. As an athlete, another person that has made an impact on Jace’s life is former kicker for the University of Oklahoma and current NFL kicker, Austin Siebert.

“I became good friends with Austin while he was playing at Oklahoma and he really got me going in the right direction in the kicking aspect.”

Jace will be moving on to play sports at the next level, but he says that would not be possible without the work he put in and a great group of teammates to help him become a better player.

“Sports is all about your work ethic and your mentality,” he said. “I would say being consistent is the most important thing. Just being able to show up and go to work every day.  My class here at Marlow is huge and we have a bunch of guys who enjoy showing up and working hard everyday, and we have all stuck together. We have twenty-two seniors on our football team so I have to give a lot of credit to my teammates, they are fun to be around and I wouldn’t want to play with anyone else.”