Kevin Gibson readily takes credit for turning his father into a hockey fan. When your father is a former major league baseball MVP, that’s a big accomplishment.

Gibson is the son of former MLB player Kirk Gibson, and the newest member of the Quad-City Mallards after the team announced his signing Thursday.

“I think it’s going to be a really good fit and I’m really excited to come and see what I can bring to the team,” Gibson said.

The newest Mallards defenseman has the bloodlines of a competitive athlete, but one that made a name for himself on grass, not ice.

Kirk Gibson was an All-American wide receiver at Michigan State and enjoyed a successful baseball career, winning two World Series, as well as a National League MVP award in 1988. He also served as manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks from 2010-2014, earning NL Manager of the Year honors in 2011.

His son now gets a chance to leave his own legacy.

Catching the fever

Growing up in Grosse Pointe, Mich. in the 1990s, Kevin Gibson, like many Michigan residents, was caught up in hockey fever as the Detroit Red Wings won three Stanley Cups in a five-year span.

Gibson, now 25, recalls meeting Red Wing legends Gordie Howe, Steve Yzerman and others. That included Darren McCarty, who was involved in one of Gibson’s favorite hockey memories growing up. The Red Wings enforcer fought Claude Lemieux of the Colorado Avalanche, part of a brawl in a 1997 game that is still regarded as one of the greatest fights in Red Wings history.

“That was probably the coolest game I’ve ever watched in my life,” Gibson said. “I was a smaller kid growing up but I had a love for the game and got better at it as I went along and once you get into it, it’s hard to get out of.“

He persuaded his parents to let him try the sport, and even got his dad to put a rink in the backyard.

Gibson helped coach his son while with the Grosse Pointe Spartans, who won five consecutive state titles, two while the former baseball player was involved. While his hockey background was limited — Gibson said his first hockey game was at a charity event in 1995, paired on a line with hockey Hall of Famers Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay — there were parallels that he could draw on to teach how to be a success.

“There’s certain principles that are true of any competition,” he said. “You’re going to face teams that are better than you, no matter what (sport) it is so how do you beat them? I always believed in pressure, physical and mental pressure, be relentless, don’t let up and eventually they’ll start making mistakes.

“The other thing I always used to tell those kids is, ‘How do you feel when you get tired … if you’re tired and you like it and (your opponent is) tired and they hate it, you win.”’

One of the most lasting images from Kirk Gibson’s career came in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series. Despite having injured both legs during the NLCS and not starting the game, Gibson hit a pinch-hit two-run walk-off home run off Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley that helped spur the Los Angeles Dodgers to the World Series title.

While the physical toughness he displayed is not something easily passed down, the younger Gibson said the mental toughness epitomized by his father is something he has carried with him throughout his career.

“I think I have that in me and it’s just a mind over matter thing,” he said. “You try to think about every situation you’re dealing with in a positive light because things definitely could be worse and there’s that chance that you’re never really out of the game.”

College success

Gibson’s hard work in college led to him garner his own accolades. In his senior year at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point he led all Division III defensemen with 1.03 points per game and led the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with 24 assists. He was named the WIAC player of the year and was the runner-up for the Sid Watson Award, given to the D-III national player of the year.

In 117 games in his college career, Gibson scored 18 goals and added 65 assists. As a junior, he led the Pointers to the national championship game before losing to a St. Norbert team led by Joe Perry, who was the Mallards’ leading goal-scorer last season.

“He’s highly motivated,” his father said. “He likes to stir it up a little bit and he likes to stand up for himself and likes to stand up for his teammates … He knows he doesn’t know it all but he wants to get better.”

Gibson actually broke into the professional ranks late last season, joining the Tulsa Oilers for three games in late March and early April. His first game came against the Allen Americans, who went on to win the ECHL Kelly Cup.

“That was definitely an eye-opener,” he said, “They kind of dominated us … The biggest adjustment is going to make sure I’m not caught out of position because with all the skill that’s out there, if you make a mistake, it’s going to end up in the back of your net.”

Gibson didn’t score in those three games and didn’t finish out the season with the Oilers so he could graduate. While looking for a team this offseason, he knew he wanted to play closer to home and turned to his college coach, Chris Brooks, for guidance. Brooks recommended the Mallards and coach Terry Ruskowski, who is friends with Brooks after both coached in the now-defunct Central Hockey League. He also sold the Mallards coach on the caliber of player he would be getting.

“He told me he was very competitive and a very good defenseman, so that got me really interested,” Ruskowski said. “I’m sure some of that competiveness comes from his gene pool.”

Neither Gibson nor his father have ever been to the Quad-Cities, though Kirk said he has driven through the area on numerous bird-hunting trips.

While he is currently working for Fox Sports Detroit as a television analyst for Detroit Tigers games and is also battling Parkinson’s disease, neither of those things will stop him from watching his son play.

“We’ll come around, whenever we can,” he said. “We love watching our kids play.”