Our varsity boys basketball team has several stand-out players on its roster. One player in particular has excelled far above the rest. Senior Jake Gugula has been selected as a first-team all-league player.

Everyone in the Fulton basketball program recognizes Gugula for his strong work ethic. His coaches say that he is the hardest worker on the team and that he comes to practice everyday and tries to be the best in every single drill. Despite being constantly praised for his abilities on the court, you will never hear him brag about his accomplishments or talk about himself. He remains incredibly humble and is the definition of a team player.

Gugula's coaches see him as not only a strong leader, but as an example of what it means to be a Fulton basketball player. Coach Broderick said that the kids look up to him and that they see his skill level and attitude as something to work toward. He also noted that his leadership has been extremely important relative to the culture of the program, as Gugula is a model student who is on the high honor roll.

Coach Broderick said Gugula was only the second GRB player in 15 years to make first-team all-league.

Gugula made the varsity roster his sophomore year where he scored 208 total points for the team. In that season, he averaged over 10 points per game. This continued into his junior year when he scored 352 points and averaged over 17 points per game.

His senior season was highly anticipated. He had been regarded as the best player on the team as a junior and coming into his final year he was in reach of the thousand-point club. Despite all of the hype, Gugula said he was focused on "the team goal of getting into Sectionals." He went on to say that "first-team all-league was kind of a minor goal."

Gugula managed to lead his team into Sectionals, which was a team goal from the beginning. He ended the season only 42 points short of 1,000 to which he said, "There are bigger things that we can appreciate about the season." He still became the third all-time scorer in our school history.

Gugula will leave some big shoes to fill for the basketball team, but he will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the greatest basketball players to come through G. Ray Bodley.

Congratulations, Jake!