Gabe Norwood announced on Thursday that he will retire at the end of Rain or Shine’s campaign in the season-opening PBA Philippine Cup.
Norwood bared his intentions to hang it up after 17 seasons through a video posted on the Elasto Painters’ social media, describing his final run as ‘One Last Flight.’ ‘The journey has been nothing short of incredible,’ Norwood said as part of a 65-second video the team produced. ‘I’ve poured everything I had in this game, and in return it has given me more than I have asked for.’
The member of George Mason University’s Cinderella run to the 2006 US NCAA Final Four was the No. 1 overall pick of Rain or Shine in the 2008 Rookie Draft and has been among those responsible for bringing the franchise out of its early struggles.
He was part of all Rain or Shine’s two PBA titles in the 2012 Governors’ Cup and 2016 Commissioner’s Cup while also earning multiple accolades, namely his seven-time membership to the All-Defensive Team, winning three times the Sportsmanship Award and the Rookie of the Year and Mythical Team selections in 2009.
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Norwood was also named to the All-Rookie Team in 2009 and claimed the Defensive of the Year plum in 2010, both honors given by the PBA Press Corps.
But Norwood’s biggest legacy is perhaps his multiple stints with the national team, first in the 2007 Fiba Asia Championship and the gold-medal run in the Southeast Asian Games that same year.
It catapulted him to many duties representing flag and country, most notably the 2013 Fiba Asia Championship and the 2014 Fiba World Cup where Norwood dunked on NBA player Luis Scola during Gilas Pilipinas’ match against Argentina in Seville, Spain.