Gabby Elliott: Let Your Actions Speak For Themselves

Gabby Elliott - Detroit Edison Public School Academy - Class of 2020 - Clemson University Commit

Gabby Elliott knows Detroit has a stigma of being a rough city without many bright spots.  For Elliott, however, she saw her childhood as active and fun.  She grew up in the shadow of her brother, Gregory, a current member of the Marquette basketball team. Whatever he did, she followed closely behind.  

She was a natural athlete, participating in basketball, football, volleyball, and baseball.  Growing up with four brothers (Jeremy, Delorian, Delonte, and Gregory III) gave her a chip on her shoulder when it came to competition.  

Despite being the only girl, she didn’t have it easy. Not only did her brother, Gregory, challenge her to be better on the court, but her mom, Victoria, “didn’t play any games” either. Victoria works in a laboratory at DMC Hospital. Although she’s incredibly supportive, she’s also a disciplinarian, unafraid to tell her kids ‘no’ when she sees it best.   

Gabby’s father, Gregory Elliott Jr., works in a factory and is described by her as “absolutely hilarious,” noting how alike they are especially when it comes to a love for cooking. He is the one who got her involved with basketball, coaching her for the early part of her childhood, until Gregory III took over. “It was much better,” she says, “having someone who went hard every day and is as talented as he is.” It also helped that her brother is a silent competitor like she is.

Elliott’s love for cooking is so strong that she one day hopes to become a certified chef. Being a pescatarian, you can usually catch her putting her own spin on salmon or shrimp tacos.

Outside of Gabby’s immediate family, her grandmother, Oreatha, is her role model and childhood best friend. When Oreatha moved to Louisiana, Elliott stayed with her during the summer. Now Oreatha’s “comedy gold” and one of the funniest people she has in her life. “I hope she stays healthy,” says Elliott, “I always want to make sure someone is taking care of her.”

The one thing Gabby didn’t like about growing up in Michigan, “is the cold.” The Michigan weather ranges anywhere from cold to frigid, the type of frigid where breathing itself is difficult.  Yet, Elliott continued to run the hill by her home every winter in order to stay in shape during the season. It’s one of the reasons she couldn’t wait to step foot on the warmer campus in Clemson, South Carolina. 

Despite training in those frosty winters and waking up at 6 AM for workouts, she made sure to enjoy her down time when she could just kick back, eat some sour cream and cheddar chips, and drink an Arizona Watermelon fruit juice after school.

Prior to attending Detroit-Edison, Elliott attended art school, participating in choir from fourth through seventh grade.  They were so talented that they performed at the halftime show during a Detroit Lions game. They even got to meet President Barack Obama at Disney World, although Elliott quit once she discovered she wasn’t chosen to be among those who got the chance to travel to Orlando to meet him. She hopes one day she could meet the former President to make up for that experience. 

Instead, she translated her creativity into dance, mainly modern contemporary and ballet. “People look at me and think I’m lying about ballet,” she says, “but I wore the leotard and everything.”  She credits her flexibility from dancing for her strong body control on the court. “You can feel the difference,” she admits.

The stretching that she learned from dancing has become key to her pre-game routine. With NBA YoungBoy playing in her ear pods, it’s become even more important than her warm-up. She’s further improved that flexibility more recently through yoga.

With the added flexibility and her brother Gregory pushing her on the court, Gabby gained greater national attention.  She admits that watching him go through the recruiting process gave her a good introduction as to what was to come, but with more high major schools looking to recruit her, it was still a long and winding road. “It was cool until coaches would call me out of nowhere at all times and at first it was frustrating,” she admits, “but I’m a chill person and got used to it.” By the time she began visiting colleges and started building more personal connections, the process “became a lot more fun.”

The fun reached its pinnacle when she visited Clemson.  “I felt so at home”, she notes. She knew it was going to be one her top schools, but when she got there she knew “this is the place.” The players welcomed her with open arms and the coaching staff made her feel like she could grow there. They talked about basketball, but also life off the court. They were incredibly family-oriented and “just so real” that she fell in love with the entire staff.  She could only describe it as “true southern hospitality”. She began building relationships early with freshman teammates, Claire Neff and Weronika Hipp, with the hope of becoming best friends over the next four years.

Her parents loved the architecture on the Clemson campus and even Gregory gave his approval, telling her to “follow her heart” …even if it wasn’t at Marquette. “They let me make my own decision,” she says. They pointed out certain things about each school and Victoria was really focused on academics, but “as long as [she] had a good reason for attending the school she chose, they were in.”

Off the court, she can’t wait to experience everything else college has to offer and looks forward to exploring Atlanta, which is only two hours away from her new home.

Although she’s looking ahead to the next four years of her life, she fondly recollects the last four years and relationships she built with her teammates, particularly, Daija Tyson, Ariel Jenkins, and Dareonna Little. Whether it was movie night, bowling, or just kicking back at one of their parent’s houses, she knows she’s built bonds for a lifetime.  

“We were so young and almost lost, but we grew as a team every game.”

She remembers winning a championship in her first year at Detroit-Edison.  “We were so young”, she recalls, “and almost lost, but we grew as a team every game.”

Off the court, she’ll always remember a staff party during her sophomore year.  The entire team was there…and so was a cake.  So Tyson and Jenkins dared Elliott to throw cake at Little and from there the cake fight began.  However, their joy was short-lived. Mid-fight, Head Coach Monique Brown walked in and let the team know they’d be running the entirety of their next practice. The superintendent waited in the hallway as they all departed covered in frosting. Despite the punishment, Elliott is glad to have that memory.

Looking back at her development she gives much of that credit to her AAU coach, Coach Jeff Taylor. She spent most of her summer connecting with coaches looking to recruit her. A self-proclaimed “gym rat”, Elliott, like Taylor, spent much of her free time sharpening her craft.  No matter how great or how terrible a practice or game went, he preached to her to always “be yourself, stay true to yourself” and “always give back.” For Gabby, it’s about paying it forward, saying “coming from where I came from and being able to give back, it’s such a great feeling.” She did just that after winning Gatorade Player of the Year in Michigan, giving the money that came along with that honor to one of her high school coaches, Jasmine Cooper’s, non-profit, the I Can Too Foundation, which empowers, economically educates, and provides exposure to underprivileged youth.

At Edison, Coach Cooper gave her the added responsibility of becoming captain, telling Elliott and the team a quote she remembers to this day: “a champion is someone who gets when they can’t.” Now, she goes out on the court hoping to prove she can become a champion at Clemson. 

Coach Brown further put Elliott’s leadership role into perspective, pointing out that fans may come to see her play, but basketball isn’t a one-person sport and teamwork and getting everyone involved is the priority.

Through it all, Gabby has become focused on two things, living in the present and looking towards the future, knowing she’s been blessed to be where she’s headed. Whether it’s leading Clemson to a title, attending culinary school, or potentially using her psychology major to become a psychologist post-basketball, she wants to make people smile doing something that makes her smile, something she hopes is the only difference between her and her basketball idol Kawhi Leonard.

Like Kawhi, she knows her play will speak for itself.  No trash talk needed.  She knew that by choosing Clemson, she would receive some negativity from fans, and originally didn’t know how to handle it. “As long as I’m happy,” she says, that’s all that matters. Giving advice to future recruits, she asserts “You don’t want to make the wrong decision and have to transfer, so just focus on yourself and not on the voices of everyone else, whether it’s fans or recruiting rankings.” 

If a referee makes a bad call or misses a foul, she takes it out with her play against her opponent.  When she makes a mistake, she’ll find a way to make up for it on defense. No matter what, she tries to remain as calm as possible. That’s not to say she’s not nervous, but she embraces those nerves, saying “If I’m not nervous, I’m not excited about it; if you’re nervous that means people are watching you and you’re looking at yourself to do something good, whether that’s on the court or reading a speech.” She knows that no matter the situation, once she focuses, it’ll all work out.

“I’m a chill, funny, and shy person at heart,” she says, “and I don’t try to be funny or create issues; I just do cornball things.”  In the end, she just wants people to know that she’s the friend to come to if you need to laugh or need to talk and beyond that, she’ll let her actions speak for themselves.