Mariah Cox is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Centennial for AZPreps365.com.

An athlete who can do it all, Gage Galbreath continues to set the bar high at Centennial High School. 

Galbreath was Centennial’s leading rebounder and second-leading scorer this past basketball season. The 6-foot-4 junior has great leadership skills that he shows on and off the court as well as his intense work ethic. Galbreath started playing basketball at age 4 and football in the sixth grade. This year was Galbreath’s first playing football for Centennial and his returning season for basketball. 

“Gage is outstanding for us and an incredible person.” said head basketball coach David Grace. “He is one of the most popular students at the school and an excellent student as well. A major contributor to our success this season.”

Galbreath had new opportunities open up for him after playing this past season on the football team. He says that “by playing football it helped me in basketball with aggressiveness, in the weight room more, and I'm a lot stronger than last year.”

Not only is Galbreath dominating the court and the field, he is thriving in school with a 3.4 GPA and enjoys helping in the community. The Centennial basketball team has participated in volunteering and Galbreath said, “it brings something new to your eyes -- it makes me want to do it more.”

When asked who his favorite player was, Galbreath said, “LeBron.” Now, everyone can like LeBron because of how amazing an athlete he is but Galbreath likes LeBron also because of  how LeBron uses his platform to impact communities.

“Since I was a little kid I’ve always watched him play but it is how he carries himself and, like, he is never in bad stuff… I just think hes a good role model.”

Galbreath is on a similar track. His favorite quote is “Victory loves preparation.” This quote was told to Galbreath by his cousin, Alec Delafield, who passed in 2021 of Galbreath’s freshman year to suidice.

Galbreath’s mother was asked to describe him in three words. She said: “Confident -- he expects success with all he does. Passionate -- he does everything with his whole heart. And kind -- he genuinely treats everyone with respect and kindness.”

Her favorite memory of Gage outside of sports “would be him dancing at our wedding. He was already the life of the party.” Galbreath’s biggest supporters are his parents and they attend every game. 

Galbreath wants to attend college after high school and hopes to be playing a sport. His advice to younger athletes is to “just keep working 'cause, it's not about now, it's about if you keep working what you could do later, 'cause some kids are gonna be gifted naturally at a young age. If you are not gifted, you just got to out work them and over time if you out work someone, hard work beats talent.” 

Grace said: “I’m looking forward to next year as well as he will be even better. College coaches, he is one to be on.”