In its 32nd year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company announced Kaleb Wesson of Westerville South High School as its 2016-17 Gatorade Ohio Boys Basketball Player of the Year. Wesson is the second Gatorade Ohio Boys Basketball Player of the Year to be chosen from Westerville South High School.
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the court, distinguishes Wesson as Ohio’s best high school boys’ basketball player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year award, to be announced in March, Wesson joins an elite alumni association of past state boys basketball award winners, including Karl Anthony Towns, Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh, Paul Pierce, Chauncey Billups and Jason Kidd.
The 6-foot-7, 270-pound senior center averaged 22 points, 12 rebounds and three assists per game while shooting 70.3 percent from inside the arc this past season, leading the Wildcats (19-6) to the Division I district semifinals. A First Team All-State selection and a member of the 2015-16 USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team, Wesson is ranked as the nation’s No. 75 recruit in the Class of 2017 by 247Sports.
An accomplished vocalist in his school’s performance choir and a member of the Student Council, Wesson has volunteered locally at a homeless shelter and as a youth basketball coach. Wesson has maintained a B average in the classroom. He has signed a National Letter of Intent to play basketball on scholarship at The Ohio State University this fall.
“Kaleb is a dominant player, a game changer, capable of taking over a game. He exerts great effort on both ends of the floor,” says Ed Calo, Westerville South Boys Basketball Head Coach. “He is extremely skilled, but equally unselfish – the consummate team player. It was a special honor to have coached him.”
As a Gatorade Player of the Year, Wesson will be able to select a national or local youth sports organization to receive a grant as part of the Gatorade Play It Forward program. Every Gatorade Player of the Year state winner receives a $1,000 grant to donate and will have the opportunity to enter for an additional $10,000 spotlight grant by writing a brief essay explaining why their selected organization deserves additional support. Twelve spotlight grants – one for each sport – will be announced throughout the year.