Hoosier contributes to 2 sports

Lifting weights on his day off, junior first baseman Gibran Hamdan sticks out from his teammates on the baseball team. It's not because he's 6-foot-5, 225 pounds. It's because he's the only player wearing football pants. \nHamdan just made his way from spring football practice, where he is the third-string quarterback, to the Memorial Stadium weight room to lift for a few hours. Splitting time between the two sports is a common practice for Hamdan, especially during the spring -- when football practice and baseball season clash. \n"I've been trying to make a contribution football-wise, and I've tried to help the baseball team out, too," Hamdan said. "I choose to play both sports, so any soreness and weariness comes on my own account and me deciding that's what I want to do. I can't really complain."\nHamdan didn't grow up playing two sports. Actually, his story is the opposite. \nHamdan was born in San Diego, where he and his family lived for the first three years of his life until they moved to Kuwait. It was there that Hamdan picked up his interest in baseball. \n"The Japanese had come down there and started a league," Hamdan said. "We just played baseball, and my dad was the coach."\nHamdan and his family lived in Kuwait for six years, until a vacation to his birthplace became a permanent stay. During the vacation, Iraq invaded Kuwait, and Hamdan's family had to relocate to the United States. \n"We couldn't go back," Hamdan said. "We lost everything."\nAfter attending a nearby San Diego elementary school, Hamdan and his family moved for the third and final time to North Potomac, Md., where he attended Winston Churchill High School. Hamdan said he tried out for other sports at the school, but was cut from all but baseball. In his sophomore year, Hamdan made the basketball team and continued to play baseball. \nAfter his sophomore year, Hamdan decided to transfer to Bishop O'Connell High School because he felt a private school could offer him better athletic opportunities. One opportunity was a chance to play for the Team USA baseball team in Japan. Hamdan returned to Virginia for his season two weeks into fall football practice and thought he had missed his opportunity to try out for the football team. He was wrong.\n"It turns out that the kid that was heir apparent at quarterback transferred because he didn't like the offense O'Connell was running," Hamdan said. "It came down to not having a quarterback at the school, so they asked me to play quarterback."\nHamdan started for O'Connell his senior year, throwing for 2,149 yards and 12 touchdowns, grabbing the attention of college football and baseball recruiters. The decision that eventually brought Hamdan to IU was based upon who would let him play both sports. \nHamdan came to IU on a football scholarship, even though he was primarily being recruited for baseball. But it took a phone call from baseball coach Bob Morgan to football coach Cam Cameron for Cameron to know Hamdan even existed. \n"I really got excited about him coming here," Cameron said. "I was sent a video tape of him playing, and we liked what we saw."\nHamdan didn't see any significant playing time in either sport until his sophomore year, when he played 36 games at first base and was the football team's holder during kicks. Hamdan developed into one of the best holders Cameron said he has seen in college or professional football. This season, Hamdan is the regular starting first baseman and is listed as the No. 3 quarterback. \n"With a two-sport athlete, it's important to excel and not just participate," Cameron said. "I've been real pleased with Gibran because he's excelled in two sports as well was academically."\nMorgan said Hamdan has grown into the baseball player who can compete and contribute with the team on a regular basis. \n"As an offensive player, he has improved with maturity," Morgan said. "He's a good leader, and he's maturing as hitter."\nHamdan's coaches describe him as a gifted athlete, but the business major said the only thing that matters is his education.\n"The only thing you can count on is that education you are getting, and the business school has offered me a great education," Hamdan said. "I hope that I get a shot after college, but the only thing you can count on is that business degree"