SMC professor has the last word at Scrabble Championship

After decades of playing and two North American championships, Spartanburg Methodist College professor David Gibson sees the world in Scrabble tiles.

“When I see, like, ‘Hampton,’ like the hotel (Hampton Inn), I see ‘phantom,” said Gibson, 65. “I’m just constantly anagramming. You just automatically kind of think like that.”

On Wednesday, Gibson sealed his second North American Scrabble Championship, outlasting 400 of the best players the continent has to offer.

The five-day, 31-round tournament was held in Fort Wayne, Ind. Players played seven games each day, with each game lasting 25 minutes, Gibson said.

“It’s five days, it’s a grueling thing,” he said. “Thirty-one games with the top players from all over the world; it was quite an ordeal.”

Gibson, who has taught math at SMC for the last 41 years, credits his success to his anagram obsession, strategic thinking and practice with his wife, Nancy. He said the couple typically plays a game each day to keep them both sharp.

"Without her, I would be nowhere near the player I have become," he said. "She not only puts up with my Scrabble addiction, but as a word person herself, she helps and encourages me in it."

As a child, Gibson got interested in the game and started playing with his parents and two sisters. He played in his first tournament in 1983, and became engrossed with the strategic competitiveness top Scrabble players brought to the table.

In 1994, Gibson won his first North American championship. A year later, he won $50,000 during a "Scrabble Superstars" tournament.

He used the money to buy a 1996 Honda — the same car he drove to Indiana last week.

This story was originally published August 14, 2016 at 6:04 PM with the headline "SMC professor has the last word at Scrabble Championship."