Roddy Gayle Jr. and Western New York embrace a ‘storybook’ reunion

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Typically, Michigan senior guard Roddy Gayle Jr. cuts through Canada to make the trek home to Western New York. It’s about a five hour drive to his home in Niagara Falls through the Quebec-Windsor Corridor.

This most recent trip took a little extra time. Tuesday, the Wolverines opted for an intranational bus route through Ohio — partially resembling Gayle’s old way home when he played for the Buckeyes.

“My journey, everything I’ve been through as far going through prep school and high school, obviously going to Ohio State then coming to Michigan,” Gayle said Wednesday. “Obviously it was a long route to be able to come to where we are today. But like I said, everything in life happens for a reason.”

Gayle is home. After transferring to Wasatch Academy in Utah as a high school junior, followed by two seasons at Ohio State and two at Michigan, Gayle has made a poetic return for the Wolverines’ start of the NCAA Tournament.

“Extremely excited, just being able to come home,” Gayle said. “Playing here my senior year as a one seed in Buffalo, it’s a feeling, something you can’t really rate. It’s a storybook ending for me.” 

Despite having played elsewhere for six seasons now, Gayle has always had a strong affinity for his hometown. Even after his two seasons of prep basketball, Gayle returned for his final semester of high school to graduate from Lewiston-Porter, where he spent his freshman and sophomore years.

“Usually when the season’s over, like in April or whatever, he’ll come down, he’ll go down to the school, and he’ll speak to a class, and what it was like to be a college student and an athlete and how to budget your time and things like that,” Gayle’s coach at Lewiston-Porter, Matt Bradshaw said. “So, everybody at school is pretty excited about this too. A lot of talk around, it’s a lot of talk around Western New York. He’s a 716 kid.”

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