Ryan Spangler has quickly emerged as one of the up-and-coming stars of the Gonzaga basketball program. And he's only a freshman. But he almost didn't make to Spokane, or the hardwood for that matter.
The son of a football coach, Spangler moved around a lot as a child until his father settled down in Oklahoma when he switched careers to work in the oil fields. He played football in high school – quarterback – and almost went that route instead of basketball.
"My sophomore year I was decided I was going to play college football," he said. " I was going to Arkansas, Texas Tech, all of them, for quarterback. And then in the middle of my junior year I started getting all these basketball offers and I realized that's what I wanted to do."
Both of his brothers played college football, making the pressure to play with the pigskin even greater. But Ryan wanted to do something different.
Welcome to Gonzaga.
"I've been watching [Gonzaga] ever since I was little, I just always thought about it," said Spangler of Gonzaga. "Coach [Ray] Giaccoletti called me and wanted to offer me a scholarship, so I was happy about that."
Spangler pared his list down to five schools. His third visit was to Spokane, and after that he was hooked.
