Carole Gibilisco, of Venice, Florida, was looking for a secretarial job back in the early 1970s and heard that Mercer County Community College was moving from downtown Trenton to a newly constructed campus in West Windsor. It sounded like the perfect opportunity for Gibilisco, who lived only a few miles away and was raising a young son. She recalls being extremely nervous when she had her interview with then Athletics Director Al Leister and was delighted when she got the job. It was, she says, “the job of a lifetime.”
Gibilisco started at MCCC when the college was in the midst of transition. Her first office was located in The Hotel Hildebrecht in Trenton, as the college prepared for its move to West Windsor. She was part of the Al Leister team intent on developing a new athletics program, one that would accommodate more student-athletes and provide new facilities, equipment, courts and fields. She was part of it as it grew and flourished. With strong encouragement from Leister, Gibilisco was even able to complete her associate degree at Mercer by attending classes early in the morning and in the evenings after work.
Legendary MCCC Basketball Coach Howie Landa called Gibilisco “the rudder of the Vikings ship.”
Upon retirement in 1996, Gibilisco moved to Florida, where she continues to enjoy the sunshine, beaches and a wide friend circle.
But she has never forgotten her Mercer family because “they truly were everything to me.” She fondly remembers the outstanding athletes, the dedicated professional coaches, and her family of coworkers.
Then there was the thrill of victory and the sadness of defeat.“The entire experience was priceless,” she says.
