Skip to main content
All Sooners

Oklahoma QB Dillon Gabriel Hopes to Help Out Maui Victims However He Can

The Sooners' quarterback has already given back to his community earlier this year when he donated sports jerseys to Mililani High School in Hawaii.
John E. Hoover|
Oklahoma QB Dillon Gabriel Hopes to Help Out Maui Victims However He Can
Oklahoma QB Dillon Gabriel Hopes to Help Out Maui Victims However He Can

In this story:

Oklahoma Sooners

NORMAN – Oklahoma quarterback Dillon Gabriel has immersed himself in charitable causes.

He plans to do the same for the people affected by catastrophic wildfires in his home state.

Gabriel, 22, is an OU senior and will start for the Sooners in Saturday’s season opener against Arkansas State. He had a successful senior season in 2022 after transferring from UCF, and his status as a Hawaiian celebrity has afforded him opportunities to give back to his high school and the Hawaiian community of Mililani.

After practice on Monday night, AllSooners asked Gabriel about the blazes that, as of Monday morning, had taken 115 lives and gutted one of the state’s most vibrant communities.

How to Watch Oklahoma vs. Arkansas State

“Yeah, it’s just super sad,” Gabriel said. “I’ve got family over there, and friends that I knew from a young age, just losing their house and their business. But it’s just a sad deal. It’s tough knowing people like that, people are going through it. But, praying for them, but also knowing Hawaii’s a special place. They’re very strong. And I’m proud to be from there. Just praying for them and hoping everyone does the same and just show as much love as they can.”

Gabriel spent time last summer giving back to Mililani High School – he donated brand new jerseys for several of the Trojans sports teams – on the island of Honolulu (to the far west). Maui is further east, just north of the big island of Hawaii.

He told Hawaii News Now in June that he was “trying to set a new standard there.”

Now Gabriel said he would like to do something to help the people of Maui.

“For sure,” he said. “It’s just something (that’s) a part of it, I love Hawaii and I know the tight knit family and just the people there and what they’re about. So I would love to do something. I’m definitely gonna do something in the future, for sure.”

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published
John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

Share on XFollow johnehoover
Home/Football