by Lonnel Cole
He was the ultimate dual threat this past school year as a Gateway Stem senior student-athlete. But that’s dual threat, as in dynamic two-way athlete: basketball and football. He was one of the area’s most prolific scorers in basketball, by averaging over 24 points last season and he was the area’s most dangerous big-play receivers in football last fall, by averaging over 32 yards per catch for the Jaguars.
But Gavin Dillon will only be using his basketball skills when he takes his talents to Austin, Minnesota next month, as a member of the Riverland Community College Blue Devils, a national junior college perennial powerhouse. In addition to averaging 24.2 points per game, the 6-foot-1 star also led the club with 8.2 rebounds per game and was second in both assists and blocks.
“He fits into the mold of the type of player we like to have at Riverland,” said Blue Devils coach Derek Hahn. “We have players who have size, athleticism and can guard multiple positions. That’s been our benchmark with players, who can guard multiple positions and press a lot on the court.”
Riverland Community College was the number 2 overall seed and reached the quarterfinals of the Division III tournament last season with a 31-3 mark, and placed fifth in the national tourney in 2022 with a 31-2 mark overall.
“We’ve had a ton of guys play at the next level, who have had high-level scholarships to Division 1 and mid-majors,” explain Hahn. “Gavin fits into what we’re looking for in the type of players we recruit.”
To that end, Dillon said he felt like he would be a good match for the Minnesota school. Specifically, he’s confident of his reactionary skills inside the paint as well..
“I think my best attributes are my explosiveness and the ability I have to finish around the basket, getting second-chance shots with my athleticism.”
Gateway Stem coach Milton Stith, who has spent more time as a college level coach at stops such as Lewis and Clark, Harris-Stowe and St Louis Community College, as he has on the high school level, said Dillon has been the quintessential team leader.
“Gavin is one of the few players I’ve had in my seven years at Gateway who has been committed to getting better since Day One,” relayed Stith. “He had not played any organized basketball before he came to Gateway and his progression was scary. He turned his game around each year.”
Dillon went from a miniscule 2.6 points his first season to 24.2 points per game and just a fraction off the PHL scoring title won by McKinley Classical’s Darrion Upchurch (recently featured in the St. Louis Argus as well).
“Right now I just want to improve my shooting ability and my court vision,” said Dillon, who acknowledged that his favorite college player was Brigham Young University’s 6-9 AJ Dybansta,. He was selected as the National Player of the Year and selected first in the NBA Draft last month by the Washington Wizards, after leading the nation in scoring with 25.5 points and pulling down 6.8 rebounds.
“I’m not a big game, but I love everything about his game,” said Dillon of the BYU freshman prodigy, whom scouts describe as a shifty ball-handler and dynamic downhill driver, despite his large size.
Of course Dillon can relate to the guard like attributes, given that he is a very accomplished one himself on the high school level. Among his myriad of big games the past season, Dillon scored 32 points and pulled down 11 rebounds in the Jaguars lopsided win over PHL foe Metro.
“Dillon is a very good athlete,” said Metro coach Tennelle Bufford. “His athleticism and size was a problem to handle. He has some skills in terms of ball handling and touch. But overall his physicality was too much for us.”
That physicality definitely was useful on the gridiron for Dillon last fall, as he key member of a Jaguars football team that finished an undefeated regular season and went 9-1 overall, losing to Lutheran North in the sectionals. Dillon was part of a formidable 1-2 big-play receiving duo with teammate Javion Jones, who caught 26 passes for even 500 yards and nine touchdowns, while Dillion hauled in only 14 but still managed 457 yards, which included many tough yards after the catch.
Ironically, Dillon’s senior season was his lone season of football at the high school level and he did so in dedication of his late father Vernon Dillon Jr, a Sumner High football and notable track athlete, who died in the spring of 2025 to lung cancer But given that Gavin hadn’t played high school football, was he surprised at the high level of success on the defending two-time league champion, no less?
“I felt good about me making an impact on the football team because as a little kid I played football in the JFL,” he recalled. “I could throw and catch the ball well. Being that the quarterback position had been settled basically, I went to receiver.”
In any event, as it were, Gavin’s mother, Janelle Mack is just grateful that her son has found joy and success in sports.
“I am thankful and enthusiastic for his success in sports,” she said back during Gateway’s basketball playoffs, as the Jaguars were eliminated by Lift For Life to finish with a 13-11 mark. “I have enjoyed his improvement. I have enjoy his love for the game of basketball.”
Suffice to say, Gateway and Riverland Community College couldn’t agree with her more.
“He took on a leadership role this year and he put in all the extra work to get better,” said Coach Stith of Dillon. “He worked on his outside shooting. He matriculated from a point guard to a two-guard. By the second half of the season he had at least six scholarship offers (including Missouri Baptist and St. Louis Community College locally) but I had a good rapport with the Riverland Community College coach. He has done all the necessary things to improve and get better. I thought he could average about 17 points per game. Of course he exceeded that.”
Photos below, left to right: Gateway’s Gavin Dillon is taking his hoops skills to Riverland Community College in Minnesota, but he leaves behind a fleeting football legacy at Gateway (far right) where he made the most of his 14 catches for the 9-1 Jaguars last fall by accumulating 457 yards ( a 32.8 average) and seven touchdowns. Photos courtesy of Gateway Stem
