Gary Gabrel

2024 Distinguished Alumni

B.A. '71/M.S. '74 Sociology

Gary Gabrel grew up with a football-star father and a famous sheriff for an uncle, but he chose to pursue a liberal arts education at OSU. It was while earning his sociology degree that Gary discovered a passion for learning that gave him the motivation to dream big and strive for a better world.

Gary remembers making pizzas at The Hideaway — probably feeding many of those attending CAS Hall of Fame 2024 — during which time he invented the board game, PENTE. He sold the game Parker Brothers/HASBRO, making it the company’s biggest acquisition up to that point.

He spent 40 years in Boulder as a senior guide for the Colorado Mountain Club, exploring the majestic mountains through rafting, climbing, and skiing. And for 12 years he commuted to Oklahoma while opening eight more Hideaway locations before passing the baton to new owners in 2006.

Most recently, Gary and his wife Cameron embarked as pioneers to create and market the first cannabis-infused tablets in the world— MEDAMINTS — which merge beneficial entheogens, controlled dosage, safe packaging and legal distribution. 
Gary credits his rich and fulfilling life to the people in it: his parents, siblings, friends, coaches, co-workers, high school teachers and college professors.

With six cats and no children of his own, Gary said he’s embraced the identity of a “childless cat man.” Rather than traditional measures of success, Gary celebrates the wonderful gift that is a consciousness of the world and the many forms of beauty around us.