Gardner was a top all-around player at St. John Bosco High School, a McDonald’s All-American and a top-five national recruit. He led his HS team to its first CIF title, scoring 24 points in the title game after scoring 55 points in an earlier game. He started as a freshman at Cal Berkeley before transferring to Pepperdine. Gardner averaged 14.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game as a junior in route to winning his first of two All-WCC first team honors. The 6-foot-6 point guard led the Waves in scoring, assists, made three-pointers and steals. He couldn’t pass the NBA physical with kidney disease, so he played in Israel immediately after college, which soon yielded opportunities to play stateside in the Continental Basketball Association.

He then played in the Dominican Republic and Germany in 2002, He missed two years after a kidney transplant, but Gardner bounced back by leading Brest in scoring average 22.2 points, 4.2 assists and 4.0 rebounds per game. After retiring he turned to coaching. Gardner started his high school coaching career at his alma mater, St. John Bosco High School, before taking several stops at La Salle, Bristol, Duarte, Blair and South Hills. Now, he runs JAG Basketball, an AAU team. His two sons played college basketball.