Jay Gibson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania while his father attending medical school. The family moved to Kermit, Texas, where Gibson’s father began his practice. Gibson later moved to Austin, Texas when his parents divorced, but attended high school in Kermit during his final years of high school. Gibson attending the University of Texas at Austin, where he graduated in 1972, and then attending law school at Southern Methodist University, graduating in 1975. Gibson moved to Odessa, Texas to practice law and was elected into the Texas House of Representatives in 1978 out of Odessa. He served three term ending in 1984 in which he helped secure additional funding for Texas A&M Prairie View and Texas Southern University. As a State Representative, Gibson was also instrumental in having Martin Luther King being made into a state holiday. Governor Ann Richards later appointed Gibson as a District Judge.