John Travolta thanks Gabe Kaplan for launching his career

Washington: John Travolta has thanked his former fictional teacher Gabe Kaplan for launching his career.

"I’ve waited 35 years to thank this man," Travolta gushed about Kaplan, who based the ``70s ‘Welcome Back, Kotter’ series on his years as a teacher at a rough Brooklyn high school, "And I never got to publicly thank Gabe for his genius for putting us on the map. You know, we all wouldn’t be here today without Gabe,” Fox News quoted him as saying during a taped segment for ‘Good Morning America’. Kaplan, meanwhile, credited the series`` success to its diverse cast. "There’s a Horshack, a Barbarino, an Epstein, a Washington, in every class... These four guys from divergent ethnic backgrounds were the best of friends,” he added. ANI