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A football legend will live on
By Rick Mann, rmann@starlocalnews.com
Personal interpretations are strange things.
I guess it's an "eye of the beholder" thing. The reason we see so many things differently. That, and experience.
There are plenty of football players and coaches who will tell you that Tom Gray was a tough coach. He would work his team to the point of breaking and then push them some more.
Then there was the other side of the tough-as-nails Marine. The side maybe many people weren't lucky enough to see.
When Coach Gray drove through our neighborhood for the very first time, moving his family into their new home, he spotted a group of us kids playing in the front yard. He didn't just wave; he honked his horn and waved like he'd just seen an old friend for the first time in years.
It became a ritual of sorts from then on. Leaving for a Mesquite High School or returning from the football field after a long day of pushing football players or working coaches to the breaking point, it was always the same. Every time he'd drive down our quiet residential street, spot someone, honk and wave. Then he'd park his Suburban at the house, go inside and reappear with a fishing pole in hand as he walked up the street to a quiet neighborhood lake.
As a sports writer I worked with Coach Gray on many occasions, most every time good and one time not so much. Part of the job was post-game interviewing. him after games. I started doing that in 1973 and continued till 1978. Every time I called, whether Mesquite won or lost, he stayed on the telephone for up to an hour talking about the game. He was always pleasant, always insightful and occasionally -- at some point in the interview --funny. The interview was always colorful. Thanks to him the story was written before I got off the phone.
His toughness and drive propelled two programs to the state football championship. In Plano he kick-started a football program that became legendary. Under his guidance, the Wildcats won their first state title. The first of many. In Mesquite, Gray had some down years before all sorts of talent started to come together.
In 1974 the right kind of talent and chemistry came together. And school that hadn't won a district title in more than 30 years went to the state championship game. The Skeeters didn't win that year but the ride was magical, exhilarating.
It takes more than just talent and coaching to win a state title; a little bit of luck is required along the way.
There was a gambling side to Coach Gray. Meeting with opposing coaches to determine time and location of playoff games, Coach Gray insisted on two coin flips -- one for place and the other for time. Two of the playoff games were played when and where Coach Gray wanted.
Four coin flips he won. He probably won more but those were the ones that I easily recall even to this day.
One of the best and most colorful players in MHS history, Mike Ford, played for the coach. Ford was the sophomore quarterback who led the Skeeters to the state final game. Memories of his coach are strong and a little painful -- literally.
"My very first play as a varsity quarterback," Ford said, laughing, "I decided to call an audible. In my mind I was about to throw a touchdown pass on my first play. Scott Smith (tight end) was about eight yards downfield and I fired a pass at him that could have gone 40 yards. It bounced off his chest and went straight up in the air. A defensive back grabbed it and ran forever.
"When I got to the bench, coach was letting me know in his own special way that I was not to do an audible again. And he was making his point but planting two fingers in my ribs with every word he said."
And Ford, who went on to SMU and the NFL, had more to say about Coach Gray.
"Everything I knew about being a quarterback and throwing a pass I learned from Coach Gray. Everything. I'll never forget sitting on one knee and when he said 'ball' I picked up the football and threw it at a target on a wall. He knew by how the ball bounced off the target if it had the right kind of spin.
"At SMU and the NFL no coach ever had to work with me on my throwing. I learned that from Coach Gray."
It was 2009 the last time I talked to Coach Gray. It was an emotional time. Dad was at Baylor Hospital in his last days of lung cancer. Coach came to the back door asking about my dad, his good friend. Tears pooled in his eyes. He wanted to help. He and dad were close and he was losing a friend.
Coach Gray died July 16. A celebration of life service was held Friday and the First United Methodist Church was packed. Former players, former coaches, family and friends filled the pews. Plano coach John Clark, who replaced Coach Gray with the Wildcats, was there as was Gerald Brence, another Wildcat coach. All there to pay their respects to a coaching legend -- Tom Gray.
He was a highly respected football coach.
He was a world-class husband, father and grandfather.
He was a great human being.
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