Jack Gray (May 12, 1911 – March 7, 1992) was an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

player and coach. Gray played for the

Texas Longhorns men's basketball The Texas Longhorns men's basketball team represents The University of Texas at Austin in NCAA Division I College basketball, intercollegiate men's basketball. The Longhorns currently compete in the Big 12 Conference. The University of Texas be ...

team from 1933 to 1935. As a player, he set a

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma ...

record with 32 points in 1933 which stood for 16 years. Gray was a First-Team All-American guard in 1935 and was All-SWC all three years of his varsity career. He was known for his one-handed "push" shot, a precursor of the jump shot. With one year of coaching experience, Gray took over the coaching job at age 25. In his first six years as coach beginning in 1937, he led the Longhorns to five winning seasons and led the Longhorns to their first Elite Eight in the first NCAA tournament in 1939. After returning from

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Gray led the Longhorns to their first Final Four in the 1947 NCAA tournament. He coached Basketball Hall of Famer

Slater Martin Slater Nelson "Dugie" Martin Jr. (October 22, 1925 – October 18, 2012) was an American professional basketball player and coach who was a playmaking guard for 11 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was born in Elmina ...

from 1944 to 1949. Gray got his team in the National Invitation Tournament in 1948, their first

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broad ...

ranking (#20 in 1949). Gray ranks third all-time in Longhorns basketball history in wins with 194 victories to 97 losses and had a final Southwest Conference record of 89–55. He was head coach for 12 years, which as of 2011, ranked as the second-longest basketball coaching term at University of Texas.Texas Basketball Timeline
''Texas Statesman'' November 15, 2005

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Jack 1911 births 1992 deaths All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Texas Basketball players from Texas College men's basketball head coaches in the United States People from Van Zandt County, Texas Texas Longhorns men's basketball coaches Texas Longhorns men's basketball players

Head coaching record

See also

References