Leonard Earl Gray (December 19, 1951 – June 13, 2006) was an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player.

Early life

Gray was born at the

University of Kansas Medical Center The University of Kansas Medical Center, commonly referred to as KU Med or KUMC, is a medical campus for the University of Kansas. KU Med houses the university's schools of medicine, nursing, and health professions, with the primary health science ...

Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City, abbreviated as "KCK", is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas, and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As of ...

and raised in

. Because of his stature, Gray was affectionately referred to in his hometown as "Hugie".

High school career

Gray attended Sumner High School where he played basketball all four years and football through his junior year. During Gray’s junior football season, he broke his leg and chose not to return for his senior football season. During his senior year at Sumner, Gray led the Spartans to an undefeated season and the 1969 Kansas Class 4 state basketball championship. In the state title game against McPherson High School, Gray totaled 24 points and 22 rebounds. Gray’s high school coach Roy Flook told the Kansas City Star that college coaches told him that “Leonard is the top prospect in the country”. In a ceremony at Sumner High School on May 6, 1969, Gray signed a letter of intent with the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...

. Gray chose Kansas over offers from over 100 college programs including

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

, Harvard,

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

, and

Big 8 Conference The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Associatio ...

and

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

universities.

College career

Gray enrolled at the

for the 1969–1970 school year. Due to NCAA freshman eligibility rules in effect at that time, Gray was limited to competing for the Jayhawks 1969–1970 freshman basketball team. Gray averaged 17.5 points per game for the 1969–1970 Jayhawk freshmen squad. On October 15, 1970, weeks before what would have been Gray’s sophomore season at Kansas, Kansas coach Ted Owens announced Gray had left the Jayhawk basketball program and would transfer to another school. Ironically, that season Kansas advanced to the 1971 Final 4, but the subsequent two seasons ended in sub-.500 records. Gray transferred from Kansas to the Long Beach State basketball program coached by

Jerry Tarkanian Jerry Tarkanian (August 8, 1930 – February 11, 2015) was an American basketball coach. He coached college basketball for 31 seasons over five decades at three schools. He spent the majority of his career coaching with the UNLV Runnin' Rebe ...

. Gray didn't become eligible for competition for Long Beach State until February 1, 1972, which was midway through the 1971–1972 season. In his opening game for the 49ers, Gray scored 16 points in a victory over Cal-Irvine. In March 1972, the 49ers season ended in a loss to

Bill Walton William Theodore Walton III (born November 5, 1952) is an American television sportscaster and former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for coach John Wooden and the UCLA Bruins, winning three consecutive national ...

’s

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) ...

in the 1972 NCAA West Regional Final by the score of 73–57. In the 1972–1973 season, Gray set a single-season Long Beach State record with a 56.5% shooting percentage and added 7.1 rebounds per game for the season. The 49ers finished the season with a 26–3 record and a loss to the USF Dons in the 1973 NCAA West Regional semifinals. After the 1972–1973 season, Gray was drafted with the 45th overall pick in the 3rd round of the

1973 NBA draft The 1973 NBA draft was the 27th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on April 24 and May 5, 1973, before the 1973–74 season. In this draft, 17 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college baske ...

by the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...

but declined the professional opportunity and returned to Long Beach State. Gray also was drafted by the

Utah Stars The Utah Stars were an American Basketball Association (ABA) team based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Under head coach Bill Sharman the Stars were the first major professional basketball team to use a pre-game shootaround. History prior to moving t ...

in the 1973 ABA Draft. During the 1973–1974 season, Long Beach State, now coached by future

Hall of Famer A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

Lute Olson Robert Luther "Lute" Olson (September 22, 1934 – August 27, 2020) was an American basketball coach, who was inducted into both the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. He was the head c ...

who replaced the departed

, was one of the nation’s top teams. The 49er roster consisted of five future NBA draft choices ( Cliff Pondexter,

Roscoe Pondexter Roscoe Pondexter Jr. (born October 17, 1952) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Long Beach State 49ers from 1972 to 1974. Pondexter was a third round pick of the Boston Celtics in the 1974 NB ...

Glenn McDonald Glenn McDonald (born March 18, 1952) is an American retired professional basketball player. He played three seasons for the Boston Celtics and the Milwaukee Bucks before going overseas most notably in the Philippines, with the U/Tex Wranglers in ...

Bob Gross Robert Edwin Gross (born August 3, 1953) is an American retired professional basketball player. A 6'6" (1.98 m) 200 lb (91 kg) forward, he attended Seattle University and California State University, Long Beach, and was selected in the ...

and Gray) and finished with a 24–2 record and an Associated Press Final Ranking of 10th. However, the 49ers were placed on NCAA probation for recruiting violations in January 1974 and were declared ineligible for the 1974 NCAA basketball tournament. In 1974, Gray earned first team All- PCAA and PCAA Player of the Year. Gray finished his career at Long Beach State averaging 10.7 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. Following his senior year at Long Beach State, Gray was drafted by the

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly known as the Seattle Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Western Confe ...

with the 26th overall pick in the 2nd round of the

1974 NBA draft The 1974 NBA draft was the 28th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on May 28, 1974, before the 1974–75 season. In this draft, 18 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players ...

Professional career

Gray signed a multi-year contract with the

on June 26, 1974. He played his first two full seasons ( 1974–1975 and 1975–1976) and part of a third ( 1976–1977) with the SuperSonics for head coach

Bill Russell William Felton Russell (February 12, 1934 – July 31, 2022) was an American professional basketball player who played as a center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1956 to 1969. A five-time NBA Most Va ...

. In March 1976, Gray, who by then was a SuperSonics co-captain in just his second NBA season, suffered a season-ending knee injury that resulted in surgery. On December 13, 1976, Seattle traded Gray to the

Washington Bullets The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays ...

for Nick Weatherspoon. After completing the 1976–1977 season with the Bullets, the team didn't offer him a contract for the 1977–1978 season. Gray played in an NBA playoff series with both the Supersonics ( lost in Western Conference semifinals) in 1975 and Bullets ( lost in Eastern Conference semifinals) in 1977. Gray finished his NBA career playing in 224 games over three seasons averaging 10.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.

Honors

In June 1969, Gray was named as one of the Top 100 High School basketball players in the United States for the 1968–1969 season by “Coach and Athlete” magazine. Despite never playing football in college, Gray was drafted by the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

as a Tight End in the 15th round of the 1974 NFL draft. Gray was inducted into the Long Beach State University Athletics Hall of Fame in 1995.

Personal life

Leonard was the son of Paralee and Leonard Gray, Sr. He had two sons. Gray is also the uncle of twin sister former professional basketball players

Courtney Paris Courtney Paris (born September 21, 1987) is an American basketball coach and former player. She is currently an assistant coach for the Dallas Wings of the WNBA. She last played as a center for the Seattle Storm of the Women's National Basketb ...

and

Ashley Paris Ashley Paris (born September 21, 1987) is an American basketball player. She is the twin sister of former WNBA center Courtney Paris, who last played for the Seattle Storm and is currently an assistant coach at the University of Oklahoma. She ha ...

. The Paris twins led

Oklahoma Sooners women's basketball The Oklahoma Sooners women's basketball team represents the University of Oklahoma (OU) and competes in the Big 12 Conference of NCAA Division I. History OU women's basketball began during the 1974–75 academic year. In March 1990, Oklahoma offi ...

to the 2009 NCAA Women’s Final 4. Gray’s sister Lynne is the mother of the Paris sisters. A resident of

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

, Gray died in

Browns Mills, New Jersey Browns Mills is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located in Pemberton Township, in Burlington County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Leonard Gray NBA stats
@ basketballreference.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Leonard 1951 births 2006 deaths 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people American men's basketball players Atlanta Hawks draft picks Basketball players from Kansas Long Beach State Beach men's basketball players Power forwards (basketball) Seattle SuperSonics draft picks Seattle SuperSonics players Sportspeople from Kansas City, Kansas Sportspeople from the Las Vegas Valley University of Kansas alumni Washington Bullets players