Bill Gray came to Gettysburg College with the goal of becoming a three-sport All-American in cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track. Four years later, Gray realized his goal in the final race of his collegiate career, and in the process became Gettysburg’s only athlete to earn All-America distinction in three different sports.
Throughout his career, Gray had a knack for saving his best performances for the biggest meets late in the season. After a strong freshman campaign, the Morristown, N.J. native had a breakthrough season during his sophomore year of cross country in 1993. He placed ninth at the Centennial Conference Championships, then qualified for the NCAA Division III national championships for the first time after finishing third at the Mideast Regional Meet. He did not earn his coveted All-America honor just yet, but he only had to wait one more year to achieve that feat. As a junior, he crossed off goal No. 1 when he finished 33rd among 184 competitors at the 1994 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships. During his senior year of cross country, he came through in the big races once again. He placed third at the Centennial Conference Championships and third at the Mideast Regional meet, capturing all-conference and all-region honors for the third straight season. He also qualified for nationals for a third year in a row and placed 63rd.
On the track, Gray was primarily a middle distance runner. But the range of ability allowed him to excel at distances as short as 400 meters, and he even ran on the team’s 4x100-meter relay team on occasion. He earned his first all-conference honor in track as a sophomore in both the 800 meters and the 4x4 relay. As a junior, he was the outdoor conference runner-up in the 1,500, finishing behind only Haverford’s world-class runner Karl Paranya, a familiar foe throughout Gray’s career.
He entered his senior year of track still looking for his final two All-America honors. He accomplished goal No. 2 during the indoor season, qualifying in the 1,500 meters at a last-chance meet at Haverford, then finishing sixth at the NCAA Championships. Earlier in the season, he captured the Centennial Conference title in the indoor 5,000-meter run.
Down to his last chance to become outdoor track All-American, he finished behind Paranya in both the 800 and 1,500 at the Centennial Conference meet, but he qualified for nationals in both events. At the NCAA Championships, the 1,500 was run first, and he did not place. However, he qualified for the final in the 800-meter run, and in the final race of his career, finished seventh to capture his third All-America medal.
After earning a degree in history at Gettysburg, Gray went on to serve as an assistant track coach at both Columbia University and Swarthmore College before landing at Poland Spring-Nestle Waters North America, where he works as the Key Account Development Manager for the Boston Metro Area. He currently resides in Hudson, Massachusetts with his wife, Kristen, a 1995 Gettysburg graduate, and their two children.
