Hall of Fame, three-time state champion coach Charles Gregory dies at 77

April 29, 2009

North Carolina

By Tony Bolick
Asheboro Tribune-Courier

ASHEBORO - An icon in Randolph County and North Carolina high school sports is gone.

Legendary Randleman High School football coach and North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) Hall of Fame member Charles Ray Gregory died Saturday. He was 77.

Born in High Point, Gregory came to Randleman and set up shop where he impacted young boys and girls throughout his career of over 30 years as a teacher, coach, athletic director, role model, driving force and friend.

"Everyone loved him." said Gregory's wife of 52 years, Anne, Saturday by phone from the home.

She said that when he began his coaching career, he and fellow coach and then-athletic director Joe Brookshire were the only ones there. What Gregory left is priceless.

He has molded so many young men and women, too. We've been on the phone all day ... everybody you talked to (about him), grown men with tears in their eyes," said current Randleman varsity football coach and athletic director Shane Handy, who played for Gregory in his freshman year.

"It's such a loss. He's such an icon and a legend."

"He's probably the most influential person in my life as far as picking a profession. He's like a second dad to me," said current Asheboro High School football coach and athletic director Dee Bulla, who stepped into Gregory's shoes at Randleman and took the reigns of the Tigers' program for 16 years after Gregory stepped down in 1983.

"I've learned, not just football, but how to handle people, coach people. He made me understand that every player, every person, is important." Handy added that one sure way to motivate Gregory was to tell him that he or someone else could not do something. He would set about making sure it got done.

Gregory came to Randolph County and made Randleman his home and the place where his legend will stand for decades to come. From humble beginnings as a seventh-grade teacher in a self-contained classroom, Gregory began his coaching career as one of just two coaches at RHS, calling the shots in football, basketball, track and golf. In addition to his storied football coaching career, his basketball coaching career spanned 15 years.

Gregory's started teaching in an eighth-grade class and progressed to teaching history and eventually settling into physical education at RHS where he made his mark during his teaching and coaching career. It was in the early 1980s that Gregory's Hall of Fame coaching career was cemented.

In 1981, the football stadium at Randleman High School was named in his honor. At the end of that season, the Tigers slipped past Swain County in the West Regional championship to reach the NCHSAA 2-A championship game where his squad rolled to a 44-30 victory over Whiteville.

The very next season was a carbon copy with a Randleman victory over Swain County leading to another 2-A title win over Whiteville.

In 1983, Gregory and the Tigers then pulled off the three-peat, shutting out East Carteret 35-0 to win their third consecutive title, the first - and only - time it has ever been done in the NCHSAA 2-A classification.

In all, he devoted over 30 years to students and athletes in the Randleman area before officially retiring in 1985 when he began working in the real estate industry.

Gregory's long-standing history at Randleman was still evident in 2008 when he was part of the selection process to find the Tigers' newest head coach when Handy was interviewed and eventually hired last summer.

"I'll be honest with you. When I took the job, he was in the interview process which meant a lot to me," Handy said, adding Gregory was a staunch disciplinarian who also stayed on top of the latest trends. "If somebody was doing it somewhere, he was doing it. That's something I took from him.

"He's one of the reasons I came back to Randleman because he wanted it to be better and that means a lot to me. He just cared a lot about making men better."

After high school, Gregory graduated from Lees McRae College where he became a Century Hall of Fame member. He went to Wofford College for a year, where he played football, before enlisting in the U.S. Army. During his two-year stint, he served in Japan during the Korean Conflict.

Upon his return, he enrolled and graduated from High Point College with a teaching degree and would later receive his master's degree from the University of North Carolina.

He is remembered by many in several ways. But for many, there is a common symbol.

"When I think of coach Gregory, I think of the ‘Law of the Jungle' which he had posted on the wall," Bulla said of his anecdotal poster. "Anybody that's involved with Randleman football would now what that means."

Bulla said his impact on students and his peers in coaching was immense. He added Gregory was a direct and upfront person, but always supportive.

"He taught me a lot about work ethic and coaching. He's always there to help out," Bulla said, adding Gregory was one of the first people he talked to whenever he made a big change in his career.

"He told you exactly what he thought, what he expected of you. He was a very unassuming person. He didn't want to take credit for some things," Bulla said. "He always believed that if you worked hard, that good things would happen. You can't explain it."

Gregory walked away from coaching, but kept his hands in the mix at Randleman throughout his life and supported his friends and those coaches he helped work and advance in the profession.

"He's up there in Heaven coaching somebody up. He's after somebody now," Handy said.