By Pat Culverhouse
For three decades, Bob Gray stood in the third base coaching box at Sibley/Lakeside High School as the team’s head baseball coach. Now he stands alongside Skip Bergman, “Beetle” Bailey, Smoke Laval, Ronnie Coker and other notables in the Louisiana Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Gray was inducted Friday in Lafayette in recognition of a career that produced 627 wins, two state championships, one state runner-up and seven semifinals in his 26 total playoff appearances. He was named state Class B Coach of the Year in 1990 and 1991 and honored as District Coach of the Year 17 times as Sibley transitioned to Lakeside and moved through several district changes from Class B to AA.
“It’s been a heck of a ride and I’m in some pretty doggoned good company,” Gray said prior to his induction. “I am going to be honored to stand at the podium, thank everybody and tell a few stories. Some of my heroes are on this list and it’s overwhelming, to be honest.”
Although his record shows he officially retired as head baseball coach in 2015, Gray is still a big part of the Lakeside baseball program now under the guidance of his son, Will.
“When I decided to give up the head coaching job and started to leave, I made it as far as the parking lot,” Gray remembered. “I turned around, went back and told Will, it looks like you and I just swapped jobs. I knew I wouldn’t be happy unless I was part of it, and I hope to be until they drag me off the field.”
Gray said he always knew he wanted to be a baseball coach, but his first stop after college was in the private sector. Even while he was working outside school and sports, he knew someday he would be a coach.
“I was working in the oil field and it shut down, so I needed a job,” he said. “I got a job at Sibley and was assistant to coach “Nody” Parker. Because of the difference in pay, I intended to stay until the first phone call. That call came after baseball season had started and I just never answered the phone. Thirty-one years later, I’m still here and I’ve never looked back.”
During his first year with Parker, Gray put to practice what would become a career philosophy.
“Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals…the three things that make good players, teams and coaches,” he said. “You don’t assume they know. You teach to make sure they know, and you don’t scream while they’re learning. You can get a little loud when they’re supposed to know.”
In his 31 years, Gray said he never tried to embarrass a player, and never told a youngster he couldn’t be part of a team in some way.
“Even if they couldn’t play a lick, I never sent a kid home unless they didn’t know how to act,” he said. “Character plays a big part in being a good player. But there’s always a lot going on around the ball park and there’s always something the kids can do to be a part of a team.”
As a youngster, Gray said his heroes were old coaches. These coaches possessed talents he admired and remembered as he moved into the profession.
“They were your friends, but you couldn’t tell it. They demanded things of you that you didn’t know you could do. They loved you like a son and had a loyalty you could feel across the campus,” he said.
What would he tell a youngster who might be considering a coaching career?
“Love the sport you’re going to pursue, be patient and be willing to work hard. This is not a go home at three o’clock endeavor and unless you’re willing to make a 24-hour per day, seven days a week commitment you won’t be successful,” Gray said. “You have to be satisfied that what you’re doing is worth that commitment.”
During his career he’s had many youngsters come through the program. He has developed relationships with his former players that have lasted far beyond the day they last put on the school’s uniform.
“I have a stack of handwritten post cards about a foot tall from men who are grown and gone, all saying the same thing. ‘Thank you for making me what I am.’ I got one from a kid sitting on a tank in Iraq telling me it’s possible he’s alive today because of his association with me. It is a great feeling knowing I’ve had a positive influence on them,” Gray said.
While he has no favorite players or teams, he does have one story with a very special meaning.
“Several years ago we were making a playoff run at Sibley, and I was going over to a building to get a scouting report. A former player was dropping off his grandson at school and he pulled over to talk,” Gray recalled. “Soon, another two or three other former players had seen us and stopped.
“Pretty soon, the conversation switched from that year’s playoff to their playing days and all their stories were exactly as I remembered them,” he said. “What else in the world are you going to do where you can create memories that are photocopied on your brain to the point they last 50 years?”
And, Gray said, that’s a story he’s planning to tell current players.
“Work hard, be the best you can be and be a leader. What you do over three or four months could create a lifetime of memories, whether you win championships or not,” he said.
Bob Gray’s Hall of Fame stats
1984 – Sibley High School – Assistant Baseball Coach
1985 – 2000 – Sibley High School – Head Baseball Coach
2001 – 2015 – Lakeside High School – Head Baseball Coach
1990, District Champs- Class B State Champions
1991 , District Champs- Class B State Champions
1992, District Champs – Class AA State Semi-Finals
1993, District Champs – Cass AA State Semi-Finals
1994, District Champs – Class A State Semi-Finals
1995, District Champs – Class A State Runner-Up
1996, District Champs – Class AA State Semi-Finals
2000, District Champs – Class AA State Semi Finals
2001, District Co-Champs
2005, District Runner Up –Class AA State Semi-Finals
2011, District 3rd. Place – Class AA State Semi Finals
2012 District Champs
Overall Record: 627-302, District Wins: 227-54, 26 playoff appearances; 2 State Championships; 1 state runner-up; 4 quarterfinalist; 7 semi-finalist; 7 Regionals; 15 District Championships.
District Coach of the year ’85, ’86, ’87, ’90, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’95, ’96, ’00, ’06, ’07, ’11, ’12, ’14, ’15 in multiple districts.
State Coach of the Year: 1990 and 1991), Coached the state all-star game in Class B (1987), and in Class AA in (2014) All-area coach of the year multiple times.
In 2015 the mayor and the town of Sibley, La. declared Saturday, April 25 as Bob Gray Day. The team suited up in the old Sibley Raider baseball uniforms worn by the alumni gathered at the field. Lakeside defeated the #2 ranked 5A Evangel Eagles that day in front of a packed crowd.