Redshirt Junior Amber Gray started playing basketball at the
age of six and always dreamed of playing for the University of Tennessee. After a year playing for the Lady Volunteers, her life was interrupted in a way she could not possibly have imagined. Gray, a native of West Chester, Ohio, graduated from Lakota West High School in 2008. Her lifelong dream of playing for UT was realized and she spent the 2008-09 season wearing orange and white, under famed head coach Pat Summitt. Gray played 205 minutes that year and scored 74 points. A loss to Ball State forced Tennessee out of the tournament. During an April practice, Gray injured her left shoulder. It did not heal with rest and rehabilitation, so in July of the same year, Gray underwent shoulder surgery. After the procedure, she spent four days on life support in the Intensive Care Unit due to unknown
complications. Doctors determined she had suffered a
stroke, which led them to find a brain aneurysm, a typically fatal disorder that Gray had likely been born with.
She was transferred from Knoxville, Tenn. to Cincinnati,
where she underwent a 12 and a half hour surgery to fix the
aneurysm. In August she completed intense rehabilitation at the Drake Center, where she had to relearn to walk. Gray experienced further complications, including issues with her eyes. She made a full recovery, but would not be able to return to play for UT. Gray would have been able to return to the university on scholarship and could finish her degree, but Gray wasn’t done. “There was a lot to overcome but there was never a time that I doubted that I’d be back on the
court,” Gray said. Gray’s dream of being a professional
athlete started at a young age, as she grew up watching her
father, Carlton Gray, play in the NFL. “Just seeing him and all the things that come with being a professional athlete, I knew I wanted to be a professional athlete too,” Gray said.
She played several sports as a child and played volleyball in high school. Then she decided to focus on basketball, and it paid off. She earned four varsity letters in high school and was captain of her team for three years. She was an All-American her senior year, among many other achievements, including Cincinnati enquirer Player of the Year in both 2006 and 2007 and All-Southwest Player of the Year in both 2007 and 2008. Gray, the oldest with four
younger sisters, credits her family for sticking by her and keeping her going. “They never doubted me, never questioned anything about coming back and playing. I was very fortunate growing up. [We] never went without [anything],” Gray said. Xavier gave her the opportunity
to get back on the court and be close to home. She knew the coaches from having been recruited before her stint at UT, and grew up playing against several of the players who were already wearing Muskie blue. Soon enough, Gray was able to get off the sidelines and back into the game she loved. “I think the biggest thing I had to overcome was my pride. I felt that if I were to leave Tennessee I would be quitting. I don’t like to quit…I had to realize, ‘you’re not quitting. It’s just a different path, a different way to continue to do the things that you want to do,” Gray said.
The communications major hopes to play in the WNBA, but
would like to coach if the opportunity to go pro doesn’t present itself. “Ultimately, if the opportunity’s there, then yeah, but at the same time you’ve gotta be ready to go out into the real world,” Gray said. Gray has come a long way,
sticking by her dreams all the while. This Musketeer knows that while she has had a long road this far, there is only more to come for her in the future.