Grayson, Thurman Douglas

 

Thurman Douglas Grayson – (1990)

 

THURMAN DOUGLAS GRAYSON

T. Douglas Grayson attended Admiral King High School between 1962 and 1965. Virtually all of his coaches, teachers, fellow students and teammates there described him as ambitious, religious, studious and, above all, talented. In addition to the aforementioned qualities, Grayson, although always modestly soft-spoken, was highly-recognizable as a student leader. He served as Senior Class president and a member of the National Honor Society. The 6-4 Grayson, who earned three varsity letters in basketball and two in track and field, possessed an unstoppable turn-around jump shot on the hardwood. And many an opposing coach lamented that he always shot better when a defender’s hand was in his face!

In a game against rival Lorain High during his 1964-65 senior season, Grayson made 18 of 23 field attempts and finished with a then-school record 39 points. He also was considered the school’s first premier rebounder and once snapped off 23 caroms against rugged Findlay. Grayson’s tremendous all-around cage game in 1964-65 led Coach Al McConihe’s 17-7 Admirals to the Regional finals where they finally fell to Lima Shawnee, 103-85, in a barnburner in front of 4,800 fans at Bowling Green State University’s Anderson Arena.

Grayson’s 495-point senior campaign netted him All-Ohio Special Mention, All-Buckeye Conference, All-County and All-District, plus Plain Dealer Dream Team honors. As a senior prep track high jumper and high hurdler-low hurdler, he captured three District meet individual titles and led the Admirals to the runnerup spot by personally scoring 18½ points at Ely Stadium. He also tallied in the mile relay. Doug also ruled the large-school District meet high jumpers as a junior. He averaged 6-2 per leap during the spring seasons of 1964 and 1965 for Coach Ellie Meyers’ Blue and Gold spikers. Grayson’s excellent basketball shooting continued at Kent State University where he was a three-time selection as All Mid-American Conference second team. Those all-league honors came with teams that finished 5-18, 9-15 and 14-10.

The Lorain native was voted Most Valuable Player of the Golden Flashes’ 1967-68 squad. He scored 1,113 career points. Now, nearly 23 years later, his finest college performance still stands in the NCAA record books. Against the second-ranked host North Carolina Tarheels, Grayson pumped in 16 consecutive field goals and finished with 41 points in a 107-83 loss on Dec. 6, 1967 at Chapel Hill. Overall that game, he missed only one shot from the field, finishing with an astonishing 18-for-19 from the floor and a perfect 5-for-5 from the foul line. The “Flash” performance, among many others, led to Grayson’s induction into the Kent State Athletic Hall of Fame in January, 1989.

Grayson received his bachelor’s degree from Kent State in 1970. He obtained a Master’s degree in Communications from Bowling Green in 1973. He now teaches and coaches girls’ basketball at Eastern Heights Junior High in Elyria.