I'M GOING to tell you a little story about this University, so bear with me.
It's an important story because this week, the Office of the Dean of Students is accepting nominations for the Gray-Carrington Scholarship Award, the highest honor a University student can receive. You need to understand what this award is about, and you need to understand the motivation of the men it honors.
The award is given to a student who lives the ideals that Pete Gray and Ed Carrington embodied as students and in their brief lives as alumni: the personal integrity to tolerate no wrong and to not sit by until it has been resolved. The desire to achieve immense personal goals, even in the face of overwhelming challenges. The leadership to inspire others to constantly give their best. And the humility to act solely out of love and selflessness.
Special people who truly live these simple, and yet powerful ideals, come around only so often. When we look back on what Gray and Carrington accomplished, every student should be encouraged. They did so much with so little time.
Arthur Powell "Pete" Gray, IV and Edward Codrington Carrington, Jr. were University students in the late 1960s. Pete Gray was a graduate of Episcopal High School and entered the University on an Honor Award Scholarship. The humility, leadership, achievement and personal integrity that Gray embraced rewarded him with many honors. A member of the Raven Society, Omicron Delta Kappa, IMP, TILKA and the Zeta Psi Fraternity, Gray also had the heart and intensity to play varsity football and track for three years. He was a Resident Assistant, National Advertising Manager of The Cavalier Daily, president of the Skull and Keys, and in his fourth year, was elected president of the College and served as chairman of the Honor Committee. Gray received the Alumni Association's Distinguished Student Award and the ACC Scholar-Athlete Award, and was a Rhodes Scholar nominee.
After graduation in spring 1968, at the height of the Vietnam War, Pete Gray accepted his duty and entered the United States Marine Corps. He won the Leadership Award during training at Quantico Marine Base, and as lieutenant of the First Reconnaissance Battalion of the First Marine Division, he led eight long patrols behind enemy lines.
Pete was killed on July 19, 1970, from injuries sustained during a training mission in Vietnam.
He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious service, and at the time of his death, Pete Gray's membership in the Seven Society was revealed. The American flag that covered his casket during his final exercises now hangs in University Hall.
With the death of his long-time friend, Ed Carrington knew the loss the University experienced. Classmates at Episcopal High School and fraternity brothers of Zeta Psi, Ed Carrington lived the same ideals as Pete Gray. He excelled in athletics and student leadership. A member of University societies IMP and Eli Banana, Carrington was elected president of the Class of 1967, played varsity football for three years and was a co-captain, and was selected an all-ACC tight end.
After graduation, Ed Carrington played professional football for three years with the Houston Oilers, and earned his law degree from the University of Houston. He remained active in the University community, as president of the Houston Chapter of the Alumni Association, as chairman of the Alumni Affairs Committee of the Arts and Sciences Alumni Council, and served on the Alumni Association's Board of Managers. During the same time, he was a partner at the Houston law firm of Bonham, Carrington and Fox.
Ed Carrington died in a rock climbing accident on August 22, 1986. Upon his death, it was revealed that he, also, was a member of the Seven Society.
Pete Gray and Ed Carrington were remarkable sons of this University. We walk in their footsteps everyday and must be constantly reminded not just of their accomplishments, but of their motivation: personal integrity, achievement, leadership and humility.
We are called to a higher level of action, like Pete Gray and Ed Carrington. We're called to be humble, to be leaders with personal integrity, and to accomplish everything we set our minds to.
This University is much deeper than it would appear. There is a history and a spirit that touches every University student if he just opens his eyes. Pete Gray and Ed Carrington knew that the University is not solely about fraternity houses and studying in the library. A walk on the Lawn past the Rotunda should attest to that.
It's about gaining new knowledge from new experiences, it's about involvement, and it's about embracing an ideal -- the spirit of honor.
There are students who have embraced what motivated Pete Gray and Ed Carrington. This week, you should take the time to honor those students by nominating them for the Gray-Carrington Scholarship Award. The award completely funds a student's fourth year at the University. Being nominated for this award is an honor itself, and the special members of our community deserve that recognition.
(Luke Ryan is a Cavalier Daily columnist.)
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