The Independent – Jan. 14, 2016
By William Geoghegan
On a summer day in 2010, Michael Gray took two hits to his head at a South Kingstown High School football practice, and they nearly killed him. In the days and weeks after surgery, Gray and his family hoped that day wouldn’t change his life.
Only Gray had an inkling that it would, and only he understood how.
“It kind of flipped a switch,” he said.
He admits he’d been lazy before. His report card was filled with Cs. He didn’t think about the future. He wasn’t meant for college, he figured. He had no career goals. Plans were something for a Friday night with his friends.
As he talks about it now, five and a half years later, those days seem like a different life.
The 23-year-old graduated from Dean College in May with a bachelor’s degree in business and a concentration in sports management. He worked in video and football operations for the school’s football program. Wanting to spread his wings a little more, he spent a summer selling home security systems in Boise, Idaho. Last fall, he worked for the Boston College football team, and he’s aiming to become a graduate assistant with a college football program next season. And through the Brain Injury Association of Massachusetts, he has shared his story with schools and community groups.
Injuries like the one he sustained can have lasting impacts, from memory loss to cognitive disabilities.
Gray feels only one impact.
The day did change his life.
“I look back on that experience as giving me a second chance at life,” Gray said.
He had gone out for football as a senior along with three of his close friends. He had played as a freshman but not as a sophomore or junior. This would be their one last hurrah.
In the third week of preseason practice, Gray was lined up at safety in a full-contact scrimmage. He went low to make a tackle and took a blow to his head. Something didn’t feel right, but he stayed on the field.
The next play came at him, too, and he made the same kind of tackle. When he got up, he thought his head might explode. He staggered to the sideline, took off his helmet and vomited. His teammates and coaches reacted quickly, with head coach Eric Anderson asking Gray for his father’s phone number, then calling 911. Giving Anderson the number is the last thing Gray remembers about that day.
The impacts to his head had caused a subdural hematoma, a pooling of blood on the brain that can be deadly. Gray was rushed to South County Hospital and quickly sent on to Rhode Island Hospital for surgery.
“I wouldn’t want anybody to have to go through that,” said Rick Gray, Michael’s father. “That whole night, I remember it vividly. You didn’t even have time to think about it, and that was probably a good thing.”
The surgery was a success, and rehabilitation began soon after. Gray needed physical, occupational and speech therapy. Walking and talking had to be re-learned.
In the recovery, in the school work he did with tutors, in the moments when he reflected, the seeds were planted for a new perspective.
“I was always a happy-go-lucky type of kid, but I never really took my life seriously,” Gray said.
College was the first step in changing that. With his grades, he wasn’t exactly on the fast track, but he worked hard, avoided falling behind after the injury and graduated on time in 2011.
The new attitude came with a strong sense of belief, which made Dean College in Franklin, Massachusetts – with a chance to be on his own – the destination.
“I was honestly a little skeptical,” Rick Gray said. “I said, ‘We’ll give it a chance.’”
The C student made the Dean’s List that first semester, and he hooked on with the Bulldogs’ football team in the video department. The one semester chance turned into two, then three and four, Dean’s list all the way. Finding a home with the football program, Gray was encouraged to stay at Dean, which offers bachelor’s degrees in addition to the associate’s degree he initially planned on getting.
Before his final year of school, Gray moved to Idaho in the summer for a line on his resume and a check mark in the life experience department. That fall, he handled football operations for the Bulldogs.
In May 2015, family members and friends made the trek to Franklin for Gray’s graduation. A photo from that day hangs on Rick’s wall. The tassels from Michael’s cap dangle from the ceiling fan chain.
“It’s amazing his turnaround,” Rick said. “He was barely a C student. Every time I think about it, I get very emotional.”
Gray stayed in Franklin after graduation and spent last fall volunteering with the Boston College football team. The next step is a position as a grad assistant, the foot-in-the-door spot for many who work in the game.
“It’s going to be a long journey,” he said. “But I’m never going to quit.”
He will also keep sharing his story, as he’s done at places like Bellingham High School and Lions Clubs meetings.
It’s one part inspiration and one part lesson. The latter is something he takes very seriously.
On that day in 2010, he stayed on the field when he knew something was wrong. He wasn’t a first stringer, so he wanted to fight through it, stay out there, show the coaches what he could do. Then he took the second hit.
“With a lot of the concussion stuff going around now, there’s a lot of awareness,” Gray said. “But at the high school level, it’s still not where it needs to be. At the high school level, getting that second hit still happens. I’ve read stories about kids dying from the same injury I had. It bothers me. I’m fortunate because I got a second chance. I’m very lucky.”
When Gray was in high school, concussion awareness was just starting to gain traction. At the time, South Kingstown High School Athletic Director Terry Lynch said a course that the school’s coaches had recently completed probably helped assure the best outcome.
“Coach Anderson is a big reason why I’m alive,” Gray said.
Courses on concussions have expanded to other sports in recent years, and schools have protocols for concussions similar to those instituted by the National Football League.
A 2010 law passed by the Rhode Island General Assembly has several mandates for schools, including education and direct instruction for how suspected concussions are to be handled. The Rhode Island Interscholastic League has made concussions a focus, as well. Concern over concussions prompted a change in scheduling for football playoffs, even with traditional Thanksgiving Day games impacted by the move.
Gray believes it’s all important in preventing something like what happened to him.
“It’s been great to give these talks, because I’ve been able to share my story and hopefully help prevent even more injuries,” he said.
With the blockbuster movie “Concussion” released on Christmas Day, the issue remains at the forefront. The film details the work of Dr. Bennet Omalu, a forensic pathologist who fought against efforts by the NFL to suppress his research on the brain damage suffered by professional football players.
Gray enjoyed the movie but disagrees with the idea that children shouldn’t play football. While football’s impact on him was unique, he believes the sport can have the same effect for anyone who plays. Its positives – with the precautions being taken – outweigh the negatives.
“Football teaches so many different things about life – responsibility, being committed to something, working hard,” Gray said. “You meet friends that you may have for the rest of your life. For me, I was playing with my best buddies – playing the game you love with people that you love.”
That’s why he went out for football that year. He had a feeling something special could happen.
His injury wasn’t supposed to be it, but he’s grateful that it was.
“Football changed my life. I look on it as a positive, not a negative,” Gray said. “I don’t look at it like, ‘Football almost killed me.’ I look at it like, ‘Football changed my future.’”