It’s hard to believe that FAMU’S “Man with the Golden Gun” Quinn Gray, once wanted to play the tuba in the band. The tuba?
“I loved the tuba,” he said. “It was the biggest instrument. There was a game called the Orange Blossom Classic in Miami and the Marching 100 was coming to play. I was so excited. They had at least 16 tubas.”
That dream wasn’t actualized, but another was the beginning of his football career.
“Football was always something I wanted to do, but I wasn’t able to because of my size when I was younger,” Gray said.
He began his delve into sports with his first love, baseball, and got involved with football in ninth grade. The transition was inevitable, the expectations subtle, and to add to it, his father was the head coach of a high school team.
“People always expected me to play,” he said. “But my father told me to do whatever I wanted. So I picked up football, I liked it, I stuck with it.”
Now in his senior year, he’s No.1 in pass completions (533), No. 1 in passing yardage (6,965) and No. 1 with 52 touchdown passes and five touchdowns shy of the all-time record. How does he feel about records?
“It’s an honor to be recognized by people and to have made these records,” Gray said. “But you can’t let it go to your head. I appreciate it though, but there are other people who have a lot to do with me breaking these records. Without them, I wouldn’t have done them.” “Them,” referring to his teammates, who he said “make up his social life.”
Football dominates a huge chunk of Gray’s daily routine, leaving little time for a booming social life, but Gray does fit school in.
“I really don’t have that much study time,” he said. “I squeeze it in whenever I can. It’s whenever we have free time on road trips, or when I can get away to the library.”
Gray has decided to leave his future in God’s hands, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t making plans.
He is majoring in physical education, and hopes to get a master’s degree in sports management.
Although it’s not a concentration, Gray is not ruling an NFL career.
“It’s not promised, but I think it’ll be a blessing to go to the next level of football.”
The future is anything but dark for No. 17, who aspires inspire.
Gray’s advice to up-and-coming Rattlers: “All things are possible through Christ.” That’s a statement that needs no further explanation.