New Elizabeth Forward basketball coach brings vast background
When Gerald “Puddin” Grayson decided to stop coaching basketball six years ago, he said it would be highly unlikely that he would ever return to the court.
“I was dead set for the rest of my life to be a deacon in my church and mentoring kids,” Grayson said.
Grayson is just going to have to add coaching the Elizabeth Forward boys basketball team to that list.
Elizabeth Forward recently hired the former McKeesport and Duquesne girls coach to take over the unstable Warriors boys basketball program.
Grayson will be the fifth coach — Jim Nesser, Mike Mihalov, Brian Znavor, Bob Yasko — at Elizabeth Forward since 2007.
“It was intriguing to me because I always wanted to coach boys,” said Grayson, whose only coaching experience with boys was 30 years ago with the McKeesport ninth-grade team. “I am really excited with the people and the school. They have been great to me. Everybody wants to help. I don't even know those people and they have accepted me.”
Up until a couple months ago, Grayson, a retired McKeesport teacher, was more than happy being a deacon at Bethlehem Baptist Church and mentoring kids within the McKeesport School District.
Then, one day a few months back, Grayson got a random call after a mentoring session with students at White Oak Elementary School.
Elizabeth Forward officials were looking for a basketball coach and wanted Grayson to apply for the job.
“It caught me off guard,” Grayson said. “I wasn't really ready at that time. I talked to my wife, and since it came really fast, I thought not yet.”
After the job came open again a few months later, more people approached him, and this time he thought differently.
“I went back to my wife and at the end my wife gave me the blessing,” Grayson said. “If she would've said no, honestly, I would've told them no.”
Grayson comes to Elizabeth Forward with quite an impressive resume on and off the court.
He coached at McKeesport from 1985-1998 and helped the Lady Tigers win the 1998 WPIAL Class AAAA title. He coached Swin Cash, who is one of the WPIAL's all-time leading scorers and won a NCAA title at Connecticut, an Olympic gold medal and three WNBA titles — two with Detroit and one with Seattle.
After a brief hiatus from coaching, Grayson returned to the court and helped Duquense to a 41-33 record in four years, including a section title in 2006.
On the field, tales of Grayson's athleticism still run rampant around the Mon Valley from his days playing football for the Little Tigers in the 1960s.
Grayson was profiled as a 13-year-old in Sports Illustrated's “Faces in the Crowd” on Jan. 23, 1961, after running for 261 yards and scoring four touchdowns in a 56-0 Milk Bowl victory over Houston.
Grayson went on to play at Boise State from 1968-69.
The 64-year-old says that he refuses to bring up his past personal accomplishments to his players.
“They don't know I coached Swin Cash or some of the other stuff we've done,” Grayson said. “I don't think they really know about my total background. But some how, some way they find out. I don't sit down and brag about it because I am out there telling them to be humble then I start bragging? That's doesn't make sense.”
Grayson takes over an Elizabeth Forward team that went 13-11 last year, including a preliminary-round playoff win over Washington. It was EF's first winning season since 2006. Grayson said his style isn't going to change even though he's not coaching girls.
“They know I am demanding and they know they have to come into that gym working harder than the last time they came into that gym or we will sit you down,” Grayson said. “Nothing is going to change with my style.”
Mark Kaboly is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at mkaboly@tribweb.com or 412-664-9161, Ext. 1978.
