Ryan Gray, Chesterton’s Renaissance Man, turns long jumper to celebrate 18th birthday on senior day

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

The weight throwers do their thing off the southwest corner of the football stadium and the long jumpers and pole vaulters occupy the southeast corner of the track and field venue.
Did Chesterton senior Ryan Gray, the 6-foot-6, 335-pound offensive lineman and thrower of the shot put take a wrong turn or was he at the long jump pit to watch a friend?
Neither. Gray was there to make senior day and his 18th birthday more memorable Tuesday night by competing in the long jump, an event typically reserved for lighter, faster athletes.
Gray enjoys busting stereotypes about big people, but he does so with a smile and without a trace of bitterness. He is vocal leader in the school’s show choir and choral choir and has deft footwork on the dance floor. “Best dancer on the team,” head football coach Mark Peterson said.
But the long jump? Give him points for creativity on stretching the boundaries of what is expected of men his size.
The idea was a year in the making, inspired by pole vaulter Alex Drewes, a 2024 CHS graduate, competing in the shot put.
Gray took the opportunity back then to tell head track coach Bryan Nallenweg that he wanted to try the long jump on his senior day, prompting a one-word response: “Really?”
Really.
Gray reminded the coach a week ago and got the green light. And no, he was not required to wear an oversize load sign on his back when chugging down the runway. He played by the same rules as everybody else and didn’t break any of them by letting any of his size 17 shoe slip past the end of the take-off board.
Friends gathered around the runway and clapped in unison to add to the buildup. Smiling, Gray ran down the runway, bounded into the air and landed hard in the sand. The measurement: 11 feet, 7 inches, better than most would have guessed. His second jump was an inch shy of the first. Talk about consistency.
Then, right before his final jump, Gray received a coaching tip that he said was his first for the event.
“You’re slowing down before you jump,” long jump coach Luke Elisier told him. “Don’t slow down. Keep going full speed.”
Gray put the tip to use, sprinted all the way to the point of launching. The crowd didn’t even need to hear the announcement to know it was his best leap and responded by giving him his loudest ovation, which grew even louder when the distance of the mark was announced: 12 feet, 10 inches.
Not bad at all for a man his size.
Later in the night, Gray told long jump winner Nate Vaughan his mark  and asked him how he thought that was.
“It’s a lot better than I thought you’d do,” Vaughan said.
Gray asked what he thought he would get and Vaughan told him, “About 7 feet.”
Gray said he thought he would reach 10 feet.
“Everyone was telling me they thought I would get 8 feet, maybe 10 feet,” he said.
His main goal: Don’t foul out.
“The first two I was scared I was going to miss the board because I see a lot of people do that,” Gray said. “I wanted to get at least one mark. This might seem mean, but I wanted to get one mark so if anyone scratches out, I can beat them.”
In saying that, Gray subtly revealed another stereotype he has busted the past couple of seasons, when the friendly, gentle giant learned to play with an edge on the football field. He developed the competitive streak he needed to become a better football player and it fueled him for his brief long jump career.
Gray said he has is happy he tried the long jump and doesn’t think he ever will do it again.
“I feel like it was a good one-time thing to do,” he said. “One reason I did it is Coach E is the coach, and he is my favorite coach ever.  I’m not going to run because who likes running? So, I thought what is the field event that I can do that isn’t strenuous? I can’t do high jump or pole vault, so I’ll just do long jump.”
He did it to the delight of friends who witnessed it. He enjoys entertaining and never seems to show any self-consciousness doing it. He also enjoys competing, otherwise he wouldn’t have stuck with football because the position he best is suited to play is one out of the spotlight, one that requires him to grunt his way to make plays that ensure the entertainers have room to entertain.
By not adhering to stereotypes, being so comfortable in his own skin, and joining a wide variety of activities not typically associated with each other, and having such a welcoming personality, Gray has built a massive pool of friends without even trying. All he had to do was be his joyful self.
What an entertaining 18th birthday party he threw for himself in the long jump pit.