Larry Bray retiring from West Memphis School District

Longtime Blue Devils coach, AD stepping down

WM School District When Larry Bray started work for the West Memphis School District Apple was simply a fruit.

In August of 1974, when Bray was hired by the WMSD to be the head basketball coach at East Junior High, the disco craze hadn't yet swept the nation, Richard Nixon had just resigned and there were zero state basketball championships for West Memphis High School.

The face of Blue Devil basketball for 32 years and the director of athletics at WMSD the last three years, Bray has announced his retirement official at the end of next week.

The last 45 years at West Memphis has flown by, both by Bray's own admission, and surely the rest of us who witnessed his deft touch on Blue Devil athletics.

'When you stop and think about it, I've spent most of my life (with the WMSD),' said Bray, 68. 'This has been home for me for 45 years. That wasn't my plan when I started working here. I was looking to do something different every five years.'

Bray came to West Memphis from his hometown of LaGrange, Ga.

His basketball resume began with his all-state selection in high school, which led to a scholarship to the University of Houston, where he would play for the legendary Guy V. Lewis. However, Bray ended up landing at San Jacinto (Texas) Junior College, where he was a Juco All-American. His final two years of college basketball were spent at Henderson State University, where he was named an NAIA All-American for the Reddies.

After a brief stint trying out for professional teams in the NBA and the old ABA, Bray spent a short time in the insurance business with Life of Georgia before coming to West Memphis.

He led the Red Imps of East to two city championships with familiar names like Michael Cage, Stanley Andrews, Mike McFerrin, Tim Harrell and Nakita Robertson.

Bray was promoted to the high school in the fall of 1979 as the assistant coach for Bill Terwilliger's Blue Devils, whereupon he was reunited with his old junior high players, who led the team to two straight state championships and a state record 60 straight victories.

Bray succeeded Terwilliger as head Blue Devil coach in the fall of 1984. Then for the next 32 years, Bray guided his West Memphis teams to four state championships (1990-91, 1996-97, 2003-04 and 2004-05).

The 2003-04 team finished ranked No. 21 in the USA Today final national poll.

Bray's 2010-11 team was ranked No. 35 in ESPN's Fab 50 in January of 2011.

Along the way, Bray coached three NBA draftees in Marcus Brown, Corey Brewer and Sonny Weems and dozens of his players inked Division 1 college scholarships.

Through it all, Bray won over 580 basketball games for West Memphis.

'When I got to the high school I fell in love with it,' Bray commented. 'The people were good to me, and there was no reason to go anywhere else.

'The city of West Memphis loves basketball. I remember when I first started, the first question I asked my junior high players was 'do you love basketball?' They all said yes. When you roam the streets of West Memphis you see a lot of basketball goals…it's just something they love to do.' Brown, who succeeded Bray as head coach of the Blue Devils and who recently led the program to its seventh state championship, had Bray by his side nearly his entire basketball career that spanned junior high, high school, college and pro as well as his coaching career.

'Coach Bray has been such a big influence in my life, a solid rock in my corner,' said Brown, who is 79-14 in his first three years at the Blue Devil helm. 'He was someone I always looked to for guidance because he was such a strong male figure, a mentor and a source of encouragement.'

Brown said he would miss having Bray around the athletic program full time, but that he wishes him well

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Photo by Billy Woods LARRY BRAY (cont.)

'I hate he won't be around as often, but I don't want to be selfish,' Brown added.

'A legend like him should be able to ride off into the sunset on his own terms, and that's what he's doing.

You just don't find guys like him. There aren't enough words for me to say how much he's meant to me and the city of West Memphis.'

Superintendent Jon Collins acknowledged the unprecedented longevity of Bray's tenure at West Memphis.

'He's the dean of all coaches in terms of longevity,' said Collins. 'He started his career here and stayed here the entire time. That's almost unheard of these days. We were blessed to be a part of it and share relationships with him. He will be missed.'

As a young coach, Collins spent a year as Bray's assistant coach in 1994-95, a nugget that not too many folks in West Memphis remember. As Bray's longtime assistant coach Wally Love entered administration, former WMSD superintendent Bill Kessinger offered Collins a dual role as coach: assistant football and assistant basketball.

'I'll never forget walking into the gym the first Monday after football season ended,' Collins recalled. 'I pretty much tried to stay out of the way because (Bray) is such a walking encyclopedia. We joked after practice that 'hey this is going to be cool. Walking right into this job first year…I was thinking 30-0 in my era with a state championship.' He looks at me and says 'Collins, this ain't gonna be that kind of year.' We were pretty average that year.

'Coach Bray is going to be missed in this fashion: player-coach relationships.

I don't think I've ever worked with anyone who has had a better playercoach relationship than him. Until you live it, it's hard to explain. The locker room, the practices, the bus rides, the postgame, the pregame…the composure this man has is the best I've ever seen.

'I can remember that year I coached under him we played a game at North Little Rock and they went on a 13-0 or 15-0 run on us. The old baseball player in me figured we needed to call timeout just to break up the rhythm. I got a great coaching lesson that night.

He said, 'Nope, we're gonna grow up tonight.

Either we're going to get run out of this gym or we're going to fight, scratch and claw our way back into it.' We came back and won the game.'

Bray said his plans in retirement are 'day by day.' He and his wife of 20 years Niki, a former Lady Devil basketball great who like her husband is West Memphis Sports Hall of Fame member, want to do something different.

'We just bought an RV and I think we just want to travel around a little bit,' said Bray. 'I've had the RV now about two months. I've driven it some. Not much different than driving a bus, something I used to do all the time as coach.'

Bray said he will miss the day-to-day work with the folks he's been associated with in the WMSD for 45 years.

'I'll miss being around the kids, coaches and teachers, just the friends I've made over the years,' he said.

'I'll miss the atmosphere of being in the gym. I've had a great career, and I've enjoyed every minute of it.

Right now I wouldn't change anything at all.'