Monmouth County 9/11 Memorial
New Jersey Living Memorial, A Grove of Remembrance
The 9/11 Memorial Bridge
Empty Sky: NJ State 9/11 Memorial
Conseleya 9/11 Memorial
Dewitt 9/11 Memorial
Montclair State University 9/11 Memorial
East Newark 9/11 Memorial
Fair Haven 9/11 Memorial
Christopher S. Gray West Virginia University Football Scholarship
Christopher Gray's legacy lives on at both Manalapan High School and West Virginia University.
Gray, a former quarterback at both schools who had a free agent tryout with the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League in 1992, has an endowed football scholarship in his name at West Virginia. Gray received a Master's degree from the school.
"Chris always said he wanted to pay back the university for the education he got," said Gray's mother, Janet.
Gray has two scholarships in his name at Manalapan.
One is a football scholarship through the school's booster club, Janet Gray said. The other is an academic scholarship.
"We certainly like helping out the children from Manalapan and our area," Janet Gray said.
Janet and her husband James, are both heavily involved in "trying to direct efforts to do positive things" in their son's memory.
They are both involved with the Monmouth County memorial for the victims of Sept. 11 and James Gray is the vice president of the state memorial.
Both Janet and James Gray keep in touch with Gray's fiancee, Kelly. James Gray gets a card from Kelly each Father's Day.
"She's still a part of our family," Janet Gray said.
New York Times Portraits of Grief
Just for a moment, Christopher Stewart Gray lived his greatest dream. He became a professional football player -- a strong-armed quarterback no less -- for the Miami Dolphins, the team he rooted and raved for while growing up in New Jersey. His big moment came in 1992, when the team offered him, a former University of West Virginia quarterback, a free agent contract.
The moment lasted only a month, but Mr. Gray, 32, took the lessons he learned all the way to Wall Street, where he became a foreign exchange broker for Cantor Fitzgerald. Work hard, he believed, and anything is possible.
"Chris was a goal setter," said his father, Jim Gray, recalling how his son declared that he would one day play for the Dolphins while watching them in the Orange Bowl when he was six. "He wanted a shot and he got it. When it was over, he wanted to have a good job and he got it. And he even found a beautiful young woman to be his wife."
Mr. Gray and his fiancée were to be married in May. His father says he grows weak just thinking of the family his son might have had. But he manages to fight back the tears, remembering all the goals his son did reach. "He truly lived his life. We were lucky we had him for 32 years."
Mountaineer Nation is a
Mountaineer Nation is a family....That family lost a member on this day....RIP #16
Posted by Michael B
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