About Pete and Ed

Pete Gray

Pete Gray

The Gray Scholarship Award was established in 1970 to honor the memory of Pete Gray who contributed immeasurably to University life before taking his bachelor’s degree in 1968. A graduate of Episcopal High School who entered the University on an Honor Award scholarship, Pete Gray was known for his heart and intensity as a three-year performer in varsity football and track. A member of the Raven Society and Omicron Delta Kappa, as well as Zeta Psi fraternity, IMP, and TILKA, he was elected president of the College of Arts and Sciences and chairman of the Honor Committee. He received the Alumni Association’s Distinguished Student Award and the Atlantic Coast Conference Scholar-Athlete Award and was a Rhodes Scholar nominee.

Following graduation, he joined the Marine Corps and won the Leadership Award during his officer’s training at Quantico Marine Base. As a lieutenant in the First Reconnaissance Battalion of the First Marine Division, he saw combat in Vietnam, leading eight long reconnaissance patrols behind enemy lines. Pete Gray died in Japan on July 19, 1970, from injuries sustained a week earlier during a training mission in Vietnam, and he posthumously awarded the Bronze Star for merits service. At the time of his death, it was revealed that he was a member of the Seven Society.

The Gray Memorial Foundation was established in 1970 to administer the scholarship award in his honor, and among those who were to serve on its Board of Trustees was Edward C. Carrington, Jr. In 1987 the Gray Memorial Foundation moved to make the Gray Scholarship Award a memorial to both Pete Gray and Ed Carrington, who shared many interests and activities during their years at Virginia. Now the Gray-Carrington Scholarship Award promulgates the love for the University shown by the two distinguished alumni.

Ed Carrington

Ed Carrington

As classmates at Episcopal High School and as fraternity brothers at Virginia, Pete Gray and Ed Carrington shared a deep devotion to the University. Like his long-time friend, Ed Carrington excelled in athletics and student leadership. Lettering three years in football, he was co-captain of the team and was an All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection at tight end in 1966. His four touchdown receptions in the 1965 victory over Maryland set a Virginia single-game record. A member of such University societies as IMP and Eli Banana, Ed Carrington was elected president of the Class of 1967.

He played professional football with the Houston Oilers for three years and earned a law degree at the University of Houston. A successful corporate and real estate attorney, he was principal partner in the Houston firm of Bonham, Carrington and Fox. He was known for his warmth and humor, and he remained active in the University community, serving as president of the Houston Chapter of the Alumni Association, as chairman of the alumni affairs committee of the Arts and Sciences Alumni Council, and as a member of the Alumni Association’s Board of Managers.

Ed Carrington died August 22, 1986, in a rock climbing accident in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. It was revealed then that he, too, was a member of the Seven Society.