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Hollywood missed Charlie Gregory’s story!

Never mind. His rise from a brawling, disrespectful boy who grew up in one of High Point’s roughest neighborhoods in the 1940s and ’50s to a superior athlete and a championship coach is known by the hundreds of people he touched.

First, someone had to touch Gregory’s life and get that chip off of his shoulder and teach him respect for authority. That man was Milliard Coble, a coach at Trinity High School during Gregory’s teen years.

Coble got Gregory’s attention by throwing the bad-attitude boy out of a summer baseball league in which Gregory was playing and Coble was the umpire.

Gregory already had been dismissed from the High Point Central football team and had quit high school. Central’s icon coach Tony Simeon had declared that Gregory would never play for him.

Coble provided Gregory a second chance, and Gregory paid dividends for Trinity High. He was a star in three sports and was a part of the team’s state championship basketball team for the 1948-49 season.

Fleet of foot, Gregory got a football scholarship to Lees-McRae Junior College where he again showed he was a champion on the field. He later was named to the school’s athletic hall of fame.

Gregory quit college after a year of playing football at Wofford College and joined the Army, where he played football in Japan for the USA team. He eventually earned a college degree at High Point College and later a master’s degree at UNCG.

That’s the short version of Gregory’s early life.

His professional career as a coach and teacher began in 1957 at Randleman High School.

The football team finished the season with only 13 players during his first season as coach but became a powerhouse by the time he retired. Gregory coached at Randleman for 28 years, including 18 years as the basketball coach. He also coached track and golf.

Three consecutive state 2-A football championships by Randleman etched Coach Charlie Gregory’s name among the great coaches of the state. In 2007, he was inducted into the N.C. High School Athletics Association Hall of Fame. His football teams compiled a record of 218-63-7, despite some poor records in the early years.

Many of his former players went on to star in college, and some even played professional football. Some became coaches.

That’s only a summary. Other factors played into Gregory becoming a champion on and off the field, a man highly respected by players and fellow coaches who held him in awe.

Gregory took a confrontational attitude and foul language with him into his coaching career. Players feared his wrath, but they loved being winners.

“He could get your attention,” said Lewis Farlow, a former Randleman basketball and track star.

Anne Campbell Gregory, Gregory’s wife for 52 years, became the influence that started Gregory on the road to changing his unholy coaching style.

“She got me going to church on a regular basis and was a positive influence on me,” he said in an interview two years ago.

Gregory said in that interview that he was influenced by a minister friend. In mid-1960, after another winning season on the football field, he committed his life to Christ, Gregory said.

“Christ was what was missing in my life.” he said. “When I first started to coach, I used bad language. Then I discovered I could get more out of my players if I loved them instead of cussing them. It’s surprising how hard a player will play when you love them.”

Even before Gregory gave up the bluster, some saw him as a coach to be appreciated.

“He was tough as nails and mean as you know what and had no tolerance or pity for anybody not willing to go beyond what they thought were their limits,” said the Rev. DeVere Williams, a former Randleman football player. “But he also was fair, and under his tough exterior, he was a good and decent man.”

Retiring after 30 years in the Randolph County school system, Gregory also was successful as a Realtor, said his longtime friend Van McSwain. Both worked for Ed Price and Associates in High Point.

Charlie and Anne Gregory’s two daughters and, eventually, five grandchildren became the center of their lives. For them, Gregory left a legacy of love when he passed away at High Point Regional Hospital April 25 after a brief illness. He was 77.

In the lobby of the church where a memorial service was held for Gregory on April 27, tables were lined with plaques, scrapbooks and other mementos of Gregory’s success as a coach.

During the eulogy, the Rev. Darryl Craft asked for those who had played for Gregory or coached with him to stand. Hundreds stood, and Anne Gregory turned and said, “Thank you.” Those who stood — and many others — are Charlie Gregory’s real trophies — not the things on the table.

Contact Bob Burchette at bburchette@triad.rr.com