Johnny Gregory Retires After Six Decades as a Part of Carolina

Johnny Gregory has been a part of South Carolina Athletics for most of the last six decades. Now the former Gamecock football tight end is retiring and pondering what to do with his free time.

“My wife doesn’t want me home,” Gregory said with a laugh. “I think she’s the only one that’s upset I’m hanging it up. I need to play some more golf, I guess. I’m truly a Horseshoe guy. I really love this place.

“Every year, this University gets better. It’s amazing to see all that has changed since I’ve been here. I have the highest appreciation and respect for (Athletics Director) Ray Tanner’s leadership. I take great pride that all the teams are doing well. That’s a tribute to Coach Tanner.”

A native of Aiken, S.C., Gregory came to South Carolina to play football in the fall of 1964. As a leader and a regular contributor on offense for the Gamecocks, Gregory was named a permanent captain by his teammates for his senior season at a time when they would normally choose captains on a game-by-game basis.

After earning a history and liberal arts degree, he spent some time in the Army Reserve and also became a graduate assistant for two years under Coach Paul Dietzel, which included the 1969 ACC Championship season.

“It was a modest role,” Gregory demurred. “He summoned me at the end of my senior year, and I told him I was going to law school. He asked if my folks had the money for that, and I said, no sir, I’m going to have to borrow. He said, no, you’re going to be a student assistant. I would race from law school to get to practice, and I was responsible for setting the redshirts up or the scout team to have them run the other team’s offense or defense to run against our team.”

Gregory’s impact as an influencer was seen early in his career when Jackie Brown, who became the first black starter for Carolina in football and the first African American to earn a varsity letter in football in 1970, considered quitting the team after a disagreement with Coach Dietzel’s no-facial hair policy.

“I was here at a time when our teams were all white,” Gregory recalled. “It makes my heart glad to see people of all different backgrounds here, high fiving each other or consoling each other when they make a mistake.

“I got out of class one day when I was in law school, and one of the coaches said, it’s a shame that Jackie Brown quit the team today. I went running to the dormitory from the Round House. He was packing. I said, I know why you’re quitting, and you can’t quit. You cannot quit! I told him that tens of thousands of African Americans were relying on him to finish this, and if you do that, you’ll make history. He got really quiet and was staring in the mirror. He said, alright you S.O.B. I was a happy S.O.B. after that.

“So, I ran over and told Coach Dietzel, and he had a rule that if you quit, you can’t come back. I told him that I had just talked to Jackie, and he didn’t know what everyone was talking about. I said, it never occurred to him to quit the team, and that he just got distracted for a minute, but he’s putting his gear on right now. Coach just looked at me and said, thank you, John. And that was it.”

After earning his Juris Doctor degree from the Law School in 1973, he would work as the Chief of Staff to Congressman Butler Derrick for several years until coming back to his alma mater to work as the special assistant to the University president, serving as a member of the Administrative Council and operating in legislative affairs as the chief lobbyist for Carolina to state government from 1982 through 2007.

“I helped make sure we got student loans, lottery money for scholarships, and helped out with all the new buildings that had to be approved by the General Assembly,” Gregory said. “I played a hand in funding for that. I think that in every year that I did that, the University received more money than the previous year. During my years at the Statehouse, Presidents (James) Holderman, (Arthur) Smith, (John) Palms, and (Andrew) Sorenson, and the Board of Trustees, especially Dr. Eddie Floyd, were all supportive of my efforts.”

In 1988 Gregory served a short stint as South Carolina’s interim Athletics Director in between the departure of Bob Marcum and the hiring of Dick Bestwick.

“It was for 29 days, and that was enough,” Gregory said with a smile. “I couldn’t get out of there fast enough! I got pulled in a lot of directions. I was getting to work at four in the morning and getting home at ten at night.”

In 2007, he left the Osborne office on campus at the direction of University President Andrew Sorensen to serve as the special assistant to Athletics Director Eric Hyman and served in the same capacity for current Athletics Director Ray Tanner ever since.

“I’ve been here so long, my role is to kind of say, hey, we tried this before and we don’t want to do it again or something like that,” Gregory said. “Having worked in politics so long, I feel like I bring some political judgement and experience to discussions.

“I have a passion for the University, and I have a passion for the Athletics Department. It has been rewarding and enjoyable to be able to participate at that level of things and hopefully, I’ve helped in making some good judgements for the program.”

Gregory and his wife Betty, a former South Carolina homecoming queen, have been married for more than fifty years, and the couple has three children (Susan, Elisabeth, and John), who have combined to earn seven degrees, and three grandchildren.