Gray makes good as city's first black police chief

Tony Gray was 27 years old, still milling about his hometown with an uncertain future, when fate came calling in the form of three men carrying credentials of Danville officialdom.

Gray, then a part-time employee of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, was weed-eating at the old Sixth Street park when Commissioner Bunny Davis, Police Chief Mike Lamb and Fire Chief Donnie Harp paid him a visit. They needed a new police officer, specifically a black one, and thought Gray might have the right stuff.

“I was kind of recruited,” Gray recalled.

Though a career in law enforcement wasn’t on his radar — he was also attending classes part-time at the University of Kentucky with a notion of a future in sports management — it was an offer Gray couldn’t refuse. It was a real job with an immediate payoff. Gray was married and ready to settle in. It didn’t take him long to accept. He put on the uniform for the first time on May 8, 1995.

“I was kind of looking for a career,” he said. “Good benefits. Retire in 20 years. It sounded great.”

Tuesday will mark Gray’s 17th year with the Danville Police Department — and his 16th day as its chief.

The sporting life

When Gray was growing up on McMillian Court, he was known in the neighborhood as “Tone-Tone” or “Little Tony,” his father, Anthony Gray Sr., being “Big Tony.”

He spent most of his free time playing pickup baseball and football games at what is now Centre College’s soccer field, and, during basketball season, legendary Centre coach Tom Bryant used to let Gray and his buddies shoot hoops in the college gym. It kept him out of trouble.

“We were always into mischief,” Gary said, but when pressed about his most egregious juvenile delinquency, the worst he could come up with was shooting off bottle rockets on the Fourth of July.

“That’s it,” he said. “I’ve just had one speeding ticket my entire life.”

Gray played basketball and the baritone horn in band while attending Danville High School. After he graduated in 1984, he attended UK for a while but was called home when his parents separated to help his mom (Judy, who died in 2010) care for his sister Ashley, 15 years his junior.

He worked two-year stints at Corning and Hitachi in Harrodsburg and began officiating rec league basketball and softball games, embarking on what has become his second career. Gray is among the top high school boys basketball officials in Kentucky, having been called to work three Sweet 16 tournaments. He also umpires high school baseball games.

“I think the skill sets you need for both jobs complement each other,” Gray said. “As police officers, we’re often called in when people are upset, and you have to quickly size up the situation and make a judgment. In athletics, things move so fast. You have to handle things out on the court, when coaches, players and fans get upset, the same way. It’s the same thought process you use when you’re out on a domestic call. 

“A lot of it comes from listening. You have to have an authoritative presence, confident, calm, but not condescending. People want you to take control in those situations. My conflict resolution skills stay sharp because I’m always using them in both arenas.”

A domestic situation

Gray, 45, lives on Cloverdale Avenue with his second wife, Valerie, children Meagan, 12, Brandon, 12, and stepson Jordan Young, 20. They host an annual New Year’s Eve party that is always crashed by the cops.

“I invite the guys to come by, but they’ve never had to bust it up,” Gray joked.

Karen Ross has known Gray for several years and been his next-door neighbor for seven. If he has any quirks or peccadilloes in his home life, Ross hasn’t seen them.