Throughout the course of the 2008-2009 academic year, we will seek to recognize some of the great names of the past to highlight the heritage of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association in honor of the Association’s 95th anniversary. In this edition we are pleased to recognize Paul Gay of Sanford.

Paul Gay became one of North Carolina’s most successful head football coaches, primarily at Sanford Central High School (now Lee Senior).

Gay came to Sanford in 1960 after brief stints in Lancaster, S.C., and at Raleigh Broughton. From then until 1985, when he stepped down, his teams compiled a brilliant 177-75-10 record. That run included eight conference championships, one state title (in 1973, when he was Associated Press Coach of the Year in the state) and one runner-up finish, and four regional championships when that was as far as a team could go and there was no state championship game.

He was head coach of the North Carolina Shrine Bowl team in 1977 and also coached in the East-West all-star game in Greensboro. Gay was a member of the Board of Directors of the North Carolina Coaches Association and was the first North Carolinian to be chosen as president of the National Federation Interscholastic Coaches Association.

Gay was a great athlete at Charles Coon High in Wilson and then earned all-state honors at East Carolina in football. Lee’s football stadium now proudly bears his name.