By Jim Hague
If there’s a debt of gratitude to be given for Rutgers-Newark’s first true shot put sensation, it has to go to a standout track and field performer at Northeastern University named Althea Charles.
It was Charles who introduced her friend, Alisha Gray, to the world of track and field and without Charles’ influence, the Scarlet Raiders’ still fledgling program would not have a legitimate shot putter.
It all began when Gray was a junior at West Orange High School. Up until that point, Gray was a softball player at the school.
“I played as a sophomore and was a centerfielder and second baseman,” Gray said. “When there were tryouts the next year, the coach said that I wasn’t guaranteed to make the team again.”
That should have been a precursor for Gray, because she was left off the varsity roster.
“I couldn’t understand it,” Gray said. “I was the only one who was left off that was on the team the year before. I was really upset.”
Leave it to Charles, who was a standout track and field performer at West Orange, to offer a life-changing suggestion.
“She said to me, `Why don’t you try track?’” Gray said. “I said to her, ‘I don’t run. I can’t do track.’”
But Charles told Gray about the field events, like the discus and the shot put.
“She said that I could throw,” Gray said. “I said, `What’s that?’ I didn’t even know anything about the shot put or what it was. But I did it because I wanted to be active in sports. I gave it a try.”
As it turned out, Gray turned out to be pretty good at the shot. She eventually threw the shot 39 feet in high school, setting a new school and Northern Hills Conference record in the process.
It was at that time that Gray caught the eye of Rutgers-Newark track and field coach Juan Edney.
“I saw her in high school and the West Orange coach approached me and told me that Alisha was very interested in going to Rutgers,” Edney said. “That intrigued me. I also noticed that she kept getting better and better. So even though we didn’t have a shot putter, I was very interested.”
Especially since Gray was sold from the start about going to Rutgers-Newark.
“I loved the atmosphere, the campus, the diversity,” Gray said. “I also liked Coach Edney, because he was the first one to approach me.”
“I talked to her a couple of times and she kept saying she was coming,” Edney said.
There was only one obstacle. Gray didn’t have the academic qualifications to get into R-N out of high school, so Gray enrolled at Bloomfield College instead.
“But they didn’t have a track program and track had become my passion,” Gray said. “I knew that I had to go to Rutgers-Newark.”
At the same time, Edney learned that two other recruits entering the school were shot putters as well. So at one time, when then Scarlet Raiders had no female shot putters, they now had three, with Gray the best of the bunch.
“They’re all working well together and they’ve all been around the game,” Edney said. “It’s a good thing when you have competition because it pushes you to get better. It all works hand in hand.”
But Gray is dedicated to getting better at her craft.
“Alisha is always working hard,” Edney said. “She always wants to be there. She comes every day and works so hard. She gets it. She knows how hard she has to work.”
It’s forced Rutgers-Newark to make some provisions for their new shot put group. While the team goes to the Jersey City Armory to practice most days, there are others that they are relegated to the Golden Dome, where there is no shot put facility.
But with the help of R-N athletic director Mark Griffin, a former shot putter and track coach, Edney constructed a makeshift shot put pit in order for the young ladies like Gray to hone their skills more often.
“I think it’s important to have field events to have a full team,” Edney said. “We’re building the girls’ program right now. It shows that we’re making a commitment to have a full program. She’s helping to make us complete.”
Gray is just happy to compete once again.
“I’m excited,” Gray said. “I am a little rusty, because I haven’t thrown regularly in over a year. But once I get in the game regularly, I’ll be popping a few big ones. My coaches tell me that I have a lot of leg power and drive. My personal best is 41-10, so that’s what I’m shooting for this season. I’m determined to hit that. But it feels good to just be competing once again.”
Gray is majoring in English at R-N with the home of someday becoming an elementary school teacher. She will enroll in the teaching program at R-N next semester.
For now, she’s making her mark as a groundbreaking shot putter for the Scarlet Raiders, with thanks in part to Althea Charles, for introducing her to the sport a few years ago.
