AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn men's tennis player Spencer Gray was named the male recipient of the Fall 2021 PNC Achievers Award in January. The junior was selected for his well-rounded achievement through leadership, academic success, community engagement and in competition.
Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, Gray moved to Boca Raton, Florida, when he was 13 years old for family reasons and for his aspiring tennis career. It was in Florida where he met Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds and eventually found his way to the Plains. He visited multiple schools during the recruitment process, but none compared to Auburn.
"The second that I stepped foot on the Auburn campus and met Bobby and Chris (Hooshyar) and just got the whole vibe of Auburn, I just fell in love with it," Gray said. "I knew it was a place I could see myself being and thriving at."
Since he's been at Auburn, Gray has made an impact both on and off the court.
Here is Gray, in his own words, talking about the PNC Achiever Award and what goes into being a well-rounded student-athlete at Auburn.
Q: What does it mean to be a PNC Achiever?
Gray: It was a really big honor for me. When I got the email saying I had won, I was at home on my couch with my family. I remember I was not shocked, but I was just very pleasantly surprised. I feel like I put in a lot of work off the court and making sure I'm just doing my best and living up to the standards that I set for myself. It's one of those things I kind of just do and I don't really look to be recognized or get any sort of recognition for it, but to get that and to receive it, especially on the court at the basketball game, it was really special for me and it's definitely something I'll remember for a very long time. It's definitely one of my proudest and one of the best Auburn memories I've had.
Q: What are some of those things you do off the court?
Gray: Along with just staying on top of my academics and making sure that I'm always maintaining really strong grades and putting in a lot of extra effort to do that, I also want to be the best version of myself in every single aspect that I do. My freshman year when I came in, I was immediately on SAAC, which is the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. It was always something I enjoyed being a part of – being able to use my voice to try to help out in any way that I can. This year, I started in CONNECT as well as a CONNECT leader, and just using the tools that I've learned through college and the leadership I feel I've kind of grown into and trying to help out freshman student-athletes get acquainted into Auburn and try to teach them different things, it's been something that has built on over time.
When I was a freshman and first came in, I had high expectations for myself, but I didn't expect to go into this leadership role and do all these things to try to help out in any way that I can. It's something that as it continued to happen, it just continued to grow. And it's something I want to keep building off and just keep doing whatever I can to help out and be a leader for not just my team, but for a lot of other athletes and the community as well.
Q: Why is that so important to you? Why are academics so important?
Gray: I have always been a very big perfectionist since I was very young. And so, if I do something, I want to make sure I'm doing it at my best. I've tried to learn that it's not always going to be perfect, but I at least want to know that I gave it my best. It was definitely instilled in me from my parents at a young age to work hard at everything that you do and don't do something if you're not going to give it your all. A part of it for me is also I want to make my parents proud, and I want to, not necessarily give back to them – but they sacrificed a lot for me to be here and to do what I do, and I just want to make them proud. I don't want to have them sacrifice all of this and me not give my best in academics, on the court and off the court.
Q: To you, what is the definition of a student-athlete?
Gray: I would say the definition of a student-athlete is someone that's very passionate about what they do and has a very big love and drive for their sport. But also to just work hard and be their best at everything else they do off the court. It's working to be the best version of themselves on the court, or whatever the sport they play, as well as off the court. Every single student-athlete that I've met – a lot of us share very similar traits of striving for greatness, and a lot of us are perfectionists and super hard on ourselves. We're cut from similar cloths in terms of our personality, and I think we just use what we've learned on the court and the things that make us who we are, and it kind of translates into our personalities and what we do off the court as well. It's one of those things where the mentality of working hard isn't something you have to think about all the time. It's kind of just you do it.
Q: What's your major? What do you want to do with that?
Gray: I'm majoring in finance, and I really picked finance because I knew one, it would be a challenge for me, and two, it's something that you can do so much with. For me personally, I'm really interested in real estate. So, trying to maybe find a job in some sort of real estate after college and also real estate development. But obviously, it's not straightforward. The thing with finance is that you can do so much with it. There's not one path or one way to get to what your end all be all is, and that was something I really liked about the finance major.
Q: What does the Auburn Family mean to you?
Gray: It means the world. I forget who I was telling the other day, but I feel like it's something that is genuinely so real. Other schools might say, "We have this family, we have this great culture," but Auburn's is so true. I feel like anywhere I go on Auburn's campus or around Auburn there's this sense of warmth and family. If I have a hard day, I know I can walk into the Wellness Kitchen at night and be surrounded by so many different faces of so many different sports, and I feel so comfortable and welcome there. I feel like every single sport at Auburn roots for the other sport at a very strong and intense level. We all want each other to do our best.
For me, the biggest impact of the Auburn Family, especially through athletics, is when I'm struggling and not doing well, I've had so many different athletes from different sports – who I'm not even really super close with – help me out in so many so many different ways and just give me incredible advice. It might just be another athlete in your class that you really only interact with in class, but just being able to talk to them and be open about it because you realize so many of us are going through so many of the same things. It's just such a great culture and an amazing thing to be a part of.
