100 Greatest All Blacks: Ken Gray

Wellington College old boy, Ken Gray was honoured by the school when he was chosen for the '63 All Blacks tour to Europe.

He had not made the same impact on the school's rugby coaches during his time in the school playgrounds and had failed to register in the school 1st XV.

When he left school, Gray started to make an impact for his Paremata club where his size, natural strength and lineout ability made him a formidable lock for his club and province before he switched to loosehead prop.

When Gray was picked for the All Blacks he made his test statements on the tight-head side of the scrum where his contributions received glowing acclaim from the Herald's rugby scribe TP McLean.

Gray's contributions added to the power of men like Colin Meads, Wilson Whineray and Kel Tremain until he decided to quit the game late in '69 because he was opposed to the tour of South Africa the following season.

A quiet man off the field, Gray was a mean beast on it, a player whose deeds were exceptional but who tarnished his reputation with too many acts of thuggery.

After rugby, he began to mix his farming life with a career in local politics with work for the Hutt County Council, the Porirua City Council, Hutt Valley Energy Board and Wellington Regional Council.

He had ambitions to enter Parliament and former All Black Earle Kirton, who knew him well, believes he had all the qualities to be a Labour Prime Minister.

Gray had been confirmed as a candidate for Western Hutt when he died suddenly in 1992, six months after one of his All Black teammates Kel Tremain also died.

Statistics
Date of birth: 24 June 1938
Position: Tighthead prop
Matches: 50
Tests: 24
Test debut: 7 December 1963 v Ireland, Dublin
Last test: 14 June 1969 v Wales, Auckland
Province: Wellington
Test tries: 4
Test points: 12