{"id":69012,"date":"2015-10-30T10:00:33","date_gmt":"2015-10-30T14:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=69012"},"modified":"2024-02-09T11:55:31","modified_gmt":"2024-02-09T16:55:31","slug":"ucf-alumni-association-presents-2015-champions-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-alumni-association-presents-2015-champions-award\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF Alumni Association Presents 2015 Champions Award"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UCF Alumni Association honored Charles Gray, chairman of the board at GrayRobinson P.A., with\u00a0its 2015 Champions Award at the annual Black & Gold Gala on Oct. 22.<\/p>\n

Charles serves in his current role, as well as founding director, of GrayRobinson, where he continues to practice full time in the 270-plus lawyer firm.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s served as city solicitor for the City of Orlando, chairman of the Florida State Turnpike Authority, chairman of the Economic Development Commission of Mid-Florida, and chairman of the UCF Foundation (now trustee emeritus), as well as in many other leadership positions.<\/p>\n

After winning the 1964 gubernatorial campaign, Florida Gov. Haydon Burns asked his campaign chair, Charles, what he wanted.<\/p>\n

\u201cNumber one, I want a new university,\u201d he said. And, Burns promised it to him, along with his other list of requests, which included an east-west expressway, a Board of Regents term for a dedicated campaign worker, and his suggested state road board member, among others. Charles didn\u2019t ask for anything for himself.<\/p>\n

Burns fulfilled every promise except one. After reading in a newspaper that he appointed someone else to the state road board, Charles called and questioned him. He answered: \u201cCharles, getting a new university authorized, implemented and appropriated is not easy. I made a deal with the most powerful man in the legislature, Speaker of the House E.C. Rowell, who said he could get it done only on the condition that his best friend was appointed as a state road board member.\u00a0I had to make a deal, and I\u2019m sorry about that. That university was your first choice, and that\u2019s what I had to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charles considered it\u00a0an excellent trade-off.<\/p>\n

Once\u00a0Florida Technological University (now UCF) finally came to fruition,\u00a0Charles\u00a0was instrumental in the in the selection of former President Charles Millican, and\u00a0current President John Hitt, and even introduced The Burnett Honors College<\/a>\u2019s namesake, Al Burnett, to the university.<\/p>\n

As a prominent attorney and a major figure in the community, he\u00a0has remained one of UCF\u2019s strongest advocates.<\/p>\n

The Champions Award has only been given out three other times, to the following recipients:<\/p>\n

  • Dr. John C. Hitt<\/a> (2012)<\/li>\n
  • Dr. Charles Millican<\/a> (2010)<\/li>\n
  • FAIRWINDS<\/em> Credit Union (2009)<\/li>\n

    WATCH CHARLES’ AWARD VIDEO<\/a><\/p>\n

    Read more stories about alumni at ucfalumni.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UCF Alumni Association honored Charles Gray, chairman of the board at GrayRobinson P.A., with\u00a0its 2015 Champions Award at the annual Black & Gold Gala on Oct. 22. Charles serves in his current role, as well as founding director, of GrayRobinson, where he continues to practice full time in the 270-plus lawyer firm. He\u2019s served as city solicitor for the…","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":69013,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[5,6],"tags":[5693,819,2510,202],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-69012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colleges","category-community","tag-al-burnett","tag-charles-millican","tag-john-c-hitt","tag-alumni"],"yoast_head":"\nUCF Alumni Association Presents 2015 Champions Award | University of Central Florida News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The UCF Alumni Association honored Charles Gray, chairman of the board at GrayRobinson P.A., with\u00a0its 2015 Champions Award at the annual Black & Gold\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-alumni-association-presents-2015-champions-award\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UCF Alumni Association Presents 2015 Champions Award\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The UCF Alumni Association honored Charles Gray, chairman of the board at GrayRobinson P.A., with\u00a0its 2015 Champions Award at the annual Black & Gold\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-alumni-association-presents-2015-champions-award\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UCF\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-10-30T14:00:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-09T16:55:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2015\/10\/B-G-Champions-Gray.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Angie Lewis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Angie Lewis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-alumni-association-presents-2015-champions-award\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-alumni-association-presents-2015-champions-award\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Angie Lewis\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/278885867315679f2aa8c09e27b25e3c\"},\"headline\":\"UCF Alumni Association Presents 2015 Champions Award\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-30T14:00:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-09T16:55:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-alumni-association-presents-2015-champions-award\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":386,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-alumni-association-presents-2015-champions-award\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/20\\\/files\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/B-G-Champions-Gray.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Al Burnett\",\"Charles Millican\",\"John C. 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