Or so he’s told.
“I was out there (Albuquerque) speaking at a church,” Wray recalls with a chuckle, “and a guy said, ‘I’m the sports information director at University of New Mexico and you scored the first two points (at The Pit).’ I didn’t remember.”
Originally known as University Arena, UNM students immediately began calling it The Pit because the playing surface sits 37 feet below street level. ACU got in on the ground floor as part of a two-game road trip the likes of which they may never see again. It began with the game against the No. 6-ranked Lobos and ended at the home of the defending NCAA champion University of Texas at El Paso Miners, who were No. 2 in the nation when the Wildcats arrived off a fine season of their own.
“We went out there confident,” Wray recollects, “because we’d been to the (small college) national tournament the year before. We’d beaten Oklahoma State University and taken on the Air Force Academy, so I don’t remember being intimidated or any talk about it being the first game in the new arena. What I do remember was how far it was from the dressing room down to the floor because it’s all underground.”
The Lobos dug a figurative hole when the game began, falling behind ACU and the offensive system head coach Dee Nutt (’50) employed known as California.
Indeed, ACU took a 27-25 lead into the locker room at halftime. But the Lobos, led by coach Bob King, whose success in turning around UNM’s moribund basketball program when he arrived in 1962 fueled the interest in and need for the new arena, rebounded in the second half to post an 11-point victory that prompted the Albuquerque Journal newspaper to write the next morning, “12,020 Watch NM Five Sweat.”
Wray finished with 19 points, tying him with the Lobos’ all-America forward Mel Daniels for game-high honors. The Wildcats got 12 points from hotshot John Ray Godfrey (’68), who helped open ACU basketball’s new digs, Moody Coliseum, the following season by scoring 41 points, a home-court record that stood for nearly a quarter century.
Wray’s recollections of that night are more general than specific. Someone gave him a program from that first game, though at the moment he isn’t sure where it is. And his place in The Pit’s record book brings him no particular measure of pride.
“Basketball was really critical to me back in those days,” he says. “It’s nice, but you kind of leave all that behind.”
From The Pit to Summit, Wray rose within ACU’s College of Biblical Studies to hold a variety of influential positions, including his current one. What he has held on to from his days as a player is a deep appreciation for those with whom he took the court.
“We had phenomenal guys,” he says fondly. “Most have gone on to be elders and church leaders. We’ve been lifelong friends.”
