Gloria S. Ray, president and chief executive officer of the Knoxville Sports Corp., will address the ETSU fall graduating class during commencement exercises Saturday, Dec. 15. Approximately 900 students will be awarded degrees during the 10 a.m. ceremony in the Memorial Center.
A 1969 ETSU graduate, Ray was the first women’s athletic director at the University of Tennessee, serving from 1976 until 1984 and establishing the Lady Volunteer Athletic Depart-ment.
After leaving UT, Ray formed her own marketing firm, which she ran for six years, before creating the Knoxville Sports Corp., a public-private partnership that recruits sporting events to Knoxville. In existence for 10 years, the organization has generated over $135 million in new money for the local economy.
The corporation is perhaps best known for developing the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. Ray and colleagues raised $10 million to build the facility and create exhibits to “honor the past, celebrate the present, and promote the future of women’s basketball.” This national museum annually inducts players, coaches and administrators into its Hall of Fame.
Ray has taught and coached in the Orlando, Fla., public school system, coached tennis as a graduate assistant at UT, and spent two years as a professor and coach at Mississippi University for Women in Columbus.
She serves on various boards of directors, including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee, the Knoxville Utilities Board, Union Planters Bank, the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame and the National Association of Sports Commissions.
The UT Athletic Department has honored Ray by creating a Leadership Award in her name.
She is also a recipient of the YWCA Tribute to Women Award and the Knoxville Women’s Center Courage Award, and she has been named Public Relations Society of America Executive of the Year and Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame Administrator of the Year.
During her student days at ETSU, Ray was a Student Government Association class officer, a member of the homecoming court, an officer in Kappa Delta Sorority and a member of the ROTC Female Cadet Honor Corps.
A Knoxville native, Ray also holds a master’s degree from UT.

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