W.G. “Bud” Gray Papers

William G. “Bud” Gray was born on December 27, 1914 in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, a small farming community south of Starkville. Gray’s father was a dairy farmer and a respected local politician who served as town supervisor of Beat Five for some forty years. Gray was captain of the 1938 football team at Mississippi State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in social studies and physical education.

In 1940, Gray found work with the Mississippi Highway Patrol; he would serve that agency for more than twenty years. Eight years later Gray became the first inspector of the 7th Highway Patrol district, headquartered in Hattiesburg. During the 1962 crisis over James Meredith’s admission to the University of Mississippi, Gray was a ranking officer among patrolmen and was pictured alongside a defiant Lieutenant Governor Paul B. Johnson on the front pages of several national newspapers.

From 1964 to 1968 Gray was sheriff of Forrest County, Mississippi; racial tensions stemming from civil rights activism complicated his work. Gray was largely amenable to the needs and demands of local blacks and civil rights workers, a fact that angered some white natives. The January 1964 Freedom Day, Hattiesburg’s Freedom Summer, and the January 1966 murder of local civil rights leader Vernon Dahmer all took place during Gray’s tenure as sheriff.