His grandparents had the greatest influence on him during his childhood, his hero was Calvin Hill, and he wants to be remembered as a caring and truthful person that was always fair. His name is Craig Gregory.

Gregory is a wood shop teacher at Pattonville High School. Along with teaching students in school, he is the coach for the varsity girls’ basketball team, and starting in the fall of 2012, he will be the assistant coach for varsity girl’s softball.

As I proceeded to ask questions about Gregory’s childhood he had quite the insight on the people who affected him, his heroes, and how he would like to be remembered. There was no hesitation in his responses to any questions. He knew exactly what he wanted to say.

Gregory’s grandparents had a massive influence on his life during childhood. He lit up when he began to talk about them, you could tell how they had touched him as a person. They took care of him and his other siblings a lot and were always there for them.

When he moved to Missouri from Texas as a kid, he would help his grandparents with farming. He enjoyed helping them a lot with this.

“We believed they lived longer because of the time we spent with them,” he explained.

He lived at their house a lot during the summer for fun, to be around his grandparents he adored, and to help them with farming. Because of his grandparents, he would think three times before doing something he didn’t think would be good. Gregory never wanted to disappoint them. His respect for them, shaped his decisions. He knew the difference between right and wrong, and made sure to make a specific distinction between the choices.

Most kids look up to someone like Superman as a hero, but not Gregory. Gregory looked up to Calvin Hill, a running back for the Dallas Cowboys. He himself was a running back for a football team as a kid and looked up to Calvin because he was a running back for his hometowns team. In Texas, his family and him went to many of the Cowboys games together. What’s better than a little bonding time with the family at a great event like a Dallas Cowboys game?

“When you enter this world, all you have is your word,” said Gregory.

He said he wants to be remembered as a caring person that was fair and truthful. He thinks honesty is the most important thing you can have, and without it, you have no respect. If you’re true, people will trust you. In the end, all you have is honesty. He makes a point.

What if you aren’t honest, what if you aren’t fair? Well, nothing. No one likes a liar or someone that doesn’t play by the rules. Luckily, Gregory knows how to be the person someone would like and trust.

Gregory is an all around genuine guy. He has known right from wrong since he was little and passes on the message. Gregory is funny and knows how to joke around, but is serious when he needs to. His grandparents had a great influence on him during his childhood, Calvin Hill was his hero, and he wants to be remembered as an honest and fair person.