Clifford Gray (athlete)

Clifford Barton "Tippi" Gray (January 29, 1892 – April 1968[1]) was an American bobsledder, songwriter and actor, who competed in the late 1920s and 1930s.[2] He won two medals at the Winter Olympics, a gold in the four-man event at Lake Placid, New York in 1932 and a gold in the five-man event at St. Moritz, Switzerland, in 1928, as well as a bronze in the four-man event at the 1937 FIBT World Championships in St. Moritz.

Clifford Gray
Medal record
Men's bobsleigh
Representing the  United States
Olympic Games
1928 St. MoritzFive-man
1932 Lake PlacidFour-man
World Championships
1937 St. MoritzFour-man

Gray was born in Chicago, Illinois to English parents. He was educated at Lake Forest Academy and then Cornell University. He lived Ohio, then New York, and visited St. Moritz, where he was recruited to the US bobsled team. For many years, it was believed that Gray was the same person as Clifford Grey, an English songwriter, librettist and actor. One thing that added to the confusion was that, after this bobsledding career, Gray did some song writing and movie acting in the US and worked in musical comedy, vaudeville and summer stock in Chicago.[2] He later moved to Paris and wrote jazz tunes for the revue at the Moulin Rouge.[3][4]

He died near San Diego, California.[2][3]

Notes
  1. Gray's profile at www.sports-reference.com says that he died on November 9, 1969, but Andy Bull, who wrote Speed Kings, a 2015 book about Gray and the 1932 bobsledding team, cites an obituary for him in April 1968.
  2. "Cliff Gray", Sports-reference.com, accessed November 1, 2015
  3. Bull, Andy. "It’s just not cricket: The Mystery of Clifford Grey, Olympic Champion Who Never Was", The Guardian, 5 May 2015
  4. Bull, Andy. Speed Kings, Bantam Press (2015) ISBN 0593073762

References


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