Hall of Fame
Records are made to be broken, but it took a generation to replace Dennis Gay at the top of the Coe football rushing annals. A workhorse fullback for the Kohawks, Dennis set records for carries (230) and yardage (1,127) his senior year that stood for more than 20 years. That year against Beloit, he set single game records for carries (41) and yardage (211) which also stood until the early 1990s. A three-year varsity letterman, Dennis was named team MVP and First Team All-Midwest Conference his junior and senior years.
Though his rushing totals got the headlines, Dennis’ blocking got the attention of his coaches. “He is one of the finest blockers I’ve ever had at Coe,” Head Coach Glenn Drahn told the Cedar Rapids Gazette in 1970. “Denny is not only a great blocker, but he has great breakaway speed, good balance and body lean that many times will carry for an additional two or three yards with two men on his back.”
He was also a three-year letterman in indoor and outdoor track, qualifying for the Drake Relays and being part of a record-setting 440-yard relay team.
While at Coe, Dennis served as president of the Interfraternity Council and vice president of Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity. He later spent more than six years as a missile launch commander in the Air Force and earned two master’s degrees.
Dennis retired this spring after more than 36 years in human resources at Exxon Mobil Corporation in Kingwood, Texas. He and his wife, Vicki Stick Gay ’73, raised five children and have 11 grandchildren.
