Why former basketball star is fighting to put Ron Allen’s name on East’s court
More than 20 years after Taj Gray helped Wichita East cut down the nets as a state champion, he is back fighting for his old coach again.
Only this time, Gray isn’t battling for a title. He’s lobbying for a name.
The former East star has recently launched an online petition urging East High to rename its basketball court in honor of legendary former coach Ron Allen, the Hall of Fame coach whose impact on Wichita basketball still echoes through the City League.
To Gray, this is about more than adding words to hardwood. It is about making sure one of Wichita’s most important basketball figures is remembered in the place where he built so much of his legacy.
“Honestly, I think this is something that should have been done a long time ago,” Gray said. “I mean, he’s a legend. I can’t think of anybody out there who is more deserving of something like this, so I want to try to get it done for him and his family.”
Gray said he started the petition two days ago and it had already collected more than 600 signatures as of this past weekend, a response he believes reflects how deeply Allen’s influence still runs in Wichita’s basketball community. Gray hopes that groundswell of support will help persuade East administrators to formally honor Allen by putting his name on the Blue Aces’ court.
“Coach Allen meant so much to so many people from a mentoring aspect and from a coaching aspect,” Gray said. “He was like a father figure to so many people and I think he had an impact on so many people in the East High community and all over Wichita. You talk about the greatest coaches in Wichita, but he was an even greater human being.”
In recent years, naming courts and gyms after iconic coaches has become an increasingly visible way for Wichita-area schools to honor the people who shaped their athletic identity. Collegiate now has Mitch Fiegel’s name on its court, while Heights officially renamed its gym “Auer House” after retired coach Joe Auer. Both won state championships. Both became synonymous with their programs.
Gray believes Allen belongs in that same conversation.
He would argue that Allen’s case stretches beyond wins and trophies, even if those alone would make for a compelling argument.
Allen, who died at age 71 in December 2022, authored one of the great coaching careers in City League history. In 19 seasons at East, beginning in 1994, he led the Blue Aces to two Class 6A state championships in 2002 and 2005. His teams won six City League titles, reached the state tournament six times and advanced to five state semifinals. East went 280-127 under Allen, a 69% winning clip, and his 11-5 record at the state tournament underscored how often his teams were at their best when the stakes were highest.
His signature moments are still etched into local basketball memory. Allen won his 300th career game on Feb. 24, 2012 when East stunned Heights 57-51 on senior night, snapping the Falcons’ state-record 62-game winning streak. By the end of his coaching career, Allen had tallied 301 wins in 21 City League seasons, the third-most victories in league history.
That résumé alone would secure his place among Wichita’s coaching greats. But for the players who knew him best, Allen’s legacy was built in moments that never appeared in a box score.
He was the coach who cared about the person before the player. The mentor who checked in long after graduation. The father figure whose conversations with former players rarely centered on basketball, even though the sport had brought them together in the first place.
Allen wanted to know how life was going. He wanted updates on family, on jobs, on children, on whatever chapter came next. Former players often found that his greatest gift was not drawing up a play, but making them feel seen and valued. Gray said that is the part of Allen’s legacy he has come to appreciate even more with time.
Gray said Allen was the ideal role model because he cared about his players as people, not just pieces in a basketball program. Winning mattered, of course, but it was never Allen’s only objective. He wanted to help shape upstanding citizens and productive members of society. For the outside world, Allen may be remembered first for championships and banners. For those who played for him, that is only part of the story.
It is why Gray felt compelled to act.
He said he has exchanged emails with East principal Sara Richardson, who told him she has plans of assembling a committee to present the proposal to. Gray said he has also reached out to Wichita City Councilman Brandon Johnson in search of support. His message to the broader Wichita basketball community has been simple: sign the petition, show the administration how much backing exists and make it clear that this is not just one former player’s idea.
It is a community effort to preserve a community legacy.
So when Gray looks at East’s court, he does not just see painted lines and polished wood. He sees the stage where Allen built one of the most meaningful coaching legacies Wichita has known. He sees a place that shaped generations of players. And he sees a chance, even now, to make sure East’s home floor tells that story every time someone walks inside.
For Gray, that is the heart of the petition.
This is not merely about honoring a coach because he won a lot of games, although Allen certainly did that. It is about honoring a man whose influence was still being felt long after the final buzzer, whose former players still speak about him with reverence, and whose name, Gray believes, belongs permanently attached to the court where he gave so much of himself.
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