Philanthropist Jim Gray celebrated over fitness journey

Confetti flew, the crowd roared and fully-clothed Calgarians jumped into the pool at the YMCA to celebrate the completion of a 23-year fitness journey for Calgary businessman and philanthropist Jim Gray.

The 81-year-old completed his 300,000th lap over two decades Friday morning at the Eau Claire facility, which will be renamed the Gray Family Eau Claire YMCA.

After the celebration, a children’s choir sang the national anthem and applause followed once again.

For the longtime proponent of fitness in daily living, the feeling was overwhelming.

“It really is, I mean this has been fun, I enjoy it, I love coming out in the morning and I love the people that are there,” he said afterwards. “I just hope everybody could be involved, walking, cycling, jogging, eating properly, you just feel so much better, I think it’s very important.”

His remarks followed speeches by Alberta Premier Jim Prentice and Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi.

Both talked about Gray’s influence in their lives not just personally, but politically, as Prentice recalled a meeting with him about a year ago.

“To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t really thinking very seriously about coming back to public life at that time and Jim Gray, who has been a friend and a mentor for many years convinced me that we all have responsibilities as Albertans,” Prentice said. “That was the moment that I went home to Karen and I said I think we’re going to do this, so it was Jim Gray ladies and gentlemen.”

“He said oil prices are high, it’ll be fine, don’t worry about a thing,” Prentice said jokingly as the crowd laughed.

Nenshi also recalled when Gray introduced him to members at the Petroleum Club years ago when he had returned to the city.

“Jim took me by the arm and walked me around table to table,” he said. “Since then, I have benefited in so many ways, in ways I can’t even describe from Jim’s brain and his mentorship and in particular, his heart.”

Man in Motion Rick Hansen was also there and praised him for his long-standing promotion of fitness.

“He’s got a great philosophy for life, he believes that life is defined by your attitude,” Hansen said. “He invests in health and he also knows that the two biggest things in life are taking care of your health and taking care of others.”

The feat came with news of a new campaign with the City of Calgary called Power of Potential, a $30 million dollar initiative to operate and equip three new facilities.

Gray said the day was to celebrate the YMCA as well as the culture of wellness.

“It’s such a joyous day,” he said. “It’s so important for people to be active and to be healthy and having energy and be positive and enthusiastic, we’re awfully lucky to live in Calgary and we’re awfully happy to have to all these YMCAs in the city.”