As revealed in his book, Talbert Gray was a remarkable person and a pioneer. Possibly most significant, perhaps, was the fact that he was the first black television news reporter in Florida, and among the first in the country.
It was 1971. I was working part time as a booth announcer for WESH-TV, channel 2, Winter Park/Orlando. I had just finished recording several voice-overs for promos and commercials. Talbert was passing through the hallway on his way to the news department, carrying a tripod and camera.
He was humming a tune, and I joked I might record his signing in my tiny four-track garage recording studio. Taïbet mentioned he was working with a young music group. I recorded a few tracks for the group in my studio, and the band hired me to mix a recording at a larger recording studio near Deland, Florida.
Talbert and I kept in touch for a time … until we didn’t.
Talbert grew up in Memphis, Tennessee at a time when Rosa Parks went to jail in Montgomery, Alabama for the crime of not giving up her seat on the bus to a white person.
As Talbert explains in the book, “I grew up in a time before schools were integrated. Autherine Lucy was the first Black to attend the University of Alabama and was promptly expelled – for her own safety. Thurgood Marshall was her attorney. In 1956, Clinton, Tennessee, integrated, and Nashville in 1957. In 1957, students in Charlotte, NC, taunted Dorothy Geraldine Counts.”
A section of the book relates his experiences as a black airman traveling across the United States especially in the South. He relates being turned away from motels, refused the use of public restrooms at gas stations and not being allowed in restaurants while his fellow airmen, wearing the same uniform, experienced none of those restrictions.
Talbert Gray’s job in the Air Force was that of a combat documentary photographer at the 1365th Photographic Squadron, shooting still photographs and motion pictures, including a documentary on the Air Force Hurricane Hunter operating out of Homestead Air Reserve Base south of Miami. He went directly there to a TDY assignment in South Viet Nam.
Talbert excelled in radio sales and management, once rescuing a station that was in such condition from a business standpoint that the owners gladly transferred ownership to Talbert for the remarkable sum of four dollars: one dollar for each of the shareholders. Of course, part of what Talbert took on was the station’s debt. What happened next was a remarkable recovery for the station under Talbert’s management.
In 1989, Talbert left a position at Orlando radio station 102 JAMZ, to venture into publishing with the BA Magazine, on the heals of his previous work with the Weekly Observer newspaper. As a restult, the magazine and Talbert won a long list of awards.
Many years later, in 2022, I wondered, what happened to Talbert? An online search revealed a biography in the form of an online flip-book, the predecessor to today’s e-book. By that time, I had self-published a few books of my own and when I contacted Talbert; I offered to edit his book and help him publish it as an e-book and paperback. He agreed and sent me the manuscript. We went through the editing process together for several months. Talbert contributed many more photographs for the project.
On completion, Talbert requested copies for his family, which I gladly provided. A few months later, he called, and as I recall, we talked about the book and several other things. I had no way of hint that it would be our last conversation.
A few weeks later, I received notice of Talbert’s passing.
First Into the Fire serves an inspiration to anyone facing barriers in their life. I am proud to have been a part of producing the book, which stands as a tribute to the remarkable achievements of my friend, Talbert Gray.
