GRAY AREA

Ever the ambassador, Adam Gray-Hayward doesn’t mind going over the middle, meeting up with a few linebackers and spreading the goodwill of his high school, St. Bonaventure, and his country, Australia.

G’day, mate.

The 6-foot-2, 205-pound senior receiver has no problem mimicking cable-television personality Steve Irwin, the self-proclaimed Crocodile Hunter who shares at least one trait with Gray-Hayward--fearlessness.

Gray-Hayward has no qualms about running a crossing pattern, something he is often asked to do. Pinballing off defenders isn’t a problem, especially when you have seven years of rugby experience.

Gray-Hayward, who moved to the United States three years ago, began playing rugby at age 7, manning the outside-center position, the equivalent of an H-back in American football.

“I’m not really afraid of coming over the middle and getting my head taken off, because it happens all the time in rugby,” said Gray-Hayward, whose only protective gear in rugby was a mouthpiece.

“There are small, thin shoulder pads you can wear if you want to. But I never wore them. I didn’t like the feel of them.”

He broke both pinky fingers playing rugby and still dislocates them on occasion. More often than not, Gray-Hayward is the one doing the breaking.

He set a school season record with 19 touchdown receptions and has 73 catches for 1,146 yards for St. Bonaventure (13-0), which plays Nordhoff in the Southern Section Division XI championship game Saturday night at Ventura High.

It’s safe to say Coach Jon Mack has noticed. How could he not? Gray-Hayward is also the punter, punt returner, nickel back and the holder on kicks for St. Bonaventure.

“His presence isn’t felt only in touchdowns or receptions or yards,” Mack said. “It’s also in his leadership and in being a captain. He’s measured by much more than just stats.”

Mack also credited the character of Gray-Hayward.

“He’s the kind of guy that you want your daughter to date,” Mack said. “He’s an honest-to-God, hard-working kid.”

Gray-Hayward grew up in Sydney, a booming metropolis of four million people. He moved to Ventura, which barely tops 100,000 residents, in June 1996 to spend more time with his father, Chard.

Gray-Hayward’s parents divorced when he was 1.

“It’s two different worlds,” Gray-Hayward said. “I love Sydney. It’s my home city and I’m as Australian as they come. Ventura’s a small, seaside town, but I like the small-town feel.”

He also liked the concept of coed schooling. The junior high he attended in Sydney was all boys.

Gray-Hayward’s father was an Australian television star, playing a lead role in “No. 96,” a popular Melrose Place-type show in the 1970s.

Chard moved to America to further his acting career and has appeared in the TV miniseries “The Thorn Birds,” the daytime soap “Santa Barbara” and the sci-fi TV show “Babylon V.”

But Adam, a distant cousin of Australian Prime Minister John Howard, has no interest in acting. At least, not yet.

Stocks, bonds and price/earnings ratios are his chief interests. He wants to study finance in college. Acting will have to wait.

“Maybe it’s my calling, maybe it isn’t,” he said of acting. “I might get into it later in life. I’ve got no problem doing speeches. I like going in front of the class. When it comes to acting in plays, I have a little problem with that.”

For now, his accent provides plenty of entertainment.

“People are very impressed by it,” Gray-Hayward said. “I’m surprised. I got a lot [of attention] when I was a freshman or sophomore. People still ask me to say things, even though I’m a senior.

“If I say a word funny, they ask me to repeat it. I’ll do it, as long as they’re laughing with me.”

He gets laughs from just about anyone.

Anyone who isn’t wearing a different-colored football jersey, that is.