With a bowling career spanning 42 years over five decades, Dennis M. Gregory epitomized what it took to be a successful bowler. In an amazing career that has earned him recognition as one of the area's premier bowlers, Gregory enjoyed tremendous success on the lanes despite having to overcome an otherwise detrimental disability that would have halted the careers of most bowlers.

Gregory was diagnosed with bone cancer early in his career and lost a leg as a result. Not letting his condition get in the way, Gregory re-oriented his athletic and physical capabilities to minimize his lower body and maximize his upper body to continue to play the sport he loved. The reorientation worked as he went on to play some of his greatest games after the amputation of his leg.

In all, Gregory bowled eighteen 300 games and five 800+ series. In his lengthy career, he also was able to have 700+ series over five hundred times. He earned national recognition as one of only seven persons at the time of his death to bowl a 300 game in five straight decades - one each in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and in the early 2000s. One can assume that the other six who had accomplished the feat along with him did so without the disability Gregory played with.

Gregory entered numerous local and New York State events throughout the years. He participated in American Bowling Association tournaments nationwide and won the Western Open Championship title in his career. Along with his partner, Ron Scholefield, Gregory held the city record in two-man doubles along with holding the record (during his era) for the most sanctioned 300 games in the Utica Bowling Association.

Gregory was honored as the Utica Bowler of the Year in 1985 and earned ultimate recognition in his sport with induction into the Utica Bowling Hall of Fame in 1988. At one time, he also served as a Director on the Utica Bowling Association's Board of Directors.

Gary Madia, a longtime friend of Gregory's, said in nominating him for the Greater Utica Sports Hall of Fame, "the life of Dennis Gregory is one of distinguished accomplishment, community contributions and as a long-term role model of athletic skill and perseverance against all odds... He faced head-on a serious, life-threatening illness and then lived his life with a personal intensity and level of accomplishment (the) people around him and (in) the community would never have imagined. (He) exemplified good sportsmanship and was a gentleman on and off the lanes."

An avid golfer, he enjoyed a hole-in-one at Domenico's Golf Course, and fisherman, Gregory spent long hours on the links and in many of the streams, ponds and lakes around New York State. He also served as a coach with the St. Mary of Mount Carmel Little League and the Pop Warner Football organization.