Gv apparently calls pkg-config during configuration. When pkg-config or the pkg-config file for Xaw3D is not found, it will fall back to another configuration which does not work on Mac.
As Mac does not come with pkg-config by default, you need to first install it. You also need to specify where to find the pkg-config file for Xaw3D:
export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/usr/X11/lib/pkgconfig/ ./configure --x-includes=/usr/X11/include/ --x-libraries=/usr/X11/lib/ --enable-SIGCHLD-fallback
Attractive Chaos 
You can use “homebrew” package management system to avoid spending time on this.
homebrew indeed is a time saver