Ray began developing his picture form and hang time by punting
over the power lines behind his boyhood home in Georgia.
Junior High
- 74 yard punt
High School
- Two state championships
- 16 varsity letters in four sports
- Averages 52 yards per punt (most kids could not catch his punts)
- Longest punt- 88 yards
- Drafted by the Cincinnati Reds
College: Southern Mississippi
- First collegiate game he booted a 77 yard punt
- NCAA Leading punter in 1972 with a 46.2 yard average
- 44.7 yard average for 200 punts during three varsity seasons
- Three times he had punts over 70 yards
- Recorded a 93 yard punt as a senior. The sixth longest in NCAA history.
- Unanimous choice for All American in 1972.
- Southern Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame inductee in 1978
- Recognized as one of Southern Mississippi's best baseball pitchers. Pitched one of only four
....no-hitters in school history - Drafted by Cincinnati Reds (second time), Kansas City Royals, and Atlanta Braves.
- Recorded 18 interceptions as starting Free Safety
- Kicked (then NCAA record) 61 yard field goal during a snowstorm in Utah.
Pro Team: Oakland/ LA Raiders
- Drafted in the first round of the 1973 NFL draft. The 23rd pick overall. The first pure punter ever
...taken in the first round. - During 14 seasons in the NFL he punted 1049 times for 44,541 yards and a career average of
...42.4 yards per punt. - Played in 207 games in a row, never missing a game in 14 seasons. Ray was second on the
...NFL's - Longest Current Streak of Consecutive Games Played when he retired.
- His 111 career punts in post season games was an NFL record
- Leading punter in the NFL three times
- Seven times Ray was selected to the Pro Bowl - six times consecutively!
- Played in 22 post-season games including three wins in Super Bowls after the 1976, 1980, and
...1983 seasons. - He out punted his opponents in each of the Raiders Super Bowl victories.
- 619 consecutive punts without a block (Ranks second on the NFL All time list)
- Second highest Super Bowl career punting average at 41.9 yards per punt.
- Third most punts in Super Bowl history with 14.
- In the 1981 season he had five punts over 60 yards
- Ray was the third string quarterback for the Raiders for several seasons
- Tied for second on the all Time list for Leading NFL in punting average (3 seasons)
- 56 yard average in 1980 AFC Championship game was the Best Single Game Performance in
...NFL History.
Post Career
- Member of NFL's 75th Anniversary All Time Team
- Walter Camp All Century Team Member
- Unanimous choice by the Football Writers Association of America as the best from it's past 25
...years of All American Teams - NFL.com Super Bowl Dream Team member, voted by fans
- Listed as one of 300 Greatest Players in NFL History by the Official Encyclopedia of the National
...Football League - Total Football II - NFL Insider All Time Super Bowl Team member
- Sports Mirror Magazine All Time Dream Team member
- In 1994, was accorded the honor of becoming the first pure punter to be nominated for the NFL
...Hall of Fame - Inducted into both the Mississippi and Georgia Sports Halls of Fame
- Monday Night Football All - Time Team
- Pro Football Hall of Fame All Time Team
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