Ray Guy obit

Ray Guy, legendary Hall of Fame punter, dies at 72

 

He was not on the list.

Ray Guy, legendary Hall of Fame punter, dies at 72 originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago

Ray Guy, the first ever full-time NFL punter to be enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, died Thursday at age 72.

His alma mater, Southern Mississippi, said that Guy died of a lengthy illness.

Guy first starred at the school before making history in the 1973 NFL Draft. The Oakland Raiders selected him 23rd overall, marking the first time a punter had been selected in the first round.

Guy wasn’t an ordinary punter, though. He spent his entire 14-year NFL career with the Raiders franchise, was named to seven Pro Bowls, made three All-Pro teams and won three Super Bowls. His three titles are the most for any punter in league history.

Out of the 1,049 punts in his career, just three were blocked and 210 landed inside the opponents 20-yard line.

Ray was a warm, humble Southern gentleman who represented the game, the Raiders organization and the Hall of Fame with dignity and class at all times," Pro Football Hall of Fame president Jim Porter said in a statement. A truly gifted athlete, he could have been a star in Major League Baseball or pro basketball. Fans of the NFL thank Ray for choosing to focus on football.

In 2000, the Greater Augusta Sports Council instituted the Ray Guy Award, to be awarded to the nation's best collegiate punter. Since many collegiate punters nominated for the Ray Guy Award are either former students or work at his kicking camps, Guy himself did not participate in the voting process to avoid accusations of favoritism.[

Speaking to Guys all-around ability, John Madden lauded his former punter before presenting him at the 2014 Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony.

Ray Guy was a football player who punted, Madden said.

Along with the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Guy is also immortalized in the College Football Hall of Fame and the National High School Sports Hall of Fame.

"The Southern Miss family mourns today following the passing of Golden Eagle great Ray Guy, who died Thursday morning following a lengthy illness," the school said in a news release.

Pro Football Talk noted that Guy’s prowess on the field caused controversy. In 1976, Houston Oilers prolific returner Billy "White Shoes" Johnson and Guy agreed to have the ball examined, and a test at Rice University cleared the punter of wrongdoing.

When his career was over, Guy was named to the NFL’s All-1970s team, the NFL 75th Anniversary and 100th Anniversary All-Time teams and has an award named after him to give to the NCAA’s best punter.

Guy attended Thomson High School in Thomson, Georgia, where he was a four–sport star. Playing quarterback, safety, linebacker, and tailback, aside from kicking and punting duties, Guy led Thomson to the Georgia Class A state football championships in 1967 and 1968. Guy averaged 49.7 yards per punt in 1968. Playing basketball, Guy scored 39 points in a Thomson basketball game the day after the 1968 state championship football game, with no practice. In baseball, Guy pitched a 15–inning scoreless game for Thomson in the state playoff semi-finals in 1969.

Guy was the first punter ever to be selected in the first round in the NFL Draft, when the Oakland Raiders selected him as the 23rd pick in the 1973 NFL Draft.

In his career as a punter, Guy played his entire career with the Raiders and was selected to seven Pro Bowl teams including six in a row from 1973 to 1978. He was named as the punter on the NFL's 75th and 100th Anniversary teams. His trademark was kicking punts that stayed in the air for long periods of time. More often than not, by the time a punt returner was able to field one of Guy's punts, the Raiders' coverage unit had the field covered so well that returns were difficult, if not impossible. Although Guy rarely kicked for distance, his punts often left opposing offenses pinned deep in their own end of the field. The statistic for hang time was instituted in the NFL during his career, reportedly because of him. Pro Football Hall of Fame historian Joe Horrigan once said of Guy, "He's the first punter you could look at and say: 'He won games.'"

In Super Bowl XVIII, Guy punted seven times for 299 yards (42.7 average), with 244 net yards (34.8 average). Five of his punts pinned the Washington Redskins inside their own 20. Due in part to his effective punting, the Los Angeles Raiders easily won the game, 38–9.

During the early part of his career, he was the Raiders' emergency quarterback, replacing kicker–quarterback George Blanda in this position. He also occasionally did kickoffs for the Raiders because the aging Blanda no longer had great range.

After a 1977 game against the Houston Oilers, Oilers coach Bum Phillips accused Guy of using footballs illegally inflated with helium because he had "never seen anyone hang kickoffs like Guy did", and that the ball was "hanging up there too long"; additionally, the Raiders had used a new ball for every punt, adding to his suspicions. Phillips said after the game that he would send the ball to Rice University for testing. Guy punted 3 times for 107 yards in the game.

In his 13–year career, Guy:

    Played in 207 consecutive games

    Punted 1,049 times for 44,493 yards, averaging 42.4 yards per punt, with a 33.8 net yards average

    Had 210 punts inside the 20-yard line (not counting his first 3 seasons, when the NFL did not keep track of this stat), with just 128 touchbacks

    Led the NFL in yards per punt three times

    Had a streak of 619 consecutive punts before having one blocked

    Has a record of 111 career punts in postseason games

    Had five punts of more than 60 yards during the 1981 season

In 2005, Guy helped organize and participated in two-day kicking camps, held throughout the United States, for high-school punters, placekickers, and longsnappers. In 2007, the camp was once again held on the campus of Colorado College. He was helped in this endeavor by his son Ryan Guy.