Ray Guy

Ray Guy , was an American football punter for the Oakland Raiders. Coming from University of Southern Mississippi, he was the first pure punter ever to be drafted in the first round of the NFL draft.

Guy was a key member of three Super Bowl-winning Raiders teams: (Super Bowls XI, XV, and XVIII. Arguably, his best performance was in Super Bowl XVIII against the Washington Redskins. When the Raiders offense faltered just outside the range of placekicker Chris Bahr, Guy, known for his power, showed a great deal of finesse by booting a 27-yard punt that pinned the Washington Redskins on their own 12-yard line late in the first half. On the very next play, the Raiders' Jack Squirek intercepted Washington quarterback Joe Theismann and returned it for a touchdown that gave them a 21-3 halftime lead. The Raiders would eventually win 38-9.

Ray Guy had a superb game:

7 punts for 299 total yards
244 net yards
34.8 yard net average
5 punts inside the opponents' 20-yard line

1 Playing success
2 The Ray Guy Award
3 Pro Kicking Camp
4 Statistics
5 References
6 Related Articles
- 6.1 Recent Ray Guy ArmchairGM Stories

[edit] Playing success

Ray Guy retired in 1986. During his career, Guy:

Played in 207 consecutive games
Punted 1,049 times for 44,493 yards, averaging 42.4 yards per punt (typical 2006 average, 43), with a 33.8 net yards average (typical 2006 average, 37)
Had 210 punts in the 20 (not counting his first 3 seasons, when the NFL did not keep track of this stat), with just 128 touchbacks (the ratio of 'in the 20' to touchbacks is 1.64, and would have been 29th best in the NFL in 2006)
Led the NFL in punting three times
Had a streak of 619 consecutive punts before having one blocked
Has a record of 111 career punts in post season games
Had five punts of over 60 yards during the 1981 season

Ray Guy was selected to seven AFC Pro Bowl teams, and in 1994, he was named the punter on the National Football League's 75th Anniversary Team.

He was also an outstanding placekicker at Southern Mississippi, once kicking a then-record 61-yard field goal in a snowstorm during a game in Utah. After his senior season at Southern Miss, Guy was named Most Valuable Player of the annual College All-Star game, in which an all-star team of college seniors played the current Super Bowl champion. In addition to his kicking prowess, Guy was also a starting safety in college. During his senior season, he intercepted a USM record eight passes, and was named an All-American defensive back.

Ray Guy has been inducted into both the Mississippi and Georgia Sports Halls of Fame, and many feel he is worthy of induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In 1994, he was the first pure punter to be nominated for enshrinement.

Joe Horrigan, the historian of the Pro Football Hall of Fame once said: "He's the first punter you could look at and say: 'He won games.'"

At the 1976 Pro Bowl, Ray Guy became the first punter to hit the Louisiana Superdome video screen.

Ray Guy was known for punts with a high hangtime, he once punted the ball with so much hangtime the opponents pulled the ball and had it tested for helium. The hangtime statistic was also instituted in the NFL during his time, likely due to his skill in punting.

[edit] The Ray Guy Award

In 2000, the Greater Augusta Sports Council instituted the Ray Guy Award, an award to be awarded to the nation's best collegiate punter. Past winners are:

2006 - Daniel Sepulveda, Baylor University
2005 - Ryan Plackemeier, Wake Forest University
2004 - Daniel Sepulveda, Baylor University
2003 - B.J. Sander, Ohio State University
2002 - Mark Mariscal, University of Colorado
2001 - Travis Dorsch, Purdue University
2000 - Kevin Stemke, University of Wisconsin-Madison

The statue itself was created by an Augusta, Georgia orthopaedic surgeon named John Savage, Jr., who sculpted a representation of Ray Guy in clay, and (with a support rod inserted in the sculpture for stability) hand-carried it to a Florida foundry where it was cast into bronze.

[edit] Pro Kicking Camp

In 2005, Ray 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 will once again be held on the campus of Colorado College.

Since many collegiate punters nominated for the Ray Guy Award are either former students or work at his kicking camps, Guy himself does not participate in the voting process to avoid accusations of favoritism.