Ray Guy, a three-time Super Bowl champion with the Raiders and the first punter to make the Pro Football Hall of Fame, died Thursday.
Ray Guy : Bankruptcy | Superdome | Highlights
Guy, widely considered the rayin history, has died at the age of 72.
“The Southern Miss family mourns today following the passing of Golden Eagle great Ray Guy, who died Thursday morning following a lengthy illness,” his alma mater said in a statement on the university’s website.
In 2014, Guy became the first – and so far only – specialist punter to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame. He was also the first punter ever to be taken in the first round of the NFL draft.
“When we first drafted him, it was a heck of a choice. I thought then he could be the greatest in the league, but I changed my mind. I think Ray proved he’s the best of all time,” said the late Raiders coach John Madden of the team’s decision to draft Guy in 1973.
Guy’s all-round athleticism was legendary. He also played as a defensive back in college, setting a Southern Miss record one season with eight interceptions, and he was drafted as a pitcher on four occasions by Major League baseball teams.
Ray guy Bankruptcy
Mr. Guy was also a member of the College Football Football Hall of Fame and the National High School Sports Hall of Fame.
He and his wife, Beverly, filed for bankruptcy in 2011, and he was forced to sell his Super Bowl rings to pay his debts.
Ray Guy, who is from Swainsboro, Georgia, filed for bankruptcy protection in Augusta, Georgia in April 2010. Bloomberg News reports that the IRS is the first lien holder on the rings.
It seems extremely harsh and unfair that this football great will have to sell his Super Bowl rings in his bankruptcy case. When I was in high school, I won a few trophies when I won some races. I still have those trophies.
If someone were to ever take them away from me, I would surely cry. I cannot imagine the pain that Mr. Guy must feel at the thought of losing these symbols of such a tremendous achievement.
Georgia does not have any bankruptcy protection for sports memorabilia. However, Georgia does have a total wildcard exemption of $5,600 that can be used for anything of value.
wever, Mr. Guy has the IRS on his back. Unfortunately for him, even if Georgia had an exemption in bankruptcy that protected Super Bowl Rings, it would not help Mr. Guy because the IRS lien trumps Georgia bankruptcy exemptions.
Ray guy Superdome
In 1976, Ray Guy, who was representing the AFC in the Pro Bowl at the Louisiana Superdome, punted a ball into the scoreboard, and that’s the thing that Guy gets asked about more than anything to this day.
For all of Ray Guy’s accomplishments in college and in the NFL, the one he might be most famous for was a quirky little event during a Pro Bowl in the Louisiana Superdome.
“That’s the single thing I get asked about the most,” said the former Raiders punter.
That thing was a punt that Guy rocketed skyward toward the roof that Monday night of Jan. 26, 1976. The ball climbed like a jet on takeoff. It was still ascending when it struck the overhanging gondola and video screen, some 90 feet above, before the ball tumbled back down on to the field.
No one had ever done that.
M “It was nothing like … pre-planned,” Guy recalled.
Highlights
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.[11] 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.'”
Guy was inducted into both the Mississippi and Georgia Sports Halls of Fame, the National High School Sports Hall of Fame, and the College Football Hall of Fame. On April 21, 2008, Guy was inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame.