{"id":8652360,"date":"2022-11-03T09:29:34","date_gmt":"2022-11-03T16:29:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/?p=8652360&preview=true&preview_id=8652360"},"modified":"2022-11-04T06:18:11","modified_gmt":"2022-11-04T13:18:11","slug":"raiders-hall-of-fame-punter-ray-guy-dies-at-age-72","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/2022\/11\/03\/raiders-hall-of-fame-punter-ray-guy-dies-at-age-72\/","title":{"rendered":"Raiders Hall of Fame punter Ray Guy dies at age 72"},"content":{"rendered":"

Raiders owner Al Davis surprised the football world in 1973 when he made punter Ray Guy the 23rd pick in the first round of the NFL Draft.<\/p>\n

Guy, who died Thursday at age 72 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, after a lengthy illness, rewarded Davis\u2019 faith by becoming a beloved Raiders legend and the first and only punter to be named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He won three Super Bowls with the Raiders.<\/p>\n

It was Guy who popularized \u201chang time\u201d with soaring punts that would reach eye level of fans in the outer reaches of a stadium, enabling coverage teams to make tackles and swing field position the way of the Raiders.<\/p>\n

In an interview with this news organization in 2014, Guy said he\u2019d never heard the words \u201chang time\u201d until coach John Madden used them to describe his kicks.<\/p>\n

\"Santa
Santa Rosa, CA July 27, 1983 \u2013 Ray Guy practices his kicking and punting at the Oakland Raiders Santa Rosa training camp. (Leo Cohen \/ Oakland Tribune Staff Archives) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1977, Houston coach Bum Phillips accused Guy of using footballs inflated with helium because he\u2019d never seen punts so high. The Oilers sent footballs to Rice University for testing. No helium was found.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Raiders Family is mourning the passing of Ray Guy, a legendary punter who revolutionized special teams during his 14 seasons with the Silver and Black,\u201d the Raiders said in a statement<\/a> Thursday. \u201cThe prayers of the entire Raider Nation are with the Guy family at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Georgia native was a tremendous all-around athlete, and it was that athletic prowess that enabled him to become a peer to Raiders teammates rather than be considered a specialist. Guy was a standout multi-sport athlete in high school and at Southern Miss and played both safety and quarterback in addition to punting.<\/p>\n

Guy was selected four different times as a pitcher in the Major League Baseball draft and intercepted eight passes as a senior at Southern Miss.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never really had a teacher, a coach or a special camp to attend to learn the art of punting,\u201d Guy said in his 2014 Hall of Fame induction speech. \u201cMy high school coach showed me two things about foot alignment and ball placement, and that was pretty much it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a good athlete and could have been a major league pitcher or an NBA basketball player, but I knew God had something special for me and eventually one sport would stand out beyond the rest. Playing in the NFL for the Raiders was my destiny, and I never looked back or questioned my decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a separate 2014 interview, Guy recalled the reaction of his new teammates after being a first-round draft pick. He won them over with his athletic skill as he was the Raiders\u2019 emergency quarterback and a willing and aggressive tackler on kickoff returns.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know a lot of the veterans were thinking, \u2018What\u2019s Al doing?\u201d Guy said. \u201cHe\u2019s drafting a punter with his No. 1 draft choice? How is that going to help?\u2019 But after the first day of practice, it was obvious I was more than just a punter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guy\u2019s career average of 42.4 yards per punt is pedestrian by today\u2019s standards, but he was playing for a strong team that often had good field position. His job was to get maximum altitude on kicks and ideally keep opponents inside the 20-yard line. From 1976-86, he put 210 punts inside the 20-yard line \u2014 more than twice the number of any other punter.<\/p>\n

\"FILE
FILE \u2013 In this Dec. 28, 1975, file photo, Oakland Raiders kicker Ray Guy (8) is hugged by teammate Neal Colzie in the closing seconds of the Raiders 31-28 win over the Cincinnati Bengals in a divisional playoff game in Oakland, Calif. Those anxious seconds for punt returners awaiting his booming kicks were nothing compared to the more than two decades Guy had to endure before finally getting the call that he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. (AP Photo\/File) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The athletic ability of Guy was on full display when the Raiders beat Washington 38-9 in Super Bowl XVIII in Tampa Bay. Lost amid the highlights including Marcus Allen\u2019s 74-yard touchdown run and Jack Squirek\u2019s pick-six before halftime was an early punt from Guy with his back to the end zone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ball was snapped 10 feet high, Ray somehow goes up and gets it and gets off a 42-yard punt,\u201d former Raiders coach Tom Flores said in 2014. \u201cIt could have changed the entire game. Nobody even talked about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Current Raiders punter A.J. Cole, an All-Pro punter last season and Pro Bowl participant, is aware of what Guy did to revolutionize the position.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Raiders have the greatest history of the punter position of any franchise, and that started with Ray Guy,\u201d Cole told reporters Thursday at practice in Sarasota, Florida. \u201cThe level that he got to where his name is pretty much synonymous with NFL punting, that\u2019s not something you see a lot. It\u2019s definitely a sad day. It\u2019s sad to lose a legend like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2000, Davis again bucked convention in the NFL Draft by using two draft picks on kickers \u2014 place kicker Sebastian Janikowski in the first round and punter Shane Lechler in the sixth.<\/p>\n

Lechler played for the Raiders from 2000 through 2012 and was named All-Pro six times with seven Pro Bowl appearances.<\/p>\n

Named to the NFL\u2019s All-Pro team six times, Guy made seven Pro Bowls and was named the punter on the NFL\u2019s 1970s All-Decade team as well as the punter on the league\u2019s 75th and 100th anniversary teams.<\/p>\n

Guy is also a member of the Mississippi and Georgia sports Hall of Fames as well as the College Football Hall of Fame and the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame, the latter coming in 2008.<\/p>\n

The No. 44 is retired in Guy\u2019s honor at Southern Miss, and the Ray Guy Award is given annually to the top punter in college football.<\/p>\n

\"FILE
FILE \u2013 Oakland Raiders punter Ray Guy kicks during the Super Bowl at the Superdome in New Orleans, Jan. 25, 1981. Ray Guy, the first punter to make the Pro Football Hall of Fame, died Thursday, Nov. 3, 2022, following a lengthy illness. He had been receiving care in a Hattiesburg, Miss. area hospice. He was 72. (AP Photo\/Richard Drew, File) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Hall
Hall of Fame Inductee Ray Guy is introduced during the 2014 Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony at the Pro Football Hall of Fame Saturday, Aug. 2, 2014, in Canton, Ohio. (AP Photo\/Tony Dejak) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guy’s punts flew so high that Oilers coach Bum Phillips accused him of using helium and sent footballs to Rice University for testing. But the tests found nothing and Guy became a Hall of Famer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":630,"featured_media":8652361,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"subheadline":"Ray Guy, first punter to make Pro Football Hall of Fame, was an all-around athlete","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[10111,161,51700,183,188,165],"tags":[50779,606,48735],"feature":[],"location":[3,2],"type-of-work":[50054],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"post_status":"","edit_last":0,"edit_lock":0,"highlights":"","original_byline":"","original_canonical":"","original_category":"","original_email":"","original_id":0,"original_pubdate":"","original_source":"","primary_section":"188","primary_tag":0,"print_workflow_body":{"deck_headline":"","print_title":"","print_subheadline":"","print_priority":"","print_placement":"cover","print_edition_date":"","print_pub_date":"","print_slug":"","print_content":"","print_budget_line":"","print_excerpt":"","print_notes":"","print_featured_gallery_richtext":"","print_inline_galleries_richtext":"","print_inline_images_richtext":""},"print_workflow_exported_ts":"","print_workflow_exported_username":"","print_workflow_shapes":"","print_workflow_side":{"print_section":52021,"print_status":9425,"add_export_buttons":""},"really_short_title":"Ray Guy dies at 72","short_title":"","market_neutral_title":"","social_title":"","dfm_hub_post_id":0,"paywall_level":"metered","featured_media_content":{"content_type":"image","content":{"id":8652361,"title":"20140804__rayguy3","filename":"20140804__rayguy3.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/20140804__rayguy3.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/2022\/11\/03\/raiders-hall-of-fame-punter-ray-guy-dies-at-age-72\/20140804__rayguy3\/","alt":"","author":"878","description":"","caption":"CANTON, OH – AUGUST 2: Former NFL punter Ray Guy gives his speech during the NFL Class of 2014 Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony at Fawcett Stadium on August 2, 2014 in Canton, Ohio. 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