 Guy playing for theLos Angeles Raiders in 1985 | |||||||||||||
| No. 8 | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Punter | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Born | (1949-12-22)December 22, 1949 Swainsboro, Georgia, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Died | November 3, 2022(2022-11-03) (aged 72) Hattiesburg, Mississippi, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||||||||||||
| Weight | 195 lb (88 kg) | ||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||
| High school | Thomson (Thomson, Georgia) | ||||||||||||
| College | Southern Miss (1970–1972) | ||||||||||||
| NFL draft | 1973: 1st round, 23rd overall pick | ||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
William Ray Guy (December 22, 1949 – November 3, 2022) was an American professionalfootballpunter who played for theOakland /Los Angeles Raiders of theNational Football League (NFL).[1] Guy was a first-teamAll-American selection in 1972 as a senior for theSouthern Miss Golden Eagles, and is the only pure punter ever to be drafted in the first round of theNFL draft,[2] when the Raiders selected him with the 23rd overall pick in the1973 NFL draft.[3] He won threeSuper Bowls with the Raiders. Guy was elected to both theCollege Football Hall of Fame and thePro Football Hall of Fame in 2014. An eight-timeAll-Pro, Guy is widely considered to be the greatest punter of all time.[4]
With his induction to the Hall of Fame on August 2, 2014, he became the first pure punter to be so honored.[5]
Guy attendedThomson High School inThomson, Georgia, where he was a four-sport star. Playingquarterback,safety,linebacker, andtailback, aside fromkicking and punting duties, Guy led Thomson to the Georgia Class A state football championships in 1967 and 1968. Guy averaged 49.7 yards perpunt in 1968. Playingbasketball, Guy scored 39 points in a Thomson basketball game the day after the 1968 state championship football game, with no practice. Inbaseball, Guypitched a 15-inning scoreless game for Thomson in the state playoff semifinals in 1969. He was also a member of thetrack team, competing in discus and triple jump.[6][7]
Guy was both a punter and a placekicker at theUniversity of Southern Mississippi, once kicking a then-NCAA record 61-yardfield goal in a snowstorm during a game inUtah.[8] In 1972, he kicked a 93-yard punt in a game against theUniversity of Mississippi.[9] He led the nation with an average of 46.2 yards per punt, earning him first-teamAll-American honors from theFootball Writers Association of America.[7][10] After his senior season, Guy was namedmost valuable player of the 1972Chicago College All-Star Game, in which anall-star team of college seniors played the currentSuper Bowl champion.[11] His career average of 44.7 yards per punt is a school record.[12][8] He was also a startingsafety at Southern Miss; during his senior season, he set a single-season school record with eightinterceptions and was named an All-American defensive back by theWalter Camp Football Foundation.[9][11][13]
Guy also played baseball at Southern Miss,striking out 266 in 200 innings and pitching ano-hitter.[14]
Guy was the first kicker to be selected in the first round in theNFL draft, when theOakland Raiders selected him with the 23rd overall pick of the1973 draft.[15]
In his career as a punter, Guy played his entire career with the Raiders and was selected to sevenPro Bowl teams, including six in a row from 1973 to 1978.[16] He was named as the punter on theNFL's 75th and100th anniversary teams.[17] His trademark was kicking punts that stayed in the air for long periods of time.[18] His punts frequently left opposing offenses pinned deep in their end of the field; by the time opposing punt returners fielded a Guy punt, the Raiders had the field covered so well that a return was impossible. 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.'"[19]
InSuper Bowl XVIII, Guy punted seven times for 299 yards (42.7 average), with 244 net yards (34.8 average). Five of his punts pinned theWashington Redskins inside their own 20. Due in part to his effective punting, theLos Angeles Raiders easily won the game, 38–9.[20]
After a 1977 game againstHouston, Oilers coachBum Phillips accused Guy of usingfootballs illegally inflated withhelium. Houston returnerBilly Johnson stated that 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 the Oilers' suspicions. Phillips said after the game that he would send the ball toRice University for testing.[21] Guy punted three times for 107 yards in the game,[22] significantly less than his career average.
During his career, Guy was also the Raiders' emergency quarterback.[23][24] He also handledkickoffs in the first five years of his career.[24][25]
In his 14-year career, Guy:
Guy was inducted into thePro Football Hall of Fame as a member of the class of 2014 on August 2, 2014.[30][31] For many years before his induction, he was considered one of the most worthy players who had not yet been selected for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.[32] He was the first punter enshrined in the Hall of Fame, and as of 2024, is still the only player at his position in the Hall. In his enshrinement speech, he proudly proclaimed, "Now the Hall of Fame has a complete team."[33]
Guy was inducted into both the Mississippi[34] and Georgia[35] Sports Halls of Fame, theBay Area Sports Hall of Fame,[36] the National High School Sports Hall of Fame,[37] and theCollege Football Hall of Fame.[38]
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Won theSuper Bowl | |
| Led the league | |
| Bold | Career high |
| Underline | Incomplete data |
| Year | Team | GP | Punting | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pnt | Yds | Y/P | Lng | Blck | |||
| 1973 | OAK | 14 | 69 | 3,127 | 45.3 | 72 | 0 |
| 1974 | OAK | 14 | 74 | 3,124 | 42.2 | 66 | 0 |
| 1975 | OAK | 14 | 68 | 2,979 | 43.8 | 64 | 0 |
| 1976 | OAK | 14 | 67 | 2,785 | 41.6 | 66 | 0 |
| 1977 | OAK | 14 | 59 | 2,552 | 43.3 | 74 | 0 |
| 1978 | OAK | 16 | 81 | 3,462 | 42.7 | 69 | 2 |
| 1979 | OAK | 16 | 69 | 2,939 | 42.6 | 71 | 1 |
| 1980 | OAK | 16 | 71 | 3,099 | 43.6 | 77 | 0 |
| 1981 | OAK | 16 | 96 | 4,195 | 43.7 | 69 | 0 |
| 1982 | RAI | 9 | 47 | 1,839 | 39.1 | 57 | 0 |
| 1983 | RAI | 16 | 78 | 3,336 | 42.8 | 63 | 0 |
| 1984 | RAI | 16 | 91 | 3,809 | 41.9 | 63 | 0 |
| 1985 | RAI | 16 | 89 | 3,627 | 40.8 | 68 | 0 |
| 1986 | RAI | 16 | 90 | 3,620 | 40.2 | 64 | 0 |
| Career | 207 | 1,049 | 44,493 | 42.4 | 77 | 3 | |
| Year | Team | GP | Punting | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pnt | Yds | Y/P | Lng | Blck | |||
| 1973 | OAK | 2 | — | 180 | — | — | 0 |
| 1974 | OAK | 2 | — | 516 | — | — | 0 |
| 1975 | OAK | 2 | — | 341 | — | — | 0 |
| 1976 | OAK | 3 | 16 | 659 | 41.2 | 60 | 1 |
| 1977 | OAK | 2 | 13 | 554 | 42.6 | 52 | 0 |
| 1980 | OAK | 4 | 25 | 1,155 | 46.2 | 71 | 0 |
| 1982 | RAI | 2 | 7 | 282 | 40.3 | 45 | 0 |
| 1983 | RAI | 3 | 15 | 615 | 41.0 | 55 | 0 |
| 1984 | RAI | 1 | 8 | 335 | 41.9 | 54 | 0 |
| 1985 | RAI | 1 | 2 | 68 | 34.0 | 35 | 0 |
| Career | 22 | 111 | 4,705 | 42.4 | 71 | 1 | |
In 2000, the Greater Augusta Sports Council instituted theRay Guy Award, to be awarded to the nation's best collegiate punter.[39]
In 2005, Guy helped organize and participated in two-day kicking camps, held throughout the United States, for high school punters, placekickers, andlong snappers.[40]
Guy was married to Beverly Guy. The couple had two children, Ryan and Amber.[41]
In 2011, Guy filed forbankruptcy and auctioned his threeSuper Bowl rings to help pay his debts.[42] The auction of the rings brought in $96,216, exceeding the upper estimate of $90,000.[43][44]
After a lengthy illness, Guy died on November 3, 2022, inHattiesburg, Mississippi, at age 72.[45][46] The cause was advanced-stagechronic obstructive pulmonary disease.[45]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
