Raiders Hall of Fame punter Ray Guy dies at age 72

Growing up in Georgia, Ray Guy was known as one of the best all-around athletes in the region.

Yet Guy, who died Thursday at age 72 after a lengthy illness, earned fame as a specialist with the Oakland Raiders and in 2014 was the first punter named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The Raiders confirmed Guy’s passing with a statement on their website:

“The 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 . . . The prayers of the entire Raider Nation are with the Guy family at this time.”

Raiders owner Al Davis surprised the football world in 1973 when he made Guy the 23rd pick in the first round of the NFL Draft. It was Guy who popularized “hang time” 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.

In an interview with this the Bay Area News Group in 2014, Guy said he’d never heard the words “hang time” until coach John Madden used them to describe his kicks.

In 1977, Houston coach Bum Phillips accused Guy of using footballs inflated with helium because he’d never seen punts so high. The Oilers sent footballs to Rice University for testing and no helium was found.

Guy was a standout multi-sport athlete in high school and at Southern Miss and played both safety and quarterback.

“I never really had a teacher, a coach or a special camp to attend to learn the art of punting,” Guy said in his induction speech. “My high school coach showed me two things about foot alignment and ball placement and that was pretty much it.

“I 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.”

In a 2014 interview, Guy recalled the reaction of his new teammates after being a first-round draft pick. He won them over when his athletic skill as both a thrower and a willing tackler became evident.

Ray Guy was the Raiders’ punter from 1973 through 1986.

“I know a lot of the veterans were thinking, ‘What’s Al doing?” Guy said. “He’s drafting a punter with his No. 1 draft choice? How is that going to help?’ But after the first day of practice, it was obvious I was more than just a punter.”

Guy’s career 42.4 yards per punt is pedestrian by today’s standards, but he was playing for a strong team which 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 — more than twice the number of any other punter.

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’s 74-yard touchdown run and Jack Squirek’s pick-six before halftime was an early punt from Guy with his back to the end zone.

“The ball was snapped 10 feet high, Ray somehow goes up and gets it, and gets off a 42-yard punt,” former Raiders coach Tom Flores said in 2014. “It could have changed the entire game. Nobody even talked about it.”

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

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.

The No. 44 is retired in Guy’s honor at Southern Miss and the Ray Guy Award is given annually to the top punter in college football.