1. Ricky Ray was born on October 22,1979 and is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback.
68 Facts About Ricky Ray
1. 2.
Ricky Ray briefly spent time in the af2, as well as with the San Francisco 49ers and New York Jets of the National Football League.
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Ricky Ray is the all-time leader in passing yardage, pass completions, and passing touchdowns for both the Edmonton Elks and Toronto Argonauts.
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Ricky Ray won a Grey Cup championship four times as a starter, in 2003,2005,2012, and 2017.
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In 1997, Ricky Ray made his debut for Shasta College, a two-year community college in Redding, California.
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Ricky Ray became a first-team All-American and state player of the year in 1998.
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Ricky Ray set several school records during his time at Shasta, most notably throwing 199 consecutive pass attempts without allowing an interception.
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On December 20,2014, Ricky Ray was inducted into the Shasta County Sports Hall Of Fame.
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Ricky Ray moved on to play NCAA college football with Sacramento State University.
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In 1999, Ricky Ray completed 179 of 291 passes for 2,422 yards and 20 touchdowns.
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Ricky Ray is still in the top ten for many Sacramento State career passing records.
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Ricky Ray earned the nickname "Frito Ray" by teammates, as he was working as a delivery driver for Frito-Lay chips when he was called up for training camp.
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Ricky Ray made his professional debut with the Fresno Frenzy of the Arena Football League's developmental league af2.
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Ricky Ray played seven games for the Frenzy, where he was coached by former CFL quarterback Rick Worman.
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Ricky Ray completed 116 passes for 1,296 yards, 25 touchdowns and 6 interceptions.
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In 2002, Ricky Ray made the CFL's Edmonton Eskimos out of training camp.
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Ricky Ray made his debut relieving Maas in the Saskatchewan game and his first start against the Lions, throwing for four touchdowns.
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Ricky Ray threw for 2,991 yards, 24 touchdowns, and nine interceptions with a quarterback rating of 101.3, highest in the league.
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The Eskimos rebounded from their slow start and made the playoffs, defeating the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the Western final as Ricky Ray threw for 356 yards.
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Ricky Ray played exceptionally against Alouettes coach Don Matthews's renowned blitzing defense, completing 22 of 32 passes for 301 yards and two touchdowns.
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Former Eskimo Warren Moon, a legend in the NFL and CFL, advised Ricky Ray to stay in the CFL a little while longer to improve as a quarterback and receive a better shot at a starting job.
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Ricky Ray received the starting job out of training camp in 2005.
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Ricky Ray started the 2005 season strongly, leading the league in completions and yardage.
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Ricky Ray set a pro football record with 479 completions in 2005.
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However, towards the end of the year, Ricky Ray's play faltered, concluding in him not throwing a touchdown in the season's last four games.
26.
Head coach Danny Maciocia promised Ricky Ray the start in the 93rd Grey Cup, perhaps because of rumours that a trade of Maas to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats had already been arranged.
27.
On September 14,2007, in a win against the Montreal Alouettes, Ricky Ray surpassed CFL and NFL hall-of-famer Warren Moon to capture the Eskimos' all-time record for career passing yards.
28.
In 2008, Ricky Ray completed 422 of 608 pass attempts for a league-leading, career-best, and single-season Eskimo record 5,661 yards.
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Ricky Ray threw for 26 touchdowns and 17 interceptions for a 101.8 quarterback rating.
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Ricky Ray led the Esks to a win in the crossover playoff game in Winnipeg, but the team lost in the East finals to Montreal.
31.
In 2009, Ricky Ray completed 401 of 596 pass attempts for a league leading 4,916 yards, 22 touchdowns and 12 interceptions for a 96.4 quarterback rating.
32.
In 2010, Ricky Ray completed 288 of 447 pass attempts for 3,565 yards, 11 touchdowns and 16 interceptions for an 82.3 quarterback rating.
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In Game 15, Ricky Ray had a career rushing performance, compiling 135 yards on 12 rushes and a touchdown.
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In 2011, Ricky Ray completed 343 of 526 pass attempts for 4,954 yards, 24 touchdowns and 11 interceptions for a 99.3 quarterback rating.
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Ricky Ray had a bounce back season after struggling in 2010.
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Ricky Ray was traded to the Toronto Argonauts on December 12,2011, for quarterback Steven Jyles, placekicker Grant Shaw, and a 2012 first round draft pick.
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Ricky Ray went on to win the 100th Grey Cup as the Argonauts' starting quarterback.
38.
In 2012, Ricky Ray completed 321 of 468 pass attempts for 4,059 yards, 20 touchdowns and 11 interceptions for a 99.8 quarterback rating.
39.
Ricky Ray injured his knee in the third quarter of a Week 4 win against the Blue Bombers.
40.
Ricky Ray missed the Week 5 game and then returned to the starting lineup in Week 7, following a bye in Week 6.
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Ricky Ray was averaging over 300 yards passing per game compiling a total of 3,341 yards in his first 11 games before suffering a knee injury in the 1st quarter of a game against Montreal.
42.
Ricky Ray finished with 21 touchdowns and just 2 interceptions, resulting in a 10.5 to 1 touchdown to interception ratio, breaking the single season CFL record of 6 to 1 set by Dave Dickenson in 2000.
43.
Ricky Ray had a streak of 222 consecutive pass attempts without throwing an interception to begin the year, going back to the previous year the streak was 247 pass attempts, before throwing his first interception on his last pass of a game in Week 16 against Hamilton.
44.
Ricky Ray finished the year with a record passer efficiency rating of 126.37, surpassing the previous pro football record of 122.46 set by Aaron Rodgers in 2011 and the CFL record of 118.77 set by Dave Dickenson in 2005.
45.
Ricky Ray set a new team record with 21 consecutive pass completions, the second longest such streak in CFL history, falling one shy of the record of 22 held by Jason Maas.
46.
Ricky Ray did however break a 53-year-old Argo record for most completions in a single game with 39 besting the previous record of 38 set by Tobin Rote in 1960.
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Ricky Ray would earn his second offensive player of the week honors after completed 30 of 35 passes for 413 yards with 3 touchdowns and no interceptions against Edmonton in game 6.
48.
Ricky Ray had one of his highest volume seasons as a passing quarterback in his career during the 2014 campaign.
49.
Ricky Ray's 425 pass completions was the second highest of his career, trailing only his 2003 season with the Eskimos when he completed 479 passes.
50.
Ricky Ray attempted 620 passes over the course of the season, which was the 4th most attempts in his career, and the most since 2008.
51.
Ricky Ray racked up a league-leading 4,595 passing yards, his most yards in a season since 2009.
52.
In November 2014, following the conclusion of the Argos season, Ricky Ray had surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder and a small tear in his right rotator cuff.
53.
However, Ricky Ray's recovery went slower than expected: As a result, the Argos placed Ricky Ray on the six-game injured list during the preseason.
54.
Ricky Ray missed the first 16 games of the 2015 CFL season, making his first start of the season in Week 19 against the BC Lions.
55.
Ricky Ray played in the final regular season game and the Eastern Semi-Final against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
56.
Ricky Ray started the first five games of the season before sustaining a knee injury as defensive lineman Vaughn Martin rolled up into him in the third quarter.
57.
Ricky Ray missed three games over the following five weeks before returning to play in the Labour Day weekend games against the BC Lions and Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
58.
On July 29,2017, Ricky Ray surpassed Condredge Holloway to become the franchise leader in passing yards.
59.
On October 21,2017, Ricky Ray reached the 60,000 career passing-yard mark, becoming just the fourth player in CFL history to accomplish the milestone.
60.
Ricky Ray would go on and win his fourth Grey Cup against the Calgary Stampeders in the 105th Grey Cup game.
61.
One day after the Argos Grey Cup parade, Ricky Ray conveyed to reporters that he was "seriously considering retirement".
62.
Ricky Ray, 38 years of age, who was a pending free agent for the 2018 season, said there was no timetable for a decision.
63.
In 2018, Ricky Ray was carted off the field in the second half of the Argos Week 2 loss to the Calgary Stampeders after being awkwardly tackled between a pair of Stampeder defensive linemen.
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Ricky Ray was hospitalized, and the following day the team confirmed that Ricky Ray did indeed have feeling in all of his extremities.
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In early November 2018 Ricky Ray was still considering his options, leaving the door open for a possible return in 2019.
66.
General manager Jim Popp hinted that if Ricky Ray were to return to the Argos it would be as a backup quarterback, possibly transitioning to a coaching role in the future.
67.
On May 8,2019, Ricky Ray held a press conference to officially announce his retirement.
68.
Ricky Ray was announced as a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame 2022 class on June 21,2022.