Wray Morrison: Respect for Ray

There isn’t much that can be said about Ricky Ray that hasn’t already been said. Ray, who announced his retirement Wednesday, is a four-time Grey Cup champion who threw for more than 60,000 yards in 16 CFL seasons.

My first real encounter with Ray was in 2003 at Taylor Field in the Grey Cup game. The year before, the Alouettes beat the Eskimos, so many members of the Edmonton team were looking for a measure of revenge.

Don Matthews, who was coaching Montreal at the time, always had a bit of swagger. Matthews dressed two rookie corners on defence in that game thinking that would be enough to beat the inexperienced Ray for a second straight year. The young quarterback from California threw for 301 yards and the Eskimos’ offence scored four touchdowns in a 34-22 win.

I remember Eskimos defender Singor Mobley among others talking about how his team had just beaten the most cocky team in the league. Ray’s responses were measured, calm and respectful on that day as the Eskimos defeated the team that beaten them a year earlier. It was at that time that I first realized that Ricky Ray was a class act and a true ambassador for the CFL.