Ronald Curry

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Ronald Curry
Date of birth	May 28, 1979
Place of birth	Hampton, Virginia, USA
Position(s)	Wide Receiver
College	University of North Carolina
NFL Draft	2002 / Round 7/ Pick 24
Awards	2004 Levitra NFL Play of the Week
Team(s)
2002-Present	Oakland Raiders

Ronald Antonio Curry (born May 28, 1979 in Hampton, Virginia) is an American football wide receiver for the Oakland Raiders of the NFL. He was selected with the 24th pick of the seventh round of the 2002 NFL Draft out of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Although he was mainly a quarterback at North Carolina, he converted to a wide receiver to make the Oakland Raiders team. He was one of the star players for the Raiders in the 2004 NFL season, but was injured early in the 2005 season which made him miss most of it.

Curry was an All-American in basketball and football at Hampton High School in Hampton, Virginia. He won the McDonalds Slam Dunk contest and was MVP of the McDonalds All-American game. He verbally committed to play both basketball and football to the University of Virginia before signing instead with rival North Carolina. He changed his mind because he was a big fan of Nike. Virginia wore Reebok but UNC wore Nike. This made him a very unpopular figure among Virginia fans, who referred to him by such terms as "Benedict Curry", "Benedict Ronald", or "WHN" (an abbreviation of "What's his name?").

Ronald Curry broke several Virginia High School football records while attending Hampton High School, in Virginia. He is considered one of the greatest Virginia High School athletes ever. The 1996 Hampton High School team went 14-0, outscoring opponents 768-83 including a 51-0 victory over a previously unbeaten team in the state championship, and is widely considered to be the best team in Virginia history. Michael Vick was in the same district as Curry in high school. Many people believed Ron to be a better quarterback than the Atlanta Falcons' Michael Vick. In an interview, Michael Vick said "I felt pressure to compete against Ronald Curry."

At North Carolina, Curry set many records including most career passing yards and most career total yards. He also played basketball for two years along with Carolina Panthers Julius Peppers. Curry went through multiple coaching changes. He played under 3 different offenssive coordinaters.

Curry is now a wide receiver for the Oakland Raiders. As the number 3 receiver behind Randy Moss and Jerry Porter, he hauled in 50 receptions for 679 yards in 2004 before injuring his Achilies tendon. Before his injury Curry had several big games including a 10 reception game against the red-hot Colts, a Raiders' season high. In addition, he recorded his first career 100-yard receiving game with 110 yards on six catches in Week 11 at Denver, then followed that up with a nine-catch, 141-yard performance the following week against Kansas City. He also won the Levitra NFL Play of the Week for his leaping, twisting, one-handed grab in the back of the end zone at Denver. After extensive off-season rehabilitation to repair the tear, Curry was back in action again in 2005. Unfortunately, while playing in the second game of the season against the Chiefs, he re-injured the same tendon and was lost for the rest of the season. Curry is back again in 2006 and will most likely start the regular season as 3rd or 4th on the depth chart, behind former NC State star Alvis Whitted.