Hugh "Shorty" Ray
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| Date of birth | September 21, 1884 |
|---|---|
| Place of birth | Highland Park, Illinois |
| Date of death | September 16, 1956 (aged 71) |
| Career information | |
| Position(s) | Technical Advisor on the Rules, Supervisor of Officials |
| College | University of Illinois |
| Career history | |
| As player | |
| 1938-1952 | National Football League |
Hugh L. "Shorty" Ray (September 21, 1884 - September 16, 1956) was the first Technical Advisor on the Rules and Supervisor of Officials for the National Football League from 1938 to 1952. Ray was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1966 for his outstanding contributions to the rules of professional football American football. After Ray died in 1956 the National Football League made this entry to its League Chronology in the NFL Official Record and Rules Manual:
"Hugh L. "Shorty" Ray, technical advisor of the National Football League from 1938 to 1952, author of rules, friend of officials and players died in his 72nd year.(September 16, 1956)"
Early life
Hugh Light Ray was born in Highland Park, Illinois, and attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was a four-sport star in football, basketball, baseball and track. One of the highlights of his athletic career came at a Big Ten track meet between Illinois and the University of Chicago.The Maroons track coach, Amos Alonzo Stagg, watched in amazement as "Ray defeated Walter Eckersall, the American record holder in the 100-yard dash, in the days when anyone who beat Eckersall at anything had to be considered a freak."
Career
Ray, a nationally known collegiate official and rules expert came forward in the 1920s in response to football's growing violence and number of fatalities.
In 1909, Ray began his officiating career in the Big Ten. He was the top-rated official for over 30 years, and is the only man to ever officiate three major sports; football, basketball and baseball. By 1912, Ray began suggesting innovative rules ideas through well-known intermediaries to the Big Ten and the NCAA Football Rules Committee, and he would continue to do so for the next 25 years. Ray also formed the Chicago Public High School League in 1912, the first of its kind, and then organized the American Officials Association (AOA) in 1917.
By 1925 he had grown frustrated with football's needless self-destruction, and gathered his colleagues into the AOA. Here, Ray worked to elevate officiating standards at every level of the sport to improve knowledge of the rules and player safety. In 1929 Ray was hired by the struggling National Federation of State High School Athletic Associations, during a period when it had difficulty obtaining group injury insurance, to write a new set of football rules and train its officials. He began by inventing the revolutionary "Play Situations Book" in 1930, which taught the rules by example. Later renamed the "Case Book" it is still universally used at all levels of the sport.
In 1932, Ray issued the first streamlined football rulebook in history for the high school game along with a comprehensive set of safety rules which he shared with the NCAA. His Rules Book quickly became the standard format for both football and basketball and remains so. The Pro Football Hall of Fame said, "It was a masterpiece, a model for all future rule books at every level." By 1946, Ray's new playing rules, and focus on player safety reduced serious football injuries by over 70% for the NFHS. His pioneering work saved the high school game from extinction.
Around this time Ray also worked quietly behind the scenes with legendary Chicago Bears owner and friend George Halas to reshape and revitalize the brutal, sluggish NFL game. Ray accomplished this feat of football engineering by devising rules that increased speed, safety, and scoring. He went on to author over 200 new rules between 1933 and 1952. These historic changes opened up the game by introducing hashmarks and unshackling the once-highly-restricted passing game, changing football's direction and fate forever. Ray devised the 30-second rule and the two-minute warning to maintain game tempo and competitive balance. He also pioneered free and unlimited substitution and modern officiating procedures to maximize player safety, speed, and scoring.
By 1935 Ray began augmenting his rules and redesign of the NFL game with a comprehensive set of 77 indexes, and then analyzed those statistics to measure and improve the game. In 1937, Ray and the NCAA experienced an irrevocable split when his rules modernizing passing were considered too radical, and his close relationship with the NFL was discovered. Despite its deep-seated enmity for Ray, the NCAA eventually adopted most of the rules he created for the NFHS and NFL. In 1938, the NFL appointed Ray its first Technical Advisor on the Rules and Supervisor of Officials.
Late in 1939, Ray began the first scientific studies of football to maximize the minutes of actual playing time. When those results were combined with his prodigious stream of playing rules they revolutionized NFL football. Today, the NFL is considered the world's most scientific action sport, primarily because Ray designed it as such. His ideas increased average plays per game by 25%; tripled the number of touchdowns in each game from two to six, and quadrupled average NFL attendance over the span of his career. Ray is the principal author and chief architect of football’s modern playing rules, Rules Book, Case Book, and Officials Manual. Simply stated, Hugh L. Ray is the Father of Modern American Football.
When Ray retired from the NFL in 1952, George Halas was among many who lauded his efforts saying, "I've always thought my finest contribution to pro football was bring Shorty Ray into the NFL." Interestingly, among all the shrewd NFL owners, Halas also said that "Shorty Ray was the first to realize that attendance rose with an increase in the offense." Ray termed his redesign of the game "Football For The Fans," and his concept quickly became the essential DNA for the NFL. He constantly told the owners "It must be remembered that touchdowns produce the thrills that stir the hearts and minds of football fans."
Today, Ray's clarity of purpose and vision live on. The NFL is the most successful and exciting sports conference in the world. It is a highly respected global brand because of its laser focus on the quality of its product and its consummate ability to manage, market, and monetize its unrivaled sports entertainment.