Ray gets a chance to watch former teams duke it out
CFL great says part of his visit involves learning about future coaching options
Ricky Ray didn’t have a tape measure or a ladder with him during his visit to Commonwealth Stadium on Tuesday.
But the recently retired longtime face of the franchise and future Hall of Fame shoo-in certainly couldn’t be blamed for trying to scope out some prime real estate on the Edmonton Eskimos wall of honour.
“No, I’m just happy to go up anywhere,” said the always humble Ray, who just one week earlier was notified by friend and former teammate Jason Maas, now head coach of an Eskimos club they played together on for five years, that his name will be going up in the fall. “But it’s pretty cool. I do remember the first year I was in here, coming into the stadium and seeing the names up there.
“They do a great job here teaching you about the history of the team and you see a lot of the ex-players still coming around, so to be a part of that history is pretty cool.”
Jackie Parker, Don Getty, Tom Wilkinson, Warren Moon — and, as of Sept. 20, Ricky Ray will officially join that elite passer class as the 31st player on the wall.
“From the minute I got here, those were the names that you’re hearing about,” Ray said. “I got to meet those players and you definitely feel the family and the unity of being a part of this Eskimo franchise and I just feel lucky I got a chance to play here.”
That opportunity now belongs to Trevor Harris and Logan Kilgore, a tandem that cut its teeth in the CFL under Ray while they were with the Toronto Argonauts.
And Ray’s first quarterbacks coach after getting traded to Toronto ahead of the 2012 season was none other than Maas in his first stop in the transition to a coaching career.
While Ray’s no longer part of the picture, the group is right back where it all began for him.
“I know. We just laughed about it, Trevor and Logan were like, ‘Man, you couldn’t imagine that we’re playing here in Edmonton and Ricky gets inducted to go up on the wall,’” Ray said.
“It’s pretty funny from where we came from, and with Jason here as well.
“It just makes it more special.” Ray’s visit isn’t official. He’s up from his family’s home in Redding, Calif., visiting friends and stopped in to see Maas.
Whether he did it with designs on one day following his former teammate into the coaching ranks remains to be seen.
“I don’t know, I think it could be,” Ray said of coaching possibly being in his future.
“I’m still trying to figure all that out and taking some time throughout this year. But it would definitely be great to stay in football somehow and coaching would be something that I’d be very interested in doing.
“That’s why I’m up here just learning a little bit and maybe next year we’ll see.”
For now, Ray is enjoying spending time with his family and is finding it doesn’t hurt being retired. Literally.
“It feels fairly good, to be honest,” Ray said.
“I’ve been playing football since I was eight, so about 30, 31 years. Just getting tackled and getting hit, your body definitely gets used to it a little bit, but it’s definitely nice to not have to go through that every week of getting beat up and trying to get recharged to play another game.
“So I’m definitely enjoying that aspect.”
The toughest thing Thursday will be deciding which of his former clubs to root for, when the Argos face the Eskimos
(7:30 p.m., TSN, 630 CHED).
“I think both franchises are equally in his heart,” Maas said. “Obviously, he’s in our building right now, but I’ll let him discuss that.”
Ray’s visit coincides with a game between an Eskimos club he spent the first nine years of his career with, against an Argos team he played his final seven years with, helping both to a pair of Grey Cups apiece.
“It’s pretty cool it worked out that way, to watch the two teams that I played for and just enjoy it as a fan,” said Ray, whose four championships as a starting quarterback is a league record. “So it’s going to be a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to it.”