Expert: Vic Winnek - 12/6/2007

Question
A good friend of mines dad Ray Ramsey played in the 1947 all star game and later went on to play for the Chicago Cardinals,i was wanting to know where i could find any stats on his playing days.He is still alive and lives here in ill. but can't remember much. Thanks Tim

Answer
Tim
This is a stats research question - a little out of my field but here is some info I found:

Inductee
RAY RAMSEY
One of the finest athletes to ever perform at Bradley, Ramsey excelled in football, basketball and track and went on to compile an outstanding record in professional football for 11 years.

Ramsey first played for three seasons in the old All-American Conference with the Chicago Rockets in 1947, Brooklyn in 1948 and the Chicago Hornets in 1949.

He was with the Chicago Cardinals of the National Football League for five seasons, through 1953, before that team moved to St. Louis. He then played for three years in the Canadian Football League with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, finally retiring after the 1956 season.

In basketball, he appeared in 88 games spread over five seasons (because of World War II), scoring 994 points. His best offensive season was in 1946-47 when he scored 323 points on a Bradley team that went 25-6.

On the track and field front he set Bradley records in the high jump (6-foot-5), the 120-yard high hurdles (14.2 seconds) and the 220 yard low hurdles (23-4). He posted first place finishes in national meets of the New York Athletic Club, the Boston AAU And the Metropolitan AAU Games and was second in the famed Millrose Games in New York.  Go to http://www.gpshof.org/Inductees/ramseyr.html
Contact : Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame, Inc.
110 N.E. Water St.
Peoria, Illinois 61602
Telephone: 309-674-4255
Fax: 309-685-7377
Email: lindyrose123@yahoo.com

Also go to http://www.angelfire.com/fl/TheCard/gallery/gallery5.html

http://www.pjstar.com/sports/ssections/teamofdecade/1941-1950.shtml

http://www.footballresearch.com/articles/aafc.cfm

http://www.raresportsfilms.com/1951_cardinals_bears.html

Ray Ramsey
1940-43,
1945-47
Springfield native scored 994 points in 88 games (11.3 ppg). ... Ended career as Bradley’s all-time scoring leader; now ranks 40th. ... Team captain on the’42-43 and ’46-47 squads. ... Playing career interrupted by World War II. ... Went on to professional basketball and football careers.  He had the legacy of the Famous Five in the late 1930s to build upon as well as the Braves' prewar success from 1940-43, when squads anchored by "Rocket" Ray Ramsey - a three-sport star who is arguably Bradley's greatest all-around athlete - won three successive Illinois Collegiate Conference titles.

Returning from a Navy stint in World War II, Ramsey played two more seasons with the basketball Braves after the program was resumed in 1945.

"Ray Ramsey (now a retired schoolteacher in Springfield) could have been a star on any Bradley team," Unruh said. "He was just a great athlete."

With the war still winding down in the fall of '45, that BU season became an 11-12 transition year led by Ramsey, Harry Wilcoxen of Lewistown, Stan Butkovich of Galesburg and Jack Eakle of Princeton.

I hope this helps.
Vic Winnek
NCAA Football Official