Star quarterback Ricky Ray has officially hung up his cleats.
The future Hall of Famer announced his retirement from professional football Wednesday after spending 16 seasons as one of the CFL’s preeminent passers.
The Happy Camp, Calif., native spent the first nine seasons of his CFL career with the Edmonton Eskimos and led the team to Grey Cups in 2003 and 2005. He joined the Toronto Argonauts in 2012 and also helped lead that franchise to a pair of championships.
It’s a shame a brilliant career like Ray’s came to an official end on a random Wednesday afternoon conference call – yet it was somewhat symbolic of how his days on the field ended. The unassuming pivot had the chance to walk away from the sport on top after leading the Argos to an improbable Grey Cup victory in 2017.
He decided against retirement at the time and anyone who was at BMO Field on June 23, 2018 watched Ray get stretchered off the field during a blowout loss in front of a sparse crowd after he suffered what would turn out to be a career-ending injury.
Ray is one of four CFL quarterbacks with more than 60,000 career passing yards to his name. The 39-year-old had an incredible touch on the ball and his 68.2 career completion percentage is a CFL record.
He’s undoubtedly one of the best to ever play the three-down game and compliments were abundant on social media once the announcement was made official.
With that in mind, here’s a sample of the praise Ray received from former teammates, peers and fans.
#ThankYouRicky pic.twitter.com/ZnMQ0i84Tz
— Toronto Argonauts (@TorontoArgos) May 8, 2019
While not a surprise and certainly understandable, the legend, Ricky Ray announces his retirement . I'm rather speechless at this point. Let's get #ThankYouRickyRay trending. @TorontoArgos @CFL pic.twitter.com/VtgRqOy2cA
— Lori Bursey (@ArgoDiva) May 8, 2019
Congratulations to Ricky Ray on an outstanding career.
Always a pleasure to go to battle against pic.twitter.com/7pIZQlBxoq
— BC LIONS (@BCLions) May 8, 2019
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