Ray Riddick
Encyclopedia
Raymond Ernest Riddick was an American football
player and coach in the United States
. He played with the Green Bay Packers
as an end from 1940 to 1942 and in 1946.
on October 17, 1917, Riddick attended Lowell High School
from 1932 to 1935, and then, before heading to college, the Archmere Academy
, at the time an all-boys Roman Catholic preparatory boarding school in Claymont, Delaware
.
from 1936 to 1940, where he played football under head coach Jim Crowley
, and line coach Frank Leahy
, and alongside the Seven Blocks of Granite
including Vince Lombardi
. In Riddick's freshman year, Fordham went 5–0–2 before losing what Lombardi called, "the most devastating loss of [his] life," when the Rams lost, 7–6, to NYU, and their hopes of playing in the Rose Bowl
. They finished the season ranked #15 in the AP Poll
. His sophomore year, when he joined the team roster, the Rams' went undefeated with a 7–0–1 record, allowing only 16 points all season, and reaching #3 in the AP Poll. His junior year, the 1938 Rams' went 6–1–2, and lead the nation with just under 300 offensive yards per game, and finished the season #15 in the AP Poll. His senior year, Riddick played in the first-ever televised football game
, as the Rams beat Waynesburg, 34–7. Fordham finished the season with a 6–2 record, and ranked #17 in the final AP Poll.
, and was part of the St. Mary's Pre-Flight Air Devils, stationed at St. Mary's College
in Moraga, California
, where he played intramural football along with many other pro and college football recruits. Between active duties, games were played by shifting around a 60 person roster. Games were mostly played between other makeshift military teams, and depleted college teams. In their first season (1942), St. Mary's Pre-Flight played 10 games, mostly against Pacific Coast Conference
teams. In 1945 they played only seven games, just over half against college teams, as fewer and fewer programs remained intact during the war years.
After the war, Riddick returned to the Green Bay Packers
, but only stayed one season before retiring from the NFL.
According to a The Harvard Crimson
article titled "No Coach Till Early March" published February 21, 1950, there was a buzz around Harvard University
that Ray would succeed Arthur Valpey
as head coach, but Riddick declined saying "You can't be interested in something you don't know anything about."
Lowell went undefeated for the next four years, with Julien LaCourse as quarterback, and, Lowell football continued to dominate of the Merrimack Valley Conference
through the 1950s and 1960s.
Ray stayed as the head coached of Lowell High School until 1976, where he brought Lowell High to three national football championship playoffs, and became known as one of the America's greatest high school football coaches. In his 28 year career, he coached 10 teams to undefeated seasons. He also coached many kids who went on to play great college and professional football, including; his son Ray Jr. who went on to play for Yale
, and Menil Mavraides
Guard for Notre Dame
and the Philadelphia Eagles
.
In 1976, Riddick died at the age of 58.
inducted Riddick into its Hall of Fame for Football. In 1986 Lowell High School
opened the Raymond E. Riddick Field House in his honor, the same year he was inducted into the Lowell High School Athletic Hall of Fame. Many of Riddick's personal papers, photographs, scrapbooks, and playbook are stored in the Riddick Collection housed by the University of Lowell's Special Collections
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
player and coach in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He played with the Green Bay Packers
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
as an end from 1940 to 1942 and in 1946.
Early years
Born in Lowell, MassachusettsLowell, Massachusetts
Lowell is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA. According to the 2010 census, the city's population was 106,519. It is the fourth largest city in the state. Lowell and Cambridge are the county seats of Middlesex County...
on October 17, 1917, Riddick attended Lowell High School
Lowell High School (Lowell, Massachusetts)
Lowell High School is a single-campus public high school located in downtown Lowell, Massachusetts. The school is a part of Lowell Public Schools...
from 1932 to 1935, and then, before heading to college, the Archmere Academy
Archmere Academy
Archmere Academy is a Roman Catholic college preparatory school of 474 students in Claymont, Delaware. It is run independently within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington.-History:...
, at the time an all-boys Roman Catholic preparatory boarding school in Claymont, Delaware
Claymont, Delaware
Claymont is a census-designated place in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. The population was 9,220 at the 2000 census.-History:...
.
College career
Riddick attended Fordham UniversityFordham University
Fordham University is a private, nonprofit, coeducational research university in the United States, with three campuses in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1841 as St...
from 1936 to 1940, where he played football under head coach Jim Crowley
Jim Crowley
James Harold "Jim" Crowley was an American football player and coach. He gained fame as one-fourth of the University of Notre Dame's legendary "Four Horsemen" backfield where he played halfback from 1922 to 1924. After a brief career as a professional football player, Crowley turned to coaching...
, and line coach Frank Leahy
Frank Leahy
Francis William Leahy was an American football player, coach, college athletics administrator, and professional sports executive...
, and alongside the Seven Blocks of Granite
Seven Blocks of Granite
The Seven Blocks of Granite was a nickname given to the Fordham University football team's offensive line under head coach "Sleepy" Jim Crowley and line coach Frank Leahy. The most famous Seven Blocks of Granite were: Leo Paquin, Johnny Druze, Alex Wojciechowicz, Ed Franco, Al Babartsky, Natty...
including Vince Lombardi
Vince Lombardi
Vincent Thomas "Vince" Lombardi was an American football coach. He is best known as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers during the 1960s, where he led the team to three straight league championships and five in seven years, including winning the first two Super Bowls following the 1966 and...
. In Riddick's freshman year, Fordham went 5–0–2 before losing what Lombardi called, "the most devastating loss of [his] life," when the Rams lost, 7–6, to NYU, and their hopes of playing in the Rose Bowl
Rose Bowl Game
The Rose Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2...
. They finished the season ranked #15 in the AP Poll
AP Poll
The Associated Press College Poll refers to weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling sportswriters across the nation...
. His sophomore year, when he joined the team roster, the Rams' went undefeated with a 7–0–1 record, allowing only 16 points all season, and reaching #3 in the AP Poll. His junior year, the 1938 Rams' went 6–1–2, and lead the nation with just under 300 offensive yards per game, and finished the season #15 in the AP Poll. His senior year, Riddick played in the first-ever televised football game
1939 Waynesburg vs. Fordham football game
The 1939 Waynesburg vs. Fordham football game was a college football game between the and the played on September 30, 1939. The game was played at Triborough Stadium on New York City's Randall's Island. Fordham won the game by a score of 34 to 7...
, as the Rams beat Waynesburg, 34–7. Fordham finished the season with a 6–2 record, and ranked #17 in the final AP Poll.
Professional playing career and military service
Riddick enlisted in the United States NavyUnited States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
, and was part of the St. Mary's Pre-Flight Air Devils, stationed at St. Mary's College
Saint Mary's College of California
Saint Mary's College of California is a private, coeducational college located in Moraga, California, United States, a small suburban community about east of Oakland and 20 miles east of San Francisco. It has a 420-acre campus in the Moraga hills. It is affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church...
in Moraga, California
Moraga, California
Moraga is a suburban incorporated town located in Contra Costa County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is named in honor of Joaquin Moraga, whose grandfather was José Joaquin Moraga, second in command to Juan Bautista de Anza...
, where he played intramural football along with many other pro and college football recruits. Between active duties, games were played by shifting around a 60 person roster. Games were mostly played between other makeshift military teams, and depleted college teams. In their first season (1942), St. Mary's Pre-Flight played 10 games, mostly against Pacific Coast Conference
Pacific Coast Conference
The Pacific Coast Conference was a college athletic conference in the United States which existed from 1915 to 1959. Though the Pacific-12 Conference claims the PCC's history as part of its own, the older league had a completely different charter and was disbanded in 1959 due to a major crisis...
teams. In 1945 they played only seven games, just over half against college teams, as fewer and fewer programs remained intact during the war years.
After the war, Riddick returned to the Green Bay Packers
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
, but only stayed one season before retiring from the NFL.
Coaching career
After leaving the Packers, Riddick returned to Lowell as head coach of the Lowell High football team. Riddick soon built up the Lowell High Red Raider's as a nationally recognized power house. By 1949, Lowell high football was drawing crowds of 16,000 fans to watch their first undefeated Class A championship team, capped by a 55–0 thrashing of rival Lawrence.According to a The Harvard Crimson
The Harvard Crimson
The Harvard Crimson, the daily student newspaper of Harvard University, was founded in 1873. It is the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates...
article titled "No Coach Till Early March" published February 21, 1950, there was a buzz around Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
that Ray would succeed Arthur Valpey
Arthur Valpey
Arthur L. Valpey was an American football player and coach.A native of Dayton, Ohio, Valpey was an all-state halfback at Dayton's Steele High School. Valpey enrolled at the University of Michigan in 1934, where freshman football coach Wally Weber moved him to the end position...
as head coach, but Riddick declined saying "You can't be interested in something you don't know anything about."
Lowell went undefeated for the next four years, with Julien LaCourse as quarterback, and, Lowell football continued to dominate of the Merrimack Valley Conference
Merrimack Valley Conference
The Merrimack Valley Conference is a high school sports league located in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and is named after the Merrimack River Valley where all of the primary league schools are located. The league members are also members of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic...
through the 1950s and 1960s.
Ray stayed as the head coached of Lowell High School until 1976, where he brought Lowell High to three national football championship playoffs, and became known as one of the America's greatest high school football coaches. In his 28 year career, he coached 10 teams to undefeated seasons. He also coached many kids who went on to play great college and professional football, including; his son Ray Jr. who went on to play for Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
, and Menil Mavraides
Menil Mavraides
Menil Mavraides was a guard for the Philadelphia Eagles football team in 1954 and 1957. With the nickname "Minnie," he was listed at 6'-2" and 220 lbs.-Early years:Mavraides was born November 17, 1931 in Lowell, Massachusetts...
Guard for Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
and the Philadelphia Eagles
Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
.
In 1976, Riddick died at the age of 58.
Honors
In 1977, Fordham UniversityFordham University
Fordham University is a private, nonprofit, coeducational research university in the United States, with three campuses in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1841 as St...
inducted Riddick into its Hall of Fame for Football. In 1986 Lowell High School
Lowell High School (Lowell, Massachusetts)
Lowell High School is a single-campus public high school located in downtown Lowell, Massachusetts. The school is a part of Lowell Public Schools...
opened the Raymond E. Riddick Field House in his honor, the same year he was inducted into the Lowell High School Athletic Hall of Fame. Many of Riddick's personal papers, photographs, scrapbooks, and playbook are stored in the Riddick Collection housed by the University of Lowell's Special Collections