"Shorty" Ray: An NFL Giant!

<p>When Football Is Football is part of the <a href="https://sportshistorynetwork.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear</a>.</p><p><a href="https://shopsportshistory.com/collections/when-football-was-football" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">GET YOUR WHEN FOOTBALL WAS FOOTBALL MERCHANDISE AT THE SHOP SPORTS HISTORY STORE</a></p><p><strong><u>NETWORK SPONSORS</u></strong></p><p><a href="https://sportshistorynetwork.com/row1/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Row One</a> - the vintage shop for sports history fans!</p><p><strong><u>EPISODE SUMMARY</u></strong></p><p>When we think of really big men who have had a positive impact on the National Football League, some familiar names readily come to mind, such as Ed “Too Tall” Jones, William “The Refrigerator” Perry, Gene “Big Daddy” Lipscomb, and many others.</p><p>But here in Chicago, a gentleman who was not nearly as large as some of the aforementioned athletes provided a massive contribution to the NFL and may have even saved it! Hugh Light “Shorty” Ray was only 5-5 and 135 pounds, but his dedication, innovation, and persistence helped ease the league into a new era at a time when professional football was still looked upon as the poor stepchild of the collegiate version.</p><p>Read the entire episode blog post and check out some other cool info regarding this <a href="https://sportshistorynetwork.com/football/nfl/hugh-shorty-ray" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">episode here</a>.</p><p><strong><u>WHEN FOOTBALL WAS FOOTBALL BACKGROUND</u></strong></p><p>Each episode takes the listener back to the very early days of the National Football League. Author Joe Ziemba will share a forgotten or lost story from one of the NFL’s two oldest teams: The Bears and the Cardinals. Team championships, individual exploits, or long-buried items of interest from the earliest years of the NFL will be dusted off and resurrected for the listener. Not for the football faint-of-heart since