There was once a time when Ray Guy used to make everyone wait just for kicks. There was also a time when this master punter had to wait patiently for more than 20 years before his contribution was finally acknowledged, with the man being inducted finally into the Hall of Fame this week.
It was not that Guy wanted to increase his brand value by getting the award. He wanted it to increase the value of his position. As he said “That kind of bothered me because they were saying that’s not a positon, it doesn’t take an athlete to do that, it’s not important,” “That’s what really got under my skin. It wasn’t so much whether I did or didn’t. I wish somebody had. It was just knowing that they didn’t care.
“That’s what kind of frosted me a little bit.”
What also rankled him was that he was a seven time finalist but had never been rewarded with this recognition earlier. This time, he finally joined Jan Stenerud the placekicker. He richly deserves the place because he was the pioneer in his position when he became the first punter to be taken in the first round in 1973.
As Guy said, “It was something that was given to me. I don’t know how,” “I’m really blessed in that category. It’s something I really appreciate and I advanced it and I made it into something great.”
He was also praised by other players and George Atkinson remarked, “It should not have taken this long to recognize him,”