Ray lewis biography family
Ray Lewis
American football player (born )
For other people named Ray Lewis, see Ray Lewis (disambiguation).
American football player
Lewis in | |
| Position: | Linebacker |
|---|---|
| Born: | () May 15, (age&#;49) Bartow, Florida, U.S. |
| Height: | 6&#;ft 1&#;in (&#;m) |
| Weight: | &#;lb (&#;kg) |
| High school: | Kathleen(Lakeland, Florida) |
| College: | Miami (FL) (–) |
| NFL draft: | &#;/ round:&#;1&#;/ pick:&#;26 |
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Pro Football Hall of Fame | |
Raymond Anthony Lewis Jr. (born May 15, ) is an American former professional footballlinebacker who played his entire year career for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Miami Hurricanes, where he earned All-America honors. He is considered one of the greatest linebackers of all time.
Lewis was selected by the Ravens in the first round of the NFL draft, and upon his retirement following the season, was the last remaining active player from the team's inaugural season. Lewis immediately became a leader on defense and led the team in tackles as a rookie, the first of 14 times he led the Ravens in tackles.
In , Lewis pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in connection with the stabbing deaths of two men; he testified as a key witness at the trial, and a jury determined the killings were acts of self-defense. The following season, he was named NFL Defensive Player of the Year and led the Ravens' record-setting defense, which established a game single-season record for the f Ray Lewis was the oldest in a family of five children, and he was born in the Florida outpost of Bartow, in His birth name was Ray Jenkins, and his father was never there in his growing up years. His mother was aged 16 at the time of his birth and was called Sunseria. As Ray Lewis grew up, he was disgusted that his father never made contact and this made him go for a name change by adopting her mother’s boyfriend’s name, Ray Lewis. This was how his father, Elbert Ray Jackson finally got obscured from his life. Ray Lewis was very protective of his siblings as he grew up by ensuring his younger brother got to the daycare early. Ray also lent a helping hand to his sisters, by making their hair. By the time enrolled at Kathleen High School, Ray Lewis was already known as Ray Lewis. In school, Ray featured a football player and wrestler. Though he was small in size, Ray displayed a fierce intensity and natural instincts as a linebacker. Ray Lewis hauled an array of state titles during his years in high school. Ray also won a couple of his city’s competitive diadems as well. Ray Lewis won a scholarship to head to the University of Miami in , and he was in line to enroll for the best football program of the time.Ray took up the reputation as a vital linebacker in defense of the Hurricanes. Ray Lewis was to notch the 5th all-time best record for tackles in the history of the University of Miami. As his junior year ended, Lewis won the runner-up place in the awards for the best linebacker also known as the Butkus Award. Ray Lewis entered in a draft for the Biltmore Ravens as the season opened. He made it to the first round pick at the onset of spring The entire 17 years playing career of Ray Lewis was spent at the Ravens. In his rookie season, Lewis led his side in tackles and was a mean force to recko A version of this story, excerpted from Lewis' autobiography, I Feel Like Going On: Life, Game and Glory, appears in ESPN The Magazine's October 26 NBA Preview Issue. Subscribe today! SOME FOLKS HAVE IT HARD. Some folks have it harder still. For me, the hard part was mostly in what I didn't have. I didn't have a father. I do now, but I didn't then. The man I now know as my father, Elbert Ray Jackson, is a father in DNA only. He claims the title, but he didn't earn it. He looks like me, moves like me, but he never took the time to know me, never played the part. He left the day I was born. He came back a couple years later -- stayed long enough to father my twin sisters, Laquesha and Lakeisha, but not long enough to pick me up or change my diaper. Far as I ever knew, he was gone the next day, the same deal all over again, and as I write this I think of the cycle of abandonment that's colored my family. Every twenty years, there's been another link broken, another hard road laid, going back four generations. My son Ray Lewis III is nineteen years old; I am thirty-nine; my father is fifty-nine; his father, my grandfather, is seventy-nine; and my great-grandfather is ninety-nine. And the only one who's grown up with a father is my son. And then on the other side of all that was my mother, Sunseria Smith. Oh my God, my mother had it hard, and it only got harder once she started having kids, but it was because of her strength that my younger brother and sisters were able to get by. It was because of her resilience that we had a chance. That I had a chance. Really, everything I do, everything I am -- it's because of this good, sweet, proud woman. My mother was fifteen when I was born, on May 15, She was a runaway -- only she ran no further than my great-grandmother's house in Mulberry, Florida, about a half hour south of Lakeland, where she'd been living at the time. She ran because she was pregnant and her mother di () Ray Lewis was born in Bartow, Florida, in The oldest of five children, Lewis became a football star at Kathleen High School and was recruited to play at the University of Miami. In , Lewis was a first-round pick of the NFL's Baltimore Ravens. He led the team to a Super Bowl victory in and was named Defensive Player of the Year that same season. Lewis retired after leading the Ravens to another Super Bowl victory in , and was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Widely considered one of the best linebackers in the history of football, Ray Anthony Lewis was born Ray Jenkins on May 15, , in Bartow, Florida. Lewis' early childhood years weren't always stable. His mother, Sunseria, was just 16 at the time of his birth and his father, Elbert Ray Jackson, was largely absent during his son's childhood. As a boy, and the eventual older brother to four younger siblings, Lewis quickly became the man of the house. He helped his sisters with their hair and made sure his younger brother arrived at daycare on time. Disgusted with his father's lack of contact, Lewis abandoned the name Ray Jenkins and took the name of her mother's boyfriend, Ray Lewis, when he entered Kathleen High School. At Kathleen, Lewis was a standout wrestler and football player, who overcame his smaller size at the linebacker position with a fierce intensity and unmatched instincts. During his four years at the school he led his squads to a bevy of state and city titles in football and wrestling. In , Lewis, armed with a full scholarship, enrolled at the University of Miami, at the time home to one of the country's best football programs. He quickly became a vital piece in a vaunted Hurricanes' defense, and went on to twice set the school single-season record for tackles. At the end of his junior year he was runner-up for the Butkus Award as the nation's best linebacker. Following the season, Lewis declared for the NFL draft. In the spring Ray Lewis Biography, Life, Interesting Facts
The University Of Miami Years
Early Acclaim
Say My Name
Ray Lewis
Who Is Ray Lewis?
Early Years