What an incredible journey and story to be told…
Ray Anthony Lewis Jr., was born Ray Anthony Jenkins on May 15, 1975 in Bartow, Florida and raised just northwest in the mostly agricultural community of Lakeland, spring training home of the Detroit Tigers. Lewis was raised by his mother, Sunseria, who everyone calls “Buffy,” and grew up in a household of women without a father figure.
When he was 9 years old and home alone with his mother working three jobs, he had a deck of cards and would flip all 52 and do push ups and sit ups based on what card turned. Whatever the number was, he’d honor. If there was a Jack or a face card, it was 10. If an Ace turned, it was 25. If the joker came, it was 50. He had the same routine, each and every day.
He was the man in his house at early age, helping raise his three sisters LaQuesha and LaKeisha, who are twins, Kadaja and the baby boy, Keon Lattimore, nine years younger than Ray, who attended the University of Maryland and worked in three NFL camps, but never had a football career. Lewis lived in the garage as a teenager and told everyone he was going to play in the NFL one day.
He believed he would be a champion just like the San Francisco 49ers teams he watched on television and admired. He loved Ronnie Lott and Roger Craig.
Since Ray Lewis was raised without a father, he spent the first 30 years of his life using that as a motivational tool. When he was in high school, he saw the name of his paternal father, Elbert Ray Jackson, on high school wrestling records and stalked every record until he left school a 4A state champion in the 189-pound weight class and finished 80-10 over his career at Kathleen High School in Lakeland. A childhood fan of the Florida State Seminoles and the San Francisco 49ers, he chose the University of Miami where he got on the field immediately and became the team’s leading tackler for three seasons before entering the NFL as a junior. Ten years later, he went back to school and got his degree from the University of Maryland, completing a promise he made to his mother when he left for Coral Gables. And ten years into his playing career, he welcomed Ray Jackson into his life and worked on forgiveness for his father’s transgressions, sins, and abandonment.
Once again – hard work, sacrifice, commitment, and adjustments have been the hallmarks of his playing career, which is why it extended longer than any other member of the 1996 NFL draft class, who were all out of the game when Lewis clutched the Lombardi Trophy in 2013.
He likes to say: “I was never biggest. I was never fastest. I was never the strongest. I just worked the hardest. My thing was always work. Mama showed me that every day won’t be a good day, but you can make every day alright. Five kids, three jobs. She never complained. She worked hard. I wanted to be like my Mama.
“I’m not going to let a man flat out outwork me. That’s really it.”
Every year, as he got older he had to work harder to stay at the top of his game. The thousands of hours of work that Ray Lewis invested behind the scenes went un-witnessed by the fans. Long before athletes tweeted that they were headed to the gym, Lewis was already in the gym – lifting, running, pushing, sweating, bleeding, and burning to find himself in that confetti shower one more time. He ran hills, he exhausted his trainers, and teammates – anybody that would dare begin a workout with him.
On the field, Lewis always took pride in not being touched by an offensive lineman. “It means I took a play off,” he said. The challenge, psychologically, was a battle of wills and to see who could make the big play at the end of a game.
How many times did we hear Lewis say: “It’s a sixty minute ball game!”?
Lewis won more battles than he lost. The Ravens record during his tenure is the same as their all-time record: 150-121-1 with nine playoff appearances, four visits to the AFC Championship Game, two Super Bowl appearances, two Defensive Player of The Year crowns, one MVP trophy, and one Super Bowl MVP Trophy. Oh, and there are those 13 Pro Bowls that no one takes seriously, including the players themselves who oft times consider skipping the game. Many would come to the game just for a chance to mingle with Ray Lewis at the pool in Waikiki. Year after year, Ray was the most sought-after ear from the youngest and best the NFL had to offer for advice about just about anything.
Many players win championships, and a few rare standouts go to the Hall of Fame. Perhaps no active player in the history of the NFL held more sway with his peers and fellow competitors during his time in the league than Ray Lewis. Each week, it seemed, the media would ask a question about a specific star player on the opponent’s team and Lewis had that player in his address book and had at some point exchanged wisdom, words, jokes, or a mutual experience. From Jerome Bettis, Hines Ward and Kordell Stewart in Pittsburgh to Chad Johnson in Cincinnati to Lavar Arrington or Robert Griffith 3rd in Washington to Peyton Manning and his wife and son waiting for a picture with No. 52 after Lewis ended Denver’s season in January 2013, everyone sought out a relationship with Lewis out of respect for his accomplishments and his ability to overcome adversity and play so many years at such a high level because of his commitment to excellence.
Everyone wanted a little bit of Ray’s holy water or his energy.
He was the pied piper of the NFL, respected and sought by all. There was a little part of Ray Lewis that they all believed would rub off on them.
Hence, the nickname his prize pupil, Ravens running back Ray Rice bestowed upon him after arriving in Baltimore in the 2008 draft. Mufasa, the most powerful patriarch lion in the Disney film “The Lion King.” The Disney Wiki says this about Mufasa: “Being a king, Mufasa was very wise and powerful. He was beloved by all inhabitants of the Pride Lands, with the exception of Scar and his followers. Aside from being a great ruler, Mufasa was also a loving husband and father. He is shown to have a large sense of humor.”
It didn’t take Rice long to recognize the man Ray Lewis was upon his arrival in Owings Mills. Rice, who came from Rutgers in New Jersey via New Rochelle, New York wore baggy pants and didn’t have them resting above his hips, a street trend for kids. Lewis, who was 32 at the time, said to Rice, who was 21 at the time: “We don’t wear our pants like that here.” Rice took note and spent the next five years learning all that he could from Lewis. And he pulled his pants up.
Five years later, they were known as “Big Ray” and “Little Ray” – inseparable teammates who were among the most playful members of the Super Bowl-winning team.
Both didn’t have fathers in their lives. Both helped their mothers pay the bills and mind the house as kids. Both overcame tremendous adversity through hard work that got them into the NFL.
“[Ray Rice] is like a younger brother,” Lewis said. “We were meant to meet. We were meant to share these stories. We were meant to go through this together. To see him now and see where he’s come from is beautiful to watch.”
For Rice, whose emotions were on display the day Lewis told all of his teammates that he was on his way out of the NFL, the contributions left are residue of the good work and the teachings of his “Mufasa.”
“The main thing that Ray Lewis has done for my career was he taught me how to be a pro,” Rice said. “Me being a pro has everything to do with how you act, not only on the field, but off the field as well. He was a leader by example, but his words get across to not only us but everywhere in America. It feels good to know that he’s my guy not only on the field, but for life.”
“To go back to a little cartoon, we’re like Mufasa and Simba. For football, he taught me how to be a pro. It’s a simple saying, but there’s a lot that comes with being a pro. He’s also taught me how to be a man as well. At the end of the day, when he announced his retirement he put it into perspective with saying, ‘There’s life outside of football.’ The life outside of football is being a man, and that was really special for me because it just meant the world to know that this man took his time, not only to embrace me, but he took me under his wing and showed me how to do this thing. It’s just helped me out over the last couple of years. I didn’t wish any time by, but after this season, I’m going into my sixth year. I’m ready to go, and I came into the league with no facial hair. Now I’m starting to get little specks on my face. He taught me to enjoy the journey, and it was all worth it.”
