Hugh "Shorty" Ray

Hugh Light "Shorty" Ray (September 21, 1884 – September 16, 1956) was an American professional football official. He was the first technical advisor on the rules and supervisor of officials for the National Football League (NFL) from 1938 to 1952. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1966.

Early life and college Ray was born in Highland Park, Illinois, in 1884. He was the son of John Thompson Ray and Emily S. (Light) Ray.

Teaching and officiating career After graduating from the University of Illinois, Ray served as the athletic director at the Smith Academy in St. Louis from 1907 to 1908. He continued teaching mechanical drawing in Chicago high schools for more than 30 years.

In addition to his work as a teacher, Ray worked as a football official in Big Ten Conference games in the 1920s and 1930s. He also officiated in basketball and baseball games.

Ray helped organize the Athletic Officials Association (AOA) and organized rules clinics and written tests that were mandatory for members of the AOA. He was also the author of the high school football code and invented and copyrighted the "Play Situation Book" now called the "Case Book." The "Play Situations Book" taught officials, coaches, and players the rules through example and standardized their implementation. He served as a technical adviser to the NFL and supervisor of officials until his retirement in 1952. Ray has been credited with making the forward pass "an effective weapon by redesigning the ball." Ray also sought to increase the speed of play. He said, "The faster you play, the more plays you create." and later said of Ray: "He was the smartest man in rules ever. He was a genius." Under his guidance to speed up play, the NFL played a record 10,451 plays during the 1947 NFL season. However, penalties also increased to an average of 13 per game in 1951.

Family, later years and posthumous honors Ray was married to Charlotte Johnson (sometimes known as "Lottie") in October 1908. They had four children: Charlotte (born 1912), Hugh Jr. (born 1913), Edith Virginia (born 1918), and Mary Jane (born 1921).

In March 1966, Ray was posthumously elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame as part of its fourth class of inductees. At the induction ceremony in September 1966, Ray's son, Hugh L. Ray Jr., accepted the honor on his father's behalf. Ray and Art McNally, who served as head of officiating from 1968 to 1991, and was enshrined in 2022, are the only Hall inductees to be enshrined for work related to officiating.

In 2014, Ray's grandson, James W. Stangeland, published a biography of Ray and American football history titled, "Hugh L. Ray, The NFL's Mr. Einstein: Master Designer Of The Modern Game." Stangeland wrote the book "to set the record straight about Hugh L. Ray's true role in American football history."