Ray Tompkins

Ray Tompkins (January 28, 1861 – June 30, 1918) was an American football player and businessman.

Early life Tompkins was born in 1861 in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania. His father was engaged in the lumber business in Tioga County, Pennsylvania. In 1870, the family moved to Elmira, New York, engaging in the wholesale grocery business. Tompkins received early education in the Elmira public schools, the Elmira Free Academy, and the Williston Seminary in East Hampton, Massachusetts.

Yale In 1879, Tompkins enrolled at Yale University. He was a multi-sport athlete at Yale, competing in football, baseball, and crew. While at Yale, he was also a member of Skull and Bones and Delta Kappa Epsilon. He later served as the president of the Elmira W. L. & Railroad Company. He died in 1918 at age 57 after a long illness.

Both the Ray Tompkins Memorial, originally a 720 acre wilderness in northwest New Haven, home to the Yale Golf Course, and the Ray Tompkins House on campus, which is home to Yale's Athletic Department, were built through a bequest from his wife, Sarah Wey Tompkins.