Ray Odums

Last updated

Ray Odums
No. 32, 35
Position: Defensive back
Personal information
Born: (1951-10-30) October 30, 1951 (age 72)
United States
Career information
College: Alabama
Career history
Career highlights and awards
  • CFL All-Star: 1980, 1981, 1982

Ray Odums (born October 30, 1951) is a football player who played in the CFL and USFL. He played defensive back (DB). From 1975 to 1984 Odums was DB for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the Saskatchewan Roughriders, and the Calgary Stampeders. He was a CFL All-Star in 1980, 1981 and 1982.[ citation needed ] Later he played with the Memphis Showboats in the USFL in 1985. Odums played college football at the University of Alabama. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Odums also was a standout guard on the Alabama Crimson Tide basketball team and played for coach CM Newton, who would start five black players in a time of racial turbulence and progress. Center Leon Douglas said, "We knew Coach Newton (signed us) because he wanted to win. He wasn't trying to be a trailblazer. You have to respect a man for putting five black starters on the court when others said it was a no-no." On December 28, 1973, in a 65-55 win at Louisville Cardinals men's basketball, Newton started Douglas, Charles "Boonie" Russell, Charles Cleveland, T.R. Dunn and Odums for the first all-black starting line-up in SEC history, and a team that would win the SEC season title. [7] [8] [9] [10]


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References

  1. "Ray Odums".
  2. Vanstone, Rob (May 24, 2011). "VANSTONE: Football and politics mixed for Blakeney - CFL - Yahoo! Sports". Sports.yahoo.com. Retrieved June 2, 2011.
  3. "Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. May 26, 2011. Retrieved June 2, 2011.
  4. "Our last Grey Cup ever?". Canada.com, The Ottawa Citizen. November 26, 2006. Archived from the original on November 10, 2012. Retrieved June 2, 2011.
  5. "USFL - United States Football League". Oursportscentral.com. Retrieved June 2, 2011.
  6. "Ray Odums football Statistics on StatsCrew.com". www.statscrew.com. Retrieved July 15, 2022.
  7. "1973-74 Southeastern Conference Season Summary".
  8. "1973-1974 Men's Basketball Archive".
  9. "The Story of How the SEC's First All-Black Lineup Changed Hoops Forever". October 2015.
  10. "The University of Alabama basketball program made a stand of its own for civil rights". October 16, 2013.

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