Written by Lisa Chung
“Let them see something they’ve never seen before and when something goes wrong smile because there’s always a next play”- Ray Lewis
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The Baltimore Ravens are going against the Denver Broncos on Saturday for the 12th and final time that Ray Lewis will be on the team.
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It could also be Lewis’s last game ever as a Raven. And that is a very scary thought to most Ravens fans.
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Ray Lewis has been in the NFL since 1996 and has been a Baltimore Raven since day one totaling 17 years in the league. Lewis was a Pro-Bowl selection 13 times, earned the NFL defensive player of the year in 2000 and 2003, making him the 6th player in NFL history to win multiple times. Lewis was also named MVP at Superbowl 35 (2000) against the New York Giants. Needless to say, he has had quite the career!
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Ray Lewis is one of the most passionate players I have ever seen play the game. He is the heart and soul of the Ravens defense.
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But before Ray Lewis was this passionate and fan favorite player we all loved, he was at one point not very well liked.
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Lewis was raised in Lakeland,Florida to Buffy Smith and Elbert Ray Whitehead. His dad, who was 19 years old at the time, abandoned Lewis and his mother. Growing up without a father was hard for Lewis, but this was also the reason he started training intensely. Lewis once said the only way he would get through the pain sometimes was to do pushups and sit ups until he passed out.
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His dad was also a star football player at the same high school Lewis went to, He was so bitter towards his dad for leaving that he would train day in and day out to be an even better player than his dad was and to have his dad’s name erased from the records book. Lewis’s past is part of the reason why he is so passionate and hardworking towards everything he does.
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After high school, he went to the University of Miami on scholarship where he played football, was drafted in ’96 to the Baltimore Ravens. Things seemed to be going just as Lewis had planned. But in 2000, a black cloud once again forms over Lewis as a murder case was put against him. Two people were killed outside of a Atlanta nightclub on June 5th but the charges were dropped after Lewis agreed to plead guilty for misdemeanor and testifying against two co defendants.
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“The thing about the man upstairs is that he doesn’t put you through tragedy without bringing you to triumph”- Ray Lewis.
After everything that has happened to Lewis the one thing that will always be remembered was his dedication to the game, the blood and sweat he put into every single play and how much he changed the game of football. Ray Lewis is more than an NFL football player, he is a father figure to many, he is more than a legend; he is legendary.
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