Mostly a self-taught punter, Ray Guy attended Thomson High School where he also played quarterback, free safety, and placekicker, and lead Thomson to two consecutive state championships.

After a stellar collegiate career at the The University of Southern Mississippi (where he led the NCAA in punting in 1972,) the Oakland Raiders, traditionally seen as the renegades of the National Football League for signing veteran players considered to be busts, too small, too slow, past their prime, or troublemakers on other teams, made an unprecedented decision in the 1973 draft by selecting Ray Guy with their first round draft pick. He was the 23rd player taken overall. To date, Guy remains the only punter drafted in the first round.

During his 14-year professional career (all spent with the Raiders,) Ray Guy averaged 42.4 yards per punt and was adept at pinning the opposing team behind the 20-yard line. While not physically imposing at 6'-3" and 200 pounds, Ray Guy's leg strength was legendary. The phrase "hang time" is believed to have been created due to Guy's booming kicks. John Madden swears he witnessed Guy punt the ball 120 yards in practice � from one endzone out the back of the opposite endzone. On those occasions when the Raiders played in domed facilities, Guy's punts sometimes struck the roofs of the stadiums. Arguably, Guy's most famous (or infamous) punt came in a domed stadium during the 1976 NFL Pro Bowl game played at the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, when one of his punts struck the gondola containing a camera and television screens attached to the roof of the stadium.

In addition to the strength of his kicking leg, Madden also credits Ray Guy with throws of over 80 yards, exceeding any of the Raiders' regular quarterbacks. For several seasons, Guy was the Raiders' third-string quarterback.

With the Raiders, Guy won 3 championship rings in Super Bowl XI, Super Bowl XV and Super Bowl XVIII. In Super Bowl XVIII he made a key play with a 27-yard punt that planted the Washington Redskins back at their own 12-yard line with time running out in the half. On the next play, the Raiders intercepted a pass from Washington and returned it for a touchdown, giving them a 21-3 halftime lead. Los Angeles ended up winning the game 38-9. Guy had a superb performance in the game, punting 7 times for 299 yards(42.7 ave), with 244 net yards(34.8 ave) and planting 5 of his 7 punts in the 20

Ray Guy retired in 1986. During his career, Guy:

Played in 207 consecutive games
Punted 1,049 times for 44,493 yards, averaging 42.4 yards per punt, with a 33.8 net yards average
Had 210 punts in the 20(not counting his first 3 seasons, when the NFL did not keep track of this stat), with just 128 touchbacks
Led the NFL in punting three times
Had a streak of 619 consecutive punts before having one blocked
Has a record of 111 career punts in post season games
Had five punts of over 60 yards during the 1981 season
Ray Guy was selected to seven AFC Pro Bowl teams, and in 1994, he was named the punter on the National Football League's 75th Anniversary Team.

He was also an outstanding placekicker at Southern Mississippi, once kicking a then-record 61-yard field goal in a snowstorm during a game in Utah. After his senior season at Southern Miss, Guy was named Most Valuable Player of the annual College All-Star game, in which an all-star team of college seniors played the current Super Bowl champion.

Ray Guy has been inducted into both the Mississippi and Georgia Sports Halls of Fame, and many feel he is worthy of induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In 1994, he was the first pure punter to nominated for enshrinement.

In 2000, the Greater Augusta Sports Council instituted the Ray Guy Award, to be awarded to the nation's best collegiate punter. Past winners are:

2005 - Ryan Plackemeier, Wake Forest University
2004 - Daniel Sepulveda, Baylor University
2003 - B.J. Sander, Ohio State University
2002 - Mark Mariscal, University of Colorado
2001 - Travis Dorsch, Purdue University
2000 - Kevin Stemke, University of Wisconsin
The statue itself was created by an Augusta orthopaedic surgeon named John Savage, Jr., who sculpted a representation of Ray Guy in clay, and (with a support rod inserted in the sculpture for stability,) hand-carried it to a Florida foundry where it was cast into bronze.

In 2005, Ray Guy helped organize and participated in two-day kicking camps, (held throughout the United States), for high-school punters and placekickers.

Since many collegiate punters nominated for the Ray Guy Award are either former students or work at his kicking camps, Ray Guy himself does not participate in the voting process to avoid accusations of favoritism.