University of Tennessee Athletics
Former Vol Graves Passes Away At 96
April 10, 2015 | Football
Tennessee's oldest living letterman and a College Football Hall of Famer has passed away. Ray Graves, who played under Robert Neyland and was the captain on John Barnhill's first Tennessee team in 1941 was 96.
Graves was born in Knoxville and began his football career at Central High School. As a collegian, he transferred to Tennessee after a year at Tennessee Wesleyan in Athens. He earned All-SEC honors as a center in 1941 and was selected by the Philadelphia Eagles in the ninth round of the 1942 NFL Draft.
He began his coaching career back in Knoxville as an assistant for Barnhill in between stints with the Eagles and the famed "Steagles," a combined team of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh Steelers that competed during the 1943 season. After his playing career, Graves devoted his time to coaching full-time under another former Vol, Bobby Dodd at Georgia Tech.
Graves took his first and only head coaching job at Florida following the 1959 season, a job that would become his greatest professional accomplishment. In 10 seasons leading the Gators, Graves built the program into a national power, compiling a 70-31-4 record with five bowl trips.
When he stepped down, Graves was the winningest coach in Gators football history. It was a mark he held until 1996, when another Tennessean, his former quarterback, Steve Spurrier, passed him on the all-time wins chart at UF.
Graves was the head coach at Florida in 1965 when Dr. Robert Cade, a professor in the University of Florida College of Medicine, approached with an idea for a study of dehydration and rehydration methods for his football players. The result was a product that would come to be known as Gatorade, a game-changer for its namesake school and athletes around the world.
His 1969 team at Florida was perhaps his best, finishing with a 9-1-1 record including a 14-13 victory in the Gator Bowl over his alma mater, then coached by Doug Dickey. Following the game, Graves stepped down as head coach, but remained as athletics director and tabbed Dickey as his replacement.
Graves retired from his post as AD at Florida in 1979 to the Tampa area. He was inducted into the College Football hall of Fame in 1990.
