Gonzaga Athletic Hall of Fame
“Tall and robust, rapid, rough and intelligent,” is the way one observer summed up Ray Flaherty as a football player. An all-around athlete, Ray excelled at football as a two-way end for Gonzaga’s seldom-defeated teams of the 1920s. All-West Coast in his senior year, Flaherty joined pro football in its barnstorming infancy. The infant became the National Football League and Flaherty a perennial all-pro – still a 60-minute player at the end with the powerful New York Giants. At the same time, Flaherty played minor league baseball that drew big league interest, but he opted for football where his greatest triumph came as a coach. His Washington Redskins won four divisional titles and two NFL championships in the seven seasons from 1936 to 1942. After military service, he returned to coach in the All-America Conference through 1949. As a pro coach, he compiled an 80-37-5 record. He was inducted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame in 1976.
