Ray Lewis Talks Football, Life at LRTDC

One of the game’s greatest linebackers talked a little football and a lot of life-building during his appearance before the Little Rock Touchdown Club on Tuesday in downtown Little Rock.

Ray Lewis, the iconic No. 52, led the Baltimore Ravens for his entire NFL career of 17 years, including a pair of Super Bowl wins before he retired in 2012 with NFL records for most career combined tackles (2,059), most career solo tackles (1,568) and most solo tackles in a season (156 in 1997). In addition to his two Super Bowl rings, Lewis earned a Super Bowl MVP trophy in 2000; was named NFL defensive player of the year twice; was a seven-time first-team all-pro; appeared in 13 Pro Bowls; led the league in both solo and combined tackles in 1997, 1999 and 2001; and was named to the NFL’s all-decade team of the 2000s and its 100th-anniversary all-time team.

Selected in the first round with the 26th pick of the 1996 draft, Lewis was a collegiate all-American at Miami and a teammate of Dwayne Johnson, who would go on to wrestle for the WWE as “The Rock” and become one of Hollywood’s biggest movie stars.

Lewis is considered one of the greatest players and most intense to ever play the game. His early upbringing, though, did not portend the success he would realize through football. Lewis’ biological father was not active in his youth — Lewis said he and his dad did end up reconciling — and his mother, a victim of domestic abuse — struggled to raise five children. Lewis said that, from the ages of 10 to 16, he moved around between relatives because his mom couldn’t afford to raise him, and he still helped raise his four younger siblings. Even when he was not staying at his mother’s home, her support never wavered, Lewis said.

After scoring a touchdown on a long reverse, a young Lewis raced over to hand the ball to his mom.

“The ref came over and said, ‘We’re gonna need that.’ I said, ‘I thought that’s what you were supposed to do.'”

Lewis said his mom worked multiple jobs trying to support her family, and her work ethic rubbed off.

“I never lost faith in what my mom always told me: ‘It’s gonna get better,'” he said.

As the last recruit signed by former Miami coach Dennis Erickson in 1993, the hall-of-famer made the most of his opportunity at the collegiate level. He was an immediate contributor as a linebacker, but an injury roughly halfway through the season during a road trip to Colorado put him on the field. Little Rock Touchdown Club founder and emcee David Bazzel played a video clip of Johnson describing the emergence of Lewis that day.

“He had like 18 tackles in two quarters,” he said. “He never lost his starting job.”

Photo by Ryan Parker.

Lewis said he had to earn the right to play football growing up by making sure chores were done or doing whatever was necessary to help with his siblings. His mom helped teach him to push through the hard times, he said.

“There’s a different way of understanding what integrity actually represents,” he said. “It’s not about what you have but about what you can push through. My mom was always there waiting for me on the other side. Because of her, I started saying, ‘I can,’ and ‘I will do it.'”

Lewis said everyone has a choice, even when they are enduring pain or obstacles.

“If you want to change your path, change it,” he said.

Lewis ended up attending the same high school as his biological father. The school’s wrestling coach arranged for Lewis to find out that his dad held all the school’s wrestling records, and a fire was lit. Lewis said he knew nothing about wrestling — “I didn’t know one skill” — but the sport required one specific thing of which Lewis was willing to give in bunches: “Total effort.”

Lewis went on to break his dad’s records and win a Florida state wrestling title.

Lewis shared many anecdotes related to his upbringing and football. From his playing days at Miami, he revealed how friends and teammates like Warren Sapp — a future Super Bowl winner himself with the Buccaneers — were always there to give him $5 for something to eat when he especially hungry. (NIL was not yet even a pipe dream then.)

On basketball: “[Basketball] is the softest sport of ’em all,” he quipped. “I’m sorry, but it is.”
Lewis shared a story about his starting to walk home after wrestling practice in high school when his coach offered him a ride. The coach got Lewis to admit that he hadn’t eaten much in a few days, so he drove his pupil through a local chicken and shrimp joint where Lewis ordered the 21-piece shrimp basket, no celery, fries and apple sauce on the side.
The 1996 NFL draft took place in the immediate aftermath of the Cleveland Browns’ move to Baltimore. Lewis said when he got the call on draft day from Cleveland GM Ozzie Newsom, he thought to himself, ‘Who’s Baltimore? We didn’t have a logo, no colors, no nothing.” By the time Lewis retired after leading the Ravens to two Super Bowl titles, the sports world knew who Baltimore was.
Lewis talked about his relationships with Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, two QBs with whom the Ravens often tangled. He called the greatest strategists in the game.
Lewis said the greatest moment of his life as a man was getting to meet his boyhood idol, former Bears hall-of-fame LB Mike Singletary, when the latter was named Baltimore’s LB coach in 2003.
Lewis also provided a decidedly old-school perspective on football during his visit on Tuesday, telling Bazzel, “In today’s game, you can’t hit anybody. In five years, we’ll be playing flag football.”