Billy Ray Minor Jr (born June 27, 1970) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

wide receiver. He was in training camp with the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

NFL and played in the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

for the

Dallas Texans Dallas Texans may refer to: American football *Dallas Texans (NFL), 1952 team in the National Football League *Dallas Texans (AFL), 1960–1962 team that is now the Kansas City Chiefs * Dallas Texans (arena), 1990–1993 Arena Football League team ...

. He played college football at East Texas State University (now Texas A&M University-Commerce) where he was a 4-year letterman, 2 time All Lone Star Conference performer, Conference Champion, member of 2 National quarter-finalist teams, and finished his career as a top 10 receiver in program history in receptions and receiving yards.

Early life

Minor was born on the

Fort Riley Fort Riley is a United States Army installation located in North Central Kansas, on the Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, between Junction City and Manhattan. The Fort Riley Military Reservation covers 101,733 acres (41,170 ha) in G ...

military base. His family moved early in his life to the

Northeast Texas Northeast Texas is a cultural and geographic region in the northeast corner of the U.S. state of Texas. Geographically centered on two metropolitan areas strung along Interstate 20—Tyler in the west and Longview/ Marshall to the east, the are ...

city of

Paris, Texas Paris is a city and county seat of Lamar County, Texas, United States. Located in Northeast Texas at the western edge of the Piney Woods, the population of the city was 24,171 in 2020. History Present-day Lamar County was part of Red Rive ...

. He played high school football under Allen Wilson at Paris High School where he was 3rd team All-State, 1st team all district, 1st team all

Red River Valley The Red River Valley is a region in central North America that is drained by the Red River of the North; it is part of both Canada and the United States. Forming the border between Minnesota and North Dakota when these territories were admitted ...

in football and also all state in Track.

College career

Despite a stellar high school career, Minor was only shown marginal interest by major college programs such as

Louisiana Tech University Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activ ...

and

Tulsa University The University of Tulsa (TU) is a private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church and the campus architectural style is predominantly Collegiate Gothic. The school traces its origin to ...

. Minor was planning to join the United States Military after high school; however, his high school track coach talked to coaches at East Texas State in

Commerce, Texas Commerce is a city in Hunt County, Texas, United States, situated on the eastern edge of North Texas, in the heart of the Texas Blackland Prairies. The town is south of the Texas/ Oklahoma border. Commerce is the second-largest city in Hunt Count ...

. Minor was invited to try out for the East Texas State team walked on to the Lion football team and was awarded a football scholarship before the 1988 season.

1988-1989

Minor played as a true freshman during the 1988 season for East Texas, where he caught 3 passes for 48 yards. In that year, the Lions had their first winning season under Coach

Eddie Vowell Eddie Ray Vowell (born December 13, 1946) is a retired American football coach. He is best known for serving as head football coach at Texas A&M University–Commerce from 1986 to 1998. He is second in program history with 73 career wins and led ...

and finished 8-3 and were ranked as high as #2 in the nation, before losing their final two games. Minor missed the 1989 season due to a knee injury.

1990 season

Minor rehabbed his injury and played 12 games during the 1990 season. During the regular season, he finished 3rd on the team in receiving as he caught 18 passes for 416 yards and 5 touchdowns. The Lions won the 1990 Lone Star Conference Championship and qualified for the 1990 NCAA Division II playoffs. The Lions defeated Grand Valley State in the first round and finished as National Quarterfinalists, bowing out to Pittsburg State, finishing 7th in the country.

1991 season

Minor earned All-Lone Star Conference Honorable Mention honors for his 1991 season performance. He caught 25 passes for 571 yards and 4 touchdowns, in the regular season. He caught the game winning touchdown against Texas A&M-Kingsville that gave the Lions their first road win over the powerful Javelinas since 1982. The Lions once again qualified for NCAA playoffs and finished as National quarterfinalists again, finishing with a number 19 ranking.

1992 season

In 1992, Minor was named team captain and had his best statistical season as a Lion as he caught 40 passes for 731 yards and 5 touchdowns. He was named First-team All-Lone Star Conference and helped lead the Lions to an 8–3 record and a # 14 final ranking. His final college career numbers were 99 receptions for 1,998 yards and 14 touchdowns. While attending ETSU, Minor studied accounting and was a member of the

Alpha Phi Alpha Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate historically African American fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the 1905–1906 school year at Cornell University but later evolved in ...

fraternity.

Professional career

Philadelphia Eagles

Minor was undrafted in the 1993 NFL draft but was signed as an undrafted free agent by the

. He was joined in Philadelphia by Lion teammate Anthony Brooks. Minor had impressed his position coaches but an injury derailed his hopes to make the final roster and he was released before the preseason games started.

Arena Football League

After being released by the Eagles, Minor was signed by the Dallas Texans of the

. The Texans were coached by former East Texas State quarterback

Mike Trigg Michael Scott Trigg is a former American football quarterback and head coach in the Arena Football League (AFL). He played college football at East Texas State University. Early years Trigg lettered in football, basketball and baseball at Theodo ...

. He played the 1993 Arena League season with the Texans and after the season, decided to leave professional football.

Personal life

Minor now works in the healthcare industry and lives in

Sherman, Texas Sherman is a U.S. city in and the county seat of Grayson County, Texas. The city's population in 2020 was 43,645. It is one of the two principal cities in the Sherman–Denison metropolitan statistical area, and it is part of the Texoma region ...

with his wife Samantha and has 5 children. He also contributes as a writer to ''The Lion Wire'', an A&M-Commerce fan site blog, and coaches youth sports in Sherman and Varsity 7on7 football at C4 Sports out of Durant, Oklahoma. In January 2023, The A&M-Commerce Athletic Department announced that Minor would be inducted into the Texas A&M University-Commerce Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2023.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minor, Billy 1970 births Living people Sportspeople from Paris, Texas Texas A&M–Commerce Lions football players Philadelphia Eagles players Players of American football from Texas