Ray Hester (March 31, 1949 – May 15, 1977) was a professional

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 ...

player who played

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, pl ...

for the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

from 1971 to 1973, and The Hawaiians of the WFL in 1974. He was diagnosed with

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...

in 1975. He died from leukemia at the age of 28.

References

1949 births 1977 deaths American football linebackers Deaths from cancer in Louisiana Deaths from leukemia in the United States Holy Cross High School, New Orleans alumni New Orleans Saints players Tulane Green Wave football players The Hawaiians players {{linebacker-1940s-stub