Ray Michael Snell (February 24, 1958 – September 28, 2021) was an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who was a guard in the National Football League (NFL) for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

and the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

. Tampa Bay, using their 4th ever first round draft pick, acquired Snell with the 22nd pick in the first round of the

1980 NFL Draft The 1980 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 29–30, 1980, at the New York She ...

. After four seasons in Tampa Bay in which he started 46 of 64 games he was traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Once in Pittsburgh he immediately started 13 games. In 1986, he suffered a blow out fracture to the right eye, in which a bone was lodged behind it. He was then traded to the Detroit Lions where he retired. During 1981, he and George Yarno alternated plays bringing in the offensive play call for Doug Williams. Ray Snell died of cancer in Tampa on September 28, 2021, at the age of 63.

References

1958 births 2021 deaths American football offensive guards Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Pittsburgh Steelers players Detroit Lions players Wisconsin Badgers football players Players of American football from Baltimore {{offensive-lineman-1950s-stub