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Football great and Hall of Fame punter Ray Guy has died at 72

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

OK, as people who watch football know, the punter has a strange position. You jog onto the field a few times per game. Somebody snaps you the ball from 15 yards away. And you kick it as high and as far as you can. Then you head back to the sideline - not always getting star treatment. But in 2014, for the first time ever, a football player who did nothing else but punt took his seat among the greatest of all time.

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JOHN MADDEN: I am honored to present Ray Guy for enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

That's the voice of the late John Madden, who coached Ray Guy with the Oakland Raiders. Considered by many the greatest punter in NFL history, Ray Guy died yesterday at the age of 72. He excelled at other sports, including baseball, and was drafted four times by the teams in Major League Baseball. But Guy chose football.

INSKEEP: He played his entire NFL career with the Raiders, both in Oakland and in Los Angeles, and was a three-time Super Bowl champion. Here's John Madden on Fox Sports talking about bringing Guy to the NFL when Madden was a coach in 1973.

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MADDEN: I remember when we drafted him with the Oakland Raiders. And we took Ray Guy No. 1. And everyone said, how can you draft a punter No. 1? And we said, because he's not only the best punter in the draft; he's the best punter that's ever punted a football.

FADEL: Ray Guy's legacy will live on every year. College football honors its top punter with the Ray Guy Award. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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