Senior offensive lineman Arthur Ray Jr., left, runs a drill with junior offensive guard Zach Hueter Tuesday at Duffy Daugherty Football Building. Ray will return to the team this year after missing the past few years while recovering from bone cancer.
Flashback to December 2009. The MSU football team was laboring through hot practices in Texas, fighting to get ready for its New Year’s Day game against Texas Tech.
But the scorching temperatures and dry air couldn’t come close to what offensive lineman Arthur Ray Jr. was preparing for back at home. The then-20-year-old Ray was about to endure his ninth surgery on his leg.
After committing to play for MSU in 2007, Ray found a lump that continued to grow right under his left knee. He was diagnosed with osteosarcoma — a rare form of bone cancer — and maintained his scholarship, although his football future seemed very unlikely.
By this point, he already had spent countless hours in the hospital and hooked up to IVs, once even having to get his tibia temporarily — and completely — removed in order to clear up an infection. Now he was going into a surgery he felt he didn’t need and was irate.
“I really didn’t want to have it,” Ray said. “If you ask anybody in my family, my mother or my father, I really didn’t want to have it. The doctors walked in the room and they were like you know, we got to go in there again, and I let them know how I felt.”
He said he felt frustrated, angry and “pissed off,” not only knowing his teammates were enjoying an atmosphere of a bowl game without him, but also knowing that the surgery meant another year on crutches and another year without playing football.
But Ray will be the first to tell you giving up on his dream — to play football for the Spartans — was never in his playbook.
“I always knew I could play,” Ray said. “Regardless of what anybody said, I mean, doctors to other people who felt I shouldn’t keep doing what I’m doing. I just let it go in one ear and out the other.”
Before Ray even could consider a life on the practice field, he first had to get off those crutches that had haunted him for a little more than two years.
From once questioning if doctors might have to amputate his leg from the knee down, Ray started to walk without assistance. For most people, it was a miracle, but for Ray it was just “another step in the process.”
“You hear people like, ‘Aw, he’s walking now, that’s good enough,’” Ray said. “But no, I was never satisfied. I always knew I’d get to the point where I’d be able to perform and compete.”
So Ray worked and he worked hard. Finally cleared to do some working out and motivated by having to spend another season watching his team from the sidelines, Ray turned that walk into a run.
And he has continued running until April 7, when four practices into the spring, he was cleared by the doctors, the NCAA and the coaching staff to return to suit up.
“It was overwhelming,” said Ray about getting the call from MSU head coach Mark Dantonio. “I had to step out (of class) and call my mom and I just started crying. Tears of joy.”
As quickly as possible, Ray got to the Skandalaris Football Center and for the first time, the 6-foot-2 lineman put on the pads with his teammates.
Feeling like a kid again, Ray walked out to the practice field, took a breath of fresh air and was overjoyed.
“I had my powers back,” Ray said.
Flash to today, where Ray now has taken part in six practices and Ray admits that everyday he is “bangin’” in individual, full-contact drills.
When asked how it feels going full-speed, Ray’s eyes lit up and a smile spread across his face.
“I was actually stiff today,” Ray said. “It was great. I woke up feeling like a football player.”
Just feeling like a football player still isn’t enough for Ray, he said. Since committing to MSU, he’s had one thought racing through his head: to run through the tunnel and into Spartan Stadium.
Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
“I could paint a perfect picture of it for you right now,” he said. “Every day, every night I go to sleep, I see myself doing it. I see the crowd, I see the student section going crazy. That’s what I dream for.”
Ray is doing everything he can to avoid being handed the redshirt next season. However, even if he doesn’t get the chance to play, senior quarterback Kirk Cousins said he is a vital piece to the entire team. The inspiration he provides is unmatched, Cousins said.
“If we had 100 Arthur Ray’s we wouldn’t have to be too worried about next year,” Cousins said.
Dantonio went further than just the confines of the team.
“It gives hope to everybody who’s in any kind of tough situation in their life,” he said. “If you just keep pushing, push through adversity, you’ve got a chance.”
Now 21 years old and on his way to accomplishing his dream, Ray still thinks about that last surgery.
“I told my doctor, this is the last time you’re going to see me,” he said. “And I ain’t lied since.”
