Ray spent his early years in Belgium, Germany, and France while his father served in the United States Army.
After his father was discharged, the family moved to Texas, where Ray played quarterback at Killeen High School.
He has said that he preferred to play soccer but that the atmosphere in the American South, especially Texas, was primed for football and so he kept it to himself.
[1] After high school, Ray went to the University of Oklahoma, where he switched to defense and played safety.
He owned a liquor store for 15 years, which he recently closed to open his restaurant, Ray's Smokehouse BBQ.