Ray was a bombadeer for a B-17 Flying fortress during WWII, flying with the 490th Bomb Group, 851st Bomb Squadron and was shot down on April 9, 1945, in B-17G #44-6303 "The Lucky Strike". Loss was attributed to flak. Ray served the remainder of the war in a German Stalag until liberated by the Russian Army. According to service records, his serial number was 39918782, exited service as a Staff Sergeant, Grade Code 4. After the war Ray pursued a career in sports, eventually becoming the general manager of the Pocatello, Idaho Athletics, a Farm Club for the Kansas City Athletics. In 1959 he was transfered to Kansas City and became the Assistant Farm Director to Hank Peters. Over the years Ray advanced through the club from Farm Director to Director of Scouting. Before the club's move to Oakland he orchestrated a contract with Reggie Jackson and other notable players and was awarded the Baseball Scout of the Year award. In Oakland he brought in Joe DiMaggio for the Athletics and resigned from the A's when the owner, Charles O. Finley and Ray were in conflict over the DiMaggio contract. Ray moved to Seattle, Washington and served as Director of Scouting for the short-lived Seattle Pilots (1968-1969). Just before the Pilots franchise was sold to Milwaukee to become the Milwakee Brewers, Ray moved to Southern California as a scout for the Cleveland Indians where he eventually was killed in an automobile accident in Newport Harbor just before Christmas of 1970. He had been attending a baseball scouts meeting near Newport and vanished for over a week until his body was found in Hunting Beach Harbor just before Christmas. After a memorial service in Santa Ana, California, the body was removed and retired in Pocatello, Idaho.