IRVING, Texas - A Dallas Cowboys sideline icon for nearly 44 years, Crazy Ray, the team's unofficial mascot since the third season back at the Cotton Bowl who endeared himself to millions of fans with his support of the Cowboys, died at his home Saturday morning.
Born Wilford Jones, Crazy Ray, 75, has been beset by various illnesses over the past years, diabetes a huge toll, causing a leg to be amputated below the knee in 1997, a loss of eyesight, five heart bypass surgeries and the suffering of several strokes, the most recent this past August that left his right side paralyzed. Ray suffered another heart attack as recent as two weeks ago, and had been living in hospice care since suffering his latest bout of congestive heart failure.
Over the years, Crazy Ray entertained Cowboys fans at Texas Stadium in his western-style get-up, complete with six-shooters in his holster, a cowboy hat and at times, galloping along with one of those stick ponies. He became as recognizable as the blue star on the Cowboys helmet, the hole in the roof and the Hail Mary.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with Mattie and the Jones family," said Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, making reference to Crazy Ray's wife Mattie of 53 years. "This is a sad day for anyone who is a follower of the Dallas Cowboys. Ray was the most dedicated, entertaining and passionate of Cowboys fans.
"He touched thousands of lives and generations of football fans. He will remain an important part of this team's heritage and family for as long as fans go to Cowboys games and feel his spirit."
Jerry Jones is not given to hyperbole when talking of Crazy Ray's national fame. He has a spot in the fans' wing of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, and in the hearts of Cowboys fans world wide, all recognizing his patented whistle and the magic tricks he would perform while interacting with fans on the sideline of games. It was nothing to see Crazy Ray sparring with the Redskins' mascot in the end zone when those two NFC East rivals would play, not matter if the game was played at Texas Stadium or RFK Stadium in the nation's capital.
And in recent months, fans showed how much they appreciated him over the years, paying their respects to Crazy Ray and wife Mattie in various forms and fashions. When the family car was stolen and found trashed, a local dealership anonymously donated the couple a car.
Then there was the house they had lived in for nearly 30 years. It was in need of total renovation. But Ray and Mattie had little money, Ray having spent a spell of time in a nursing home after his last stroke. They could not pay their bills. Utilities had been turned off.
But thanks to friend and neighbor Wayne Walker, director of video productions at Dallas Theological Seminary, who set up a charitable website to help the Joneses, along with a disabled veterans association program (Ray served in the Korean War) which aided with the renovation of the home, Crazy Ray and Mattie were able to move back into their home on Nov. 14 of this past year.
Many of the appliances were donated by local businesses.
Walker was quoted in a recent Dallas Observer story written by Richie Whitt, "He's such a kind, wonderful man. How can you not want to help him. I think we'd all agree he's earned it."
Donations still can be made to help the family offset funeral costs by going to
www.savecrazyray.com, where 100 percent of the donations are transferred directly into an account set up for the Joneses.
