Raymond John Novotny Sr. (October 12, 1907 – May 30, 1995) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player and coach. He played professionally with the

Portsmouth Spartans The professional American football team now known as the Detroit Lions previously played in Portsmouth, Ohio, as the Portsmouth Spartans, from its founding in 1928 to its relocation to Detroit in 1934. Originally drawing players from defunct indepe ...

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...

and

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association (19th century), American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). Prior to playing in the NFL, Novotny played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Ashland University Ashland University is a private university in Ashland, Ohio. The university consists of a main campus and several off-campus centers throughout central and northern Ohio. Ashland was founded in 1878 as Ashland College. It is affiliated with The ...

. While at Ashland, he earned All-American honors in 1929. In 1934, he returned to Ashland to serve as the school's football coach. He also served as the baseball coach for the 1935 season. His grandson is

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

politician Reid Novotny.

Early life

Novotny was born on October 12, 1907, in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

to John Novotny and Caroline Hudec of

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places *Czech, ...

ancestry.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Novotny, Ray 1907 births 1995 deaths American football fullbacks American football halfbacks American football quarterbacks Ashland Eagles baseball coaches Ashland Eagles baseball players Ashland Eagles football coaches Ashland Eagles football players Ashland Eagles men's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from Ohio Brooklyn Dodgers (NFL) players Cleveland Indians (NFL 1931) players Kent State Golden Flashes football coaches Portsmouth Spartans players Sportspeople from Cleveland Players of American football from Cleveland American people of Czech descent