Ray Tompkins (January 28, 1861 – June 30, 1918) 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 businessman.

Early years

Tompkins was born in 1861 in

Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania Lawrenceville is a borough in Tioga County, Pennsylvania. The population was 690 at the 2020 census. Geography Lawrenceville is located at (41.996564, -77.125159). It is at the intersection of Pennsylvania Route 287 and Pennsylvania Route 49. ...

. His father was engaged in the lumber business in

Tioga County, Pennsylvania Tioga County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 41,045. Its county seat is Wellsboro. The county was created on March 26, 1804, from part of Lycoming County and later organized in 1812. ...

. In 1870, the family moved to

Elmira, New York Elmira () is a city and the county seat of Chemung County, New York, United States. It is the principal city of the Elmira, New York, metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses Chemung County. The population was 26,523 at the 2020 cens ...

, engaging in the wholesale grocery business. Tompkins received early education in the Elmira public schools, the Elmira Free Academy, and the Williston Seminary in East Hampton, Massachusetts.

Yale

In 1879, Tompkins enrolled at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

. He was a multi-sport athlete at Yale, competing in football, baseball, and crew. He played on the undefeated

1881 Events January–March * January 1– 24 – Siege of Geok Tepe: Russian troops under General Mikhail Skobelev defeat the Turkomans. * January 13 – War of the Pacific – Battle of San Juan and Chorrillos: The C ...

1882 Events January–March * January 2 ** The Standard Oil Trust is secretly created in the United States to control multiple corporations set up by John D. Rockefeller and his associates. ** Irish-born author Oscar Wilde arrives in ...

, and

1883 Yale Bulldogs football team The 1883 Yale Bulldogs football team represented Yale University in the 1883 college football season. The team compiled a 9–0 record, shut out eight of nine opponents, and outscored all opponents, 540 to 2. The team was retroactively named as ...

s that compiled a combined record of 22–0–1 and have been recognized as national champions for each year. He was the captain of the 1882 and 1883 championship teams. While at Yale, he was also a member of

Skull and Bones Skull and Bones, also known as The Order, Order 322 or The Brotherhood of Death, is an undergraduate senior secret student society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The oldest senior class society at the university, Skull and Bone ...

and

Delta Kappa Epsilon Delta Kappa Epsilon (), commonly known as ''DKE'' or ''Deke'', is one of the oldest fraternities in the United States, with fifty-six active chapters and five active colonies across North America. It was founded at Yale College in 1844 by fifteen ...

Family and later years

Tompkins was married to Sarah Ross Wey in 1893. After graduating from Yale, Tompkins returned to Elmira and engaged in the family's wholesale grocery business. He later served as the president of the Elmira W. L. & Railroad Company. He was also the president of the Chemung Canal Trust Company, a banking company in Elmira. He died in 1918 at age 57 after a long illness. He left his estate in trust for his wife. Both the Ray Tompkins Memorial, originally a 720 acre wilderness in northwest New Haven, home to the Yale Golf Course, and the Ray Tompkins House on campus, which is home to Yale's Athletic Department, were built through a bequest from his wife, Sarah Wey Tompkins.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tompkins, Ray 1861 births 1918 deaths Yale Bulldogs football players