Raymond J. Walsh (March 18, 1916 – August 6, 1998) 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 wit ...

executive. He served as the

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all ...

for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...

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 ma ...

(NFL) from 1947 to 1973 and remained with the team through 1993.

Early life

Walsh was born on March 18, 1916, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. He attended

Fordham Preparatory School Fordham Preparatory School (also known as Fordham Prep) is an American private, Jesuit, boys' college-preparatory school located on the Rose Hill campus of Fordham University in the Bronx, New York City. From its founding in 1841 until 1970, t ...

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, before attending

Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...

. At Fordham, he played

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...

and was the school's No. 1 singles player for three years. He went undefeated in doubles play as a junior and

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

and was known as a "fierce competitor"; according to the Fordham website, "Walsh liked to run around using his backhand and possessed a swooping forehand described by contemporaries as 'murderous'". Walsh graduated from Fordham ''

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...

'' in 1937. He later attended the

Fordham University School of Law Fordham University School of Law is the law school of Fordham University. The school is located in Manhattan in New York City, and is one of eight ABA-approved law schools in that city. In 2013, 91% of the law school's first-time test taker ...

where he graduated in 1942, and remained active in tennis affairs, including helping found the school tennis club where he was a member in the 1950s and 1960s. He was a multi-time tennis champion of

White Plains, New York (Always Faithful) , image_seal = WhitePlainsSeal.png , seal_link = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_name1 = , subdivisi ...

, in the 1950s. He was inducted into the Fordham Rams Hall of Fame in 1990.

Executive career

After having worked for a time in the insurance field, in 1947 Walsh joined the

which was owned by

Wellington Mara Wellington Timothy Mara (August 14, 1916 – October 25, 2005) was the co-owner of the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL) from 1959 until his death. He was the younger son of Tim Mara, who founded the Giants in 1925. Wellin ...

, a friend of his at Fordham. He officially held the position of

, but acted more as a scout and advisor to Mara, who performed most of the work the position usually encompassed. Walsh still served as the manager of much of the team's business affairs, and also helped run the team's radio and television operations. He ultimately served in the position for 27 seasons – from 1947 to 1973 – and helped the team compile a regular season record of 180–158–12, which included seven playoff appearances, six conference title appearances and a league championship in

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, are kille ...

. Walsh was removed as general manager and replaced by

Andy Robustelli Andrew Richard Robustelli (December 6, 1925 – May 31, 2011) was an American football defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) for the Los Angeles Rams and the New York Giants. He played college football at Arnold College and was d ...

in 1974, but remained with the team as vice president and secretary. He negotiated the team's move to

Giants Stadium Giants Stadium (sometimes referred to as Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands or The Swamp) was a stadium located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. The venue was open from 1976 to 2010, and it primarily hosted spo ...

East Rutherford, New Jersey East Rutherford is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the borough's population was 10,022, reflecting an increase of 1,109 (+12.4%) from the 8,913 counted in the 2010 census.

, in 1976. He stayed with the Giants through 1993 before announcing his retirement; he helped them win the Super Bowls for the 1986 and 1990 seasons.

Personal life and death

Walsh was married and had four children. He died on August 6, 1998, at the age of 82, in White Plains.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walsh, Ray 1916 births 1998 deaths Sportspeople from New York City Fordham Preparatory School alumni Fordham Rams tennis Fordham University alumni Fordham University School of Law alumni New York Giants executives