Raymond Demont Austin (born December 21, 1974) is a former American football safety in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Tennessee and was drafted by the New York Jets in the fifth round of the 1997 NFL draft.[1][2][3][4] He also played for the Chicago Bears in the NFL and the Chicago Enforcers of the XFL.[5] In 2017 he started the Fan Controlled Sports League and is currently the league Commissioner.
 Ray Austin- Premiere "100 Days Of Summer" | |||||
| No. 36 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Safety | ||||
| Personal information | |||||
| Born: | December 21, 1974 Greensboro, North Carolina, U.S. | ||||
| Height: | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||
| Weight: | 190 lb (86 kg) | ||||
| Career information | |||||
| College: | Tennessee | ||||
| NFL draft: | 1997 / round: 5 / pick: 145 | ||||
| Career history | |||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||
| |||||
Besides his association with sports, he has been acting since 2005 with roles on Prison Break, Detroit 1-8-7, Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D. and Empire.
Fan Controlled Sports & Entertainment
editIn 2017, Ray became one of the founders of Fan Controlled Football (FCF).[6] FCF raised $3m from angels investors, $12m in a pre-seed, and $40m in a Series A in 2020 with Lightspeed Ventures leading the seed round, Animoca Brands and Delphi Digital leading the Series A.[7] The league had its first season in 2021 with 4 teams playing 12 games each. In 2022, the league grew to 8 teams and announced a new broadcast deal with NBCUniversal subsidiary NBCLX and Peacock to broadcast every game of the 2022 season.[8][9][10]
Ray currently serves as the FCF league Commissioner.[11]
ATHLYT
editRay is a co-founder and Chief Brand Officer of ATHLYT, a startup looking to connect college athletes with advertisers. In 2022 the NCAA began allowing student athletes to profit from their name, image and, likeness (NIL) which allowed companies like ATHLYT to start helping college student athletes to start earning from their NIL.[12][13]
Filmography
edit| Year | Film | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | The Trouble with Dee Dee | Reggie Bailey |
| 2006 | Prison Break | Sally Port C.O. |
| 2009 | The Beast | Agent #1 / #3 / Agent |
| 2010 | Polish Bar | Rooney |
| 2010 | Detroit 1-8-7 | Dutch |
| 2011 | The Chicago Code | Beat Copper #2 |
| 2012 | Boss | Protest Sheriff |
| 2014 | Sirens | Wedding Guest #3 |
| 2014 | 100 Days of Summer | Self |
| 2012 - 2017 | Chicago Fire | Officer Hiller |
| 2016 - 2020 | Chicago P.D. | Officer Hiller / Joe Mason / Uni |
| 2016 - 2020 | Empire | John Holloway |
| 2021 | The Big Leap | Treyson |
NFL Statistics
edit| Year | Team | Games | Tackles | Interceptions | Fumbles | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Cmb | Solo | Ast | Sck | PD | Int | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | FF | FR | ||
| 1997 | NYJ | 16 | 0 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1998 | CHI | 12 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1999 | CHI | 15 | 0 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Career | 43 | 0 | 28 | 17 | 11 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Tennessee Volunteers Stats
edit| Year | Team | Games | Tackles | Interceptions | Fumbles | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Cmb | Solo | Ast | Sck | PD | Int | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | FF | FR | ||
| 1993 | TEN | 11 | 1 | 4 | 4.0 | 0 | |||||||||
| 1995 | TEN | 11 | 3 | 5 | 1.7 | 0 | |||||||||
| 1996 | TEN | 11 | 4 | 54 | 13.5 | 0 | |||||||||
| Career | 33 | 8 | 63 | 7.9 | 0 | ||||||||||
References
edit- ^ Purdy, Michael (February 10, 2014). "Alumnus, Football Player on Bravo TV Show". University of Tennessee. Retrieved March 6, 2024.
- ^ "1997 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
- ^ Eskenazi, Gerald (August 19, 1997). "Jets Filled With Rookies As Last Cut Approaches". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
- ^ "1997 New York Jets Draft". 247Sports. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
- ^ XFL bio
- ^ "Former NFL player Ray Austin may bring indoor football back to Salt Lake City". FOX 13 News Utah (KSTU). February 20, 2016. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
- ^ Casey, Tim (January 12, 2022). "Fan Controlled Football League Raises $40 Million Series A Round Led By Crypto Investors". Forbes. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
- ^ Feldman, Jacob (October 7, 2021). "Fan Controlled Football Prepares for Second Season With More Teams, Linear Distribution". Sportico.com. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
- ^ "FCF is Back for Season v2.0 – FCF NEWS". Retrieved November 4, 2022.
- ^ "Football league controlled by fans will stream on Twitch". SFGATE. April 9, 2018. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
- ^ "Power to the Fan: Inside a Former NFL Player's Rise to Commish of Fan Controlled Football". sporttechie.com. February 8, 2021. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
- ^ "ATHLYT looks to leverage student athletics brand market". Boise Entreprenuer Week. Retrieved March 6, 2024.
- ^ Magers, Sean (July 27, 2022). "A chat with Fan Controlled Football Commissioner Ray Austin". 256 Today. Retrieved November 5, 2022.