Ray Tompkins

Ray Tompkins (January 28, 1861 – June 30, 1918) was an American football player and businessman.

Early years

Tompkins was born in 1861 in

In 1879, Tompkins enrolled at Yale University. He was a multi-sport athlete at Yale, competing in football, baseball, and crew.^[1] He played on the undefeated 1881, 1882, and 1883 Yale Bulldogs football teams 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.^[1][3] While at Yale, he was also a member of Skull and Bones and Delta Kappa Epsilon.^[1]

Family and later years

Tompkins was married to Sarah Ross Wey in 1893.^[1]

After graduating from Yale, Tompkins returned to Elmira and engaged in the family's wholesale grocery business.^[1][4] He later served as the president of the Elmira W. L. & Railroad Company.^[1] He was also the president of the Chemung Canal Trust Company, a banking company in Elmira.^[5] He died in 1918 at age 57 after a long illness.^[1] He left his estate in trust for his wife.^[6]

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.^[7][8]

References