Podcast: "The Proper State of Mind" by Ray Eliot

Ray Eliot-Circa 1950

In 1969, Coach Ray Eliot delivered a famous speech on “The Proper State of Mind” about what it takes to be a real man and live a BIG life with courage. While the speech centered around football, it was not really about football; it was about a man’s life. The speech was then marketed through vinyl LP sales by the Athletic Enterprises Company.

University of Illinois Rose Bowls under Coach Ray Eliot:

1946 Rose Bowl Champions: Illinois 45-UCLA 14
1951 Rose Bowl Champions: Illinois 40-Stanford 7

Raymond Eliot Nusspickel (June 13, 1905 – February 24, 1980) was an American football and baseball player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Illinois College from 1933 to 1936 and at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from 1942 to 1959, compiling a career college football record of 102–82–13. Eliot was also the head baseball coach at Illinois College from 1933 to 1937. His Illinois Fighting Illini football teams won three Big Ten Conference championships (1946, 1951, and 1953) and two Rose Bowls (1947 and 1952). Eliot, who spent almost his entire career at the University of Illinois—he was a student-athlete, an assistant football coach, head football coach, associate athletic director, and finally the interim athletic director for the university—was nicknamed “Mr. Illini.” He attended the University of Illinois, played as a guard on the football team in 1930 and 1931, and was a member of the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity. He died of an apparent heart attack on February 24, 1980, in Urbana, Illinois. (Source: Wikipedia)