While his IU basketball career was tragically cut short, Ray Pavy went on to a long a prosperous life.
A frequent sophomore starter during the 1960-61 season alongside IU stars Walt Bellamy, Tom Bolyard and Jimmy Rayl, Pavy passed away overnight according to multiple reports including the Indianapolis Star and Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.
Pavy’s basketball career ended in September of 1961 when he was paralyzed in an auto accident.
“Ray was beloved friend to so many around the IU Athletic Department, and I will personally miss him enormously,” said IU AD Scott Dolson in a release.
“I always looked forward to seeing him every summer at our men’s basketball reunions and catching up, as well as at so many of our basketball games in years past. While his IU playing career was cut short prematurely due to a tragic auto accident, he’s very much been an integral part of our IU Basketball family for the last 60 years. No one has represented the program any better during those 60 years than Ray. I want to extend my deepest condolences to Karen and the entire Pavy family.”
IU president Herman B. Wells moved the location of classes to accessible rooms so Pavy could continue to pursue his degree in Bloomington.
Pavy attended New Castle High School in Indiana and famously combined with Rayl for 100 points in a game remembered as the Church Street shootout. Pavy scored 51 to lead New Castle to the win over Rayl and his Kokomo squad.
Before moving to New Castle after his freshman year of high school, Pavy grew up in Sullivan, Ind. where he developed an affection for Branch McCracken and the IU basketball program. He averaged 2.5 points in 18 games in his lone season with the Hoosiers.
Pavy graduated from IU in 1965 and went on to a successful career as a coach and school administrator. He accomplished his goal of becoming a high school basketball coach in 1966 at Sulphur Springs where he led his team to a Sectional tile, just the fourth for the school in 17 years. He was then hired to coach Shenendoah, a consolidation of Sulphur Springs, Cadiz and Middletown where he stayed for six seasons, winning two more Sectional titles.
Pavy returned to New Castle to teach children with disabilities and serve as an assistant basketball coach. He later would become Assistant Superintendent in that District, a position he would hold for 31 years. He would earn a Master’s degree and his Doctorate from Ball State.
He was inducted in the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1990.
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