300 Attend Services for Ray Malavasi, Including Several Former Ram Players
About 300 people, including Raider owner Al Davis and Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda, attended funeral services for former Ram Coach Ray Malavasi at Huntington Beach Friday.
Malavasi, 57, died of a heart attack Tuesday. He was the Rams’ defensive coordinator under Chuck Knox from 1973 through 1977 and head coach from 1978 through 1982.
The Rams were represented by executives Jack Faulkner and Dick Beam, and former players Jack Youngblood, Vince Ferragamo, Dave Elmendorf, Preston Dennard, Phil Olsen and Lawrence McCutcheon, who spoke about Malavasi.
Youngblood said Malavasi had “the most influence of any one man on my career.”
Ferragamo, who played quarterback when Malavasi was head coach of the Rams’ only Super Bowl team, said: “Everybody knows that Ray was a genius as a defensive coordinator but he coached the quarterbacks the year we went to the Super Bowl.”
Father Vincent Hughes said the funeral Mass at Sts. Simon and Jude Church.
Go beyond the scoreboard
Get the latest on L.A.'s teams in the daily Sports Report newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
