Ray Schoenke

Raymond Frederick Schoenke (born September 10, 1941 in Wahiawa, Hawaii) is a former American football player in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins. He was the founding President of the American Hunters and Shooters Association, which the Brady Campaign, an pro-gun-regulation organization, considered to be 'complementary' to its own goals. In addition to owning a 300 acre hunting preserve on Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay, he has hunted throughout the United States and Europe.

Schoenke was a candidate for Governor of Maryland in 1998.

Early life
Schoenke is part native Hawaiian and the son of Raymond "Snowshoes" Schoenke Sr., member of the U.S. Army’s Schofield Barracks Oahu, Hawaii, 3rd Engineering Corp baseball and basketball teams in the 1920s and 30s; and Olivia Alapa a native Hawaiian.

Football career
From 1963 to 1975, Schoenke played professional football for the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Redskins. In 1987, he was selected for the "50th Anniversary Greatest Redskins Team.” In 2002, Schoenke was picked as one of the top 100 players in the history of the Redskins. Ray graduated from Weatherford (Tx.) High School where he was an all state lineman with the Kangaroos . An All-American and Academic All-American at Southern Methodist University, Schoenke was also named to SMU's 75th Anniversary All Time Football Team. He also received the Silver Anniversary Mustang Award from the SMU Letterman’s Association.

After football
Schoenke has more than 30 years experience in business. While he played football, he began building a national insurance brokerage firm, Schoenke & Associates. In 1998, his company was purchased by Clark Consulting Inc., a NYSE company.

Schoenke has been a political activist, from president of his local citizen's association to working in county, state, federal and 6 presidential campaigns. In 1972, he enlisted and organized over a hundred professional football players in supporting George McGovern's presidential campaign.

Schoenke was a member of the transition team of Republican Governor Robert Ehrlich and serves on the governor's Medical Malpractice Task Force. He has also served on several boards and commissions a few being Kamehameha Schools Advisory Board of Honolulu, Maryland Department of Natural Resources Outdoor Caucus, and the Maryland Governor’s Commission on Gun Violence. He was appointed by the Secretary of Army to help in the transition of the Civilian Marksmanship Program to a private non-profit corporation. He was awarded the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation "Kennedy Family Award" for his role in the formation of the Special Olympics and his work with the mentally challenged.