NFL Legend Ray Lewis Celebrates Personal News

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Hugh Green | Last updated Oct 7, 2025 1:02 PM ET

Ray Lewis had one of the greatest careers any NFL linebacker has ever had. Lewis played 17 years in the league, all of which came with the Baltimore Ravens. In those seasons, he made 12 Pro Bowl appearances, had seven First Team All-Pro selections, won two AP Defensive Player of the Year awards and won Super Bowls.

The 2,059 total tackles and 1,568 solo tackles he accumulated in his career are both NFL records. Lewis also totaled 41.5 sacks, 99 tackles-for-loss, 19 forced fumbles and 31 interceptions in 228 career regular-season games.

While Lewis was an intimidating force for opposing offenses on the field, his off-field presence has shined throughout his life.

Baltimore Ravens inside linebacker Ray Lewis (52) looks at the scoreboard against the Oakland Raiders.© Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

Lewis was a finalist for the 2003 Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, which is given to one NFL player each year for their commitment to philanthropy and community impact.

Since his retirement in 2013, Lewis has continued to help the community in major ways. In 2015, he co-founded Power52, a nonprofit that has the mission "to break the cycle of poverty, unemployment, underemployment, and incarceration in underserved urban communities, not just in Maryland but across the nation," according to the foundation's website.

This month celebrates 10 years since his foundation was created. To celebrate the anniversary, Lewis sat down with CBS News, as he spoke about the impact Power52 has had.

"You think about the impact of people's lives," Lewis said. "Yeah, I made a lot of people love Sundays and coming out and seeing the games, but when you're able to take someone who has been through a lot of trouble, drama, you don't just change them, you change their entire family," Lewis said. "This is why you live. It's purpose-driven."

The organization was created after the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Maryland, in April 2015. He died after being injured while in the custody of Baltimore Police. This caused mass protests not just in Baltimore, but around the country as well.

"It's a good feeling to know that you started something based off vision, through tragedy," Lewis said. "After the unrest of Freddie Gray, and when we started this in 2015, it was a vision. We wanted to create something that gives second and third chances, and that's exactly what we did."

This anniversary of Lewis' foundation adds another notch to the unbelievable resume of the Pro Football Hall of Famer.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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