“They cut my nails, put me in scrubs, and said I’d probably have to reach in up to my neck. They also said (the dolphin) wouldn’t bite.”
In 1978, Golden State Warriors’ center Clifford Ray saved a dolphin by reaching into its stomach and pulling out a bolt it had swallowed. Former NBA champion Clifford Ray, Jr. will be in front of Old Fisherman’s Grotto on Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey, owned by his “best friend” Chris Shake, to greet the community and sign copies of his children’s book, “Big Clifford Ray Saves the Day” on April 27.
“I actually became quite famous as the drum major,” said Ray, 75. “And I was part of a really good choir. We were invited to sing at the Washington National Cathedral in DC, where we sang in front of the Kennedys, whom I met.”Ray’s musical proclivities landed him a music scholarship to Grambling State University, and an invitation to become drum major for their world-famous GSU Tiger Marching Band.
Ray was taken to Marine World/Africa USA in Redwood City, where “Spock,” a bottlenose dolphin was in serious distress, after swallowing a bolt with a sharp screw, which presumably had fallen off the maintenance crew’s vacuum and into his tank. The park veterinarian, unwilling to perform a risky operation, and having failed, after using forceps, to retrieve the bolt from the dolphin’s stomach, lamented that he didn’t have long-enough arms to help retrieve the bolt.
“I love dolphins,” said Ray. “The first time I went to a movie, they were playing ‘Flipper.’ . I thought dolphins were so cool. And now here I was, all those years later, about to reach my whole arm down into a dolphin’s stomach, to save his life. I was so excited. And I actually was successful on my first try. As soon as I brought out that screw, the news went all over the world. I was featured in National Geographic.
Some 45 years after the Marine World event, Ray and his writing partner, Laynie D. Weaver, released “Big Clifford Ray Saves the Day,” a colorful children’s book, illustrated by Weaver’s sister, artist C. Courtney Weaver. The 52-page book, a brief biography presented in rhyming verse, begins with a boy, learning to fish, imagining far-off oceans, and falling in love with “Flipper.” It concludes with Ray’s daring dolphin rescue.
“Clifford picked me up at the airport, gave me a room in his house, and we interviewed for four days,” she said. “He’s a great cook; we did most of our interviews over our meals. And then we’d go to the gym.”
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