Celebrating Longhorn baseball player Ray Dulak’s life- killed in Vietnam at the age of 26

Rey Moreno, a past manager of Track and Field for the Longhorns, sent TLSN a story about Whataburger sponsoring young athletes dreaming of future greatness in the late 1950s.

In those years, the Whataburger promotion stated:

“It’s Not Whether You Win or Lose, It’s Where You Eat After the Game That’s Important.”

Future Longhorn baseball player #11 was on the Whataburger team.

As a Longhorn Texas Coach, Bibb Falk moved him from pitcher to first base and sometimes to the outfield so that Falk could exploit Ray’s hitting skills at the plate.

Horns ????

Jim Raup shares his memories of Ray Dulak

Jim wrote an award-winning recollection of his last game as a pitcher for the Longhorns, and the link to his article is at https://www.texaslsn.org/jim-raup-by-horns-sports

Jim says, “I played with Ray for two years if he graduated in 1966. He was a solid player and a good guy. He definitely could hit college pitching.”

“I heard about his death when it happened, and I recently found Ray and Terry Hale, our student trainer, on the Viet Nam Wall at this site https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/

Jim remembers, “he was a very good LH hitter, and my memory says Dulak won an aTm game with a late-inning home run.” The photo is Ray.

Jim continues, “The Viet Nam part of that account is, sadly, true.” “The story being told back then was Ray’s job as a helicopter pilot was to fly Generals and other big brass around after battles to survey battlefields after the fighting was over. He was thought to have a relatively safe job.”

“That is what he was doing on the day he died; small arms fire crashed his helicopter and killed him and his passengers. At the time of his death, someone told me that the flight was his last mission before leaving Viet Nam for home. I do not know if that part of his story is true.”

Jim Raup