Irving Pray

{{Short description|American football coach (1886–1948)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}

{{Infobox college coach

| name = Irving Pray

| image =

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1886|12|25}}

| birth_place = Natick, Massachusetts, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1948|8|27|1886|12|25}}

| death_place = Alexandria, Louisiana, U.S.

| alma_mater =

| coach_sport1 = Football

| coach_years2 = 1911

| coach_team2 = Natick HS (MA)

| coach_years3 = 1913–1914

| coach_team3 = Norwich

| coach_years4 = 1915

| coach_team4 = Salem HS (MA)

| coach_years5 = 1916

| coach_team5 = LSU

| coach_years6 = 1919

| coach_team6 = LSU

| coach_years7 = 1922

| coach_team7 = LSU

| coach_sport8 = Baseball

| coach_years9 = 1912

| coach_team9 = Natick HS (MA)

| overall_record = 11–20 (college football)

| bowl_record =

| tournament_record =

| championships =

| awards =

| coaching_records =

}}

Irving Rudolph Pray (December 25, 1886 – August 27, 1948) was an American football coach. He served as the head football coach at Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont from 1913 to 1914 and Louisiana State University (LSU) for part of the 1916 season and for full seasons in 1919 and 1922, compiling a career college football coaching record of 11–20.{{cite web|url=http://www.lsusports.net/fls/5200/assets/docs/fb/pdf/17guide.pdf|title=LSU Year-by-Year Records|publisher=lsusports.net|page=107|accessdate=July 29, 2018|archive-date=January 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180119120040/http://www.lsusports.net/fls/5200/assets/docs/fb/pdf/17guide.pdf|url-status=dead}}

Pray was a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.{{cite book|title=Register of Former Students with an Account of the Alumni Associations, May 1915|author=Massachusetts Institute of Technology|date=1915|publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SIlMAAAAYAAJ|page=399|accessdate=April 13, 2015}} He was born in Natick, Massachusetts and died in Alexandria, Louisiana.{{cite web|url=https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FXDL-R7X|title=Person Details for Irving Rudolph Pray, "Massachusetts, Births, 1841-1915" — FamilySearch.org|publisher=familysearch.org|accessdate=April 13, 2015}}{{cite web|url=https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F378-65W|title=Person Details for Irving R Pray, "Louisiana, Deaths Index, 1850-1875, 1894-1956" — FamilySearch.org|publisher=familysearch.org|accessdate=April 13, 2015}}

Pray was the head football coach at Natick High School, in hometown in 1911. In 1915, he appointed head football coach at Salem High School in Salem, Massachusetts, succeeding Harold McDevitt.{{cite news |author= |title=Pray To Coach Salem High School Eleven |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/66031573/the-boston-globe/ |newspaper=The Boston Globe |location=Boston, Massachusetts |date=August 7, 1915 |page=2 |access-date=December 26, 2020 |via=Newspapers.com {{Open access}} }}