Ray Keeler

{{Short description|American football player and coach (1891–1945)}}

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

{{Infobox college coach

| name = Ray Keeler

| image = Ray Keeler (Wisconsin).png

| alt =

| caption = Keeler from Wisconsin's 1914 yearbook

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1891|4|24|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Bagley, Wisconsin, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1945|11|8|1891|4|24|mf=y}}

| death_place = Eau Claire, Wisconsin, U.S.

| alma_mater =

| player_years1 = 1912–1914

| player_team1 = Wisconsin

| player_positions = Guard

| coach_years1 = 1917–1929

| coach_team1 = Wisconsin State Teachers

| overall_record = 43–25–15

| bowl_record =

| tournament_record =

| championships = 3 WIAC (1917, 1919, 1927)

| awards =

• Consensus All-American (1913)
• Second-team All-American (1914)
• 2× First-team All-Western (1912, 1913)

| coaching_records =

}}

Raymond Monroe "Tubby" Keeler (April 24, 1891Draft registration card dated June 5, 1917, for Ray Monroe Keeler, born April 24, 1891, at Bagley, Wisconsin, employed as athletic coach at the Normal School in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. – November 8, 1945) was an American football player and coach.

Keeler attended the University of Wisconsin, where he played for the Wisconsin Badgers football team and was selected as a consensus first-team honoree at the guard position on the 1913 College Football All-America Team.{{cite web|title=2012 NCAA Football Records: Consensus All-America Selections|publisher=National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)|year=2012|access-date=August 15, 2014|page=4|url=http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/2012/Awards.pdf}} He was six feet tall and weighed 185 pounds during the 1913 season.1914 University of Wisconsin yearbook, p. 234. He also competed on the Wisconsin track team in the shot put and hammer throw events.University of Wisconsin yearbook, 1915, p. 272 (listing Raymond Monroe Wheeler as a letter winner for the track team in the shot put and hammer throw).

Keeler later served as the head football coach at the Wisconsin State Teachers College—later renamed the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse—from 1917 to 1929. In 13 years as the head football coach, Keeler's teams won three conference championships and compiled a record of 43 wins, 25 losses, and 15 ties.{{cite web|title=The Development of Football at Wisconsin State University - La Crosse|author=Thomas Marshall|date=August 1967|publisher=Murphy Library, University of Wisconsin|page=17|url=http://murphylibrary.uwlax.edu/digital/seminar/1967/Marshall.pdf}}{{cite book|title=On Wisconsin!: A Celebration of Football, Basketball, and Other Badger Sports|author=Don Kopriva |author2=Jim Mott |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.|year=2014|isbn=978-1-61321-342-1|page=30}}{{Cite web |title=Football All Time Coaches Records (PDF) - Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference |url=https://wiacsports.com/documents/2010/6/18/FootballCoachRecords.pdf?id=72 |access-date=2023-11-09 |website=wiacsports.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=2022 Football Records Revised (PDF) |url=https://uwlathletics.com/documents/2023/7/27/2022_Football_Records_Revised.pdf |access-date=2023-11-09 |website=University of Wisconsin La Crosse Athletics |language=en}}

Keeler died of a heart attack while visiting Eau Claire, Wisconsin.{{cite news|title=Heart Attack Takes Life of La Crosse Man|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13835125/ray_keeler_18911945/|newspaper=Eau Claire Leader |date=November 8, 1945|page=2|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = September 18, 2017}} {{Open access}}