CASPER, Wyo. -- Earl "Shadow'' Ray, a member of Wyoming's 1943 NCAA championship team, died after a four-year battle with Alzheimer's disease.

Ray, who was 79, died May 13.

"He was so little and fast, they thought he looked like a shadow running,'' his widow, Eloise, said this week.

Ray emerged from the playground at McKinley Elementary School in Casper to become one of the top all-around high school athletes of his time in Wyoming.

He graduated from Natrona County High School in 1940, then went on to excel in football, track and basketball at UW, lettering in each.

Kenny Sailors, an All-America on the 1943 basketball team, said he was saddened by the news.

"I think there's only about two of us left now,'' he said of that squad.

The '43 team will be inducted into the Wyoming Sports Hall of Fame in Casper on June 21.

Sailors, 81, who lives on a ranch in Gooding, Idaho, lost his wife about a month ago to Alzheimer's.

"It's hard, but we realize we've all got to go sooner or later,'' he said.

Ray set numerous high school records, especially in track, where he was a standout pole vaulter in the days when athletes landed on sawdust.

He lettered at UW as a guard in basketball from 1943-46 and as a running back in football from 1941-42 and in 1947.

He was all-conference in football each season and led the nation in kickoff return yards in 1941 with 496 yards on 23 returns.

Like many college athletes of his generation, his career was interrupted by World War II. He enlisted in the Army in 1942, went to officer's training at Fort Benning, Ga., and was honorably discharged in 1943.

Ray married Eloise Cansler, of Detroit, Mich., on April 26, 1947, the same year he returned to Casper as head basketball coach at Natrona County High School.

In 1949, the Mustangs won the state championship and Ray was named coach of the year.

He spent 26 years teaching and coaching in Casper schools.

From 1970-80 he owned and operated the Alibi Bar and Lounge and later acquired the Viking Restaurant and Lounge.

He was also a licensed real estate agent and served as president of the Wyoming Liquor Dealers Association and national vice president of the Rocky Mountain Division of the National Association of Liquor Dealers.

Ray was born Aug. 1, 1922, in Springfield, Mo. His family moved to Casper in 1924.

He was preceded in death by a daughter, Shadra Ray Leach, and both his parents. Survivors include his wife, Eloise; two sisters, Peggy Tobin, of Casper, and Mary Hoffman, of Boise, Idaho; brother, Oscar Ray, of Casper; son, Jim Ray, of Casper; and eight grandchildren.

At his request, no funeral was held.