Dear Friends,
Sorry to see the passing of one of the great running backs of Eastern's football history. In almost every game he played in, he either broke away for a touchdown, or long gainer.
I don't know if he changed the spelling of his last name to Radcliff. If, there were articles about him in past programs, newspaper stories, etc., while at Eastern his name was spelled Ratcliff. In fact, his nickname was "Rat", and he had a picture of a rat on the back of his helmet at one time.

Before my time but no doubt historians of EMU football recognize what a GREAT player Larry Ratcliff was. He will forever be part of EMU football lore. Sorry to hear of his passing.

(06-12-2018 12:25 PM)Ken Barna Wrote:  Dear Friends,
Sorry to see the passing of one of the great running backs of Eastern's football history. In almost every game he played in, he either broke away for a touchdown, or long gainer.
I don't know if he changed the spelling of his last name to Radcliff. If, there were articles about him in past programs, newspaper stories, etc., while at Eastern his name was spelled Ratcliff. In fact, his nickname was "Rat", and he had a picture of a rat on the back of his helmet at one time.

https://www.google.com/search?q=larry+ra...b6JHy4agM:

Dear steve,
Thanks for posting the photos of Larry when he played for the Detroit Wheels. I always wondered what it was like for him and Eastern's former coach (Boisture) to play their home games in Rynearson Stadium.

Dear Friends,
Just a footnote to Larry, my brother and I attended his funeral, and was quite surprised by the turnout of people to honor Larry and his family. Easily 200 people in attendance, and everyone spoke highly of Larry's life.
His former helmet was on display, and sure enough, the picture of the rat was there. He had also changed the spelling of his name to Radcliff, so, depending on when someone speaks of Larry, one may see two different spellings of his last name.