Ray Purdin was born in Hillsboro, Ohio and played his college football at Northwestern. In his final season at Northwestern, Purdin was the MVP in the college Blue-Grey game and went on to be a seventh round draft pick of the Oakland Raiders. Purdin joined the Saskatchewan in 1961 and played three seasons for the Roughriders. Purdin was a double threat as a running back, equally adept at rushing or catching the ball. Purdin's best season was in 1962 when he ran for 809 yards, caught 34 passes for another 771 yards and added 437 more on kickoff returns. This earned Purdin both West and CFL All-Star Honours.
Newspaper article on Ray Purdin from the Greensfield Times-Gazzette
| Year | Team | GP | TC | Yds | Avg | TD | Long | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD | Long |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | SASK | 95 | 473 | 5 | 3 | 69 | 27 | 281 | 10.4 | 2 | 27 | |
| 1962 | SASK | 131 | 809 | 6.1 | 8 | 93 | 34 | 771 | 22.6 | 6 | 104 | |
| 1963 | SASK | 108 | 375 | 3.4 | 0 | 27 | 26 | 340 | 13 | 1 | 56 |
| Year | Team | KOR | Yds | Avg | TD | Long |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | SASK | 13 | 343 | 26.4 | 0 | 60 |
| 1962 | SASK | 17 | 437 | 25.7 | 0 | 35 |
| 1963 | SASK | 9 | 203 | 22.5 | 0 | 50 |
| Year | Team | F | FL |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | SASK | 0 | |
| 1962 | SASK | 7 | |
| 1963 | SASK | 3 |
