Country artist Stephen Ray talks about his famous dad (Steve Mariucci), growing up in Green Bay and singing the national anthem at Lambeau
When Stephen Ray performed the national anthem at Lambeau Field on New Year’s Day, he wore a vintage 1994 Green Bay Packers parka.
In hindsight, he might have been overdressed.
“Honestly, I probably didn’t need to, because I think it was in the 30s or 40s that day, surprisingly,” Ray said. “I was the only one in the stadium wearing that thick of a jacket.”
But his was no ordinary outerwear. It was the same coat his dad, Steve Mariucci, wore on the sidelines of Lambeau when he was the Packers quarterbacks coach from 1992 to 1995, back when a young Brett Favre was leading the team.
Ray wore it as a memento to mark a full-circle moment in his life — the little kid who once played a neighborhood football game with legendary defensive end Reggie White was now a Nashville-based country music artist singing his first NFL national anthem in front of 80,000 fans.
“Who would’ve thought I’d be in my 30s and all of a sudden going back to Lambeau to sing the national anthem? It’s just crazy,” said Ray, who first got into music with his brother while in middle school. “That was definitely the biggest crowd I’ve ever sang in front of in my life. It was awesome.”
He’s been asked to do the honors again for Sunday’s Los Angeles Rams-Packers game, and he’s planning another wardrobe nod to his dad’s time in Green Bay. He has his eye on one of his old Packers sweatshirts, but it will be a game-time decision, based on the weather. A closet full of choices is one of the perks of having a father who is “a hoarder of sorts.”
Putting Brett Favre in a chokehold for a Prange Way ad in 1993
After Green Bay, Mariucci, the Iron Mountain, Michigan, native nicknamed “Mooch,” went on to become head coach of the San Francisco 49ers and Detroit Lions. He's currently an analyst with the NFL Network.
Ray’s allegiance to teams shifted over the years as his dad’s career did and the family moved from NFL city to city, but a couple of memories stand out from his time in Green Bay. He was little, ages 2 to 7, during that era, with two older brothers, Tyler and Adam, and a little sister, Brielle, born in Green Bay in 1995.
He remembers a photo shoot with his brothers and Favre at Lambeau Field in 1993 for the cover of a sales circular for Wisconsin discount department store Prange Way. It shows the three boys pretending to tackle Favre. That’s Ray putting No. 4 in a chokehold. It’s a time capsule of those days, right down to the advertised sale price of $18.99 for Riders jeans and eight school folders for 96 cents.
Mariucci likes to tell a story of how the whole neighborhood would come over to the family’s house in Green Bay to play football, including Reggie White and his children. Ray was one of the younger kids in the group and hadn’t gotten the ball in the game yet, so Mariucci asked White to throw it to him. He did, but Ray missed it. The ball hit him in the head and he started crying.
In the group picture after the game, there’s Ray still pouting. His dad is holding him as he’s crying on his shoulder while everyone else is smiling and hanging on White.
A couple of those old childhood buddies from his street still live in Wisconsin and were at the Minnesota Vikings-Packers game in January when he sang the anthem.
“Just looking at old photos of us with Brett Favre and Reggie White and just kind of the glory days it felt like of growing up with those guys,” Ray said. “Just a cool experience to be able to go back and sing the anthem there now.”
It was Matt LaFleur's idea for him to sing the national anthem
He owes the opportunity to Packers head coach Matt LaFleur. The two met a couple of years ago when Ray was performing at a West Coast songwriters festival that LaFleur and his brother and their families attended. The families, along with Ray and his parents, were all hanging out together a night or two later when LaFleur mentioned that he should perform the anthem at Lambeau Field sometime.
A few weeks later, the call came from the Packers.
Ray has performed the anthem at smaller events and charity functions, including in August for the Kingsford Centennial in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. (“It’s God’s country up there,” he says of the U.P.) He had nearly a year to prepare for his Lambeau debut, and as a coach’s son, he made sure he put in the practice time. He's pretty sure he drove his wife, Devin, crazy singing it every day at their house for eight months straight.
When it was time to take the field, it was more excitement than nerves.
“Just doing it was a very surreal feeling. I thought I would be more nervous for it, but I just wasn’t,” Ray said. “I don’t know if that came from growing up on NFL football fields over the years, watching my dad coach and being comfortable out on the field.”
He pulled it off without his two greatest fears: messing up the lyrics or his voice cracking.
He has opened for Big & Rich and performed with Toby Keith
Ray moved to Nashville four years ago after he and Devin fell in love with the city’s rich music scene. He pays the bills with a full-time job as a sales director at a digital agency, but the move was a way to embed himself in the Nashville music community, in hopes that one day he can make his living making music.
He’s always writing. His newest single, “Broken Heart Record,” came out in July, and he expects to drop another before year’s end. (Follow his music on Spotify and Instagram @stephenraymusic.)
He performs a couple of times a month doing Nashville songwriting rounds. He was among the opening acts for Big & Rich in Kingsford. A couple of years ago, Toby Keith brought him onstage to perform together. He doesn't tour, instead working in select gigs that allow him to balance his career with his love of music, like a performance at the Steve Mariucci Family Beacon House in Marquette, Michigan, earlier this year.
“After that Vikings game, I decided I’m only performing if it’s over 50,000 people,” he joked. “Quality, not quantity.”
He’s grateful for the music industry connections LaFleur and his wife, BreAnne, have shared from their time in Tennessee when he was offensive coordinator for the Titans.
His mom will be at Lambeau when he performs on Sunday.
He took Devin, who was born and raised in San Diego, to her first game at the stadium in September 2017. With a kickoff temperature of 89, it was the hottest game in Lambeau history. She became a fan immediately and has been to a handful of games since, including on New Year’s Day. She joined her husband in wearing one of Mariucci’s old Packers coats.
Ray was touched by how many people within the Packers organization came up to him during that visit, from security personnel to equipment managers, to tell him they’ve been working there since his dad did and wanted to be sure to say hello to him. You don't find that at just any NFL team, he said.
It was a reminder of how lucky he's been.
“Any NFL coach’s kid will tell you this, but you get older and you realize it more, being an NFL coach is a grind and it’s a huge commitment and it’s so much time. A lot of times it can pull you away from your family, just because of the amount of time you have to spend coaching at the facilities, but at the end of the day, we look back and we had our parents there supporting us constantly,” Ray said.
“Our memories as kids are around those football teams and with those players, growing up around guys like Steve Young, Jerry Rice or Brett Favre and all these NFL legends. Being able to be part of that and experience it growing up was obviously a huge blessing.”
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Kendra Meinert is an entertainment and feature writer at the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at 920-431-8347 or kmeinert@greenbay.gannett.com. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @KendraMeinert.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Steve Mariucci's son, Stephen Ray, thrilled to sing anthem at Lambeau
