By Charlie Sedman: Raymond Earl Moss Jr. was killed in a small plane crash on October 7, 1976, two days shy of his 40th birthday. His son, Ray (Trey) Moss III was probably a year old when he died.
Ray’s father was a major league pitcher for the Brooklyn Robins (later to become the Dodgers) from 1926-30 and Boston Braves (1931). His dad lived to be 96 years old, passing in 1998, and his mother lived to be 101, passing in 2007. Ray, his father, and brother-in-law started a very successful chain of convenience stores – The Golden Gallon – in 1959 as an outgrowth of the family dairy, and Ray Jr. was returning from a trip for that business when his private plane crashed near Dalton, GA.
If you saw the recent hit by Jadeveon Clowney for South Carolina in the Outback Bowl that probably allowed his team to win, Ray Moss Jr. made a similar hit on a punt return against Baylor Prep in 1954, with his team trailing 7-6, and picked up the ball, returning it for a touchdown and an eventual 18-7 win; in effect clinching Central’s fourth straight state football championship, and him a scholarship to UT. I, as an 8-year old, saw and heard it, and it was the most electrifying moment I ever witnessed at a live sporting event.
Preservation of Chattanooga Central History 
Great story, Charlie! And I didn’t know he and his family started The Golden Gallon! I remember my parents stopping to get milk at more than one of their stores.
I knew Ray Moss and his Family, and had spoke with Ray just prior to the crash as they had a Family home in Crystal River Florida and I was friends with his step son Greg Brown Moss.
They were such nice people, and my Family and I were devastated to hear what happened.
I still have a home in Crystal River and occasionally people will still ask about their Family. Holly Amos VanNess
The Golden Gallon stores started out with a different name, The Milk Jug. Ray got the idea of The Milk Jug stores from a similar operation in Knoxville known as Weigels Farm Stores that had started operation of drive thru stores while Ray was at UT. My father in law did the plumbing on the Milk Jugs and later the plumbing and petroleum piping for all of The Golden Gallons.
RAY MOSS WAS A DEAR FRIEND TO ME AT CENTRAL , AND LATER WHEN I WAS AT M.T.S.U. AND HE WAS IN THE PIKES AT U.T. WITH “BIG JIM BAIRD”. I PLAYED WITH THE VIVA-TONES MANY TIMES AT RAY;S FRATERNITY HOUSE AND HE LOVED MUSIC. HAVE THOUGHT OF HIM OFTEN OVER THE YEARS. A GREAT PERSONS WHO ENJOYED LIFE TO IT’S FULLEST. JOHNNY HOLDEN