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| “ | You know, I know I shouldn't say this, but out of all of my players, you were always my favorite. | „ |
| ~ Masters reminding Prince of his abuse. |
Ray Masters is the main antagonist of the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Personal Fouls". He is a youth basketball coach who sexually abuses the boys he coaches.
He was portrayed by Dan Lauria, who also portrayed Salvatore Matacio in Walker: Texas Ranger and Coach Walt Arnold in Smallville.
Biography[]
Background[]
Masters was a successful basketball coach and had a track record of training players who went on to the NBA. Behind his professional persona, however, he was a pedophile who molested the boys he coached. He would stop once they hit their mid-teens, as they outgrew his preference. He also bribed them to keep quiet about the abuse.
One of his victims, Stevie Harris, became a heroin addict, another committed suicide, and another followed in his footsteps as a child molester. Masters saved the most severe abuse for his "favorite" player, future NBA star player Prince Miller, whom he molested and raped for five years, beginning when he was 10.
"Personal Fouls"[]
The NYPD's Special Victims Unit discovered Masters' abuse record when Harris discloses what Masters had done to him. He also revealed that Masters had been paying him off for years, but stopped after the statute of limitations ran out. SVU Detectives Fin Tutuola and Nick Amaro question Masters, who denies the allegations and says that he stopped giving Harris money because he did not want to feed his addiction.
They looked at other players, who all denied the allegations they were abused and refused to help the investigation. Later, the squad found Harris dead and discovered Prince's cousin/manager "Supreme" killed him to cover up the scandal, leading to his arrest.
Detectives Olivia Benson and Nick Amaro drive Prince to his old neighborhood to watch local kids play basketball, where he is bombarded with attention from fans before he sees Masters for the first time in years. Masters is being overly attentive with a boy named Devon, who clearly looked uncomfortable.
Masters takes notice of Prince and congratulates him on his fame as a professional player and says he was his "favorite" of all the boys he coached. Benson then tells Prince that Masters will be taking Devon and the other players to California for a tournament, just as he did with Prince.
Soon afterwards, Prince finds the courage to testify against Masters in front of a grand jury and hold a press conference in which he outs Masters as a child molester. Later that day, Masters is arrested by Tutuola and Amaro in front of his students.
In the end, Masters is convicted of multiple counts of child sexual abuse and imprisoned for life.
Trivia[]
- Masters is loosely based on Jerry Sandusky, an assistant football coach at Pennsylvania State University who used his children's charity, the Second Mile, to sexually abuse young boys.
External links[]
- Ray Masters on the Law & Order Wiki
