In 1943, Ralph was sixteen years old and in his last year of high school at Woodhouse Grammar School in Sheffield, England. The school was called Woodhouse Grammar School because it was named after the town of Woodhouse. Ralph did not live near the school, so he had to take the town bus. The school was two storeys high, was not big, and was made of stone. It was a public school open to both girls and boys from Grades 1 through 13. All the students had to wear uniforms. The school day started at 9:00 a.m., lunch was from 12:00 to 1:00, and the school day ended at 3:00 p.m. At Woodhouse, Ralph had two opportunities that eventually led him to make a big decision.
Ralph's school had a soccer team called the First Eleven. In England, they called soccer football. The rules for football were a little different from soccer. Back then, you were allowed to tackle other players in English football. Ralph started playing football when he was three years old. He always played centre-half defence. When he did not want to play football, Ralph and his friends would play cricket and touch rugby. Scouts from the Rotherham United football team were looking for talent and saw Ralph's ability. When he was in Grade 13, he got to try out for this professional football team.
Ralph was a great football player, but he was also a great woodwork student. Ralph enjoyed working with his hands, which was why he loved woodworking. Ralph's headmaster said to him, "Don't become a professional football player because you would only get paid a certain amount. By the time you get to be thirty-five or thirty-six, the team won't want you to play anymore. The team will only want to keep young and fast people. You may also not want to play football anymore. Then what are you going to do? You should be a woodwork teacher because you are good at woodworking."
Ralph decided to become a teacher. He taught in England at schools including Hucklow Road School and Clarence Road School. He later taught in Canada at Bramalea Secondary School in Brampton. Ralph taught Grades 7 and 8, with twenty students at a time. Ralph was fifty-eight when he retired after many years of teaching. He does not regret choosing teaching instead of becoming a professional football player. He felt he had made a good decision.