Professor Carl Esak Pray was the Head of the Department of History and Social Science at Michigan State Normal College from 1913 to 1937.

Pray was born near Dimondable, Eaton County, Michigan, on 30 March 1870. After completing eighth grade, Pray began teaching at a district school while simultaneously working his way through Olivet College; upon his graduation he became the principal of Olivet High School. In 1902 Pray moved to Milwaukee and accepted the position as head of the History Department of the Milwaukee Normal College. His cousin, Charles McKenny, was a fellow faculty member, and later became president of Michigan State Normal College. Pray earned his M.A. at the University of Wisconsin in 1913, and became head of the Department of History at Michigan State Normal College the same year.

While teaching in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan at the end of the century, Pray met and married Miss Ruth Ellen Crim, and they had four children. In 1944, Pray was voted "Outstanding Citizen of Ypsilanti," by the American Legion and was a charter member of the Ypsilanti Kiwanis, serving as their president as well.