2. Buccaneers DE Lee Roy Selmon – 1976-1985

By Mark Cook

Selmon grew up practically a member of a football team as he was the youngest of nine children. Growing up in rural Oklahoma, Selmon learned the values of hard work. Following high school, Selmon and his brother Dewey went to the University of Oklahoma where they helped the Sooners win back-to-back national championships in 1974 and 1975. Selmon won numerous collegiate awards and ended up being the first pick of the expansion Buccaneers in 1976. It proved to be one of the best selections in franchise history. Despite the Bucs going 0-14 in their first year, Selmon won the Bucs defensive rookie of the year and team MVP awards and later went onto play in six straight Pro Bowls.

Selmon’s play helped lead the Buccaneers to the NFC Championship game in just their fourth season, and Selmon was the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year in 1979. Selmon still holds the Bucs record for sacks with 78.5 and was the very first Ring of Honor inductee in 2009.

After a back injury suffered in the 1984 Pro Bowl, Selmon retired from the NFL, and entered the private banking sector. Later Selmon joined the athletic department at USF, helping to launch football at the Tampa school and was USF’s athletic director from 2001 to 2004. Selmon was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1995, the first Bucs player to be enshrined.

Selmon suffered a massive stroke in 2011, and passed away a few days later, stunning the community who lost the “Gentle Giant” at just 56 years of age. The USF Bulls and the Buccaneers wore No. 63 decals on their helmets that season.

Cook’s Take: “If there was ever a nicer or more humble former Bucs player than Lee Roy, I am still waiting to meet him. Quiet and soft spoken off the field, Selmon was a monster on it. Even then, his playing style was as violent as you see with some premier pass rushers. Selmon just kind of swallowed quarterbacks. Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski probably still has nightmares from the 1979 playoff game at the old Tampa Stadium where it seemed Selmon was permanently attached to his back. I remember as a young reporter for a sports station in 1994 visiting the old One Buc and saw Selmon who had just joined the USF staff. I was nervous to talk to him, but ended up doing a 20-minute interview on the back porch at One Buc. I was a nobody, yet Selmon treated me like I was Chris Berman that afternoon. It’s an afternoon I will always cherish. After Lee Roy passed I sat down and wrote this column about him. One of my proudest stories.”