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Former OU great Lee Roy Selmon dies

NCAA.org

Former Oklahoma All-American and NFL Hall of Fame member Lee Roy Selmon died Sunday at a Tampa hospital two days after being hospitalized for a stroke. He was 56.

Selmon teamed with his brothers at Oklahoma to create a dominant defensive front that helped lead the Sooners to consecutive national championships. Selmon and his brother, Dewey, were both chosen as All-Americans in 1975 when the Sooners won their second straight championship under head coach Barry Switzer. They followed older brother Lucious to Oklahoma, and the three played together during the 1973 season.

“No Sooner player cast a longer shadow over its rich tradition than Lee Roy,” Switzer said in a statement on ESPN.com. “Beyond his many and great accomplishments, I believe the true legacy of Lee Roy Selmon lies within the kind of man he was. Lee Roy possessed a combination of grace, humility and dignity that is rare. His engaging smile and gentleness left you feeling blessed to be in his presence. Best of all, he was all genuine. One would be blessed to have a father, son, uncle, brother or friend like Lee Roy Selmon.”

Current Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said, “There was a sense of awe every time you were in Lee Roy’s presence, and yet that was the last thing he would have wanted. He accomplished so many things in life, but remained a humble, unassuming champion. I hold up many of our previous greats as examples for our current players and Lee Roy is among the very best. All of our players would do well to follow in Lee Roy’s footsteps.”

Oklahoma went 10-0-1 with all three Selmon brothers playing together in 1973, then won national titles the next two seasons. Lee Roy Selmon won the Lombardi Award and the Outland Trophy in 1975. He ended his college career with 335 tackles, a school record for a lineman at the time, and 40 for a loss.

After his college playing days, Selmon was the No. 1 pick in the 1976 draft – the first selection by the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 

In 1979, he won the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award when he helped Tampa Bay make it to the NFC championship game. The Buccaneers also won the NFC Central title two years later. In nine seasons with the Buccaneers, Selmon had 78½ sacks and earned six consecutive Pro Bowl selections. He retired after the 1984 season and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1995.

Selmon went on to play a key role in the creation of the football program at South Florida, where he was the associate athletics director starting in 1993 and served as the AD from May 2001 until he stepped down in February 2004 because of health concerns.