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What's in a name: Lee Roy Selmon Expressway
Lee Roy Selmon, who played for Oklahoma and Tampa Bay, is athletic director at the University of South Florida.
By MICHAEL CANNING, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published September 6, 2002
He is the first, and so far only, Tampa Bay Buccaneer to make the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He has involved himself with many local charities, including the Children's Cancer Center, Ronald McDonald House, Special Olympics and the United Negro College Fund.
He's even made his mother's formidable meatloaf recipe available to all at his Tampa restaurant, Lee Roy Selmon's.
Selmon, 48, came from a football family in Eufaula, Okla. In 1975, he helped the University of Oklahoma's national championship team with 132 tackles and won the Lombardi Award. The next year, in 1976, he was the first player selected by the Bucs' expansion draft. In 1979 he was the NFL's most decorated defensive player. In the early '80s, he led the Bucs three times into the playoffs, took All-Pro, Pro Bowl and All-NFC honors and was NFC Defensive Lineman of the Year.
When he retired in 1986, the Bucs retired his jersey number (63). Along with his charitable efforts, Selmon increased his civic profile. He served on the Florida State Fair Authority and was First Florida Bank's vice president of community relations.
Beginning in 1993, Selmon led the successful push for a football team for the University of South Florida as the school's associate athletic director.
The Brandon-South Tampa connector was named for him in 1996. In 2001, USF promoted him to athletic director.
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