College football and NFL hall of famer Lee Roy Selmon suffered a stroke on September 2, 2011, which left him hospitalized in extremely criticalcondition.On September 4, 2011 Selmon died from complications resulting from the stroke.
He was said to be improving, however, two days after the stroke, but sadly Lee Roy Selmon passed away at the age of 56. He is a Tampa Bay Buccaneers legend and an expressway leading into downtown Tampa is named after him.
But he also meant the world For the South Florida Bulls football program, who scored a 23-20 win at #16 Notre Dame which was a huge victory program.
From the St. Petersburg Times
USF would not have been on national television Saturday were it not for the work of former coach Jim Leavitt. No reasonable person can disagree with that. The same is true of former athletic director Paul Griffin and probably a handful of others.
Yet before the world knew anything else about USF football, they knew that Selmon was the program’s face and its heartbeat.
He was there before there were players. Before there were helmets. Before there was anything but a vague idea that a university of this size should be able to support football.
Selmon shook hands. He made calls. He used his fame to get in the door, then let his sincerity and integrity do the rest of his work as a university fundraiser.
Just how do you thank a man for letting you borrow his good name?
On Saturday, the Bulls tried by wearing his Buccaneers uniform No. 63 on the backs of their helmets. Some players put the number on their shoes, their pads and everywhere else.
USF Head Coach Skip Holtz made this known Saturday after the game:
“it’s bittersweet at the same time. On Monday we had a banquet and was talking with Leroy Selmon about how excited he was to have the opportunity to be here today and he was talking about how he had never been to Notre Dame. He was the one that started football at South Florida, and he just was so looking forward to this, and we got news yesterday that he has been hospitalized right now, which is where he still is, and our thoughts and prayers go to him. So it’s very bittersweet to have the opportunity to be here and not have the opportunity to share it with a guy like Leroy Selmon, who was kind of one of the founding fathers of this University.”
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site that generates millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports
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