Ever heard of Eufaula, Oklahoma? We can’t hold that against you; Eufaula is a small farm town, population 2,500. But one of the products of its harvest, Lee Roy Selmon, is a different story. Actually, Lucious Selmon and his wife, Jessie, raised Lee Roy and all eight of his older siblings on a farm just outside of Eufaula where they grew corn, cotton, watermelon, potatoes––the whole gamut of vegetables and cattle. In addition to that, Lucious Selmon was a sharecropper. Lee Roy remembers his parents as loving Christian parents who instilled in their children the great values that continue to sustain him today.
Selmon attended Eufaula High School, and as a result of his focus on his studies, he was inducted into the National Honor Society. Outside of academics, he developed a great interest in cars, and for a while thought he might become an auto mechanic. When the opportunity to play sports arose, he was able to keep up his studies and participate in football, basketball and track (concentrating on the shot putt and discus). At the end of his senior year, he was offered a scholarship to Oklahoma University.
The transition from Eufaula and the small graduating class of 70 was no match for what Oklahoma University had in store with its student body of 25,000. “I’d never seen anything like that in my life,” said Selmon. The potentially stressful situation was tempered because his brother, Dewey, who entered college along with him, was also his roommate for the entire four years. His older brother, Lucious Jr., was already a student there, and had paved the way. Lee Roy and Dewey had visited him on campus several times before enrolling there. They had even gone to some of his games. So, when it was time to join him as a colleague, Lucious was there to help them register for classes ahead of time––even showing them the buildings where their classes would be.
“Between attending classes and being athletes, there was really not much time for anything else,” Selmon said. “…And living with my brother was really great.
It was truly a blessing because grew up together, played sports together right from the start and knew each other backward and forward and we encouraged each other.”
While at Oklahoma University, the Selmon brothers racked up a pretty impressive list of gridiron stats. If you're going to look at the greatest group of family members to play college football, the Manning clan might be at the top, but the Selmon brothers would have to be number two with Lucious, Lee Roy and Dewey Selmon all dominating college football on the defensive line. Lucious was an All-American in 1973 and considered one of the best defensive linemen ever to play at OU, and then Lee Roy took it to another level. Dewey was also an All-American. In 1973, all three started on the Sooner defensive line and combined for 234 tackles. In 1975, Lee Roy, alone, led the Sooners in tackles with 132, and finished with 324 career tackles.
In 1976, Lee Roy Selmon graduated from Oklahoma University with a degree in special education. He was drafted by Tampa Bay that same year. Says Selmon, “For me, the highlight of that draft was that my brother, Dewey, was drafted also. We thought that last game at Oklahoma would be our final game together, but because the Buccaneers, thankfully, drafted both of us, we got a chance to play six more years together here in Tampa. So that was a blessing and the reason I say this is because as a young child growing up in Oklahoma, out on the farm, during the winter months we would get so cold feeding the animals. We were in snow that was knee deep, our hands and feet got so cold, then we would come back and see on that little TV we had, commercials about vacations in sunny Florida––warmer weather and sandy beaches. I’d love to be in Florida. Certainly, when we were drafted, I thought about that and said, “Wow, dreams really do come true.”
Selmon is married to the former Clabyra Fields. The couple has three adult children –– Brandy, 25, who will graduate from the University of South Florida (USF) this December; Lee Roy Jr who has already graduated from USF, but because he still has athletic eligibility left, he is still playing and going into a second major. Their youngest son, Chris, is a US junior.
“And we still love Florida,” Said Selmon. “It is everything we imagined it to be, even after moving here 27 years ago. We’ve build deep roots here.”
After retiring from professional football in 1986, Selmon went into the banking business, having worked for a bank during the off-season for practically his entire career. Instead of being part time, he became full time at the First Florida Bank where he stayed for six years.
When Selmon was asked if he had an interest in getting involved with the university and its athletic department to help be a part of the development of a football program, he saw it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity––to be a part of something on the ground floor. Says he, “I thought it was a great way to team up with other folks in the community and at the university to try to create more opportunities for young people to come to college. That’s the way I got to Oklahoma University.” To be part of an organization that would create a window to provide 85 more scholarships opportunities was very appealing to him. Says he, “It was very attractive to me. I was very interested in it, and began working here in 1993. I came in as an associate athletic director and was thankful to be part of a great team of folks and through the years finally got the football program started––kicked it off in 1997 and getting ready to go into our seventh year of play. We opened in the 1AA program. We worked hard and two years ago became a 1A Independent Program. This year, we are 1A program, but will compete in Conference USA. This conference has five bowls affiliated with it.”
Selmon says that he is excited about the University of South Florida and its tremendous growth. Even over the 10-year period that he has been there, the face of the campus has changed with lots of new buildings and infrastructure. “Dr. Judy Genshaft is really a dynamic leader,” he said, “and the athletic system is trying to be commensurate with that growth, and I think we have done a good job with that.”
Soon after Selmon went to work for USF, he had the opportunity to open his own restaurant. This came as a result of a partnership with the founders of Outback Steakhouse. “We were just talking, I had known the founders, Robert Bashum, Chris Sullivan, and Timothy Gannon for a number of years. We were and still are on the Board of Directors,” Selmon said that he mentioned thoughts of getting into the restaurant business. They too had thoughts about raising a new concept centered around athletes. “That started our dialog,” Selmon said. “So we came up with a concept of Midwestern-southern type of food, and opened the first one in 2000. Now we have two. Right now, this is a fertile market around here, and we want to continue to develop it and perhaps eventually look at venturing out of this market area with the prototypes,” Selmon concluded. Presently, the two Lee Roy Selmon restaurants are located at 4302 W. Boy Scout Blvd. (across from International Plaza), and the most recent one, in New Tampa at 17508 Dona Michelle Dr. (1/4 mile east of I-75 & Bruce B. Downs).
Here’s a look at Lee Roy Selmon’s professional timeline:
1979:Chosen as one of America's Ten Outstanding Young Men by the U.S. Jaycees
Key member of NFC Central Division Champs; NFL Defensive Lineman of the Year; Selected All-Pro First All-League Selection; 1980: Selected All-Pro, Buccaneer Man of the Year, Kiwanis Citizen of the Year (District 8 - Florida West Coast); 1981: Key member of NFC Central Division Champs, Named NFL Defensive Player of the Year
1982: Selected All-Pro 1982-83 "Service to Mankind" Award by the Hillsboro Sertoma Club; 1983: Selected to play in Pro Bowl - NFC Team; Selected All-Pro, All-NFC
1986: Retires from professional football.
Career stats: 78 1/2 sacks, 380 quarterback pressures, forced 28 1/2 fumbles, recovered 10. Tampa Bay Buccaneers all-time leader in starts (118), #63 jersey only one retired by the Buccaneers; 1988: Inducted College Football Hall of Fame; 1993: Joined University of South Florida (USF) as Associate Athletic Director for External Affairs; spearheading effort to commence intercollegiate football; 1994: Inducted into the GTE Academic All-America Hall of Fame’ 1995: Inducted into NFL Hall of Fame; the first former Sooner and the only Tampa Bay Buccaneer to date.
"I had the opportunity to speak to the Hall of Famers who preceded me like Otto Graham, Gene Upshaw and Gale Sayers...we spoke of what it all means to join the Hall and it goes far beyond what's on the football field. It goes and stretches right into life. And how you can use it to reach out to help others. That's the true meaning of the Pro Football Hall of Fame."
