My Encounter with Lee Roy Selmon

There are people that you meet in life, however briefly, who have a huge impact for years to come. I have had the privilege of meeting many famous people, many inspirational people, and a few interesting oddballs in my years as a journalist. None of those meetings hold a candle to a gentleman I met many years before I began doing interviews.

That man was Lee Roy Selmon. Selmon, who suffered a stroke on Friday evening at his home in Tampa and is currently in critical condition, was already a famous football player when our paths crossed, but it wasn't in connection with his athletic career that we first met.

It Was at a Bank.

In the early 1980s, I worked in the banking industry in Tampa and, for a time, Mr. Selmon and I shared employment at First Florida Bank. In the latter years of his professional playing career, he worked part-time. After retirement, he joined the bank's staff full time.

He was quiet and unassuming despite his massive physical presence. He was kind and thoughtful to every employee, regardless of their position at the bank. He was employed by the bank when his wife gave birth to their firstborn son. Those of us who had birthed our own children were in awe of his wife when word came that the child entered the world weighing in double digits.

I remember Selmon as a godly man. He was never a preacher, but a man who lived out the tenets of Christ in humbleness. Selmon was always a man of honor and integrity, who never flaunted his fame.

Selmon and Football

Selmon has certainly left his mark on football, especially in Tampa Bay, where he is the only Buccaneer ever inducted into the Football Hall of Fame. I still remember Selmon's selection as the number #1 draft pick for the expansion team Buccaneers back in 1976. I moved to Tampa myself in 1977. His #63 jersey has been appropriately retired.

Selmon and the Community

Selmon has also left his mark on the business community. Not only did he serve for six years as an executive with First Florida but he later became the driving force behind bringing collegiate football to the University of South Florida, where he served as athletic director from 2001 - 2004.

For years I would be silently reminded of Lee Roy Selmon as I made the daily commute from my home in East Tampa to my downtown office building via the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway.

Lee Roy Selmon is only 56 years old, only a very few years older than myself. He and his wife, Calybra, are parents of three children now.

His present condition has been reported by the Tampa Bay ABC affiliate as serious, which would be an upgrade from Friday's report of extremely critical by a University of South Florida spokesman. His wife, children, and two of his brothers are said to be at his bedside where he has shown recognition of family members by squeezing their hands.

As I remember the impression Lee Roy Selmon has left with me for decades, I pray God grants him healing and his family comfort during this time.