Former NFL defensive lineman Lee Roy Selmon, 56, has been admitted to St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa after a stroke, according to KREF-AM radio in Oklahoma and Tampa media outlets. Selmon was reportedly in critical condition, reports said.
Premature reports indicated that Selmon might have died from the stroke. A separate report from WMTX-FM in Tampa confirmed that Selmon was alive but in critical condition. Dewey Selmon told 10 News Tampa his brother was in serious condition. The stroke occurred while Lee Roy Selmon was at his Tampa home.
Selmon remains the only Pro Football Hall of Fame representative for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“USF is staying in close touch with the Selmon family and [they] said that Selmon is in serious condition at the hospital,” USF spokesman Michael Hoad told the Tampa Tribune.
NFL and college football great Lee Roy Selmon, 56, has reportedly passed away following a stroke on Friday, according to WTSP in Tampa. Following his football career, Selmon joined the University of South Florida in the 1990s as the athletic director. Selmon's brother, Dewey, has told WTSP that Lee Roy is still alive.
Lee Roy Selmon, the only Tampa Bay Buccaneer in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, suffered a stroke at his Tampa home Friday and is in "extremely critical" condition.
There was some confusion over Selmon's condition Friday evening after the restaurant chain that bears his name issued a release indicating Selmon had died. "Representatives of Lee Roy Selmon's Restaurants apologize for an earlier release," said Judi Gallagher of Judi Gallagher & Associates. Our prayers are with Lee Roy Selmon and his family."
Selmon, an All America defensive lineman at Oklahoma, was the first player selected by the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 1976 NFL draft. "What a tremendous individual Lee Roy Selmon is," former Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz said that night. Lee Roy and his wife, Claybra, have three children: Brandy, Lee Roy Jr. and Christopher.