Football loses a gentle giant: Lee Roy Selmon dead at 56

Two days after suffering a massive stroke, former Oklahoma Sooner great and Tampa Bay Buccaneer star Lee Roy Selmon has died.

Selmon, 56, apparently collapsed following a workout at his home in Tampa. 

I never had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Selmon, but I had the privilege of watching him play some of the most dominating defensive football I've ever seen. Growing up as a Sooner fan in the 70's, I watched the Selmon brothers as they became as much the standard bearer for the Sooners on the defensive side as the wishbone was on the offensive side. Barry Switzer referred to him as the most talented football player he'd ever coached.

Football has lost one of its truly great ambassadors. Amidst a contemporary landscape of players seemingly always dodging trouble, the Selmons were and are simple, family-centered people, endowed with tremendous physical talent brokered by a sense of selflessness that never allowed an unchecked ego to compromise who they were as human beings first, and football players second. 

Blessings to the Selmon family in this tragic loss.