Lee Roy Selmon Lee Roy Selmon ( October 20 , 1954 – September 4 , 2011 ) was a Hall of Fame NFL football defensive lineman . Early life . Selmon was the youngest of nine children of Lucious and Jessie Selmon , raised on a farm near Eufaula , Oklahoma . A National Honor Society member at Eufaula High School , he graduated in 1971 . College career . Selmon joined brothers Lucious and Dewey Selmon on the University of Oklahoma defensive line in 1972 . He blossomed into a star in 1974 , anchoring one of the best defenses in Sooner history . The Sooners were NCAA Division I - A national football champions in 1974 and 1975 . Selmon won the Lombardi Award and the Outland Trophy in 1975 . OU Head Coach Barry Switzer called him the best player he ever coached , and " College Football News " placed him as the 39th best college player of all time . He was known as " The Gentle Giant . " In the fall of 1999 , Selmon was named to the " Sports Illustrated " NCAA Football All - Century Team . Selmon was named a consensus All - American in 1974 and 1975 by Newspaper Enterprise Association . His long list of achievements , in addition to the Vince Lombardi Award and the Outland Trophy , includes the National Football Foundation Scholar - Athlete , GTE / CoSIDA Academic All - American and Graduate Fellowship Winner National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame . His brothers Lucious Selmon and Dewey also were All - American defensive linemen for Oklahoma , and played on the same defensive line together in 1973 . The trio is still regarded as the most famous set of brothers in OU history . The 1996 Walter Camp " Alumnus of the Year " was voted to the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame in 1992 . Statistics . All statistics courtesy of the official website of the Oklahoma Sooners Professional career . In 1976 , Selmon was the first player picked in the NFL draft , the first - ever pick for the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers . He joined older brother , Dewey , who was a second round pick of the Bucs . In his first year Selmon won the team ' s Rookie of the Year and MVP awards . Selmon went to six straight Pro Bowl s and was named NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1979 . Buccaneer assistant Abe Gibron said , " Selmon has no peers " at defensive end , while former Detroit Lions coach Monte Clark compared him to " a grown man at work among a bunch of boys " . A back injury made the 1984 season his last , and the Bucs retired his number , 63 , in 1986 . He is a member of the Florida Sports Hall of Fame . In January 2008 , Selmon was voted by a panel of former NFL players and coaches to " Pro Football Weekly " ' s All - Time 3 - 4 defensive team along with Harry Carson , Curley Culp , Randy Gradishar , Howie Long , Lawrence Taylor and Andre Tippett . He was the first player to be inducted into the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Ring of Honor on November 8 , 2009 . After football . Selmon stayed in Tampa , Florida , working as a bank executive and being active in many charities . From 1993 - 2001 , Selmon served as an assistant athletic director at the University of South Florida under Paul Griffin . After Griffin was forced to resign , Selmon stepped up and took over the athletic department . As the USF Athletic Director , Selmon launched the football program , spearheaded the construction of a new athletic facility and led the university ' s move into Conference USA and then into the Big East Conference . Citing health issues , Selmon resigned as the USF Athletic Director in 2004 . He assumed the role as president of the USF Foundation Partnership for Athletics , an athletics fund - raising organization . The Lee Roy Selmon Expressway is named for him , as is a chain of restaurants . The chain , Lee Roy Selmon ' s , was named one of the 10 best sports bars in America in 2009 . Its motto is " Play Hard . Eat Well . And Don ' t Forget to Share . " He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1995 . He was the first Hall of Famer to have earned his credentials primarily in Tampa Bay , to be joined by Warren Sapp in 2013 . In 2010 , he was ranked # 98 on the top 100 greatest players of all time , as surveyed by NFL network . Death . Selmon suffered a massive stroke on September 2 , 2011 , which left him hospitalized in extremely critical condition . His restaurant initially released a statement announcing his death ; however , this was later confirmed to be false . In fact , at one point his condition was said to be improving . On September 4 , 2011 , Selmon died at the age of 56 from complications of the stroke . Visitation was scheduled for the following Thursday at the Exciting Central Tampa Baptist Church . The funeral was held the next day at Idlewild Baptist Church . Former teammates , the current Buccaneer team , the USF football team , other members of the NFL , and the general public attended . The USF football team wore a # 63 decal on their helmets for the 2011 season , as did the Tampa Bay Buccaneers . Both teams conducted a ceremony to honor Selmon the weekend following his death .