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Selmon Has Words To Live By

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By EDDIE DANIELS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 29, 2008

DADE CITY - For some folks, it never really hits you until days, weeks or even years later.

Being in the presence of someone special tends to have that effect.

Tuesday night, members of the Pasco High varsity and junior varsity football teams, cheerleaders and members of the Dade City community listened as pro football Hall of Famer Lee Roy Selmon extolled the virtues of hard work and making the right decisions.

"We look around our world today, and in our country and our community there are a lot of things that need to be worked on, that need to be fixed," Selmon told the crowd of more than 300. "You are the future, and we're relying on you to embrace what some of those needs are and be prepared to go out and solve some of the problems we have in our community and our country today. It's a great country. I love America, and it's the land of opportunity - if you're willing to work hard and do the right things."

Sitting in the front row, a few feet from the podium Selmon spoke from, Pasco defensive end Zack Faza appeared spellbound.

"It felt great. Very humbling, really," the senior said of the experience. "Such a great figure in football and in life, such an amazing guy. He came here to talk to us. Little ol' Dade City. I'm speechless, really. It was like being in the room with a giant. Him saying you guys can do what I've done if you just make the right choices and do the right things."

It won't take Faza weeks or years to realize what he experienced. He got it that night.

What's so special about Selmon? Why did Faza cling onto each word, likely to never turn them loose?

Selmon was the first pick in the 1976 NFL draft out of the University of Oklahoma by the Bucs, making him the franchise's first draft pick.

Before entering the NFL, Selmon was a standout defensive tackle at OU, garnering numerous awards, including academic All-American, All-Big Eight Conference team (junior and senior seasons) and the Outland and Lombardi awards (nation's best lineman). He also helped lead the Sooners to two national championships.

In 1988, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, and in 1995 he was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

He later became the University of South Florida's athletic director, and he is now the president of the USF Foundation Partnership for Athletics.

Selmon's credentials make him someone that young people can idolize.

"When you have a man of Mr. Selmon's accomplishments in life, who takes time out from his schedule to come talk to you and give you a message, it's really fulfilling for me," Pasco coach Tom McHugh said, "because he said it much more eloquently than I do, but it's the same message.

"It's really fulfilling for me to know somebody with the accomplishments in life and in the community and the things he does and what he's repeating to you are the same things I tell you, and all your coaches and teachers and administrators and parents tell you."

Pasco linebacker Tim Saylor was another player who couldn't believe there was a Hall of Famer in his gymnasium addressing the team.

It also gave him a different of perspective.

"You can hear it from your parents, you can hear it from Coach, you can hear it from friends, family members, but to hear it from a Hall of Famer, it hits you different than hearing from someone else," Saylor said.

Selmon's message focused on a trickle-down effect. He told the players the effort they gave on the field had to equal the effort they made in life.

"There's consequences in the choices we make," Selmon said. "For example, if you decide in the second half you're tired, 'I think I'll take a play off. I'm not going to give that 110 percent effort on this play.' That could be the play that determines the outcome of that game.

"That was a choice. A choice that you made that has consequence, that could have an impact on the success of that football game. ... You're learning. You're laying the foundation to do it the right way."

He would know.

Reporter Eddie Daniels can be reached at (813) 948-4214 or edaniels@tampatrib.com.

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