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Bucs didn't drop ball with Selmon honor, '79 teammates

Staff file photo (1978)

The Bucs plan to honor Lee Roy Selmon on Sunday, not necessarily his former teammates just yet.

By JOE HENDERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 5, 2009

Updated: 11/05/2009 02:25 am

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TAMPA - The Tampa Bay Buccaneers haven't done a lot right this season, as we know so well. This Sunday was going to provide a break from all that, though, with the "Throwback" game against the Packers - complete with a return to the hideous (yet lovable) Creamsicle uniforms and the winking pirate on the helmets.

It is going to be quite a celebration, with the great Lee Roy Selmon becoming the first member of the Bucs Ring of Honor. There is the reunion with the 1979 team that won the division and made the playoffs for the first time. Something like that couldn't possibly get messed up now, could it?

It came close.

There apparently are some sore feelings by at least a couple of unnamed members of that '79 team, believe it or not, because Selmon is going into the ring by himself. No less than Doug Williams, Bucs executive and the quarterback of that team, brought that up Wednesday at a news conference to talk about the weekend's events.

"It's emotional. I've talked to a lot of guys and ... a lot of them don't understand why you're putting (just) one guy in if you're honoring the '79 team," Williams said. "If you're honoring Lee Roy because of his accomplishments, that's a different ballgame. If you're talking to the guys (from 1979) - a couple of them won't come."

He wouldn't say who those players are.

Well, boom! It was out there now. I talked to Doug later in the afternoon, and he wanted to make sure people didn't think he had a problem with the honor Lee Roy Selmon is about to receive.

"If you're talking about a career, Lee Roy is a great thing. He's a Hall of Famer. Every player who ever played here understands that," he said. "The key is not to mix the two together, because '79 is dear to me."

This thing has gotten a little clumsy, and it's unfortunate.

Interestingly enough, Selmon was superb in that 1979 season. He was the NFL Defensive Player of the Year with 117 tackles and 11 sacks, leading the Bucs to the NFC Championship Game.

Those are some pretty strong credentials, although Williams said at the news conference, "If you're talking the '79 team then the bell cow of that football team is Ricky Bell. And he always will be. ... We're just talking '79. If you're talking about a career, that's a different ballgame. For the career, I think it's a great honor for Lee Roy."

A lot of guys from that team should be in that ring: Ricky Bell, linebackers "Batman" Wood and David Lewis, tight end Jimmie Giles, Coach John McKay.

And Doug Williams.

So what happened here? Even though the ring was separate from the celebration for '79, players clearly believed Lee Roy was being singled out among all of them from that team. Hence, the hard feelings.

"Sometimes guys have their own mind," Williams said.

I don't think that was the Bucs' fault. When the Bucs sent out a news release last August announcing Selmon's selection, it stated the ring was reserved for "the most significant individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the history of the franchise."

It didn't say anything about 1979.

Long-timers in Tampa will love that team forever. The Bucs started 5-0, and by the middle of the season they had won as many games as the three previous seasons combined. They beat Kansas City 3-0 to win the division title in a daylong deluge that remains legendary among Bucs fans.

"After the game I remember looking at Jimmie Giles and David Lewis kissing the ground because of what we had accomplished, going from worst to first," Williams said. "It was a great thing."

That's a bond that will never be broken, and they were all part of it - including Lee Roy Selmon and the fans who loved them all.

That's what this Sunday is really about.

That was a team that really put Tampa on the sports map, and none of them could have done it alone. But Lee Roy Selmon was the first face of this franchise and he remains the standard by which defensive players here are judged. The Bucs tried to do the right thing by honoring both.

They deserve grief for many of the things that have gone on this season, and we'll remind them as the year goes on.

Just not this time.

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