By Eugenio Torrens
More than two hours before the funeral service for Tampa Bay Buccaneer legend Lee Roy Selmon started, the inside of Exciting Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz was buzzing.
There was the mass array of police officers — those stationed outside the church in the parking lot and those inside the church, talking with each other as well as with church officials and members of Selmon’s extended family — and the sound checks and song rehearsals.
Mourners started piling in well before the 10 a.m. service start time on Sept. 9. There were members of politics alongside sports figures —the Tampa Bay Bucaneers organization, the USF football team and current Oklahoma Sooners’ coach Bob Stoops showed up.
Exciting Idlewild Baptist in Lutz is no stranger to the celebrity spotlight. It was the funeral site for Jeffrey Kocab and David Curtis, the two Tampa police officers who were killed last year; and Republican presidential hopeful Michelle Bachmann visited the church during a trip through Florida last month.
The service opened with a family processional and the opening prayer by the Rev. Jeffrey Singletary of Exciting Central Baptist in Tampa.
Singletary hailed Selmon as “a man that lived life to the max, that lived life to the fullest.”
Following the opening prayer and readings from both the Old and New Testaments, Selmon’s older brother, Dewey, spoke.
Providing stories of Lee Roy’s childhood life, Dewey spoke about growing up in Eufaula, Okla. He mentioned how the family grew up without many toys, so Lee Roy would squeeze their dog, Rip’s, nose to make him bark. There was the fact that the Selmon brothers used a tin can as a football and played the sport in their mother’s flowerbed while she cooked.
He mentioned how he never saw Lee Roy angry, but remembered he was upset during the 1977 training camp with the Bucs.
“If he saw the hurt, he would make it better,” Dewey said.
Later on as a video montage of Lee Roy’s NFL career played, oohs and ahhs emanated from the crowd. Being the No. 1 pick in 1976 and playing for Tampa’s then-expansion franchise may be Selmon’s most distinct claim to fame. Bryan Glazer, whose family owns the Bucs, called Lee Roy a “friend, hero and Tampa Bay treasure.”
Glazer pointed out how he was driving by Tampa Stadium, the stadium the Bucs played in during Lee Roy’s playing days, and how Leroy and Dewey streets were right next to each other. The Bucs drafted Dewey in the second round, one round after they took Lee Roy.
“It was clearly a sign,” Glazer said.
“He took the enormous role as the face of the franchise like a walk in the park,” Glazer said. He added Lee Roy was “the greatest Buc to ever live,” and compared him to the iconic movie character George Bailey from “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
University of South Florida President Judy Genshaft spoke about Lee Roy’s pivotal role in the inception of the school’s football program.
“He was the father of USF football,” she said. She mentioned the board of trustees unanimously voted on Thursday to change the name of the university’s athletic center in his honor.
USF Athletic Director Doug Woolard said about the newly named athletic center, “the name on this building sets a standard (student athletes) should constantly strive for.”
Following speeches by a representative of the NFL Hall of Fame, which Lee Roy was inducted into in 1995, and others, the eulogy and closing prayer were given by Singletary.
“Lee Roy left an indelible imprint on our lives,” Singletary said.
The man who put the Bucs on the map, helped USF become known as a giant-killer on the gridiron, helped establish a successful chain of restaurants and had an expressway bearing his namesake, among other things, was truly a giant in the Tampa community.
Although as Singletary pointed out, Lee Roy’s love wasn’t confined to the Bay area.
“Lee Roy loved people, period,” Singletary said.
