Lee Roy Selmon statue unveiled
ORACLE PHOTO/BRIAN HATTAB
A statue of Lee Roy Selmon stands on the corner of Florida Avenue and Brorein Street in Downtown Tampa.
The statue, unveiled Friday by the Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority, commemorates Selmon (1954-2011) not just for his playing days as the first ever draft pick by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (noted by his retired No. 63 jersey), but also his time at USF Athletics (noted by USF’s “Horns Up” hand sign), where he served as an assistant athletic director from 1993-2001 and athletic director from 2001-2004.
During his time at USF, Selmon was instrumental in bringing football to the university in 1997 and eventually leading the entire department into the Big East in 2005.
Selmon’s statue stands underneath an overpass of the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway, which was renamed in his honor in 1999, as part of the Selmon Greenway, a two-mile pedestrian and bike trail which runs from the Tampa Riverwalk to Adamo Drive.
The 8-foot statue was sculpted by Joel Randell of Selmon’s home state of Oklahoma as part of the $4.9 million Selmon Greenway project, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The project first opened in 2015.
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