In a new USF tradition that will signify one of the football program’s highest honors, defensive lineman Josh Celiscar was selected to wear No. 63 for the 2025 season. That was the National Football League number of the late Tampa Bay Buccaneers legend Lee Roy Selmon, a Pro Football Hall of Famer and USF program patriarch who’s remembered as one of Tampa’s most beloved citizens and role models.
Each season, a defensive lineman will be selected to wear No. 63 in Selmon’s honor. The criteria — integrity, leadership, athletic achievement, academic excellence and service to others — reflect Selmon’s distinguished life.
“I’ve heard about Lee Roy Selmon on the field — and I know he was amazing there — but it’s more impressive to hear what he did in the community and how he helped the USF student-athletes,” Celiscar said. “I’m going to honor him by being myself every day, just being a leader and a solid person, and exemplifying his work ethic on the field. This is such an honor and I want to live up to Lee Roy Selmon’s name.”
“This will be a great way to carry on the legacy of Lee Roy Selmon throughout our program,” head coach Alex Golesh said. “It’s a really neat deal for USF football. I think Josh is super fired up about it and really honored. Wearing that No. 63 will signify someone who has worked and shown a level of integrity, athletic ability and academic excellence, all the traits that I’ve heard about since I got here to USF that defined Lee Roy Selmon.”
Lee Roy Selmon.
Around USF — and all of the Tampa Bay area — the name is magic.
Selmon, a University of Oklahoma All-American and the youngest of three brothers on the Sooners’ defensive line, went to the expansion Bucs as the first overall pick in the 1976 NFL Draft. And he promptly became the cornerstone of a franchise that nearly reached the Super Bowl in its fourth season, when he was NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1979.
Forced to retire prematurely due to a back injury in 1986, Selmon transitioned to a banking career. But in 1993, he was lured to USF to lead fundraising efforts for the school’s proposed football program. “Potentially, we’ve hired the most effective builder of relationships that this university could ever have,” then-USF athletic director Paul Griffin said. From 2001-04, Selmon served as USF’s athletic director, helping to usher the program into the Big East Conference.
Selmon, an Academic All-American at Oklahoma, also provided ongoing purpose to USF athletes.
USF’s Selmon Mentoring Institute offers a three-year program and one-on-one mentoring for student-athletes as they prepare for professional life. After Selmon died in 2011 at age 56 — sending shock waves through the campus and sports world — USF named its athletic headquarters in his honor.
Now the special honor surrounding his No. 63 — putting Celiscar first in line to carry on that legacy — will further solidify USF’s ties to Selmon.
Celiscar wants to become a sports psychologist.
“A lot of athletes who have been injured don’t know what to do after football or whatever sport they play,” Celiscar said. “I could be that person to talk to them and kind of advise. I really feel like that’s something I could do.”
With Celiscar’s humility, insight and a selfless spirit, Selmon couldn’t have said it better.
