USF Athletics Hall of Fame 2012: Lee Roy Selmon
September 26, 2012 | General
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The voice of USF Athletics routinely puts down his radio headset and picks up the pen to share his perspective on the history of USF Athletics. Louk has been broadcasting games for 29 years and is the resident historian in the Athletics Department hallways. Voice of the USF Bulls You can find newspaper articles about USF football dating back to the late 1970's. There were many noble efforts to get the program started, and if some of those historical articles are correct, there was a pretty near miss around 1980. But one roadblock or another always seemed to spring up, and football remained a dream. In 1990, the fire got rekindled a bit. A feasibility study was started. University officials were interested. The wheels started to turn. But it wasn't until 1993 when things got up to full speed. That's when Lee Roy Selmon joined USF. It was a coup of epic proportions for USF Athletics. The man everyone knew and respected was going to be a Bull. He brought instant credibility. Throughout Tampa Bay and throughout college athletics, the reaction was the same. “Those guys at USF are serious.” It was a remarkable shot in the arm for some of the key members of the effort. “We were very pleased,” recalls Tampa businessman Frank Morsani. “We thought, 'We can make this happen now.'” “He was a very special person that had a magnetism about him. People wanted to be around him,” says former USF President Betty Castor. “When he came to USF he had a special impact on athletics at all levels.” His hiring helped push along the chain of events that led to USF football's acceptance by the Florida Board of Regents in 1995, and the program's debut on the football field two years later. Lee Roy stayed as associate athletic director until 2000, when he took over as athletic director. Under his tenure and the leadership of USF President Judy Genshaft, the Bulls joined the Big East Conference and the blueprint for a new athletics district was begun. His final assignment was as the president of the USF Foundation Partnership for Athletics, a position he held until his passing last year. All told, he spent 18 years as a USF administrator. “I'm not sure I can describe the impact that Lee Roy had in just a few words,” says Doug Woolard, who took over for Selmon as athletic director in 2004. “It was monumental, both to the department and to the university.” Given his accomplishments in getting football off the ground, it is proper to think of Lee Roy whenever you are at a USF football game. And it's certainly proper to think of him as you enter the newly named Lee Roy Selmon Center at USF. But if you think of him solely in terms of USF football, you are seeing only part of the story. The core of Lee Roy's legacy at USF is more personal than that. It is found in the lives he touched. It is found in the positive influence he had on student-athletes, staff, and fans. “He was an everyday role model on how to be more of a man,” says former USF football player Larry Scott, now an assistant coach. “The smile. The presence. He always had an encouraging word. He always had something positive to help lift you. When you saw him you thought to yourself, 'That's how I want to be.'” “He exemplified integrity,” says former Bulls basketball player Brian Lamb, now a member of the university's Board of Trustees. “He really set a standard of mentorship and helping folks become the best versions of themselves. I think the standard that Lee Roy communicated to me has played a role in my life.” “A gentleman's gentleman,” says Morsani. “He made people feel good, regardless of their status in life. That was his persona.” “Friend and mentor,” says Woolard. “A person that demonstrated everything that's right about life.” Among Lee Roy's many accomplishments was establishing the USF Athletics Hall of Fame. How fitting it is that he will be honored as a new inductee to that elite group this Friday night. GO BULLS!
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The voice of the Bulls, Jim Louk, offers his perspective of USF Athletics, both past and present. For 29 years, Jim Louk has been the voice of USF Athletics. Louk came to USF in 1983 as the radio play-by-play announcer for the USF men's basketball team and served as the lead voice until the conclusion of the 1996-97 season. He then made the transition to football in USF's inaugural 1997 campaign, and still serves as the team's play-by-play announcer today. Louk will come into the 2012 football season having broadcast every Bulls football game in history - a span of 177 games. He has handled USF TV play by play broadcasts on SportsChannel, Fox Sports Florida, and Brighthouse Sports Network. His career includes over 1,500 play by play broadcasts of USF events, including football, men's and women's basketball, baseball, softball, men's and women's soccer and volleyball. This series of articles for GoUSFBulls.com began in 2010. A native of Rochester, N.Y., Louk is a 1979 graduate of the University of Bridgeport where he earned a bachelor's degree in journalism. Louk and his wife Barbara reside in Lutz. Their son Ross is a sophomore in college. |
