Ray Seals’ path to the NFL was unlikely. But the former SemiPro football player reached the highest level of professional football.
Seals’ journey in life ended this week. User on social media Nini Marie and Syracuse.com confirmed Seals’ death. He was 59.
His cause of death was not immediately released.
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Defensive Lineman Ray Seals of the Pittsburgh Steelers during a game against Philadelphia Eagles at Three Rivers Stadium 11 December 1994 in Pittsburgh. (George Gojkovich/Getty Images)
Seals’ football history began at Henninger High School in Syracuse, New York. Instead of taking jumped to the college football ranks, Seals’ traveled him to the semi -proses.
Seals’ high school coach, Bob Campese, remembered the former defensive Lineman as a “happy-go-hell” person.
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“(He was) a happy luck, big, good-hearted guy who was a huge athlete, probably so good or better than any athlete ever came out of here,” Campese said via syracuse.com. “We had some good ones. But Ray could have been at the top.”
Ray Seals, formerly defensive Lineman for Pittsburgh Steelers, during a half -time presentation honor for former players during a game between Steelers and Chicago Bears at Heinz Field 22 September 2013 in Pittsburgh. (George Gojkovich/Getty Images)
Despite never playing a snap in college football, Seals signed with Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1988. In 1991 he was consistent in BUCS ‘starting lineup. He also had Stints with Pittsburgh Steelers and Carolina Panthers.
Seals was introduced in the Greater Syracuse Hall of Fame in 2016, according to the bio delivered by the hall.
Defensive Lineman Ray Seals of the Pittsburgh Steelers during a game against Philadelphia Eagles at Three Rivers Stadium 11 December 1994 in Pittsburgh. (George Gojkovich/Getty Images)
Seals started playing for SemiPro Syracuse Express in 1987.
Ray Perkins, who coached in Alabama before traveling to accept the main coach job at Buccaneers, is largely credited to give Seals a chance to play in the NFL.
“We all stood behind him. We were messing with him that you couldn’t think of having that opportunity to do so,” said Seals’ former Express teammate Garry Acchione. “I’ve never been in doubt that he was good enough to play in the NFL. I mean we knew it all. It’s just, ‘OK, how do you get him there? How does he get the opportunity?’
“Because I mean, I don’t come out of college. You don’t just want to go into a pro team and do it.”
Seals, who played for Steelers from 1994-95, recorded a sack of the Super Bowl in the late 1995 season.
