Nov. 26, 2008

By Jim Sumner
theACC.com

Growing up in Jacksonville, Florida in the 1960s, Ron Sellers wasn't sure if he wanted to be the next Jerry West or the next Raymond Berry. Sellers was a standout in both basketball and football, probably better in the round-ball sport where he led Paxson High School to the 1965 state championship.

He hoped to play both sports at the University of Florida, but the Gators weren't that interested in Sellers for either one. Gary Pajcic, his high school quarterback, was more highly regarded and the two decided to go together to Florida State.

It was a match made in heaven. Under the tutelage of head coach Bill Peterson and offensive coordinator Joe Gibbs, Florida State had one of the most sophisticated passing attacks in college football.

Sellers says, exaggerating slightly, "We passed 90 percent of the time. What fun it was to play in that offense. We ran formations nobody else ran. I could line up in any one of five positions. We wanted to dictate what the defense could and could not do."

Before he could reach his gridiron potential, Sellers had to say farewell to hoops. "I loved basketball. But the seasons just overlapped too much. Coach Peterson strongly encouraged me to become a one-sport athlete and I took the hint. I probably had more potential in football anyway."

After the obligatory year on the freshman football team, Sellers reached varsity in the fall of 1966. A lanky, bow-legged 6'4", Sellers was nicknamed "Jingle Joints." He had 4.5 speed, ran precise routes and caught everything thrown his way.

Well, almost everything. Sellers says, "I can recall one drop at FSU. My world was catching the football and I had great focus on my world. My job was to get the quarterback so confident in me, that he knew I would never drop a pass. I couldn't stand to lose."

Sellers caught 56 passes for 874 yards in his sophomore season. But he was on the bench for FSU's most famous pass of that season. Trailing by three points in the final minute against Florida, Sellers had the breath knocked out of him and was taken out for a single play. Pajcic hit his replacement, Lane Fenner, with a 45-yard strike in the end zone. But a trailing official ruled that Fenner had caught the ball out of bounds, negating the catch and igniting a controversy that continues to this day.

Pajcic hurt his arm the following season and was replaced by senior Kim Hammond. Sellers says, "I had been with Gary so long that it was a challenge (to play with another quarterback). Quarterbacks throw different balls, have different rhythms."

But they made it work. Sellers says his most vivid memories come from Florida State's second game. After opening with a 33-13 loss to Houston, Florida State played Alabama in front of 71,299 in Birmingham.

The Crimson Tide had gone undefeated the previous season, allowing only 37 points in the regular season. But Hammond picked apart Alabama's secondary to the tune of 280 yards passing, 165 of them to Sellers. Sellers scored the game's first points on an 11-yard pass and his 24-yard reception late set up FSU's final score in a game that ended 37-37. He ended the game with 13 receptions.

It's what happened next that makes Sellers smile. Legendary Alabama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant visited the Florida State locker room "to congratulate us on how well we played. He told us we deserved to win. How classy was that?"

The Alabama game wasn't the only highlight of Sellers' 1967 campaign. He had three touchdown catches in the third quarter of a 38-15 win over Virginia Tech, eluding three Hokie defenders on one 73-yard catch/run. Sellers tallied 229 receiving yards in this game.

Florida State entered the season finale against Florida with a 6-2-1 record and a Gator Bowl bid awaiting the winner. The game was played in Gainesville and FSU had never beaten Florida on the road.

But the Seminoles were "steaming at the way the game at Tallahassee had ended the year before. We were going to find a way to win."

Florida State jumped to a 14-0 lead before the Gators closed to 14-9. In the middle of the fourth quarter, FSU intercepted a pass at its own 7-yard line. Protocol in 1967 called for conservative running plays from your own seven, followed by a punt.

But Peterson was a different sort of coach. Hammond hit Sellers for 51 yards on first down. A short running play gave Sellers time to catch his breath and then Hammond hit him with another bomb, 38 yards for the score. The 3-play, 93-yard drive sewed up a 21-16 FSU win.

Florida State was matched against 10th-ranked Penn State in the Gator Bowl. Penn State used five defensive backs and shut down FSU's passing attack for much of the game, leading 17-0 in the middle of the third period. Then Penn State's Joe Paterno called for a quarterback sneak on fourth and one from the Penn State 15. The play was stuffed and FSU took over. After a penalty, Hammond hit Sellers for a 20-yard touchdown.

Hammond and Sellers dominated the rest of the game. Another touchdown made the score 17-14. With one last chance to pull out the victory, the tandem moved Florida State from its 32 to the Penn State 8. On fourth and five, Peterson elected to kick the field goal and the game ended 17-17.

Sellers set a Gator Bowl record with 14 receptions. Florida State outgained Penn State 418 yards to 241, but four interceptions allowed Penn State to escape with a tie.

Sellers ended the season with 70 catches (not including the Gator Bowl) for 1,228 yards and was a consensus first-team All-American.

By 1968 Sellers was acknowledged as the nation's top receiver. One of his fans was Barry Smith, a high school receiver in Miami. Smith would go on to follow Sellers as an All-America wide receiver at Florida State.

Smith, whose son Andrew plays for Georgia Tech, regularly watched Sellers on television, either live or on replays shown on Florida public television. Smith gives a connoisseur's view of Sellers. "Ron was an impact player. You could double-team him, triple-team him and he would still find a way. He could do it all - possession catches, deep routes, sideline, middle of the field. Like all great receivers, he had an ego. His attitude was simple. `Throw me the ball and I'll catch it.' And he backed it up."

Working with yet another quarterback, Bill Cappleman, Sellers dominated one game after another in 1968; 218 yards against Memphis, 214 against Houston, 173 against Maryland.

But two games stand out. On October 26, Sellers caught 16 passes for 259 yards against South Carolina. And Florida State needed them all. His 19-yard touchdown catch tied the game, 7-7. He caught another from 42 yards out to put the Seminoles up 21-14. Trailing 28-21, Cappleman and Sellers hooked up from 20 yards out. Their fourth scoring strike, this one from 16 yards out, gave Florida State the 35-28 win.

A month later, Sellers outdid himself, in his final home game. He caught five touchdown passes against Wake Forest. The first two put the Seminoles up 14-0. After falling behind 24-14, Sellers caught three more scoring strikes, from 48, 28, and 30 yards. Florida State won 42-24. Sellers' 260 receiving yards enabled him to pass former Tulsa receiver Howard Twilley to become the NCAA career leader in receiving yardage.

With 86 catches for 1,496 yards and 12 touchdowns, Sellers was an easy selection to all the All-America teams.

He ended his college career with eight catches and two touchdowns in the inaugural Peach Bowl. The second gave FSU a 27-24 lead over LSU with six minutes left but LSU scored late for a 31-27 win.

The Boston Patriots made Sellers the sixth pick of the 1969 NFL draft. He caught 79 passes in three seasons with the Patriots. But the Patriots weren't very good, posting losing record all three of Sellers' seasons there. "We had no offensive line," recalls Sellers. "My 20-yard routes became 9-yard routes."

Sellers got back on the winning side when he was traded to the Dallas Cowboys prior to the 1972 season. He led Dallas' wide receivers with 31 receptions and his 10-yard touchdown catch from Roger Staubach with 52 seconds left provided the winning points in a 30-28 playoff win over San Francisco. Dallas lost to Washington in the NFC title game.

Sellers injured an ACL and was traded to Miami. He made only 2 catches for the Dolphins in 1973 but did have a chance to play on a Super Bowl championship team.

The knee injury led to his retirement following the 1973 season. He ended his pro career with 112 receptions for 2,184 yards and 18 touchdowns.

Sellers majored in risk management at Florida State. He worked as a stock broker in the NFL off-season. After retirement, he worked a year for Massachusetts Mutual, before coming back to Florida, Palm Beach, to be exact. He opened Ron Sellers and Associates, which specializes in corporate insurance, estate planning and wealth preservation.

He still is president and CEO and says "I love what I do. I won't retire until they take my boots off." He is also a four-handicap golfer, with numerous club championships to his credit.

Sellers played 30 regular-season games at Florida State, a modest total in the context of today's game, with freshmen eligibility and longer seasons. Still, his 212 career receptions and 3,598 yards still top the FSU charts, a remarkable accomplishment for a program that has stocked the NFL with wide receivers for three decades. Sellers takes greatest pride in "demonstrating my consistency" by topping the 100-yard mark in 19 of those 30 games.

Sellers is a member of numerous halls of fame, including the College Football Hall of Fame, which he calls his greatest honor. He served six years on the Florida State Board of Trustees in the 1990s. Along with his daughter and two grandchildren, he calls Florida State "my passion. That's what I care for. I made friendships there that I have maintained to this day."

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