Syracuse, N.Y. — Ray Seals, whose Cinderella story took him from Henninger High School to semipro football in Syracuse to a long career in the NFL, has passed away at age 59.
Many of Seals’ friends, who knew him from high school and during his tenure with the Syracuse Express, received word of his passing this morning and shared the news on a text chain. The cause of his death has not been released.
“(He was) a happy-go-lucky, big, kind-hearted guy who was a tremendous athlete, probably as good or better than any athlete that ever came out of here, really,” said Bob Campese, who coached Seals at Henninger. “We had some good ones. But Ray might have been at the top.”
Seals, who graduated from Henninger in 1984, never played a down of college football. But he suited up from 1989-97 as a defensive lineman with the Tampa Bay Bucs, Pittsburgh Steelers and Carolina Panthers. He was living in Tampa at the time of his death.
Seals was a standout at Henninger who caught the eye of Alabama coach Ray Perkins. However, according to long-time friend and Express teammate Garry Acchione, Seals felt he had to skip college to help out his family financially.
“I’m not for sure the whole story. I know he was heavily recruited. He was a great athlete. Man, he was rare,” said longtime friend Calvin Bacon. “Ray had some good speed, he was strong, just a natural talent. He did go to Alabama and met with Ray Perkins and Ray liked him.”
According to his Greater Syracuse Hall of Fame bio — Seals was inducted into the hall in 2016 — he worked as a bouncer at Sutter’s and as a doorman at the Hotel Syracuse.
In 1987 Seals joined the Syracuse Express and dominated right away.
“I was the defensive coordinator at the time and we would say, ‘OK, this team we’re playing runs triple option. Well, who’s going to play (defend) the dive? Ray,‘” Campese said. “‘Who’s going to play the quarterback? Ray. Who’s going to play the sweep? Ray.’ So he was just phenomenal. 6-foot-4, 220 pounds and he ran probably a 4.6 at the time. He was a special guy.”
By 1989, Perkins had left Alabama to become head coach of Tampa Bay. Henninger social studies teacher Joe Riccardi, who played football at Alabama, got in touch with the coach regarding Seals’ potential. Perkins agreed to give him a look.
“We were all behind him. We were rooting for him like you couldn’t believe, to have that opportunity to make it,” Acchione said. “I never had a doubt in my mind that he was good enough to play in the NFL, I mean, we all knew it. It’s just, OK, how do you get him there? How does he get the opportunity? Because back then, I mean, he didn’t come out of college. You’re not going to just walk onto a pro team and make it.”
Bacon remembers seeing Seals return to Syracuse after his initial training camp with the Bucs and expressing confidence that he had a chance to stick.
“Ray was raw. He didn’t have the technique to play in the NFL. I think Ray just had a work drive,” Bacon said. “ I remember driving down South Salina Street by Dunk and Bright. I saw him in his car, so I pulled him over and we came home to visit. He made a practice squad, they gave him a car. And I remember him telling me that they could not just cut him because he was doing well. He just needed to be taught. But he kept showing improvement in training camp. Because he was teachable, I think that would help him.”
At 6-foot-3, 300 pounds, Seals became a disruptive force in the NFL. From 1992-95 with the Bucs and Steelers, he registered 29 sacks among 133 tackles.
He started all 16 games for Pittsburgh in 1995, recording 8.5 sacks. He also started Super Bowl XXX for the Pittsburgh, who dropped that game to Dallas.
Seals always made sure to keep close ties to Central New York. His, father, Tommy, was a long-time police officer in Syracuse.
Ray lost his cousin and close childhood friend, Jonny Gammage, who was driving Ray’s Jaguar when he was stopped by police in suburban Pittsburgh. The officers contended he was driving erratically. While police claimed they found a tiny amount of moldy marijuana in the car, blood tests showed Gammage wasn’t drunk and there were no drugs in his system.
Police beat and killed Gammage as part of what began as a routine stop. He was a victim of what the coroner would later call “death by compression.” A coroner’s jury in Allegheny County ruled Gammage’s death a homicide, involving five officers. But the charges were eventually reduced to manslaughter against three of the men. However, none of the officers were found guilty.
Seals delved heavily into community causes, working with Toys for Tots in honor of Gammage. He received the “E for Effort” charity award from the NFL. Seals was a big supporter of the Kirk Park Colts Pop Warner football team and Acchione said he organized tailgate parties for his Syracuse friends at football games.
“People loved him and they just gathered around him,” Acchione said. “Ray had a heart of gold. I mean, he is really just a soft-spoken guy. You wouldn’t know that it was Ray Seals. He’s a normal Joe Blow walking around. He doesn’t like the limelight, but he’s there if you need him.”
