{{Short description|American football player (1965–2025)}} {{for|the boxer|Sugar Ray Seales}} {{Use American English|date=April 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox NFL biography | name = | image = | alt = | caption = | number = 98, 97, 99 | position = Defensive end | birth_date = {{Birth date|1965|6|17}} | birth_place = Syracuse, New York, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2025|4|4|1965|6|17}} | death_place = Tampa, Florida, U.S. | height_ft = 6 | height_in = 3 | weight_lbs = 293 | high_school = Henninger (Syracuse) | pastteams = * Syracuse Express (1986–1987) * Tampa Bay Buccaneers ({{NFL Year|1988}}–{{NFL Year|1990}}) * Detroit Lions (1990) * Indianapolis Colts (1990) * Tampa Bay Buccaneers ({{NFL Year|1991}}–{{NFL Year|1993}}) * Pittsburgh Steelers ({{NFL Year|1994}}–{{NFL Year|1996}}) * Carolina Panthers ({{NFL Year|1997}}) * Cincinnati Bengals ({{NFL Year|1998}})* | pfr = SealRa21 }}
'''Raymond Bernard Seals''' (June 17, 1965 – April 4, 2025) was an American professional football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL). He was notable for being one of the rare players to have made it to the NFL without ever having to attend college.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Jeff.Hartman|date=August 20, 2016|title=How former Steelers DE Ray Seals made it to the NFL without playing college football|url=https://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/pittsburgh-steelers-nfl-features-news-blog-long-form/2016/8/20/12553506/former-steelers-de-ray-seals-explains-how-he-made-it-to-the-nfl|access-date=December 3, 2021|website=Behind the Steel Curtain|language=en}}</ref> Seals started in Super Bowl XXX<ref>{{Cite web |title=Super Bowl XXX - Dallas Cowboys vs. Pittsburgh Steelers - January 28th, 1996 |url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/199601280dal.htm |access-date=2025-04-17 |website=Pro-Football-Reference.com |language=en}}</ref> as a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers.<ref>{{Cite news|date=March 18, 1994|title=SPORTS PEOPLE: FOOTBALL; Steelers Add Ex-Buccaneer|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/18/sports/sports-people-football-steelers-add-ex-buccaneer.html|access-date=December 3, 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
== Playing career == Seals lettered in football at Anthony A. Henninger High School in Syracuse, New York.
Seals went from playing for the minor-league Syracuse Express of the Empire Football League<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kramer |first=Lindsay |date=2025-04-05 |title=Ray Seals, former Henninger lineman who skipped college en route to NFL, dies at age 59: 'Man, he was rare' |url=https://www.syracuse.com/highschoolsports/2025/04/ray-seals-former-henninger-lineman-who-skipped-college-en-route-to-nfl-dies-at-age-59.html |access-date=2025-04-17 |website=syracuse |language=en}}</ref> to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1989. He went to the Steelers in 1994 as a free agent and played two seasons as their starting right defensive end.<ref>{{Cite web |title=1994 Pittsburgh Steelers Rosters, Stats, Schedule, Team Draftees |url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/pit/1994.htm |access-date=2025-04-17 |website=Pro-Football-Reference.com |language=en}}</ref> He was injured in 1996, his third season with the Steelers, and finished with Carolina in 1997.
Raymond was famous for batting away a pass by then rookie quarterback Brett Favre, only to have it be caught by Favre himself, for the first completion in his long and storied career.<ref>{{Cite web|date=July 13, 2015|title=Ray Seals once again fails to hear the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame call his name|url=https://www.syracuse.com/poliquin/2015/07/post_15.html|access-date=April 10, 2023|website=Syracuse.com|language=en}}</ref>
== Personal life and death == Seals was inducted into the American Football Association's Semi-Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1992.<ref>{{Cite web|date=June 8, 2016|title=Ray Seals goes from doorman to Super Bowl to Hall of Fame|url=https://www.syracuse.com/poliquin/2016/06/ray_seals_has_gone_from_doorman_to_super_bowl_to_syraucuse_sports_hall_of_fame.html|access-date=December 3, 2021|website=syracuse|language=en}}</ref> Seals's cousin, Jonny Gammage, was killed after a traffic stop by Brentwood police officers in 1995.<ref>{{Cite web|date=November 16, 1995|title=Death of Football Player's Cousin Raises Cry of Racism : Police: Pittsburgh Steeler's relative died after struggle with white officers. Charges are weighed amid protests.|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-11-16-mn-3792-story.html|access-date=December 3, 2021|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Ap|date=November 5, 1995|title=5 Police Officers in Pittsburgh Facing Charges in Beating Death|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/11/05/us/5-police-officers-in-pittsburgh-facing-charges-in-beating-death.html|access-date=December 3, 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
Seals died in Tampa, Florida on April 4, 2025, at the age of 59.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.si.com/nfl/steelers/news/former-pittsburgh-steelers-ray-seals-dies |title=Former Steelers Defender Dies |date=April 4, 2025 |first1=Noah |last1=Strackbein |website=Sports Illustrated}}</ref><ref>[https://obits.syracuse.com/us/obituaries/syracuse/name/raymond-seals-obituary?id=58231960 Raymond B. Seals]</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name| 2213301}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seals, Ray}} Category:1965 births Category:2025 deaths Category:American football defensive ends Category:Carolina Panthers players Category:Players of American football from Syracuse, New York Category:Pittsburgh Steelers players Category:Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Category:21st-century African-American sportsmen Category:20th-century African-American sportsmen Category:20th-century American sportsmen Category:21st-century American sportsmen