Bivian Lewis Lee Jr. (August 3, 1948 – November 14, 1984
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American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He was drafted by the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

in the third round of the

1971 NFL draft The 1971 National Football League draft was held January 28–29, 1971, at the Belmont Plaza Hotel in New York City, New York. The Boston Patriots, who did not officially change their name to New England Patriots until after the draft, used th ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Prairie View A&M Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU or PV) is a public historically black land-grant university in Prairie View, Texas. Founded in 1876, it is one of Texas's two land-grant universities and the second oldest public institution of higher learning ...

. Lee played quarterback at

Emile High School Emile School or Emile High School was a segregated high school for African-American students in Bastrop, Texas. A part of the Bastrop Independent School District, it opened in 1893. The school, named after the book ''Emile, or On Education'', hou ...

in Bastrop, Texas. He went to Prairie View, where he still is the record-holder for 21 career interceptions. He also returned one interception 105 yards for a score. Lee led the Saints in interceptions with four in 1972 and was tied for the team lead with three in 1973. He died of

cardiac arrhythmia Arrhythmias, also known as cardiac arrhythmias, heart arrhythmias, or dysrhythmias, are irregularities in the heartbeat, including when it is too fast or too slow. A resting heart rate that is too fast – above 100 beats per minute in adults ...

, with his death providing some impetus for congressional investigations into dietary supplements. His son, Bivian "Sonny" Lee III was honored during the 15th Annual BET Awards for his work as the founder of Son of a Saint, a 501 c 3 organization based in New Orleans which mentors boys whose fathers have been incarcerated or are dead.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Bivian 1948 births 1984 deaths American football cornerbacks Prairie View A&M Panthers football players New Orleans Saints players Players of American football from Austin, Texas