James Patrick Seymour (November 24, 1946 – March 29, 2011) was an

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 ...

wide receiver who played three seasons for the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

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 ...

. He was originally selected by the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

in the first round of the

1969 NFL Draft The 1969 National Football League draft was part of the common draft, the third and final year in which the NFL and American Football League (AFL) held a joint draft of college players. The draft took place January 28–29, 1969. The draft beg ...

, 10th pick overall. In 1974, he played for the Chicago Fire of the WFL. Seymour played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

at Shrine of the Little Flower High School,

Royal Oak, Michigan Royal Oak is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Detroit, Royal Oak is about north of Detroit's city limits. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 57,236. Royal Oak is located along th ...

, and

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 ...

at Notre Dame, where he was a two-time First-team All-American (

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...

) while also being a Second-team All-America selection in 1966. He is widely considered to be one of the Top 50 players in Notre Dame history, and is one of only five three-time football All-Americans at the school (

Leon Hart Leon Joseph Hart (November 2, 1928 – September 24, 2002) was an American football end. He won the Heisman Trophy and the Maxwell Award while at the University of Notre Dame in 1949 and played in the National Football League (NFL) for eight se ...

Ken MacAfee Kenneth Adams MacAfee II (born January 9, 1956) is a former professional American football player. He played collegiately at the University of Notre Dame and professionally for the San Francisco 49ers. High school MacAfee grew up in Brockton, M ...

Chris Zorich Christopher Robert Zorich (born March 16, 1969) is a former American football defensive tackle who played in college for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and in the National Football League (NFL) for the Chicago Bears and Washington Redskins. Zori ...

Luther Bradley Luther Alexander Bradley (born May 7, 1955) is a former professional American football player who played four seasons for the Detroit Lions. He later played with the Chicago Blitz, Arizona Wranglers and Houston Gamblers of the USFL. He is the USF ...

). Seymour was featured on the cover of

Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Mar ...

in the October 28th, 1966 issue, along with

Terry Hanratty Terrence Hugh Hanratty (born January 19, 1948) is a former American football quarterback who played in college at Notre Dame and in the National Football League during the 1960s and 1970s. He earned two Super Bowl rings as the backup quarterbac ...

. He was the older brother of former professional football player Paul Seymour. He was traded along with Ron Smith from the Rams to the Bears for

Dick Evey Richard Theodore Evey (February 13, 1941 – May 23, 2013) was an offensive tackle and defensive tackle in the NFL. He played most of his career with the Chicago Bears. After his football career, Evey became a land developer in Blount County, ...

on September 1,

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

. Seymour died on March 29, 2011 from cancer. He was buried in the Cedar Grove Cemetery in

Notre Dame, Indiana Notre Dame is a census-designated place and unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend in St. Joseph County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. It includes the campuses of three colleges: the University of Notre Dame, Saint Mary's Coll ...

References

External links

Obituary
* https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/01/sports/football/01seymour.html?scp=1&sq=jim%20seymour&st=cse 1946 births 2011 deaths People from Berkley, Michigan Players of American football from Michigan American football wide receivers Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players Chicago Bears players Chicago Fire (WFL) players {{widereceiver-1940s-stub