Lee Colson McGriff (born October 3, 1953) is an American former college and professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who was a wide receiver 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) for a single season in 1976. McGriff 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 ...

for the

Florida Gators football The Florida Gators football program represents the University of Florida (UF) in American college football. Florida competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division of ...

team of the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

. Thereafter, he played professionally for the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

in their inaugural season in

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

Early years

He was born in

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

,National Football League, Historical Players
Lee McGriff
Retrieved July 18, 2014. and attended

Henry B. Plant High School H.B. Plant High School is a public high school located in the neighborhood of South Tampa in Tampa, Florida, United States. It opened in 1927 between South Himes Avenue on the east and Dale Mabry Highway on the west. The school is named in honor ...

in Tampa. He was a standout wide receiver for the Plant Panthers high school football team. The List: Muschamp Didn't Walk On for Gators . . . But These Guys Did
" GatorZone.com (October 18, 2012). Retrieved July 18, 2014.

College career

McGriff was raised in a family with a University of Florida sports tradition, but he was not offered an athletic scholarship to attend the university.Jack Hairston, ''Tales from the Gator Swamp'', Sports Publishing, LLC, Champaign, Illinois, pp. 71–75 (2002). Instead, he elected to walk on to coach

Doug Dickey Douglas Adair Dickey (born June 24, 1932) is an American former college football player and coach and college athletics administrator. Dickey is a South Dakota native who was raised in Florida and graduated from the University of Florida, where ...

team, and played for the Gators from 1972 to 1974.
2013 Florida Football Media Guide
'', University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 76, 87, 89, 94, 96, 141–42, 152–54, 165, 171, 174, 180, 189 (2013). Retrieved July 18, 2014. He earned a place in the starting line-up and led the Gators in receiving in 1973 and 1974; McGriff averaged 18.5 yards on 38 catches with five touchdowns as a junior, and 19.4 yards on an SEC-leading 36 receptions with seven touchdowns as a senior team captain. He finished his three-year college career with 87 receptions for 1,551 yards and 13 touchdowns. Following his senior season, he was a first-team All-

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC) selection and an honorable mention All-American, and was the recipient of the Gators'

Fergie Ferguson Award The Forest K. Ferguson Award, commonly known as the "Fergie Ferguson Award," is presented annually to a senior member of the Florida Gators football team in memory of one of the University of Florida's greatest athletes. Namesake The award tak ...

. He graduated from the university with a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1976, and was later inducted into the

University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame The University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame includes over 300 former Florida Gators athletes who represented the University of Florida in one or more intercollegiate sports and were recognized as "Gator Greats" for their athletic excellence ...

Professional career

McGriff signed as an undrafted free agent with the expansion

in 1976. He appeared in six games for the Buccaneers, and started three of them.Pro-Football-Reference.com, Players
Lee McGriff
Retrieved July 18, 2014.

Life after playing career

McGriff later served as an assistant coach for the Florida Gators, and became a partner in a successful Gainesville-based insurance agency. He has served as the color analyst for Gators football games on the Gator Sports Radio Network since 2004. McGriff's son,

Travis McGriff William Travis McGriff (born June 24, 1976) is an American former college and professional football player who was a wide receiver in two different professional football leagues. McGriff played college football for the University of Florida, ...

, played for the Florida Gators from 1995 to 1998.Andy Staples,
McGriff Family has Big Day
" ''Orlando Sentinel'' (November 15, 1998). Retrieved July 18, 2014.

References

Bibliography

*
2013 Florida Football Media Guide
', University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida (2013). * Carlson, Norm, ''University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators'', Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia (2007). . * Golenbock, Peter, ''Go Gators! An Oral History of Florida's Pursuit of Gridiron Glory'', Legends Publishing, LLC, St. Petersburg, Florida (2002). . * Hairston, Jack, ''Tales from the Gator Swamp: A Collection of the Greatest Gator Stories Ever Told'', Sports Publishing, LLC, Champaign, Illinois (2002). . * McCarthy, Kevin M.,
Fightin' Gators: A History of University of Florida Football
', Arcadia Publishing, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (2000). . * McEwen, Tom, ''The Gators: A Story of Florida Football'', The Strode Publishers, Huntsville, Alabama (1974). . * Nash, Noel, ed., ''The Gainesville Sun Presents The Greatest Moments in Florida Gators Football'', Sports Publishing, Inc., Champaign, Illinois (1998). . * Proctor, Samuel, & Wright Langley, ''Gator History: A Pictorial History of the University of Florida'', South Star Publishing Company, Gainesville, Florida (1986). .

External links

Broadcasters
– Gator Radio Network broadcaster profiles {{DEFAULTSORT:Mcgriff, Lee 1953 births Living people Players of American football from Tampa, Florida American football wide receivers Florida Gators football players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Coaches of American football from Florida Tampa Bay Buccaneers personnel Florida Gators football coaches Florida Gators football announcers Henry B. Plant High School alumni