Melvin Agee (November 22, 1968 – June 15, 2008) was a professional

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 wi ...

defensive lineman who played 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 Europe, and the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

. In his 10-year professional career he played for the NFL's Indianapolis Colts (1991–1992) and Atlanta Falcons (1992–1995); NFL Europe's Frankfurt Galaxy (1998); and the AFL's

Tampa Bay Storm The Tampa Bay Storm were a professional arena football team based in Tampa, Florida, US. It played in the Arena Football League (AFL). Originally the team was located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and operated as the Pittsburgh Gladiators. The f ...

(1998–2002). While a defensive tackle at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

from 1987 through 1990, Agee was selected as All-Big 10 in 1989 and 1990, as well as honorable mention All-American in 1990. He was named as one of the 10 greatest defensive linemen in Illini history by the university, and had 15 sacks during his college career. He was a sixth round draft choice by the Colts in 1991 and played five seasons in the NFL, both for the Colts and the Falcons. Agee died of an apparent heart attack at his Lawrenceville, Georgia, home at age 39. Former NFL agent Josh Luchs alleges in the 18 October 2010 issue of 'Sports Illustrated' that in 1990, he paid Agee 'several hundred dollars' while he was still a defensive lineman at the

. If true, this would have been a violation of NCAA rules.

External links

NFL Statistics from FootballDB.comArena Football Statistics from ArenaFan.com
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* ttp://www.sj-r.com/sports/x415940626/Former-Illini-lineman-Mel-Agee-dead-at-39 Former Illini lineman Mel Agee dead at 39 {{DEFAULTSORT:Agee, Mel 1968 births 2008 deaths Players of American football from Chicago American football defensive ends American football defensive tackles Illinois Fighting Illini football players Indianapolis Colts players Atlanta Falcons players Frankfurt Galaxy players Tampa Bay Storm players American expatriate sportspeople in Germany