Ronald "Jingle Joints" Sellers (born February 5, 1947) is a former

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 ...

player. 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 ...

for Florida State University, where he was a two-time All-American ( 1967, 1968). Despite being limited to a total of 30 games of regular season eligibility, Sellers still holds Florida State career record for most 200-yard receiving games. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1988. A wide receiver, he played for the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

's Boston Patriots in 1969, when he was an AFL All-Star, then for 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 ...

's Patriots,

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

and

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

Early years

Sellers attended Paxon High School where he excelled in

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 ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

. He helped his team win the 1965 state basketball championship. He went on to star at Florida State University as a split end and flanker in

Bill Peterson William E. Peterson (May 15, 1920 – August 5, 1993) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. His career included head coaching stops at Florida State University, Rice University and with the Houston Oilers of ...

's pro-style offense. In 1967 and 1968 he received All-American honors. He recorded 212 passes for 3,598 yards (an NCAA record at the time) and 23

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

s. He wore the number 34 which was retired by the school, until he gave

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

Ernie Sims Ernie Sims III (born December 23, 1984) is a former American football linebacker and current coach. He played college football at Florida State and was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the first round of the 2006 NFL Draft. He also played for ...

permission to use it while playing for the Seminoles. Sellers still holds 17 receiving and scoring records at Florida State University- including single-season receptions (86), single-season receiving (1,496), single-game receptions (16), single-game receiving yards (270) single-game receiving touchdowns (5). In 2007, he was named to The State of Florida’s “100 Greatest High School Football Players in Florida History”. In 1973, he was inducted into the Florida Sports Hall of Fame. In 1977 he was inducted into the Florida State University Hall of Fame. In 1988, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Professional career

New England Patriots

Sellers was selected by the Boston Patriots in the first round (6th overall) of the 1969 NFL Draft. He earned AFL All-Star honors as a rookie after making 27 receptions for 705 yards, with 6

s and 26.1 average yards per reception. During the 1971 season, Sellers missed four games due to injuries and lost his starting position. On July 13, 1972, he was traded to the Super Bowl champions the

, in exchange for a third round draft choice (#73-Charles Davis).

Dallas Cowboys

In 1972 he was a backup until the seventh game, when he was promoted to replace

Bob Hayes Robert Lee Hayes (December 20, 1942 – September 18, 2002), nicknamed "Bullet Bob", was an Olympic gold medalist sprinter who then became an American football split end in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys (for 11 seasons). ...

in the starting lineup, in order to take advantage of his big play ability. Even though he finished the season as the Cowboys top receiver, registering 31 receptions for 653 yards, five

s and a 21.1 yards average per reception, the team looked to upgrade its receiving corps, by trading him along with a second round draft choice to the Super Bowl champions the

, in exchange for Otto Stowe.

Miami Dolphins

In 1973, he had a disappointing season after playing in three games and catching only two passes. He was released on September 10, 1974.

References

External links

Florida State University Hall of Fame profile

Ron Sellers & Associates profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sellers, Ron 1947 births All-American college football players American Football League All-Star players American Football League players American football wide receivers Boston Patriots players College Football Hall of Fame inductees Dallas Cowboys players Florida State Seminoles football players Living people Miami Dolphins players New England Patriots players Paxon School for Advanced Studies alumni Players of American football from Jacksonville, Florida