Former Steelers Super Bowl Starter Dies

PITTSBURGH, PA — Ray Seals, whose storybook football career took him from a semipro squad to a starter on a Steelers' Super Bowl team, has died. He was 59.

No cause of death has been released.

Seals was one of the rare NFL players who never played college football. A standout at Henninger High School in Syracuse, Seals eschewed the college game because he felt he had to support his family, according to Syracuse.Com.

But his play with the Empire Football League's Syracuse Express in the late 1980s caught the eye of NFL scouts and he signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1989. After five seasons in Tampa, he signed with the Steelers and played for them in 1994 and 1995.

According to NBC Sports, Seals, a defensive end, started all 16 regular season games in 1995 and all three postseason games - including Super Bowl XXX. The Steelers lost that game to the Dallas Cowboys, but Seals had a good game that included a sack of Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman.

After he missed the 1996 season with an injury, Seals played for the Carolina Panthers in 1997. Following that, he signed with the Cincinnati Bengals in 198 but never got on the field.

Seals was living in Tampa at the time of his death.

Funeral arrangements were not immediately available.