Ray Seals, who became notable for making it to the NFL without ever going to college, has died at the age of 59.
Seals was a star football player at Henninger High School in Syracuse, but he decided not to go to college and to start working after graduating high school in 1984 to help support his family. Seals didn’t quit playing football, however, joining a semipro team in Syracuse.
Seals played so well in semipro football that a football coach from the area began calling around to NFL teams to urge them to sign him as an undrafted free agent.