Leslie O'Neal to Join OSU Football Ring of Honor
Oklahoma State’s Ring of Honor will have a new member this fall.
On Monday, OSU announced it will add Leslie O’Neal to the Ring of Honor in Boone Pickens Stadium. The team announced that O’Neal will be honored during halftime of the Cowboys’ Sept. 7 matchup against Arkansas.
O’Neal will be the first defensive player to join the Ring of Honor. He will be the fifth player honored by the Cowboys, joining Thurman Thomas, Barry Sanders, Bob Fenimore and Terry Miller.
O’Neal was one of the best defenders in OSU history and still holds the career record for sacks with 34. He also holds the record for sacks in a season, with 16 in his 1984 campaign.
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In 1984, O’Neal was also named Big Eight Defensive Player of the Year and was selected to an All-Big Eight team in each of his last three seasons in Stillwater. That included a 1985 campaign where he was a unanimous All-American. O'Neal was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2020.
After his career at OSU, O’Neal was selected with the eighth overall pick in the 1986 NFL Draft by the San Diego Chargers. He wasted no time making an impact at the professional level, earning AP Defensive Rookie of the Year. As a rookie, he had 82 tackles, 12.5 sacks, three forced fumbles and two interceptions, including a pick-six.
In 1992, O’Neal finished fifth in AP Defensive Player of the Year voting. That season, he had 78 tackles and 17 sacks, which was a career-high.
O’Neal’s legendary NFL career stretched through the 1999 season, including stops with the St. Louis Rams and Kansas City Chiefs. O’Neal also played in Super Bowl XXIX with the Chargers and recorded one tackle in a loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
O’Neal ended his career with six Pro Bowl selections and is 14th on the NFL’s career sack leaders.
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Ivan is a sports media student at Oklahoma State University. He has covered OSU athletics since 2022 and also covers the OKC Thunder for Inside The Thunder and Thunderous Intentions.