Daily News -- A former Long Island football star and U.S. Naval Academy graduate was killed in Iraq when his unit was hit by a roadside bomb, military officials announced yesterday.

Ron Winchester, 25, of Rockville Centre, was on his second tour of duty in Iraq and had been back on the battlefield only eight days when he died Thursday, said his father, Ronald Winchester.

"I couldn't be more proud of him," the grieving dad told the Daily News last night.

A graduate of Chaminade High School in Mineola, Winchester was a first lieutenant in the 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment.

His platoon was replacing another in Al Anbar Province when it was attacked. Two other soldiers, including Winchester's captain, were also killed, the military said.

Ronald Winchester said his son died about the same time President Bush was talking about the heroic soldiers serving in Iraq during his speech at the Republican National Convention Thursday night.

"Ron was a very gregarious type of individual who was always in the middle of things," said his father. "He was a true leader, always respected by his peers and dedicated to what he was doing."

Winchester was last home in October after completing his first tour of duty in Iraq. When he last spoke to his mother on Aug. 28 he told her how much more cunning the enemy had become.

"He advised her that the enemy had become smarter in what they were doing since his last tour," his father said.

Winchester graduated from the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., in 2001. The 6-foot-2, 220-pound midshipman was a starting offensive tackle for Navy in 1999 and 2000. In 2000, he was featured in an article in The News when he went nose to nose against his best friend Doug Larsen in the annual Army-Navy game.

When Navy played Duke on Saturday, both teams paused for a moment of silence to remember Winchester.