Sports

Beloved Lions Star Charlie Sanders Dies at 68

July 02, 2015, 4:46 PM

Charlie Sanders, a beloved tight end for Detroit Lions and a Hall of Famer, has died after battling cancer. He was 68.

Mike O'Hara, a columnist for DetroitLions.com, writes:

Charlie Sanders left giant, lasting imprints with every step he took in a football career that began as a youngster in North Carolina and took him to stardom as a Hall of Fame tight end with the Detroit Lions.

Charlie Sanders left giant, lasting imprints with every step he took in a football career that began as a youngster in North Carolina and took him to stardom as a Hall of Fame tight end with the Detroit Lions.

With every role in each step – player, assistant coach, player personnel executive, broadcaster, advisor, trusted confidante – Sanders was a resource of undiminishing value and depth.

For all that he accomplished, and all that he left behind as his personal legacy of excellence, he had one quality that put him in an elite category as a role model for others.

Charlie Sanders was a great human being.

O'Hara notes that Sanders arrived in Detroit in 1968 as a third-round draft pick out of the University of Minnesota and never left.

“This is home,” he once said. “The city has always been nice. It’s been nice to me, nice to my family. I enjoy coming to work."

“I just enjoy the Lions.”

 


Read more:  DetroitLions.com


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