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Portrait of the Snake: How Stabler was a master of moments

Ken Stabler’s death, and the reportage of his death for that matter, were rather a metaphor for his career -– nobody was quite sure what was happening until the event was already well gone.

It took a Facebook confirmation from his family to produce the final evidence of his passing Wednesday at age 69 from complications of colon cancer. According to the family, he had been fighting the disease since learning he had Stage 4 cancer in February, and had agreed to have his brain and spinal cord donated to Boston University’s Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center to support research in brain injury in athletes.