DETROIT (AP) — Hall of Fame tight end Charlie Sanders, who spent 43 years with the Detroit Lions as a player, coach, scout and broadcaster, has died after battling cancer. He was 68
Lions spokesman Matt Barnhart said the team confirmed through family members his death Thursday in a suburb of Detroit.
Sanders caught 336 passes for 4,817 yards and had 31 touchdowns in a 10-year playing career that began in 1968. He returned to Detroit in 1983 as a radio broadcaster, a job he held until joining the coaching staff in 1989.
After leaving the sideline in 1996, he returned to the radio booth for one more season, then was a Lions scout from 1998 until his death.