By Jake Russell
Heart disease, the number one cause of death in America, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has affected the lives of former Washington Redskins quarterbacks Joe Theismann, Doug Williams and Mark Rypien on a personal level.
Rypien, 52, lost his father and both grandfathers to heart attacks at the age of 52. Theismann’s family has a history of heart ailments.
Williams’s oldest brother experienced a 90 percent blockage of his arteries in 2013 and had three stents put in his heart. Another brother received cancer treatment but suffered a complication and is now living with one functioning aorta.