Cleaning out the inbox: Passings

Part of going on trips and don't worry I'll be writing about those soon is accumulating items in the inbox.

In this edition of the inbox with some goodbyes to recent passings, this will be totally from the football world with four former stars passing away of late.

Goodbye to Keith Lincoln at the age of 80.
Lincoln, who composed the AFL's first great running back combination with Paul Lowe, set the AFL record for yards from scrimmage with 329 in the 1963 championship game in which the Chargers crushed the Boston Patriots 51-10.
Lincoln's performance is even more impressive considering that he touched the ball only twenty times in the game (13 rushes, 7 catches) and ranked with the top of the big-play threats in the AFL's history.
Some will also remember Lincoln for taking the biggest hit in the AFL era as he was crushed by Buffalo's Mike Stratton in the 1965 title game as Lincoln ran out of the backfield on a swing pattern and was driven from the game from a ferocious tackle.
That hit took all the air from the slightly favored Chargers and Buffalo would cruise to victory.

Goodbye to Cliff Branch at the age of 71.
Branch was arguably the top deep threat of the 1970s and with the Raiders style of believing in the downfield pass, it was Branch more than any other Raider that the defense had to plan for and was a player on all three Raider world championship team.
Branch finished his career with an average of over seventeen yards a catch and 67 touchdowns along with leading the league in receiving yards in 1974.
Branch was such a threat that it was his deep speed that scared the Steelers so much that in an urban legend, the Steelers grounds crew allegedly froze the Three Rivers Stadium turf to keep the Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler from throwing the deep pass to Branch.

Goodbye to Jack Dolbin at the age of 70.
Dolbin, who was the steady possession receiver on the first Denver Broncos team to make the playoffs in 1977 as well as the following season, also played in the World Football League for the Chicago Fire as well as his hometown Pottstown Firebirds in the Atlantic Coast Football League in the Firebirds final season of 1970 in which the famous NFL Films special on Pottstown was based on.
Dolbin became a chiropractor after leaving the Broncos near Pottstown and had a small part in NFL Films Lost Treasures programs on both the Firebirds and the WFL.

Goodbye to Dave Parks at the age off 77.
Parks was the first pick of the 1964 draft by San Francisco and in 1965, Parks led the league in catches, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns for the 49ers.
Parks is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame from his years at Texas Tech, where he still holds the defensive record for longest interception return-98 years.
Parks was also one of the few players of that time to play both wide receiver and tight end as there were not a lot of receivers that were fast enough to play wideout, yet be strong enough to play tight end with the game being far more ground-oriented than it is today.
Parks also was one of the rare players to switch teams in pre-free agency era as Parks elected to play out his option after the 1967 season and would sign with the New Orleans Saints.
In those days, commissioner Pete Rozelle would decide on the compensation that would be given to the team that lost a player and Rozelle crushed the Saints, who had played only one season at that point and handed the 49ers the Saints first-round selections in 1968 and 1969 for signing away Parks.
Parks was a solid player in his five seasons as a Saint, but, due to more factors than Parks, never approached the brilliant level that he played at as a Niner.
Parks played one more season with the Houston Oilers and one with the WFL's Southern California Sun before hanging the cleats up for good.