Cleaning out the inbox: Football Passings

Sadly, there have been plenty of noteworthy passings of late, so many in fact that from football alone there have been more than enough for its own post.

Goodbye to Howard "Hopalong" Cassidy at the age of 85.
Cassidy won the 1955 Heisman Trophy for Ohio State, finished 3rd in the 1954 Heisman voting as the star of Ohio State's 1954 National Champions and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1979.
Cassidy started on running back on offense, was a starter at defensive back on the other side of the football and held Buckeye record for rushing, all-purpose yards and scoring into the seventies.
Cassidy also was the leading hitter for the OSU baseball team and in his retirement years was a scout for the New York Yankees and a coach for the AAA Columbus Clippers, when the Clippers were affiliated with the Yankees.
Cassady was the 3rd overall selection by the Detroit Lions in the 1956 draft and would spend most of his careers with the Lions, including being a part of the last Lion championship team in 1957 as a defensive back and occasional offensive threat.

Goodbye to E.J.Holub at the age of 81.
Holub was inducted as a member of the College Football Hall of Fame in 1986 from Texas Tech and
was the first Red Raider to have his jersey retired.
Holub was part of the AFL-NFL bidding war for talent and along with TCU's Bob Lilly was the subject of the Dallas Cowboys-Dallas Texans (Now the Kansas City Chiefs) biggest contract battle as Holub was the Texans first-round pick and the Cowboys second with Lilly the inverse for the Cowboys in 1961.
Both teams pursued both and signed their top pick while missing on the other.
Holub played both ways as center and linebacker for the first few years of his career before playing a few seasons at linebacker only and finished it as a center only.
Holub made five all-AFL teams and played on three AFL champions (1962 Texans and 1966 and 1969 Chiefs) before retiring after a 1971 knee injury in training camp.

Goodbye to Tommy Brooker at the age of 79.
Brooker played split end and was the regular kicker for the Dallas Texans/Kansas City Chiefs from 1962-66 and was also a member of Alabama's 1961 national championship team.
Brooker is best remembered for his game-winning field goal in the 1962 AFL championship game in double overtime to give the Texans the AFL title over the two-time defending champion Houston Oilers in what would be the final game for the Texans before their move to Kansas City.

Goodbye to Barron Hilton at the age of 91.
Hilton was the owner of the Hilton corporation with the namesake Hilton hotels, but to me will be better remembered as the original owner of the Los Angeles/San Diego Chargers of the AFL.
Hilton was forced to sell the Chargers in 1966 when after the passing of his father, Hilton was offered the position of president and CEO of Hilton Hotels on the condition that he sell the Chargers.
Hilton's majority interest was sold for ten million dollars, a record for the time,(equal to 79 million dollars today) after an initial investment of only $25,000 in 1960.
Hilton was the final owner of the AFL's "foolish club" to pass away from the original eight AFL franchises.

Goodbye to John Ralston at the age of 92.
Ralston won a Rose Bowl at Stanford with Jim Plunkett as the Heisman winning quarterback in 1970 and repeated in 1971 without Plunkett before moving to the NFL as the head coach of the Denver Broncos.
Ralston never made the playoffs in his five years as the Broncos coach, but the Broncos enjoyed their first winning records under Ralston and many of the players that led the Broncos to the 1977 Super Bowl under Red Miller were acquired during the Ralston years.
Ralston was also the first head coach of the Oakland Invaders of the USFL and was also involved in personnel before the league's first season for their version of the NFL scouting combine.
Ralston's one season as the head coach of the Invaders saw Oakland finish 9-9 but was good enough to win the USFL Pacific Division.

Goodbye to Wally Chambers at the age of 68.
Chambers was a dominant defensive tackle for the Bears in his first four seasons after being Chicago's first-round selection in 1973.
Chambers was the defensive rookie of the year in 1973, made three pro bowls (73, 75, 76), was named to either first or second-team All-Pro in those seasons and won the UPI defensive player of the year award in 1976.
Chambers career ended quickly as he damaged his knee in the 1976 Pro Bowl and would only play in four games in 1977.
Chambers filed an injury grievance against the Bears and Chicago responded by trading him to Tampa Bay for the Buccaneers first-rounder in 1978.
Chambers hobbled through two seasons in tangerine and orange, while with the pick obtained from Tampa, Chicago tabbed eventual Hall of Famer Dan Hampton.

Goodbye to Jevan Snead at the age of 32.
Snead was one of the best quarterback recruits coming out of high school in 2006, but narrowly lost the Texas starting job as a true freshman to redshirt freshman Colt McCoy.
Snead would then transfer to Ole Miss, where he would play well in 2008 (26 TD 13 INT) and led the Rebels to an upset win over Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl.
Entering the 2009 season, Snead was thought to be one of the two top passers in the country and was thought to be dueling with Oklahoma's Sam Bradford for the top QB in the 2010 draft.
Snead had health problems and had an off-year (20 TD, 20 INT) and could have returned to Ole Miss to raise his draft stock, but was given a 4th round draft grade and decided to enter the draft anyway.
Snead went undrafted, didn't make Tampa Bay's roster as an undrafted free agent and other than a camp visit to an Arena League team would never play again.
Snead's family has donated his brain for testing as the family (and Snead himself) suspected that he may have suffered from CTE with several of the symptoms.