Former Raiders Super Bowl Champion Joe Campbell Dead At 68
Super Bowl XV champ Joe Campbell has died at 68 years old.
As reported by the Delaware News Journal, the football player died on Sunday, July 9. His brother Patrick said the athlete was found dead after he went on a hike, and is believed to have suffered a cardiac arrest.
Many of Campbell's friends and family members shared fond memories of the late athlete in the wake of his passing.
"Everybody looked up to him. Everybody loves a winner, and Joe crossed that threshold into being a pro athlete," said longtime friend Dennis Kelly, who was his teammate in high school at the Salesianum School in Delaware.
Fellow classmate Ray Peden expressed a similar sentiment, adding, "This was a guy who was going to make it. I just knew it. Everybody loved Joe."
Retired Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Randy White praised Campbell as a "great football player" and a "great guy," adding, "You get news like this, it sets you back…I'll remember him as a long, lean guy from Delaware who came in there and dominated at that defensive end position."
Campbell joined the NFL as a defensive end on 1977, starting out with the New Orleans Saints. In 1980, the Oakland Raiders traded for the player; he achieved Super Bowl victory with the team the following year. During the final year of his career in 1981, he signed as a free agent for Tampa Bay Buccaneers while still playing for the Raiders.
After his football career, Campbell taught physical education at Ambassador University in Texas. He was also a devoted foster parent, taking in over 20 children over the years.
Years before his death, Campbell had a near-fatal experience. In 2007, he suffered a cycling accident when his bike had a head-on collision with a pickup truck. Campbell's skull was fractured and he experienced brain damage, and his left forearm had to be surgically reattached. The accident left him in a coma for six weeks.
