Ray mansfield steelers obituary search

One was lifting weights at home. Another was training for a triathlon. A third was watching a game at a friend’s house.

Regular guys doing regular things.

Then there were the others.

One drank antifreeze. Another was in a high-speed chase.

Two things in common among all:

They were Pittsburgh Steelers; and they died in the last six years.

Fresh off their first Super Bowl victory in 26 years, the Steelers have experienced the emotional gamut. The franchise has lost 18 former players -- age 35 to 58 -- since 2000, including seven in the last 16 months.

“There is no explanation,” said Joe Gordon, a Steelers executive from 1969 to 1998. “We just shake our heads and ask why.”

The numbers are startling. Of the NFL players from the 1970s and ‘80s who have died since 2000, more than one in five -- 16 of 77 -- were Steelers.

“It’s just an anomaly that we can’t explain,” said John Stallworth, who starred at receiver for Steelers teams from 1974 to 1987. “From an emotional standpoint it just makes you sad and makes you feel like the time we spent together was even more precious.”

Accidents led to some of the deaths, and at least one was a suicide. Others share hauntingly familiar details.

Seven died of heart failure: Jim Clack, 58; Ray Oldham, 54; Dave Brown, 52; Mike Webster, 50; Steve Furness, 49; Joe Gilliam, 49; and Tyrone McGriff, 41. (In 1996, four years before the steady succession of Steelers deaths, longtime center Ray Mansfield died of a heart attack at 55.)

There is speculation that steroid abuse could have played a role in some of the deaths, but no hard evidence. It’s just as plausible that weight issues were a factor. Counting Mansfield, five of the eight heart-attack victims played on the offensive or defensive line.

The circumstances surrounding some of the other deaths were unusual:

* Steve Courson, 50, was killed outside his Farmington, Pa., home in November while trying to remove a 44-foot tree from his property. The form

BTSC continues to rank the best numbers in team history on a standpoint of thriving over time throughout multiple players. It seems there are a few numbers which are always represented with quality play in Steelers lore. One BTSC author has wondered aloud “what is the most accomplished number in Steelers history?” Through player and jersey value rankings found in Pro Football Reference, we have ranked the most successful numbers in Steelers history worn by multiple players. You won’t see numbers like 12, 58, 75, 31, 32, 52, 59, 36 and 47 as it would be basically ranking an individual player over the other and not the cumulative effort. In today’s submission, we take a look at those ranked 9th. Enjoy.

Most Notable: Ramon Foster 2009-2019, Kendall Simmons 2002-2008, Justin Strzelczyk 1990-1998, Craig Wolfley 1980-1989 (pictured below), Ray Mansfield 1964-1967

Current Wearer: Carlos Davis

Ramon Foster was an undrafted free agent out of the University of Tennessee in 2009, but he became valuable as an irresistible force and an unmovable object for the Steelers for eleven seasons. As a rookie, “the Big Ragu” competed with that year’s third rounder Kraig Urbik for a backup role at guard and won the spot. Foster ended up starting 4 games his inaugural year in Pittsburgh and 145 of 160 at his position, second most in team history. Ramon was a player rep and respected locker room leader for the black-and-gold. Foster recently told Steelers.com about his love for Pittsburgh, “It’s a genuine city that loves their players, loves the people. That is one thing you find out while being here in Pittsburgh. They make you feel wanted here.” Ramon, retired in March, now writes for DK Pittsburgh Sports.

Kendall Simmons, a first round pick of Bill Cowher’s squad in 2002, started the first two seasons of his career at guard, despite being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes before 2003. Simmons was named the Steelers top

PITTSBURGH -- Some were accidental, some were tragic and others were inexplicable.

For some reason, former Pittsburgh Steelers players keep dying at an alarming rate, one that appears to be far higher than that for other NFL teams.

Former star defensive lineman Ernie Holmes’ death in an auto accident Thursday night in Texas was at least the 34th death of a former Steelers player since 2000, with 16 of them age 59 or younger, as was Holmes.

Several of those who died are known to have used steroids, including former offensive guard Steve Courson -- the first NFL player to reveal he used them. He died by accident in November 2005 following years of heart problems. Several others were long rumored to have used steroids, although there has been no definitive proof they did.

Of those Steelers deaths, eight were in their 50s, five were in their 40s and two were in their 30s.

As with all NFL teams that joined the league in its early days -- the Steelers concluded their 75th season earlier this month -- Pittsburgh has lost nearly all of the players from its early teams. Five of the 34 who died since 2000 were in their 80s.

But it is the unusually high number of deaths among players who are relatively young that is uncommon. In 2006, a survey found that nearly one-fifth of the NFL players from the 1970s and 1980s who had died since 2000 were former Steelers.

“I can’t explain it,” longtime Steelers executive Joe Gordon said Friday. “Maybe it was something in the water.”

Seven of the 34 died of heart problems before reaching their 60s: Hall of Fame center Mike Webster (50), center Jim Clack (58), defensive back Ray Oldham (54), defensive back Dave Brown (52), defensive lineman Steve Furness (49), quarterback Joe Gilliam (49) and offensive guard Tyrone McGriff (41).

Remarkably, all three of the regular centers from their Super Bowl days of the 1970s are dead: Webster, Clack and Ray Mansfield, who died of a heart attack at age 55 in 1996

American football player (1941–1996)

American football player

Burt James Ray Mansfield (January 21, 1941 – November 3, 1996), nicknamed "Ranger", was an American professional football player who was a center in the National Football League (NFL) for the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers. He played college football for the Washington Huskies.

Early life

Born in Bakersfield, California, Mansfield grew up in Kennewick, Washington, and graduated from Kennewick High School in 1959. He played college football at the University of Washington in Seattle under head coach Jim Owens. During his sophomore season in 1960, the Huskies won the Rose Bowl 17–7 over top-ranked Minnesota. After his senior season in 1962, he participated in the East-West Shrine Game. Mansfield is a member of the UW Athletic Hall of Fame.

Playing career

Mansfield was the 18th overall selection in the 1963 NFL draft, taken by the Eagles in the second round, and played for them for one season. He was also selected in the AFL draft, in the fifth round by the Denver Broncos.

Mansfield moved to the Steelers in 1964 and played left defensive tackle for two years. He switched to offense and was their starting center for a decade, from 1966 until 1976, and was a key member of the Steelers' Super Bowl-winning teams of the 1974 and 1975 seasons. In his last season as a Steeler, he kicked the extra p