Ravens Super Bowl winner O.J. Brigance dead at 56 after ALS battle

Super Bowl-winning Ravens linebacker O.J.Brigance died after a years-long battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the team announced on Monday.He was 56.“We are devastated by the awful news that we have lost O.J.

Brigance,” Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti said in a statement.“O.J.

was a beloved legend, mentor and man to everyone who was fortunate enough to know him.He was a vibrant person who became one of the first Ravens heroes with his passionate play, including the first tackle of Super Bowl 2001.”Brigance’s NFL star rose to prominence with the Dolphins, who signed him as a free agent out of Rice University in 1996.

A two-time captain, he won the Ed Block Courage Award and the NFLPA’s Unsung Hero Award in 1999.He then came to Baltimore — where he’d won a Grey Cup with the CFL’s Stallions in 1995 — for his lone season with the Ravens and played a key role in their march to the Super Bowl title, making a team-leading 10 special teams tackles against the Giants.He is the only player to win both a Grey Cup and Super Bowl in the same city.Brigance went on to play two seasons for the Rams before finishing his career with the Patriots in 2002.In 2004, he joined the Ravens’ front office as a senior adviser for player engagement, a job he continued from a wheelchair with a communication device after he was diagnosed with ALS in 2007.Along with his wife, Chanda, he went on to found the Brigance Brigade Foundation, an organization whose mission is to “equip, encourage and empower” those afflicted with ALS.“While winning CFL and NFL championships are great personal remembrances, I wouldn’t say any of these events define me,” he said.“Rather, they are part of an accumulation of life events which catapulted me to do what God wanted me to accomplish.

If you were to remove any of those events, I wouldn’t be the same person or have the position of influence.With that being said, I consider the Brigance Brigade to be the most significant a...