Charlie Sanders, a Hall of Fame tight end for the Detroit Lions, died Thursday after a short battle with cancer. He was 68.
Sanders was diagnosed with cancer in November when doctors found a tumor in his right knee as he was being prepared for knee replacement surgery.
He was a seven-time Pro Bowl tight end in 10 seasons with the Lions (1968-77), and he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2007. When he retired in 1978, he held the Lions’ record with 336 receptions.
Sanders had remained part of the franchise since his retirement, working as an analyst on radio broadcasts, as receivers coach (1989-96) and as assistant director of player personnel.
Sanders was a third-round draft pick in 1968 from the University of Minnesota.
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- Sports Xchange
Woods opens Greenbrier Classic with a 66
Tiger Woods recovered from a double-bogey with birdies on his final three holes to finish with a 66 at the Greenbrier Classic on Thursday, his best first-round score of the 2015 season by a whopping seven strokes.
Woods mishit an approach and botched another close-range chip on No. 6. But he closed with birdies on the seventh, eighth and ninth to hit the clubhouse two shots off the lead at Old White TPC in White Sulphur Springs, W.V.
Brian Davis and Ryo Ishikawa had already completed rounds of 64 to stand at 6-under when Woods tapped in on the ninth to end his Thursday in greatly contrasting position to his play in the U.S. Open, where he missed the cut and posted the highest two-round score (156) in his career.
Another missed cut this week would be the first time in 21 years Woods missed the third round in successive tournaments.
- Sports Xchange
U.S. asks Swiss to extradite seven in FIFA inquiry
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The United States has asked Switzerland to extradite seven FIFA officials arrested in an investigation into a global bribery scandal at soccer’s governing body, the Swiss Federal Office of Justice said on Thursday.
The move marks the start of a legal process expected to last several months during which the officials, who have been in jail since their detention on U.S. arrest warrants in May, will either keep fighting extradition to the United States or agree to go.
The arrests of the seven, including two then-members of FIFA’s executive committee, took place in a raid on a luxury Zurich hotel on May 27, two days before FIFA’s annual congress, pitching the organization into turmoil.
U.S. prosecutors say their investigation - which is running parallel to a separate Swiss inquiry - exposes complex money laundering schemes, millions of dollars in untaxed incomes and tens of millions in offshore accounts held by FIFA officials.
- Reuters
