Charles Edward Brandon (September 13, 1943 – August 9, 2022) was an American

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player, all-star, and

Grey Cup The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...

champion lineman in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

, playing seven seasons with the

Ottawa Rough Riders The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded in 1876. Formerly one of the oldest and longest-lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup championship nine ...

. A graduate of

Shaw University Shaw University is a private Baptist historically black university in Raleigh, North Carolina. It is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA. Founded on December 1, 1865, Shaw University is the oldest HBCU to begin offering courses in ...

, Brandon started his career playing one game for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 1967. He then spent three seasons in the

Continental Football League The Continental Football League (COFL) was a professional American football minor league that operated in North America from 1965 through 1969. It was established following the collapse of the original United Football League, and hoped to beco ...

playing for the semi-pro Norfolk Neptunes. He returned to Canada and began a seven-year stay in Ottawa, where he was a part of the feared "Capital Punishment" defensive unit. He won two

s and in his final season switched to offensive guard, and was an all-star. He was the

Grey Cup Most Valuable Player The Grey Cup's Most Valuable Player (MVP) award is awarded annually since 1959 to the player of the winning team who deemed to have had the best performance in the Grey Cup Game, the Canadian Football League's championship game. This award is prese ...

in 1973. Brandon died on August 9, 2022, at the age of 78, in

Virginia Beach, Virginia Virginia Beach is an independent city located on the southeastern coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 459,470 at the 2020 census. Although mostly suburban in character, it is the most populous city ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brandon, Charlie 1943 births 2022 deaths Sportspeople from Wake County, North Carolina Players of American football from North Carolina Ottawa Rough Riders players Winnipeg Blue Bombers players Shaw Bears football players Continental Football League players