Charles Alvin Sanders (August 25, 1946 July 2, 2015) was an American professional

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 who was a

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

for the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) from 1968 to 1977. Sanders was chosen for the NFL's 1970s All-Decade Team and voted into the

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coach ...

in 2007.

Early years

Sanders was born in 1946 in

Richlands, North Carolina Richlands is a town in Onslow County, North Carolina, United States. The 2010 population was 1,520. It is included in the Jacksonville, North Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area. Incorporated on March 29, 1880, it was the first town in Onslow C ...

. He attended James B. Dudley High School in

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte and Raleigh, the 69th-most populous city in the Un ...

, where he played for the

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

teams.

University of Minnesota

Sanders attended the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

, where he played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for the

Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college athletics, college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 25 (12 men's, 13 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and com ...

. He was named to the All-

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

Team in his senior year, when he recorded 21 receptions for 276 yards with two

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

s, as Minnesota tied for the Big Ten championship with an 8–2 record.

Detroit Lions

The Lions selected Sanders in the third round of the

1968 NFL Draft The 1968 National Football League draft was part of the common draft, in the second year in which the NFL and AFL held a joint draft of college players. It took place at the Belmont Plaza Hotel in New York City on January 30–31, 1968. The Min ...

, and he became their starting tight end for the next ten seasons. He had 336 career receptions for 4,817 yards and 31 touchdowns. He was also known as a superior blocker. Sanders was chosen for the

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

seven times (1968–71, 1974–76). He was the only

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

to be named to the

1969 Pro Bowl The 1969 Pro Bowl was the NFL's nineteenth annual all-star game which featured the outstanding performers from the 1968 season. The game was played on Sunday, January 19, 1969, at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. The fin ...

, following a season where he had forty receptions for 533 yards. Sanders was also selected as a first-team

All-Pro All-Pro is an honor bestowed upon professional American football players that designates the best player at each position during a given season. All-Pro players are typically selected by press organizations, who select an "All-Pro team," a list th ...

for the

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

and

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

seasons, receiving the most votes of any player in both years. During an exhibition game in

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

, he injured his right knee, but continued to play until his retirement at age 31 in November

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

. Sanders was named to the

NFL 1970s All-Decade Team The National Football League 1970s All-Decade Team is a list of National Football League (NFL) players selected by voters of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The squad consists of first- and second-team offensive, defensive, and special teams units, ...

as selected by voters of the

. He was inducted into the

North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame The North Carolina Museum of History is a history museum located in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. It is an affiliate through the Smithsonian Affiliations program. The museum is a part of the Division of State History Museums, Office of Archives ...

in 1997, and the Minnesota M Club Hall of Fame in 2013. In 2008, Sanders was chosen as a member of the Lions' 75th Anniversary All Time Team.

Later years

Sanders served as a

color analyst A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and the ...

on Lions radio broadcasts from 1983 through 1988, worked with the team as an assistant coach in charge of wide receivers from 1989 to 1996, returned to perform radio broadcasts in 1997, and then joined the Lions' front office as a

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, sectio ...

. He became the team's assistant director of pro personnel in 2000, and held the role until his death. In 2005, he co-authored ''Charlie Sanders' Tales from the Detroit Lions'', a book of anecdotes about the team and its players. Sanders also worked in the team's community relations department and served as a spokesman for the

United Way United Way is an international network of over 1,800 local nonprofit fundraising affiliates. United Way was the largest nonprofit organization in the United States by donations from the public, prior to 2016. United Way organizations raise funds ...

and

The March of Dimes March of Dimes is a United States nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies. The organization was founded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938, as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, to comb ...

. He created The Charlie Sanders Foundation in 2007, which provided two college scholarships per year for students from

Oakland County Oakland County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is part of the Metro Detroit, metropolitan Detroit area, located northwest of the city. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 Census, its population was 1, ...

Monroe, Michigan Monroe is the largest city and county seat of Monroe County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Monroe had a population of 20,462 in the 2020 census. The city is bordered on the south by Monroe Charter Township, but the two are administered autonomo ...

and his home state of North Carolina. In 2012, he began the "Have A Heart Save A Life" program (within the foundation) to raise funds to provide heart (EKG) screenings to young people. In August 2012, the first "Charlie Sanders Have A Heart Save A Life Celebrity Golf Outing was held in West Bloomfield, Michigan.

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is a pediatric treatment and research facility located in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1962, it is a 501(c)(3) designated nonprofit medical corporation which focuses on children's catastrophic diseases, pa ...

honored Sanders for his charitable work in 2014.

Personal life and death

Sanders and his wife, Georgianna, had nine children and lived in

Rochester Hills, Michigan Rochester Hills is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 76,300. It is the 14th-largest city in Michigan. The area was first occupied by settlers of European descent in 1 ...

. Charlie has nine children Mia, Charese, Mary Jo, Georgianna jr, Charlie jr, Nathalie, Talissa, Wayne and Jordan. One of his daughters,

Mary Jo Mary Jo, various spelled Mari Jo, Mary Joe and similar, is a feminine given name found mainly in the United States. It is often a contraction of Mary Josephine, Mary Joanna or similar. Notable people with the name include: * Mary Jo Baedecker (bo ...

is a pro boxer, and three of his sons played college football: Charlie Sanders Jr. at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

and had a brief NFL career with the Detroit Lions; one son formerly played at

Saginaw Valley State University Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU) is a public university in University Center, Michigan in Saginaw County. It was founded in 1963 as Saginaw Valley College. It is located on in Saginaw County's Kochville Township, approximately north of ...

; and one son is currently playing at

, after transferring from Michigan State University. Sanders developed a

malignant tumor Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal ble ...

behind his right knee, which was discovered while he was undergoing

knee replacement surgery Knee replacement, also known as knee arthroplasty, is a surgical procedure to replace the weight-bearing surfaces of the knee joint to relieve pain and disability, most commonly offered when joint pain is not diminished by conservative sources a ...

. Sanders underwent

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherap ...

, but died on July 2, 2015 in

Royal Oak, Michigan Royal Oak is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Detroit, Royal Oak is about north of Detroit's city limits. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 57,236. Royal Oak is located along th ...

from cancer.

References

External links

* *''Pro Football Hall of Fame:'
Member profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sanders, Charlie 1946 births 2015 deaths African-American players of American football American football tight ends Detroit Lions announcers Detroit Lions players Detroit Lions scouts Minnesota Golden Gophers football players National Conference Pro Bowl players National Football League announcers People from Richlands, North Carolina Players of American football from Greensboro, North Carolina Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees Sportspeople from Greensboro, North Carolina Western Conference Pro Bowl players Deaths from bone cancer Deaths from cancer in Michigan 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people