Jeffrey Hugh Staggs (May 14, 1944 - September 17, 2014) was an American college and professional football player who played for the

San Diego State Aztecs The San Diego State Aztecs are the athletic teams that represent San Diego State University (SDSU). San Diego State currently sponsors six men's and eleven women's sports at the varsity level. The Aztecs compete in NCAA Division I ( FBS for foo ...

and

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

Early life

Staggs was born in

Elgin, Illinois Elgin ( ) is a city in Cook and Kane counties in the northern part of the U.S. state of Illinois. Elgin is located northwest of Chicago, along the Fox River. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 114,797, the seventh-large ...

and raised in San Diego County. After graduating from Point Loma High School, he attended Brigham Young University and San Diego City College.

Career

College

For two years, Staggs played college football at San Diego State University under coach Don Coryell, where he was a linebacker on the Aztecs' winning the Camellia Bowl in 1966 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2009.

Professional

Staggs played professionally in the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

and the National Football League for the

(1967–1972 and 1974) and the St. Louis Cardinals (1973). He was traded along with a second rounder in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

and a second and third rounder in

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

from the Chargers to the Rams for Deacon Jones, Lee White and

Greg Wojcik Gregory Steven Wojcik (January 7, 1946 – December 17, 2005) was a former American football player who played with the Los Angeles Rams and the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League. He also played for the Orange County Ramblers of ...

on January 29, 1972.

Personal life

Staggs died in his sleep on September 17, 2014. After his death, Staggs's brain was donated to the Boston University CTE Center and Brain Bank, where it was found that he had suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). He is one of at least 345 NFL players to be diagnosed after death with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is caused by repeated hits to the head. In 2018, a wrongful death lawsuit was filed on behalf of Staggs and other football players against the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

References