Auburn football great Terry Beasley died of apparent suicide: report

Shortly after news that former Auburn football legend Terry Beasley had died at the age of 73, we now appear to have an idea on his cause of death, with reports that the former wide receiver died of an apparent suicide.

Moody (Ala.) Police Chief Reece Smith said that Beasley was "found deceased inside the residence from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. This case is still under investigation," he said, according to AL.com.

Beasley starred for Auburn from 1969 to 1971 as a wide receiver and earned unanimous All-American honors during the Tigers' 1971 football season, catching passes from eventual Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Pat Sullivan.

In that '71 campaign, Beasley caught 55 passes for 846 yards and scored 12 touchdowns as Auburn finished 9-2 with wins over three top-10 ranked teams.

Beasley's best outing came in 1970 as he had 52 receptions for 1,051 yards and 11 touchdowns, earning All-SEC honors. Auburn went 9-2 and beat Alabama that year.

He left Auburn as the school's all-time leader with 2,507 receiving yards and 29 touchdown catches, both still AU records. 

Beasley also owns school records with eight straight games with a touchdown catch and 12 total 100-yard receiving games.

San Francisco selected Beasley as the No. 19 overall selection in the 1972 NFL Draft and he played professionally until 1975 when he was forced to retire after sustaining a series of concussions, and he dealt with CTE for the remainder of his life.

Beasley's No. 88 jersey is one of just three that Auburn has retired — the others being Sullivan's No. 7 and Bo Jackson's No. 34.

(AL.com)