Former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Clark Haggans died of complications from chronic alcohol abuse, the Larimer County, Colorado coroner’s office announced on Monday.
Haggans died at the age of 46 on June 17. The examination into his death was scheduled to be performed by forensic pathologist Dr. Joe White.
Haggans was a Torrance, California native and attended Colorado State University in Fort Collins. After his football career, he settled in Fort Collins, splitting his time between there, Pittsburgh and Las Vegas.
The Steelers’ fifth-round draft pick out of Colorado State in 2000, Haggans played 13 NFL seasons, the first eight of them in Pittsburgh, and was a member of the team’s Super Bowl XL championship squad in 2006. He retired from football in 2013.
Haggans played out his entire rookie contract with the Steelers as a special teams, reserve, and rotational player, making just four starts over his first four seasons. But when Jason Gildon departed after the 2003 season, Haggans assumed the starting role opposite Joey Porter and manned it for four successful seasons.
His best season as a pass rusher came during the Steelers championship 2005 season, when he posted nine sacks, 61 tackles and seven tackles for a loss. He had another 1.5 sacks, 18 tackles and two tackles for loss in the postseason run, including one sack and five tackles in Super Bowl XL.
Haggans became an unrestricted free agent in 2008 and signed with the Arizona Cardinals, where he played four years. He was on the injured reserve list when the Cardinals lost to the Steelers in Super Bowl XLIII. He left Arizona and signed with the San Francisco 49ers in 2012, making one final Super Bowl run as the 49ers lost to the Baltimore Ravens, in Super Bowl XLVII, his final NFL game.
Since his retirement, Haggans cherished his time as a former Steelers player and made frequent visits to the team’s practice facility.
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