Report: Former Miami Dolphins Underdog Hero, Survivor Of Famous Airplane Crash With Ric Flair, Died At 80

Per Joel Rippel with the Star Tribune, Bob Bruggers died in Florida. He was a standout high school athlete in Minnesota before playing basketball and football for the Golden Gophers:

Bruggers helped Danube — located in Renville County about 100 miles west of the Twin Cities — reach the basketball high school state tournament in 1961 and ’62. After the 1962 season, Bruggers was named to the Parade All-America team.

After playing both offense and defense for the Gophers football team from 1963 to ’65, Bruggers was signed as an undrafted free agent by the American Football League’s Miami Dolphins. A linebacker, he played 2½ seasons for Miami before getting traded to the San Diego Chargers, where he played 3½ more seasons, playing 57 AFL/NFL games in all.

Bruggers appeared in 57 games and started in 21 games. He recorded one sack, two interceptions, and one fumble recovery in his six-year NFL career. Bruggers went into wrestling following his football career.

Bruggers survived a famous airplane crash

Per Online World of Wrestling, Bruggers had to retire from wrestling after sustaining an injury in a famous airplane crash that involved Ric Flair:

It is remembered as one of the most historic plane crashes in wrestling lore. It was the talk of the industry for years. The landscape of Mid-Atlantic Championship wrestling, the cornerstone of the National Wrestling Alliance (N.W.A.) was forever changed. Two careers were ended as a result of the crash, and another one, that of Ric Flair’s, was almost stricken down before it ever really got started…

Both Bruggers and Valentine sustained broken backs. After spending ten days in the Wilmington hospital, they were flown by chartered plane to a hospital in Houston where they underwent back surgery. A steel rod was later inserted into Bruggers’s spinal column and he was released from the hospital three weeks later. Although he could have continued on in his career, he never wrestled again.

Fans remember Bob Bruggers