Raider legend Branch dies
NAPA >> Cliff Branch, who played on three Super Bowl championship teams and played his entire 14-year with the Raiders, died Saturday, the club confirmed.
Branch was 71 years old. No cause of death has been released. His passing was recognized by the team on the Raiders’ web site:
“Cliff Branch touched the lives of generations of Raiders fans. His loss leaves an eternal void for the Raiders Family, but his kindness and loving nature will be fondly remembered forever. Cliff’s onfield accomplishments are well documented and undeniably Hall of Fame worthy, but his friendship and smile are what the Raider Nation will always cherish.”
The prototype Al Davis deep threat, Branch was close to Raiders owner Mark Davis.
“Cliff was my best friend. I will miss him dearly,” Mark Davis said in the first statement released by the team.
Drafted by the Raiders out of Colorado in 1972, Branch caught 501 passes for 8,685 yards and scored 67 touchdowns, averaging 17.3 yards per reception. A sprinter at Colorado in addition to playing football, Branch struck fear into opposing defenses with his ability to get deep.
After struggling for his first two seasons to consistently catch the ball, Branch had a breakout
year in 1974, catching 60 passes for 1,092 yards and 13 touchdowns. Two years later, Branch had 46 receptions for 1,111 yards and 12 touchdowns with a long of 88 yards, averaging a career high 24.2 yards per catch.
In 20 playoff games, including Super Bowl wins following the 1976, 1980 and 1983 seasons, Branch had 73 catches for 1,289 yards and five touchdowns.
Branch’s death comes on the day a new class is being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A case can be made that Branch belongs
there as well. He is considered a candidate for induction in 2020, when as many as 20 candidates could be inducted during the NFL’S 100th anniversary as a way to ease the logjam of worthy candidates.
Branch was a semifinalist for Hall induction in 2004 and 2010.
“There is no way Cliff Branch should not be in the Hall of Fame,” Al Davis told reporters at the 2009 NFL owners meetings. Charles Woodson gave Branch is due on Twitter, relating his death to that of quarterback Ken Stabler, who wasn’t inducted until after his passing.
“Another great player that won’t be able to see himself inducted,” Woodson tweeted.