The late Sanford found solace with some ‘lunatics’ who loved life

Most of the folks around North Louisiana who had a relationship with the late Leo Sanford would be hard-pressed to classify the soft-spoken, gentle giant as a party animal.

But that’s apparently what the former Louisiana Tech and NFL standout was when he occasionally got together with his buddies in the National Association for the Advancement of Grandstand Quarterbacks Association, at one time a band of about 80 former athletes from the late 1940s to early 1950s who had the answers to all sports issues.

“Those guys were lunatics, but they enjoyed life,” said Sanford’s son-in-law Curt Joiner. “They were a tight knit, special bunch and there was nothing else like them. Leo was one of the last of them still living.”

Sanford, 94, a Fair Park and Tech graduate who played eight seasons in the NFL, including the last two with the Baltimore Colts, died early Friday morning after battling various ailments, including dementia, over the past few months.

Sanford wanted his final days to be at home, and that’s exactly what happened after the NFL provided $16,000 per month for his home health care. His visitation will be Wednesday from 4-7 p.m. at Rose-Neath’s Southside. A private funeral service will be held Thursday.

The kind of guy everyone wants to have in a father or grandfather, Sanford always had a smile and cared more about helping others than helping himself. You’d never know he played linebacker in two NFL Pro Bowls unless you found out about his exploits through another means and asked him about it. He was humble and a man for all seasons.

Sanford enrolled at Tech to major in engineering because he thought that was his best route to driving trains, which he never accomplished. He told the same jokes repeatedly, including ones about wrestling a bear and a oneeyed javelin thrower, but those are the things that endeared him to hundreds of friends throughout the area.

Inducted into multiple halls of fame, Sanford always enjoyed a good cup of coffee with buddies at Southfield Grill, catching up with old friends and meeting new ones.

“What I appreciated about Leo is he always thought of others first,” Joiner said. “He put their priorities in front of his own. He was the kindest, gentlest man I’ve ever known.”

Despite his dementia, Sanford knew who came through his door to visit and called them by name until his final days. Some afternoons he’d take a ride around town with one of his caregivers to see some of his old haunts where he courted his late wife, Myrna. Often those trips made him happy but sometimes they left him agitated and confused.

But no one who knew the late, great Leo Sanford is confused about whether the world is a less enjoyable place without him and his NAAGQC members in it.

Jimmy Watson covers Louisiana sports for the USA TODAY Network. Email him at jwatson@shreveporttimes.com and follow him on Twitter @JimmyWatson6.