USA TODAY International Edition
‘ Renaissance Man’ of the Raiders dies at 57
Jim Plunkett knew Todd Christensen as a fun guy who loved catching passes, especially in the end zone and sometimes on plays in which he was supposed to be blocking.
Christensen’s former broadcast partners fondly recall his big personality, too, and the fancy words he used with ease.
Christensen, 57, a five- time Pro Bowl tight end with the Oakland/ Los Angeles Raiders from 1979 to 1988, died Wednesday at a hospital near his home in Alpine, Utah, from complications during liver transplant surgery.
Plunkett, the quarterback who teamed with Christensen on two Raiders Super Bowl championship teams, learned Christensen was ill after seeing him at a team reunion in July 2012.
“He had lost of lot of weight. And I didn’t find out until afterwards that he was ill and looking for a transplant” for 10 months, Plunkett says.
Christensen, a devout Mormon, did not drink. Toby, one of his four sons, told the Associated Press the family thought the liver problems began 25 years ago after a botched gall bladder operation.
Playing at 6- 3, 230 pounds in the NFL, Christensen finished with 461 catches for 5,872 yards and 41 touchdowns in the regular season, including 92 catches for 1,247 yards and 12 touchdowns in 1983.
“He brought a lot to table as a person and a personality, and also on the football field he could catch everything thrown his way basically,” Plunkett says. “He was a big, barrelchested guy at one time, and he had a knack for getting between the ball and the defender.”
Christensen came out of Brigham Young as a running back, but late Raiders owner Al Davis saw something else. “He was a hybrid tight end, an Hback before it became a football term,” former Raiders coach Tom Flores says.
Nicknamed “The Renaissance Man” for his varied interests, Chris- tensen left football for broadcasting, including at NBC Sports, ESPN and CBS Sports Network.
“I remember Todd always using big words and quotes from famous authors and poets,” Flores says. “He was comical at times, because no one knew what he was talking about.”
Plunkett also recalled Christensen’s fancy vocabulary: “Oh, yeah, but you know I went to Stanford. I put him in his place a few times.”
James Bates, his partner for five seasons of Mountain West Conference football telecasts through 2009, says he and Christensen were reunited for a couple of games last year, including at San Diego State.
“Early in the third quarter, I said, ‘ Todd it’s so good to work with you again. It’s been a long time since I’ve been adroit, astute, prescient and salient all in the same broadcast.’ He had used all four of those in the first half,” Bates says.
Former NFL running back Mike Adamle, who co- hosted the syndicated American Gladiators series with Christensen in 1990, says of Christensen, “He didn’t suffer fools very well.”
“Whatever the topic was, you’d better come prepared to talk about it, because he knew everything there was to know,” says Adamle, a sports anchor in Chicago.
Bates knew Christensen had been battling liver problems.
“The last year or so I was with him out West, he lost a good chunk of weight ... and he was on a list waiting on a liver,” Bates says. “It was a true blessing to call him my friend.”