This site is neither endorsed, nor sponsored by, nor affiliated with Las Vegas Raiders or NFL Properties LLC. He was such a big part of that. Five years later. “That was a big part of the shock. Ken Stabler, among the greatest quarterbacks in Oakland Raiders history, has died of complications from colon cancer. And I think that probably followed him through life.”Madden once said that Stabler “was probably involved in more games that have names than anyone.”Games like The Sea of Hands, Ghost to the Post, Holy Roller, and Immaculate Reception all involved Ken Stabler’s heroics. He was AFC player of the year in 1974 and 1976, leading the NFL in passing in the latter season. So, I said let’s do it at night. Welcome to Raiders Wire's European Union Experience. And as close as the two of them were, even Madden was shocked by Stabler’s death. He wouldn’t be seen in there. He didn’t want any of his teammates to ever see him getting treatment. Stabler died in his native Alabama at the age of 69. And in August of last year, he too passed away, again leaving heavy hearts and serving as a somber reminder of his QB getting snubbed for so many years.Unlike Stabler, even death and an expanded class to include 15 senior inductees weren’t enough for the Hall of Fame committee to put Branch in.Stabler’s family would take the stage to accept his bust. Former University of Alabama and Oakland Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler passed away on Thursdaydue to complications from colon cancer, according to a post by his family. He just turned 83 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame appears to have no sense of urgency to keep him from suffering the same fate as Stabler.Yeah, it still stings. But he didn’t want any of his teammates to ever see him in the training room getting treatment. He wouldn’t step in there. Obituary: Ken Stabler Ken Stabler, who led the Oakland Raiders to their inaugural Super Bowl victory and was the NFL’s Most Valuable Player in 1974, reportedly has died as a result of complications from colon cancer. A year after Stabler’s death and just prior to his official induction into the Hall of Fame, Branch along with a host of other Raiders legends converged on training camp in Napa for their annual Alumni weekend.It would not be the only reunion Branch would have with his former teammates. I was not aware that he had cancer,” said Madden. So, we’ll be there, and of course John takes his bus. RAIDERS is a registered trademark of the Las Vegas Raiders LLC. And now it was too late.One of Stabler’s top targets in his 10-year run in Oakland was Cliff Branch. Because the Hall of Fame callously denied the Stabler family the yellow Hall of Fame jacket and his Hall of Fame ring. He also led the Raiders to the first of their three Super Bowl victories.“I’ve always said if I had to win a game, I’d want him as a quarterback,” Hall of Fame coach John Madden told The Times, his voice cracking with emotion. But if you know Kenny Stabler, that’s Kenny Stabler. Since then, only Terry Bradshaw (147), Joe Montana (139) and Tom Brady (131) reached 100 wins in fewer starts.In his 2010 book “Badasses: The Legend of Snake, Foo, Dr. Death, and John Madden’s Oakland Raiders,” Peter Richmond wrote of Stabler: “He’d come a long way from rural Alabama, and while physically he’d eventually return to his beloved Gulf Coast, psychologically he would forever be a Raider — the laid-back leader, the lifelong keeper of an unquantifiable statistic: he invariably knew how to find a way to win.”Stabler is survived by his daughters, Kendra, Alexa and Marissa; his sister, Carolyn Bishop; and grandsons Jack and Justin.Get all the day's most vital news with our Today's Headlines newsletter, sent every weekday morning. He enjoyed life.”According to his family, Stabler requested that his brain and spinal cord be donated to Boston University’s Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center to support research into degenerative brain disease in athletes.“He was a kind, generous and unselfish man, never turning down an autograph request or an opportunity to help someone in need,” his family said in the statement. Those would have been priceless mementos for the family which they could cherish forever.You don’t have to be a Ken Stabler fan or a Raiders fan or even a football fan to feel he deserved to get the call and have his moment on the Hall of Fame stage and to party with his old teammates one more time. He was 69.
He was 69.Stabler, who had battled the disease since being diagnosed in February, died Wednesday, according to a statement by the family.“He passed peacefully surrounded by the people he loved most, including his three daughters and longtime partner, as some of his favorite songs played in the background, such as Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ and Van Morrison’s ‘Leaves Falling Down,’ ” the statement said.Although his family did not disclose where Stabler died, he was in his home state of Alabama, according to the Raiders.Nicknamed “The Snake” for his elusiveness on the field, Stabler was involved in some of the greatest plays in Raiders history, ones so well known they merited their own monikers: “Ghost to the Post,” “Sea of Hands” and the “Holy Roller.”Stabler was born on Christmas Day, 1945, in Foley, Ala. A second-round pick from Alabama, he played for the Raiders from 1970 to 1979, the Houston Oilers from 1980 to 1981, and the New Orleans Saints from 1982 to 1984.