Joe Campbell, Former Raiders Super Bowl Champion, Dead at 68 After Going on Hike

According to his brother, Campbell likely suffered a cardiac incident

Ronald C. Modra/Getty

Former Oakland Raiders player Joe Campbell.

Joe Campbell, who helped the Oakland Raiders win Super Bowl XV during the 1980 season, has died. He was 68.

According to his brother Patrick, the former NFL defensive end was found dead in Florida on Sunday after a hike and likely suffered a cardiac incident, the Delaware News Journal reported Wednesday.

Hailing from Wilmington, Delaware, Campbell was selected by the New Orleans Saints as the seventh overall pick in the 1977 NFL draft. He played three seasons for the Saints, accumulating a total of eight sacks during his tenure with the team.

He was then traded to the Oakland (now Las Vegas) Raiders during the 1980s season. Under head coach Tom Flores and led by quarterback Jim Plunkett, the Raiders defeated the Philadelphia Eagles to win the Super Bowl title in 1981.

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Campbell ended up playing 13 games for the Raiders over two seasons before joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1981, his last year in the NFL.

“The thoughts and prayers of the entire Raider Nation are with the Campbell family at this time,” said the Las Vegas Raiders in a statement issued Thursday.

Prior to his NFL career, Campbell attended Maryland and was an All-American defensive lineman for the school’s football team, per the Delaware News Journal.

“Great football player and he was a great guy, too,” said Randy White, a Maryland alum who later played for the Dallas Cowboys, told the outlet. His brother Eric was a friend and teammate of the late athlete.

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“You get news like this, it sets you back,” he added. “I’ll remember him as a long, lean guy from Delaware who came in there and dominated at that defensive end position.”

Campbell, who became an educator after his pro football career ended and an inductee into the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame in 1992, overcame a near-death experience in 2007. At the time, he was bike riding when he collided with a pickup truck resulting in him having a fractured skull, brain damage and a left forearm that had to be surgically reattached, the Delaware News Journal reported. Campbell was in a coma for over six weeks and had to breathe through a respirator.

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“I’m enjoying life, yes I am,” Campbell told the same outlet in 2016, despite having issues with his memory.

He recalled the time when there was consideration of having his forearm amputated and replaced with a prosthesis. “I said [to the doctors], ‘You ain’t doing nothing with my arm. I’m keeping my arm.'"

U.S. Rep. Burgess Owens of Utah, who played on the 1980 Oakland Raiders team that won Super Bowl XV, remembered Campbell in a tweet.

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“A teammate I was blessed to play and win with. Joe, RIP Brother,” he wrote.

A teammate I was blessed to play and win with.

Joe, RIP Brotherhttps://t.co/BIZzkbpWQT

— Burgess Owens (@BurgessOwens) July 13, 2023

“He did have his challenges,” Tom Needles, a friend of Campbell’s, told the Delaware News Journal. “But he also made a point to take care of himself," adding that past athletic glories weren’t “the most important thing" to Campbell. "He was very down to earth.”

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