Jack Butler dies
Jack Butler during the Class of 2012 Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony at Fawcett Stadium on August 4, 2012 in Canton, Ohio.
Jack Butler, a member of the Pro Football Hall of fame, has died. He was 85.
Butler had been suffering from a staph infection that plagued him all the way back to 1959, when his football career ended, the Associated Press reported.
"It wasn't completely out of the blue," his son John Butler told the AP.
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Butler was known as a revolutionary athlete. "Jack was a tremendous player who ranked among the best in league history," Steelers chairman Dan Rooney said in a statement.
Butler made the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers as an undrafted rookie in 1951. Yet he became "the premiere cornerback of his era," CBS Sports wrote, collecting 52 interceptions during his nine seasons with the Steelers.
He made the Hall of Fame in 2012.
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