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(Updated) RIP Alex Karras


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Pretty big sports figure when I was a kid.

 

Karras was actually done playing when I was old enough to know him but between being a prominent topic in Jerry Kramer's "Instant Replay" (to Kramer, Merlin Olsen and Alex Karras were the two best DTs in the NFL), his true-life role in George Plimpton's "Paper Lion" and his film role in Disney's "The 500 Pound Jerk" as well as his later stint on Monday Night Football, Karras was a pretty big star.

 

It looks like he will go before us. May he be in peace.

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Kidney failure doesn't mean soon death, I work in dialysis and people live 10 years on it. This is most likely a combination of other problems (like his dimentia) that are leading to this.

 

Side note, it's somewhat irresponsible of the media to oversimplify his diagnosis (kidney failure) as synonymous with "he'll be dead soon". People have kidney failure all the time, and if all you've ever heard is death quickly follows, you really have been done a disservice by the media. Many options are out there, multiple modalities of dialysis treatment, and even eventually transplants are options.

 

All that said though, it's a shame to see this guy bad off.

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RIP. I can just barely remember him being on football cards when I was real young in the early 70's, but remember his more from being the father on Webster, being an adoptive father with his real life wife playing his wife on the show. Of course he did Monday Night Football for a few years and was remembered for saying Otis Sistrunk was from the University of Mars (he didn't go to college). He was also in one of my wife's favorite movies, Against All Odds as a Sheriff. Some people forget that he also got suspended for a year with Paul Hornung for betting on football.

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I was glad to read that hospice was involved, as I know that they do a wonderful job of easing the family's grief and ensuring that the patient's final days and moments are as comfortable, pain-free, and dignified as possible.

 

 

To me, Alex Karras was one of those seemingly larger-than-life NFL characters whom I'll remember more for his movie roles and as part of the early MNF broadcast crews. He was truly one of the "old-timers" - from the days before agents and players' unions, where the guys had to take off-season jobs selling cars, real estate, insurance, etc. Unfortunately (or maybe not), I'm still a bit too young to remember him from his prime days as a player, but knew of his reputation on field. Off the field, whether in the broadcast booth, on the movie screen, or some talk show, he always seemed like one of the nicest and funniest guys - a guy you'd love to spend some time with, toss a few back, and listen to stories from his era.

 

An era, no doubt, much more colorful than today's NFL.

 

 

Link - Lions great Alex Karras dies at 77 (Detroit Free Press)

 

 

Fratres qui fuerunt sed nunc ad astra, requiescant in pace. :(

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