Russ Francis Killed In A Plane Crash

[jacklamabe65]

What a horrible couple of days, Chris Snow. Tim Wakefield, Russ Francis. I still remember how Howard Cosell used to call him "The all-world tight end for the New England Patriots!" Trust me, he was a great player and a dominant offensive force. RIP. https://www.staradvertiser.com/2023/10/01/sports/sports-breaking/russ-francis-dies-in-plane-crash/

 

[jacklamabe65]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYkthWzg-xc

 

[MuppetAsteriskTalk]

RIP

One of my favorite Patriots when I was a kid.

 

[Harry Hooper]

Crap! Here's a perspective from Hawai'i: LINK

Russ was just so much fun to watch out there on the gridiron.

 

[DJnVa]

Yeah---that sucks. I have some really cool pencil drawings of some early 80s Patriots that were given away at some random service station back in the day and Francis is one of them.

 

[joe dokes]

The local report from Lake Placid:
Two killed in Lake Placid airplane crash identified | News, Sports, Jobs - Lake Placid News

 

[Oil Can Dan]

Yeah---that sucks. I have some really cool pencil drawings of some early 80s Patriots that were given away at some random service station back in the day and Francis is one of them.

Holy crap I do too! Although I think they were more mid-to-late 70's than 80's.

My mom had a huge crush on Russ Francis. What a terrible week.

 

[lexrageorge]

Awful news.

Article above mentions "emergency after takeoff", which is never a good time to have a possible engine problem. His right seat companion was Senior VP at AOPA, so many decades of combined experience at the controls. Single-engine Cessna's are usually pretty forgiving aircraft, too.

RIP to one of the great ones who should have played his entire career here. I cannot find it but there was a time Francis visited Pats practice and Belichick started recalling plays Francis made against his Giants teams.

 

[8slim]

Oh man. When I first started following the Pats they had a TE combo of Francis and Don Hasselbeck. Growing up in Foxboro I’d see the players quite frequently, and Francis was one of those guys who just looked like a football player. So sad.

 

[moondog80]

Feels like a disproportionate number of athletes are killed in place crashes. Thurman Munson, Corey Lidle, Payne Stewart, Rocky Marciano, Kobe, Roy Halladay, Robeto Clemente, and now Francis. RIP.

 

[sezwho]

Feels like a disproportionate number of athletes are killed in place crashes. Thurman Munson, Corey Lidle, Payne Stewart, Rocky Marciano, Kobe, Roy Halladay, Robeto Clemente, and now Francis. RIP.

Yipes, and I just watched the Randy Rhodes documentary yesterday on Netflix so let’s not start on musicians! My Father in law retired as a 747 pilot and its easy to forget how much safer the big commercial aircraft are: he flew literally everything over the years without incident but actually stuffed the landing gear on his own Cessna once while trying to adjust his landing procedures back from the 74. Flying is hard even when things don’t go to shit.

 

[Dick Drago]

He was a great character and great TE-blocking as well as receiving…devastating news.

There are some old Pats games on YouTube, he was a remarkable athlete-it was a different league, but he was as dominant as one could be at that position.

I don’t think the local media liked him, he didn’t fit their dirt dog specs—he was injured and wore a big fur coat on sidelines, hung out with his lookalike Burt Reynolds-always expected him to get a post football gig as a TV series detective ala Fred Dryer.

 

[bankshot1]

Damn

What a miserable day yesterday was.

I'm pretty sure Cosell had a crush on Francis.

With good reason.

RIP Russ Francis

 

[FisksFinger]

What a sad news day. Old enough to remember pretending to be Russ Francis in the fall and Fred Lynn or Fisk in the summers.

RIP Russ Francis

 

[Al Zarilla]

He played for my two favorite teams, the Patriots and the 49ers, a force with both at 6'6 240. He earned a ring with the great 1984-85 49ers team. Damn!

 

[loshjott]

There are a lot of stories about what a free spirit and daredevil pilot he was. I still remember the stories of him flying Raider Phil Villapiano in his plane shortly after the 1976 playoff game and turning the plane upside down and scaring the shit out of Villapiano. Here's a blurb from a 1980 SI profile.

Next, Francis is off in the wild blue again, musing on the time he was flying Phil Villapiano, the linebacker Oakland recently traded to Buffalo, in his plane. Francis says he turned the plane upside down, remarking to Villapiano, "Now, about that interference call last year." Some of the stories might even be true.

RIP and hang loose...

 

[Dahabenzapple2]

My favorite Patriot of those times

RIP, sir

 

[DJnVa]

Holy crap I do too! Although I think they were more mid-to-late 70's than 80's. My mom had a huge crush on Russ Francis. What a terrible week.

It's possible. I'll take a pic of them later and post and see if it's the same ones you have.

 

[cornwalls@6]

Man, Another gut punch. I loved those ‘76-‘80 Pats teams, and Russ was a huge part of it. Freak athlete who could run, catch, and block. And a free spirited character. My mom and dad happened to be in Hawaii one year at in the early 80,s, the same time as the pro bowl, and were seated next to him on a local flight from Honolulu to Maui. They said he was funny, gregarious, and engaging on the entire flight. Very sad to hear the news.

 

[Dotrat]

Damn! My favorite Patriot from those bygone days--and at his peak a sort of Gronk prototype who could do everything the position demanded at a high level and, as @cornwalls@6 notes, a free spirit.

 

[kartvelo]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYkthWzg-xc

Nice long TD pass to Stingley, too.

 

[ShaneTrot]

Those late '70s Patriots teams were fun. Francis was just a terrific athlete and a cool guy.

 

[Monbo Jumbo]

The early 80s Niners team were fun too. He was a key piece of those teams.

 

[E5 Yaz]

First NFL game I covered was his return to NE with the 49ers. I was filling in for the beat guy and was a deer in the headlights when we got to the locker room after the game. There was a crowd around Francis, but for some reason he must have noticed how out of place I felt and gestured at me to ask a question. A nice move on his part.
Always figured he was destined to go out on a surfboard.

 

[mauidano]

This one hits hard in Hawaii. Russ was a larger-than-life legendary figure here. His father Ed Francis was a big-time wrestling promoter in the '70s in Hawaii and all the big names would come through. He was a local kid and after his playing days were over he was the local sports guy on the nightly news. A great personality who was just very outgoing and loved by all. Really the first big NFL star to come out of Hawaii. although there were others before him; Russ really captured the hearts of Hawaii.

Really sad about this. Tough, tough couple of days and week to lose your heroes.

 

[Norm Siebern]

What a shitty weekend. This is just terrible news. Francis was my favorite Patriot growing up. He was the complete package, the prototypical TE. I thought he was destined for the HOF. Sadness just continues to pile upon sadness.

 

[Pandemonium67]

My mom had a huge crush on Russ Francis.

Ha ha, mine too. I suspect there were many others.

Unrelated, but she also had a crush on "Frankie" Gifford.

 

[azsoxpatsfan]

Feels like a disproportionate number of athletes are killed in place crashes. Thurman Munson, Corey Lidle, Payne Stewart, Rocky Marciano, Kobe, Roy Halladay, Robeto Clemente, and now Francis. RIP.

Commercial planes are insanely safe. Single engine planes are not. I think it’s just that athletes are rich, and more rich people can afford to fly their own planes

Edit: Kobe was a helicopter. I went in a helicopter in Hawaii once, after we landed the pilot said “planes can have an engine fail and can glide to a landing. If a helicopter engine fails it’s just a rock falling out of the sky.” I’ll never go in one again

 

[Mugsy’s Walk-Off Bunt]

crushed by Dallas

Gonzo injured

Judon gone for the season

Most importantly:

Wakefield. Francis.

Absolutely brutal weekend in deeply meaningful ways and in dumb sports ways.