Longtime Minnesota Vikings linebacker Fred McNeill, who struggled with dementia due to the effects of brain trauma from his playing career, died Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 63.
McNeill's head trauma had morphed into ALS, which was officially diagnosed in March 2014.
"His spirit was there to the end," his wife, Tia, told Outside The Lines on Wednesday, adding her husband was well enough to watch Monday Night Football before his health failed on Tuesday.
McNeill played linebacker for the Vikings for 12 seasons after being a first-round draft choice out of UCLA in 1974. In that time, Minnesota reached the Super Bowl in 1974 and 1976 and won five straight NFC Central Division titles. The Vikings had eight winning seasons during that stretch, going 96-79-1 in the regular season.
"He loved the Vikings and the fans and the city of Minneapolis," Tia McNeill told the St. Paul Pioneer Press.