Joe Campbell found dead at 68 after hiking in Florida, suffering a cardiac incident

Former Raiders defensive end Joe Campbell was found dead at 68 after taking a hike in Florida on Sunday.

The former Super Bowl winner is believed to have suffered a heart attack, his brother Patrick said delaware online.

The defenseman was drafted with the seventh overall pick by the New Orleans Saints in 1977 and suited up for the Raiders and Buccaneers during his five-year NFL career.

He played three full seasons with the Saints before being traded mid-season to the Raiders and also played for the Bucs in 1981.

But it was his stint with the Raiders that he is best known for, as he was a member of the Oakland team that won Super Bowl XV in the 1980 season.

The defensive end was drafted with the seventh overall pick by the New Orleans Saints in 1977.

The 1980 Raiders team was the first wild card team to win a Super Bowl, capping off their fairytale run with a 27-10 win over the Eagles in the big game.

“The Raiders family mourns the passing of Joe Campbell, who played 13 games in two seasons with the Silver and Black,” the Raiders said in a statement Wednesday.

“The thoughts and prayers of the entire Raider Nation are with the Campbell family at this time.”

Agent Burgess Owens, a former Raider, tweeted: ‘A teammate I was blessed to play and win with. Joe, RIP bro.

Campbell survived a collision with a pickup truck while bicycling in Pennsylvania in 2007. However, he suffered a fractured skull and his left forearm had to be surgically reattached.

The accident left him in a coma for more than six weeks, breathing with the help of a respirator.

Campbell was also left with memory problems but, despite his challenges, he still remembered his championship-winning season.

“I got traded from New Orleans to Oakland and I can go back to New Orleans to play in the Super Bowl against the Eagles,” Campbell said in 2016, via delaware online.

‘I guess it was meant to be. I played against the team I grew up with. That’s the best memory I have of the Super Bowl: This was supposed to happen. I got traded from New Orleans, came back to New Orleans and played the team I grew up with. I’m happy to have been in the Super Bowl, to be part of that history.’

He lived with his brother Patrick and his brother’s wife, Dianna, in Wilmington, Delaware, for more than a year after the incident before moving to Florida in 2010.

Campbell is survived by her two daughters Daryn Garnant and Micah Mirigian, her brother Patrick, and her three grandchildren Jack Campbell Garnant, Evelyn Mirigian, and Timothy Mirigian.

Prior to his NFL career, Campbell had excelled at the Salesianum School in Delaware, helping the team win the state title in 1972.

He then went on to play at the collegiate level at Maryland becoming an All-American.

Campbell celebrated the Raiders’ 27-10 Super Bowl victory over the Eagles in January 1981

“Everybody looked up to him,” his longtime friend and former teammate of Sallies, Dennis Kelly, told Delaware Online.

“Everybody loves a winner, and Joe crossed that threshold to become a professional athlete.”

Cowboys legend Randy White, a teammate of Campbell’s in Maryland, also told the outlet: “Great football player and he was a great guy, too.” You get news like this, it sets you back. … I’ll remember him as a tall, skinny guy from Delaware who got up there and dominated at that defensive end position.’

Campbell, a native of Wilmington, Delaware, was enshrined in the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame in 1992.