Former New England Patriots tight end Russ Francis was killed in a plane crash at Lake Placid Airport Sunday.
The retired NFL star was in a single-engine Cessna 177 Cardinal with Richard McSpadden, a former commander of the U.S. Air Force’s Thunderbirds, when the plane crashed at the end of the runway shortly after 4 p.m., according to Lake Placid News.
Both men died in the crash, the news outlet reported.
Francis, 70, played for the Patriots from 1975 to 1980 and again from 1987 to 1988. He won a Super Bowl ring in 1985 during a six-year stint with the San Francisco 49ers, playing under coach Bill Walsh.