Only one man in the history of football has hoisted both a Grey Cup and a Lombardi Trophy in the same city. That man, O.J. Brigance, died Aug. 17, 2026, at his home in Houston, Texas, at 56, from complications tied to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the disease he fought for 19 years.
The former linebacker’s story stretched across two nations, two league championships and nearly 20 years of stubborn, understated bravery that began after he stopped playing.
The Grey Cup and Super Bowl Milestone
Before the NFL, Brigance played for the Baltimore Stallions during the stretch when the Canadian Football League planted franchises south of the border. That club won the 1995 Grey Cup, beating the Calgary Stampeders 37-20 at Taylor Field in Regina, Saskatchewan.
Years afterward, in that same city, he collected a Super Bowl ring — a circular piece of good fortune that put Baltimore at the center of two of the sport’s biggest trophies and left Brigance alone in the record book.
A Career Across Four Teams
Four organizations employed him during seven NFL seasons. The Miami Dolphins had him from 1996 through 1999. He signed with the Baltimore Ravens in 2000, then moved to the St. Louis Rams for 2001 and 2002, wrapping up with the New England Patriots in 2002.
His ledger reads 98 games, 42 combined tackles — 33 of them solo, nine assisted — three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. Both recoveries happened in victories: one in Miami’s 33-30 win over the Detroit Lions on Dec. 7, 1997, and another in a 37-0 Ravens rout of the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 24, 2000. The statistics, though, were never the point.
Champions in Tampa
Baltimore’s 2000 campaign, nicknamed the “Super Journey,” nearly came apart in the middle. The Ravens went five straight games without an offensive touchdown and slogged through a brutal schedule, yet the locker room held together.
On January 28, 2001, they buried the New York Giants 34-7 in Tampa. Brigance chased down the opening kickoff and recorded the game’s first tackle for Baltimore. Ray Lewis anchored a defense for the ages and walked away with both Super Bowl XXXV MVP honors and Defensive Player of the Year. The unit tied a Super Bowl mark with four interceptions, and the offense committed no turnovers at all — making Baltimore just the third club in league history to finish a title game clean.
The game’s wildest stretch lasted 36 seconds and produced 21 points on three straight plays: Duane Starks took an interception back 49 yards, the Giants’ Ron Dixon answered with a 97-yard kickoff return, and Jermaine Lewis responded with an 84-yard return of his own. ESPN would later slot those back-to-back kickoff returns at No. 35 on its list of greatest Super Bowl moments.
The roster around Brigance mixed emerging talent — Jamal Lewis, Chris McAlister, Starks — with veterans who had already made their names. Jonathan Ogden and Michael McCrary held down the line, Rob Burnett and Rod Woodson brought years of experience to the defense, Shannon Sharpe caught passes and Matt Stover handled the kicking. Under center, Trent Dilfer was in a homecoming of sorts, since he had played in Tampa Bay. Owner Art Modell raised the Lombardi Trophy afterward and handed the win to the fan base, telling supporters across the Baltimore area that the title was theirs and adding, “From the bottom of my heart, thank you.”
Freezing rain did not keep hundreds of thousands of people off the parade route back home. That June, the team traveled to the White House to see President George W. Bush. Ravens public relations staffers Francine Lubera and Kevin Byrne chronicled the season in “Super Journey: Diary of the Ravens World Championship Season,” which came out in July 2001.
Brigance stayed in the building. He served more than 20 years as senior adviser to player development after joining the front office in 2004, and the franchise took home the NFL’s Best Overall Player Development Program award in both 2005 and 2006. Doctors diagnosed him with ALS in 2007, when he was 37, and gave him two to five years. He kept showing up anyway, navigating the corridors in a motorized wheelchair and, once his voice was gone, speaking through eye-tracking technology. With his wife, Chanda, he started the Brigance Brigade Foundation, whose fundraising has topped $1.8 million, money directed toward equipping those with ALS, encouraging them and empowering them.
The fight outlasted every prognosis and turned him into something larger than a football player. Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti described him as “a beloved legend, mentor and man to everyone fortunate enough to know him.” Chanda, married to him for more than three decades, survives him, along with a reputation as a champion in two leagues and two countries whose resolve never cracked.
