Former NFL tight end Charle Young, a three-time Pro Bowl selection and member of the San Francisco 49ers’ first Super Bowl championship team, died Tuesday at 75.
Young caught the first of Joe Montana’s 75 touchdown passes in the playoffs, etching his link in NFL history with one of the game’s greatest quarterbacks. The 49ers announced Young’s death after being informed by his wife. No cause of death was disclosed.
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Young built one of the more durable careers of his era, playing 13 NFL seasons with four teams and finishing with 418 receptions, 5,106 receiving yards and 27 touchdowns.
Young entered the league as the sixth overall pick in the 1973 NFL Draft after a standout career at USC, where he helped lead the Trojans to a national championship in 1972. He was a unanimous All-American that season and later earned induction into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2004.
Young’s biggest impact came early in Philadelphia.
Drafted by the Eagles at a time when tight ends were still used primarily as blockers, Young quickly became one of the league’s most productive receiving threats. As a rookie in 1973, he caught 55 passes for 854 yards and six touchdowns, earning first-team All-Pro honors and a Pro Bowl selection. He led all NFL tight ends in receptions and receiving yards that season.
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Young made the Pro Bowl in each of his first three seasons and was named second-team All-Pro in 1974 and 1975.
After four seasons with the Eagles, Young spent three years with the Los Angeles Rams, appearing in Super Bowl XIV following the 1979 season. He later joined the 49ers and became part of head coach Bill Walsh’s emerging dynasty.
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Young started at tight end for the 1981 team that defeated the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XVI, giving San Francisco its first championship. He also contributed during the postseason run that included “The Catch” — Montana’s game-winning touchdown pass to Dwight Clark — against the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC Championship Game.
Young finished his career with the Seattle Seahawks, retiring after the 1985 season.
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