The Guardian
October 2, 2023
Super Bowl champion Russ Francis has died at the age of 70 in a plane crash, his family has confirmed.
Francis was flying with Richard McSpadden, a former commander of the US Air Force Thunderbirds, on Sunday when their plane experienced an emergency shortly after takeoff from Lake Placid Airport. They were unable to make the runway while attempting to land and were both killed.
“My older brother Russ Francis was just killed in an airplane crash in Lake Placid, New York,” Francis’s brother, Ed, said in a Facebook post on Sunday. “Flying was my brother’s lifelong passion, and perhaps a fitting way for him to go. God speed to you my big brother!!”