Former NFL wide receiver Gail Cogdill died Thursday at the age of 79.
Per Carlos Monarrez of the Detroit Free Press, Cogdill died due to complications from heart and kidney failure and dementia in Spokane, Washington.
Cogdill played 11 seasons in the NFL. He is best remembered for his tenure with the Detroit Lions from 1960-68.
Former Lions wide receiver Pat Studstill told Monarrez about the impact Cogdill had on his football career:
It was an honor to have played with Gail and I learned a lot from him. I used to watch him like a hawk, how he came off the line of scrimmage, the way he ran his out patterns, everything. He had such great hands and was strong as an ox and I don’t believe there was a better athlete on the team. He was so good that he often was double covered and I was the beneficiary of that. Gail was nice to everyone, his teammates, and the fans and I will miss him.
The Lions drafted Cogdill in the sixth round out of Washington State during the 1960 draft. He made an immediate impact on Detroit's passing attack with a team-high 642 receiving yards as a rookie.
Cogdill would improve on his performance in each of the following three seasons when he had over 900 yards each year from 1961-63 with a total of 146 receptions and 23 touchdown catches. He was named to three Pro Bowl teams and was a second-team All-Pro selection three times.
Per Pro-Football-Reference.com, Cogdill ranks fifth in Lions history with 5,221 receiving yards, seventh with 325 receptions and ninth with 28 touchdown catches.
After the Lions released Cogdill midway through the 1968 season, he went on to play for the Baltimore Colts and Atlanta Falcons before retiring after the 1970 season.
