Nineteen years after doctors told him he had two to five years left to live, O.J. Brigance was still showing up for work at the Baltimore Ravens’ facility. The former linebacker and longtime team executive, a Houston native, died on August 17, 2026, of complications tied to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). He was 56.
What Brigance left behind stretches across two nations, two league championships and the nearly two decades of understated bravery that followed his diagnosis.
The Record No One Else Holds
No other player in the sport has done what Brigance did: capture a Grey Cup and a Super Bowl in the same city. The first half of that came with the Baltimore Stallions, who won the 1995 Grey Cup by beating the Calgary Stampeders 37-20 at Taylor Field in Regina, Saskatchewan — a product of the brief stretch when the Canadian Football League planted franchises in the United States.
Years later, back in Baltimore, he collected a Super Bowl ring, closing a loop that put one city at the center of two of football’s grandest trophies and secured his spot in the sport’s history books.
Seven Seasons, Four Franchises
Brigance’s NFL run lasted seven years and took him to four teams. He was with the Miami Dolphins from 1996 through 1999, signed with the Ravens in 2000, then played for the St. Louis Rams in 2001 and into 2002, finishing that final season with the New England Patriots.
He appeared in 98 games and finished with 42 combined tackles — 33 solo and nine assists — along with three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. Both recoveries came in victories. One happened December 7, 1997, when Miami edged the Detroit Lions 33-30. The other came September 24, 2000, in a 37-0 Baltimore rout of the Cincinnati Bengals.
The stat line, though, was never the point of Brigance.
Title Night in Tampa
Baltimore’s 2000 campaign, nicknamed the “Super Journey,” was anything but smooth. The Ravens ground through a brutal slate and endured a five-game stretch without a single offensive touchdown, yet the locker room held together.
On January 28, 2001, they crushed the New York Giants 34-7 in Tampa. Brigance chased down the opening kickoff and delivered Baltimore’s first tackle of the night. Ray Lewis, the anchor of a defense that ranks among the best ever assembled, took home both Defensive Player of the Year honors and Super Bowl XXXV MVP. The Ravens’ four interceptions tied a Super Bowl record, and their offense committed zero turnovers, making Baltimore just the third club in league history to finish a title game clean.
The game’s wildest stretch delivered 21 points in 36 seconds on three straight plays: Duane Starks took an interception back 49 yards, Ron Dixon answered with a 97-yard kickoff return for the Giants, 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.
That roster ran deep. Young standouts such as Jamal Lewis, Chris McAlister and Starks lined up alongside a seasoned core: Jonathan Ogden, Michael McCrary, Matt Stover, Shannon Sharpe, Rob Burnett and Rod Woodson. Trent Dilfer, the quarterback, ran the offense in a return to Tampa Bay. When it ended, owner Art Modell hoisted the Lombardi Trophy and handed the win to the fan base, telling supporters across the Baltimore area that the title was theirs. “From the bottom of my heart, thank you,” he said.
Back home, an icy downpour did nothing to thin the crowd — hundreds of thousands packed the parade route. That June, the team traveled to the White House to meet President George W. Bush. Ravens public relations staffers Francine Lubera and Kevin Byrne chronicled the whole run in “Super Journey: Diary of the Ravens World Championship Season,” which came out in July 2001.
A Second Career and a Longer Fight
Brigance stayed with the organization long after he stopped playing, moving into the front office in 2004 and serving over 20 years as senior adviser to player development. Under his watch, the club took the NFL’s Best Overall Player Development Program award in both 2005 and 2006.
The ALS diagnosis came in 2007, when he was 37. He kept coming to the building 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, which has raised upward of $1.8 million to supply, uplift and strengthen others living with the disease.
His nearly two-decade fight made him one of the most inspiring figures in professional football, and his reach extended well past the sport. Five days after his death, the Ravens said they would carry him through the 2026 season on a helmet decal bearing his initials and his old number, 57; the team wore it for the first time in its preseason game against the Minnesota Vikings on August 22 and marked the tribute with three words: “Forever part of us.” Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti described him as “a beloved legend, mentor and man to everyone fortunate enough to know him.” Chanda, to whom he had been married for over 30 years, survives him. He is remembered as a champion in two leagues and two countries — and as a man whose spirit never faltered.
