Former Chargers GM Sanders Dead at 68

Johnny Sanders, former Chargers general manager and Rams director of player personnel, died early Friday morning of apparent heart failure. He was 68.

He was pronounced dead at 3:29 a.m. at Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa, according to deputy coroner George Dickason.

Sanders and Rick Smith, former Chargers public relations director, both worked as administrative consultants to the San Diego Gulls, an International Hockey League team. Smith said they spent 30 minutes together Thursday afternoon talking football and about this weekend’s games.

“I thought he was going to go to last night’s game,” said Smith, who said Sanders had dieted and lost close to 50 pounds earlier in the year. “He was fine at work. There was absolutely no hint that anything was wrong. He didn’t look like a man whose time had come.”

According to Smith, Sanders’ breathing became irregular during the night, and his wife, Peggy, took him to the hospital.

“Then I get a call 14 hours later that he was gone,” Smith said. “It was a real shock.”

Sanders joined the Rams in 1964, was named assistant general manager in 1969, and held several titles in the scouting and personnel departments before joining the Chargers as assistant to the late Chargers owner, Gene Klein, in 1975. He was promoted to general manager the next year and held that position until 1986. In 1987, his last year with the Chargers, he was an assistant director of football operations.

After he resigned from the Chargers, Sanders failed in an effort to bring Arena football to the city.

Jack Teele, the Chargers assistant to the president, and Sanders worked together with the Rams in the early 1960’s, then were reunited in San Diego in 1981.

“We were very close,” Teele said. “This is the loss of a fine man and talent, a football man, a good man, and a good friend. It’s a shock beyond words.”

In 1979, Sanders was named NFL Executive of the Year by The Sporting News. Teele said it is, “the highest honor you can be paid in the profession, to be recognized by your peers.”

Teele cited the 1975 draft, which he said proved to the cornerstone of future Charger teams, and the 1983 draft as examples of Sanders’ keen football mind.

“He was more responsible than anyone for the success of the the Chargers,” Teele said. “Some persons have a gift for selecting talent. (Current Chargers General Manager) Bobby Beathard has it, and Johnny Sanders had it, too.”

Billy Ray Smith, the Charger outside linebacker, was drafted by Sanders in the first round in 1983, the same year cornerback Gill Byrd and now Tampa Bay running back Gary Anderson were drafted.

“Johnny Sanders was a real positive guy,” Smith said. “Even when negotiations got difficult between him and my agent, he never let it effect our personal relationship. With him, business was business and personal relationships were just that. He was a great guy. He always had a smile on his face.”

Sanders was born in San Antonio, Texas, July 22, 1922. He played football at Van Nuys High School and was a running back and three-year letterman at Occidental College (1946-48) in Eagle Rock. In 1948, he was a starter on the 9-0 team that defeated Colorado A&M; in the Raisin Bowl in Fresno, Jan. 1, 1949. He is a member of the Occidental Athletic Hall of Fame and the Van Nuys Hall of Fame.

After graduating from college, he began teaching and coaching in the Los Angeles City Schools system, and was head coach at North Hollywood High from 1951-58.

Pat Curren, Charger business manager, was a tight end for the Rams until Sanders traded for him and brought him to San Diego in 1975.

“It’s a sad day,” Curren said. “Johnny was a tough negotiator, but he always listened to you, and he was a good friend . . . I answered to him in the front office, and he taught me a great deal about the front-office life of football, not just the players side of it. I knew him from the players side, and I knew him from the front-office side, and he was an all-around good man. He is going to be missed.”

Sanders is survived by his wife, Peggy; a daughter, Pamela; a son, Rob; his mother, Jonnie; a sister, Janie Brown; and a brother, Rich.

Memorial services will be Monday at 11 a.m. at Featheringill Mortuary, 6322 El Cajon Blvd., El Cajon. The family requested that memorial contributions, in lieu of flowers, be made to the American Heart Assn.