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Ex-Eagles player, coach Marion Campbell dies

MARION CAMPBELL, who starred on the Eagles' 1960 championship team and later was their head coach for three seasons, passed away Wednesday in Plano, Texas, the club announced Sunday evening. He was 87.

MARION CAMPBELL, who starred on the Eagles' 1960 championship team and later was their head coach for three seasons, passed away Wednesday in Plano, Texas, the club announced Sunday evening. He was 87.

Campbell, whose nickname was the "Swamp Fox," is the second former Eagles head coach to die in the last three weeks. Buddy Ryan, who replaced Campbell, died on June 28.

"Marion Campbell will be missed by the Eagles community but also remembered for his spirited impact on our game," Eagles owner Jeff Lurie said in a statement. "Like Chuck Bednarik, he was a great two-way player during a special era in NFL history. He played with the type of toughness that our town so deeply admires."

Born in Chester, S.C., Campbell starred at the University of Georgia. He spent eight seasons in the NFL, the first two with the San Francisco 49ers and the final six with the Eagles.

He was a two-way lineman on their 1960 championship team and was a first-team All-Pro selection that season. He played just one more season after that.

Dick Vermeil brought Campbell back to Philadelphia in 1977 to be his defensive coordinator. He spent six seasons in that role with the Eagles, including the team's 1980 Super Bowl campaign.

After Vermeil unexpectedly retired following the 1982 season, owner Leonard Tose named Campbell to replace him. He took over an aging team that had to be almost completely rebuilt.

The Eagles never won more than six games in Campbell's three seasons as coach, in which the team was 17-29-1. Norman Braman, who bought the Eagles from Tose in 1985, fired Campbell with one game left in the '85 season.

Besides the Eagles, Campbell also was a head coach with the Atlanta Falcons, not once but twice. He coached the Falcons for most of three seasons from 1974 until '76, winning just six of 25 games. He coached them again from 1987 to '89, going 11-32 during that period.

Four years after the Falcons fired him the second time, Campbell returned to his alma mater at the University of Georgia to be the defensive coordinator for one season.

@Pdomo Blog: philly.com/Eaglesblog