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Former Eagles punter Runager died from blood clot, coroner says

Runager spent 11 years in the NFL. He died Friday of a clot that had resulted from a recent injury.

Former Eagles punter Max Runager died Friday of a blood clot, according to the Orangeburg (S.C.) County Coroner’s Office.
Former Eagles punter Max Runager died Friday of a blood clot, according to the Orangeburg (S.C.) County Coroner’s Office.Read moreFile Photo
    by Mike Sielski | Columnist
    Published 

Max Runager, the punter on the Eagles' 1980-81 Super Bowl team, died of a blood clot from a recent injury, according to an autopsy.

The Orangeburg (S.C.) County Coroner's Office released its finding to Philadelphia Media Network on Wednesday afternoon. Runager, 61, had been found dead Friday afternoon in his car in an Orangeburg parking lot. He reportedly had fallen off the roof of his parents' home in December while cleaning it, cracking a vertebra. He refused medical treatment for the injury.

"He said he was NFL tough," his father, Geb, told the Orangeburg Times and Democrat. Runager then broke his leg during a subsequent fall.

Selected by the Eagles in the eighth round of the 1979 NFL draft, Runager spent five seasons with them, averaging 39.9 yards per punt, and returned for a four-game stint in 1989, the last of his 11 seasons in the NFL. He was a member of the San Francisco 49ers' 1984-85 Super Bowl-winning team.