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The former NFL offensive platform, Luis Sharpe, a three -time professional, died on Friday, confirmed his former team. He was 65 years old.
Sharpe played in the league for 13 seasons, all with the Cardinals de L’Arizona. It was a choice of first round of the Cardinals of Saint-Louis in 1982.
While Sharpe only played for the cardinals, he played in three different cities. He spent the first six seasons of his career in Saint-Louis and the following six seasons in Phoenix when the team moved to Arizona.
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File – Luis Sharpe, # 67 of the Phoenix Cardinals, looks during a football match of the NFL around 1992 at the Sun Devil Stadium in Temple, in Arizona. Sharpe played for cardinals from 1982 to 1985 and 1986 to 1994. (Photo by Focus on Sport / Getty Images) (Focus on sport / getty images)
The last season of Sharpe’s career was the first that the Cardinals franchise renamed the Cardinals of Arizona. Sharpe started the 189 games he played during his career.
“Throughout his long and made career with the cardinals, Luis Sharpe showed an unusual type of strength and tenacity that made him success as a player,” said Michael Bidwill, owner of the cardinals, in a press release.
“Admirably, he would later demonstrate these same features in the treatment of personal challenges that he was confronted when his career was over. We send our deepest condolences to all those who loved Luis, in particular his family and his former teammates.”
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The offensive platform of the cardinals of St. Louis Luis Sharpe (67) in action against the defensive winger of the Falcons of Atlanta Greg Brown (98) at the County Stadium in Fulton in the 1987 season on November 29, 1987 in Atlanta, Georgia. (RVR photos-USA TODAY SPORTS)
After his career in the NFL, Sharpe fought against a drug addiction and spent time in prison, but he changed his life and became sober. In 2015, Sharpe returned to its original state of Michigan to get out of Arizona.
“I feel a sense of the goal now,” Sharpe told The Athletic in 2020. “I feel more important than ever when I played professional football. My life is better today. I say to people all the time:” What I thought was my greatest curse has become my biggest blessing. “”
Luis Sharpe, # 67 of the Phoenix Cardinals, warms up in pre-match warstlands before the start of an NFL football match against the Dallas cowboys on October 23, 1994, at Sun Devil Stadium in Temple, Arizona. (Focus on sport / getty images)
In the last years of his life, Sharpe has spent time advising patients in Detroit in a clinic of sobriety. The three time Pro Bowler also worked with the NFL to help former players in their days after the game.
“I recognize today that I have the life that I have because I have overcome so many obstacles and so many challenges,” said Sharpe. “God wanted me to go out and do exactly what I do, to share my life with others, to tell them my fall in grace and say:” If I can stand before you today as a productive member of society, you can too. “”
