Billy Neighbors, a Hall of Fame lineman for Alabama, and the patriarch of a three-generation dynasty of Tide players, died Monday at age 72. Neighbors played eight seasons in the AFL and NFL, four each with Boston and Miami, before embarking on a 40-year career as a stockbroker. Spending those 40 years in Huntsville, Neighbors remained one of the most popular players in Alabama football history.
Part of his appeal--beyond his natural gregarious personality--was that he was a charter member of the Bear Bryant club as part of the Bear's first team in Tuscaloosa as a freshman in 1958. Those freshmen, with Neighbors at the forefront, became national champions as seniors in 1961. That squad featured one of the best defenses of all-time. led by Neighbors and Lee Roy Jordan.
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