Terry Beasley, a two-time All-American and all-time leader in touchdowns and receiving yards in Auburn Tigers history, has passed away at 73 of an apparent suicide.
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College Football Hall of Famer.
2x All-American.
Record setter.
Terry Terrific.The Auburn 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝 was "way ahead of his time" and his no. 88 hangs forever in football history. RIP Terry Beasley 🦅
📝 https://t.co/UZFNeZuw23 pic.twitter.com/DxzqrDNWu7
— Auburn Football (@AuburnFootball) February 1, 2024
His cause of death is considered to be an apparent suicide—a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Beasley was declared dead just after 5 pm ET when police found him.
During his time with the Tigers from 1969-1971, Beasley had 141 receptions for 2,507 yards and 29 touchdowns. He holds the record for yards and touchdowns. In 1970, he had 52 receptions for 1,051 yards and 11 touchdowns. He played in the NFL from 1972 to 1975 with the San Francisco 49ers before injuries forced him to retire.
In 2002, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, and his No. 88 jersey was retired by the Tigers. Looking back on his career, Beasley suffered several vicious blows to the head. In the 1970 Iron Bowl, he was hit during a play he barely remembers.
"I was barely breathing," Beasley said in 2013 in a story by the Gadsden Times. "Barely."
Again in 2013, Beasley recalled he sustained "at least" 52 concussions.
The Gadsden Times shed light on the conditions Beasley was living with, saying, "Today, at age 63, he lives outside Birmingham. Blinds are pulled shut in his home. His den is dark. There is a pile of fan mail wishing him good health. Over the years, he's gotten too many letters to count."
The story also said that the damage Beasley endured resulted in the pituitary gland in his frontal lobe shutting down, resulting in the prevention of his adrenal glands producing cortisone. At that time, he had numerous blood clots and often had seizures.
Perhaps worst of all, doctors told him his brain looked like "Swiss cheese" as each concussion punctured a hole. Beasley's attitude was that he had to go across the middle of the field to succeed.
"We didn't have nobody else to go over the middle," Beasley says. "They wanted to live a little bit longer."
He met his wife Marlene while he was a patient at her psychiatric facility. During his time there, Beasley underwent two rounds of electroconvulsive therapy. Each session had 18 treatments riddled with pain.
Later, Beasley would be one of the many players to sue the NFL over concussions. A settlement was reached in 2016.
"Without admitting wrongdoing, the NFL agreed to an uncapped compensation fund that would potentially cover over 20,000 retired players in exchange for a release of all concussion-related claims against the league. At the time, it was predicted that the NFL's outlay would ultimately exceed $1 billion," Jodi Balsam of Law in Sport said.
In the Gadsden Times story, Beasley was asked if his path to becoming the best Auburn receiver ever was worth it.
"It had to be," he says quietly. "It had to be. I put too much time and effort into being the best that I can be."
