ATLANTA (AP) — Maxie Baughan, a nine-time NFL Pro Bowler and Georgia Tech College Football Hall of Famer, passed away. He was eighty-five.

According to the Philadelphia Eagles, Baughan passed away at his Ithaca, New York, home on Saturday from natural causes. According to the team, Baughan, who played for the Eagles for six seasons, passed away surrounded by family.

Baughan, a Forkland, Alabama native, was a linebacker and center at Georgia Tech under head coach Bobby Dodd. Philadelphia selected him with the 20th overall choice in the second round of the 1960 draft. He was selected for his first Pro Bowl as a rookie for the NFL championship-winning Eagles squad in 1960.

From 1966 to 1970, Baughan was a player with the Los Angeles Rams. Prior to serving as a player-coach with the Washington Redskins for a single season in 1974, he was Georgia Tech’s assistant coach from 1972 to 1973.

Before taking over as Cornell’s coach in 1984, Baughan was an assistant coach in the NFL for Tampa Bay, Detroit, Baltimore, and Minnesota. In 1988, Cornell won its first Ivy League co-championship since 1971 under Baughan’s guidance.

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Last month, Baughan was selected as one of the 12 seniors’ semifinalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024.

In a statement, National Football Foundation Chairman Archie Manning stated, “Maxie Baughan was a fierce and highly intelligent competitor, establishing himself as the best center in the nation in 1959.” “His lifelong love of the game was evident in the several outstanding players he coached in both the NFL and collegiate ranks. We were quite sorry to hear of his passing because he became a crucial component of our game. His friends and family are in our thoughts and prayers.

Linebacker Maxie Baughan (55), of the Los Angeles Rams, applies pressure to quarterback Bob Berry of the Atlanta Falcons during a game played at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on October 20, 1968. The Rams won 27-14 against the Falcons.
In 1965, Baughan was admitted to the Georgia Tech Hall of Fame.as well as the 2015 Eagles Hall of Fame.

Georgia Tech coach Brent Key remarked of Maxie, “One of the most legendary figures in our program’s history and a shining example of what a Tech man is,” in a statement made public by the university. “We are devastated by his loss.”

Baughan is survived, according to the Eagles, by his 62-year wife Dianne, three children, Max, Mark, and Matt, as well as eight grandchildren.

Baughan was renowned for “playing a tough, hard-nosed style of football,” according to Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie. In 2015, Maxie was inducted into the Eagles Hall of Fame, which acknowledged his services to the team and cemented his legacy. As they grieve for him, our thoughts and prayers are with Maxie’s wife, Dianne, and all of his family and friends.