{"id":9225,"date":"2025-04-29T08:09:08","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T08:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/9225\/"},"modified":"2025-04-29T08:09:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T08:09:08","slug":"former-pittsburgh-steelers-cornerback-dies-at-63","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/9225\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback dies at 63"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"4U2HJEVLS5H7NK3UVPQGLNCOK4\">Former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pennlive.com\/steelers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.pennlive.com\/steelers\/\">Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> kick returner and cornerback Lupe Sanchez has passed away at the age of 63, according to a post on his friend Keith Korsgarden\u2019s Facebook page.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"3ASJSRWTHZBYJIYLSYGLPIC6K4\">\u201cIt is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Lupe Sanchez, a beloved member of the Visalia community who left us earlier today,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/visaliacrawdaddys\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Korsgarden wrote<\/a>. \u201cLupe was not only a great friend to many \u2014 including all of us at the restaurant \u2014 but also a shining example of kindness, strength, and perseverance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"UWQTPABVNVAN7AIQSAJ7IWZ3AA\">Sanchez was born to Mexican immigrants in the town of Visalia, California. Growing up in Tulare County, Sanchez chose to stay close to home for his college career, playing for the UCLA Bruins.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"3KNLSZW6HFDSXGCWNULFXEKN7E\">Over the span from 1979 to 1983, Sanchez posted 13 interceptions, the fifth-most in UCLA history. The Kansas City Chiefs drafted him in the second round of the 1984 supplemental draft. They released him, and the Steelers picked him up. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"QSTM4OF3MVDWXC63GETCJO4N2A\">He played three seasons for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pennlive.com\/steelers\/2025\/04\/pittsburgh-steelers-sign-hard-nosed-former-super-bowl-champion-wide-receiver.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.pennlive.com\/steelers\/2025\/04\/pittsburgh-steelers-sign-hard-nosed-former-super-bowl-champion-wide-receiver.html\">Steelers<\/a> from 1986 to 1988. Sanchez made nine starts over his career with the Steelers, making four interceptions over that span, including one pick-six.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"FIQHPZSZZRFQRGRIVXPOKRM4HQ\">Sanchez was known just as well as a kick returner, where they amassed 778 return yards on 35 returns. In addition to playing for the Steelers, he played in the USFL with the Arizona Wranglers and Orlando Renegades. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Pittsburgh Steelers kick returner and cornerback Lupe Sanchez has passed away at the age of 63, according&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[7,6,5834,520,57,2360,426],"class_list":{"0":"post-9225","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-nfl","10":"tag-nflraw22","11":"tag-pittsburgh","12":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","13":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","14":"tag-steelers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114420237299091552","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}