Overview
- The Raiders announced Atkinson’s death at 78 and did not disclose a cause.
- A cornerstone of the 1970s “Soul Patrol” secondary, he helped the franchise reach five straight AFC Championship Games and win Super Bowl XI, and he was the unit’s last surviving member.
- Drafted in the seventh round out of Morris Brown in 1968, he earned co‑AFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and back‑to‑back AFL All‑Star honors in his first two seasons.
- He played 144 games with 30 interceptions, four defensive touchdowns and three punt‑return scores, finished his career with Denver in 1979, and later worked on the Raiders’ radio broadcasts.
- He disclosed symptoms consistent with CTE in 2016, and his twin sons, Josh and George III, died by suicide in 2018 and 2019 and were diagnosed posthumously with Stage 1 CTE.