Floyd Reese, Former Titans GM, Dead at 73

Floyd Reese, the former Tennessee Titans general manager who put together the team’s most successful run in its history, died on Friday morning, the team announced. He was 73 years old. ESPN 102.5 The Game in Nashville, where Reese worked as a talk show host until December, said that he died “peacefully this morning, surrounded by his family, after a battle with cancer.”

Reese helped put together the Titans team that played in the Super Bowl during the 1999 season. He worked for the Houston Oilers/Tennesee Titans from 1986-2006 as a coach and executive and is the winningest general manager in franchise history. Reese began his run as a GM in 1994 and recorded 111 career wins and helped the Titans play in two AFC Championship games and one Super Bowl.

“This is a sad day for our Titans family,” Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk said in a statement. “I would like to send along my deepest condolences to Floyd’s wife, Sally, to his children, grandchildren and extended family. Floyd spent over two decades with our franchise in a variety of roles – position coach, assistant general manager and ultimately, general manager – and he excelled at all of them.

“As general manager, he built a team that saw sustained success and helped guide our franchise in the toughest of times and the highest moments. His keen eye for talent led him to some of the best players in our team’s history, which led the team to some of our greatest accomplishments. We look forward to remembering and honoring his legacy this season as he is formally inducted into our Ring of Honor.”

Before his death, Reese reacted to the news of him being honored by the Titans. “First of all, it was a real treat to get to talk to (Amy) again,” Reese said last month. “I think the way she explained it … this is one of the highest, if not the highest honor, that we could bestow on somebody that’s not in the NFL Hall of Fame. And so that kind of makes you realize that this is special. I know it’s special too because I think there was – there’s been so much time and effort that we put in – not just me, but … Jeff, and everybody involved, I mean, for years and years and years. To have this come true for me was a special treat.”

Reese is responsible for bringing in some of the best players in Titans history, including QB Steve McNair, RB Eddie George, TE Frank Wycheck, DE Jevon Kearse, WR Derrick Mason, LB Keith Bulluck, and DE Kyle Vanden Bosch. After spending 20 years with the Titans, Reese spent four seasons with the New England Patriots as a senior football advisor.

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