Sonny Jurgensen, who spent the first seven years of his Hall of Fame career with the Eagles, has died, according to a statement from his family released by the Commanders. He was 91.Jurgensen, the Eagles’ 4th-round pick out of Duke in 1957, was mainly a backup to Norm Van Brocklin with the Eagles before becoming a Hall of Famer in Washington. Van Brocklin was the starter during the 1960 NFL Championship season, but Jurgensen did throw five touchdown passes as a backup. When Van Brocklin retired after the 1960 season, Jurgensen went 10-4 and made the Pro Bowl in 1961 in his first year as the full-time starter.  Jurgensen’s league-leading 32 touchdown passes in 1961 remained an Eagles record until Carson Wentz threw 33 in 2017, and his then-NFL-record 3,723 passing yards was the club record until Randall Cunningham threw for 3,808 in 1988.Overall, Jurgensen was 17-20-2 in 39 starts as an Eagle with 76 touchdown passes.On April 1, 1964, in a blockbuster move that changed the course of both franchises, the Eagles traded Jurgensen and safety Jimmy Carr to Washington for quarterback Norm Snead and cornerback Claude Crabb.      “Really surprised and also more than a little bit disappointed,” Jurgensen told the Philadelphia Daily News after the trade. “I had wanted to finish up here. I wanted to be part of a winning team. Maybe (coach Joe) Kuharich is going for youth. But am I an old man at 29?”Added Carr: “I know the Redskins got the better of that quarterback swap.”While Snead had little success with the Eagles, going 28-50-3 without any winning seasons in parts of seven years in Philly, Jurgensen had a Hall of Fame career in Washington, making four Pro Bowls, passing for over 20,000 yards and throwing 179 touchdown passes. When he retired after the 1974 season, his 265 touchdown passes were 3rd-most in NFL history, behind only Johnny Unitas (290) and Fran Tarkenton (266) and his 32,224 passing yards were 4th-most behind Unitas (40,239), Tarkenton (35,846) and Y.A. Tittle (33,070).Jurgensen was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983, nine years after retiring. Jurgensen’s family released a statement announcing that Jurgensen had passed.“It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of our husband, father, and grandfather, Sonny Jurgensen,” the statement said. “We are enormously proud of his amazing life and accomplishments on the field, marked not only by a golden arm, but also a fearless spirit and intellect that earned him a place among the greats in Canton. “But to those of us who knew him beyond the stadium lights, he was the steady, humorous and deeply loving heart of the family.“He lived with great appreciation of his teammates, colleagues and friends he met along the way. While he has taken his final snap, his legacy will remain an indelible part of the city he loved and the family he built.“We are comforted by the knowledge that he brought joy to so many. This weekend as we enjoy the game that he loved so much, join us and raise a glass, share a story and a smile, as we celebrate the extraordinary life of a man who was, to us, the greatest of all time.”Jurgensen grew up in Wilmington, N.C., where he was a baseball and tennis standout in addition to starring in football for New Hanover High School. He began his college football career at Duke as a defensive back before switching to quarterback as a sophomore.After he retired, Jurgensen went into broadcasting and appeared on local radio in Washington on various pre-game and post-game shows until he was well into his 80s.The franchise retired his No. 9 jersey in 2022, one of six numbers they’ve retired.Jurgensen and Van Brocklin are the only quarterbacks to play for the Eagles who are enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. ...read more read less