O.J. Brigance, the special-teams captain who delivered the opening tackle of the Baltimore Ravens' Super Bowl XXXV blowout and later became one of the most recognized faces of the fight against ALS, died Monday at age 56, the team announced. He had lived with the disease for more than 19 years, nearly five times the survival window doctors typically project after diagnosis.

Brigance spent just one season in Baltimore, 2000, but made it count: he led the Ravens with 25 special-teams tackles that regular season, added 10 more in the playoffs, and set the tone in Tampa by making the first tackle of Super Bowl XXXV as the Ravens beat the New York Giants 34-7. It capped a well-traveled career that began at Rice University and ran through the CFL's British Columbia Lions and Baltimore Stallions — where he won the 1995 Grey Cup — before stops with the Miami Dolphins, St. Louis Rams and New England Patriots.

A Diagnosis That Was Supposed to Be a Death Sentence

Doctors diagnosed Brigance with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, in 2007, two years after his playing career ended and he had joined the Ravens front office as senior adviser for player engagement. Most ALS patients live two to five years after diagnosis. Brigance lived nearly two decades, continuing to work for the team from a wheelchair and communicating through an eye-gaze device after losing his voice.

In 2008 he and his wife, Chanda, founded the Brigance Brigade Foundation, which has since raised millions of dollars to supply wheelchairs, communication equipment and other resources to ALS patients and their families, according to ESPN. The organization became one of the most prominent ALS advocacy groups tied to professional football, a sport that has produced an outsized number of the disease's public faces.

"O.J. INSPIRED US WITH HUMILITY, FAITHFULNESS, DETERMINATION, COMPETITIVENESS AND LOVE FOR HUMANKIND. WE NEVER ONCE SAW O.J. ANGRY OR FRUSTRATED." — Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta

Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti said the organization was "devastated by the awful news that we have lost O.J. Brigance," calling him "a beloved legend, mentor and man to everyone who was fortunate enough to know him," per NFL.com. Team president Dick Cass added that "no one embodied what it means to be a Raven quite like O.J. Brigance." Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Lewis, who visited Brigance regularly at the team facility for years, once said Brigance was "the one thing that lets me not complain about anything."

Brigance also picked up the Ed Block Courage Award and the NFLPA's Unsung Hero Award during two stints as Dolphins team captain before his lone season in Baltimore. His post-playing work with the Ravens made him a fixture at the club's Owings Mills facility long after most teammates from the 2000 championship roster had scattered around the league.

The Ravens have not yet announced funeral or memorial arrangements. Brigance Brigade Foundation supporters and former teammates have begun posting tributes online, and the team is expected to honor Brigance during its upcoming season, which opens next month.