clarinews@clarinet.com (01/16/90)
CLEVELAND (UPI) -- The father of Cleveland Browns tight end Ozzie Newsome died a few hours after the Browns lost in the AFC Championship Sunday in what likely was Newsome's last game. A spokesman at Helen Keller Memorial Hospital in Sheffield, Ala., said Ozzie Newsome Sr. died, apparently of cardiac arrest, about 8 p.m. No other details were released. The Browns said Newsome returned Monday to his home in Muscle Shoals, Ala. Newsome, who has caught more passes than any tight end in NFL history -- and ranks fifth among all receivers -- indicated last summer the 1989 season would be his last. There was a ceremony in his honor at the team's final regular season home game last fall. However, he ducked questions recently asking whether he would return for the 1990 season if the Browns failed to win the Super Bowl this year. Cleveland lost to Denver, 37-21, in Sunday's AFC Championship, and Newsome -- who did not catch a pass in the game -- did not talk to reporters afterward.