He was 44. The memorial service will take place in his hometown of Belle Glades, Florida. The viewing is at Camel's Funeral Home in Belle Glades this Friday from 5-7 PM. The funeral service will take place at noon this Saturday at Great St. Paul Church of God and Christ in Belle Glades.
"The Eagles lost a cherished member of their family today," said Chairman/CEO Jeffrey Lurie in a statement. "Andre Waters was an undrafted free agent who carved out an 11-year NFL career, 10 of those with the Eagles.
"He will always be remembered as a fiery, intense competitor on the field and as a very generous man in the community. Andre had a big heart which made him play a lot bigger than his 5-11, 200-pound frame would suggest. The entire Eagles community is devastated by the loss and our thoughts and prayers will go out to his family."
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| SS Andre Waters |
Waters was a member of the famed 1991 Eagles "Gang Green" defense, which ranked number one across the board in terms of overall defensive yards allowed, rushing yards allowed and passing yards allowed. He earned all-NFC honors that season. Waters played his final NFL season with Arizona in 1994, playing under head coach Buddy Ryan, who served as Eagles head coach during a large portion of Waters' career in Philadelphia.
Undrafted out of Cheyney State, Waters impressed the Eagles with his toughness and physical play, and eventually became a starter at the strong safety position.
He and Wes Hopkins formed one of the most successful and loved safety tandems in Eagles history.
"What a devastating piece of news," said Eagles radio voice Merrill Reese. "Andre was a guy who could light up a room with his personality. As a football player, he came from nothing. But he made himself into a fine player by working hard and dedicating himself to the game.
"You think about those defenses, those teams. We've lost three players from that defense now -- Andre, Jerome Brown of course (in 1991) and Reggie White. It's just tragic."
Said former Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski: "He was one tough football player. When he made our team in '86, it was because of toughness. Buddy Ryan was the head coach and he was looking for those kinds of guys -- players with an edge and a toughness to their games. That was Andre. He was a ferocious hitter who just got after people. He was a heck of an athlete with a real football atitude. I'm very sorry to hear that about Andre.
"He scared everybody -- receivers, running backs, quarterbacks. He was a tough guy. He believed in the theory of reduction: If you keep hitting people, they don't want to get up."
Waters completed his NFL career with Arizona, and then went on from there to enjoy success as a college coach at Morgan State, the University of South Florida and Alabama State before becoming the defensive coordinator at Fort Valley (Ga.) State University.
Funeral arrangements have not been finalized, officials said.
"I thought he was an awesome guy," said Eagles video director Mike Doughert, who recalled that he rode in the back of the team bus on road trips with Waters. "He was the hardest-working guy to ever come through here. He made himself a great player. He was a young, tough kid out of Cheyney, and (assistant coach) Fred Bruney worked with him every day, every day, watching film. After workouts he would come up to Fred's office, which was right across from mine (at Veterans Stadium) and they would watch film for a couple of hours.
"He worked his butt off at it and made himself a player. Off the field, he was very popular. People made fun of him all the time because he didn't articulate the language real well, but he laughed about it and took it all in stride. He worked at that, too. He was a hard worker at everything. He was a great kid, one of the best to ever come through here."