called Layne "The Toughest Quarterback Who Ever Lived." In 1999, he was ranked number 52 on the Sporting News' list of Football's 100 Greatest Players. After retirement, Layne spent 24 years as a businessman back in Texas in Lubbock, working with his old college coach, Blair Cherry. His business ventures included farms, bowling alleys, real estate, oil, and the stock market. In his younger days, he was often accompanied by Alex Karras, and was well known for his late-night bar-hopping and heavy drinking. It was said of him, "He would drink six days a week and play football on Sunday", and Layne would in fact drink during games - this heavy drinking may have contributed to his death. Layne is reported to have stated: "If I'd known I was gonna live this long, I'd have taken a lot better care of myself." That line was later used by baseball player Mickey Mantle, a Dallas neighbor and friend of Layne's, who also died in part due to decades of excess alcohol consumption. Layne suffered from cancer during his last years. Death In November 1986, he traveled to Michigan to present the Hall of Fame ring and plaque to his old friend and teammate Doak Walker, but was hospitalized with intestinal bleeding in Pontiac after a reunion dinner with his former Detroit teammates. He returned to Lubbock on November 12, but three days later was hospitalized again. He died of cardiac arrest on December 1 in Lubbock and was buried there. Doak Walker and three other members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame were among the pallbearers. "My only request," he once said, "is that I draw my last dollar and my last breath at precisely the same instant." "Curse of Bobby Layne" In 1958, the defending NFL champion Lions traded Layne to the Pittsburgh Steelers in early October for Earl Morrall and two draft choices. Layne responded to the trade by supposedly saying that the Lions would "not win for 50 years." While this story has been called a hoax, particularly because the quote was never published at the time, over the next half-century after this trade, the Lions had the sixth lowest winning percentage of any team in the NFL. The Lions have had multiple consecutive losing seasons and have been swept by division rivals constantly, and are 1–12 in postseason appearances since their 1957 championship, the worst record