on the board of directors for the San Francisco Annex for Cultural Arts, membership on the mayor's committee for the San Francisco Council for the Performing Arts, and a long-time volunteer role with both the San Francisco Film Festival and the San Francisco Ballet. Bosley also served a stint as the president of the NFL Alumni Association. He lived and thrived in San Francisco until his death from a heart attack on April 26, 1995. Despite spending nearly 40 years of his life in northern California, Bosley never forgot his West Virginia roots. “Things may change and your career may take you away in a different direction but there are things you never forget. I’ve never left my roots. They are in West Virginia,” Bosley told Charleston Daily Mail sports editor Bill Smith several years ago. Legacy Bosley is listed on the San Francisco 49ers “Golden Era” team from 1946 to 1969 and he was named to the college football's 75th Silver Anniversary Team in 1981. Bosley, a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, was a part of West Virginia University's second hall of fame induction class of 1992. West Virginia University has announced that they will retire his number, 77, in a pregame ceremony on September 3, 2016. More recently, he was named the state of West Virginia's 30th greatest sports figure in a poll conducted by CNNSI.com. Dave Beronio, sports editor of the Vallejo Independent Press, once wrote of Bosley: “As a newsman of more than 40 years, I have found very few ‘Bruce Bosleys,’ those willing to contribute and participate during and after their days as stars. It would be difficult for me to believe that I will see his equal again in our area.” References 1933 births 1995 deaths All-American college football players San Francisco 49ers players Atlanta Falcons players Western Conference Pro Bowl players West Virginia Mountaineers football players College Football Hall of Fame inductees