Terry Beasley is an all-time great at Auburn, and one of just 3 Tigers to have his jersey retired, No. 88. He passed away Wednesday night, Auburn announced. He was 73.

Beasley, a 5-foot-11 and 186-pound split end from Montgomery, Alabama and Robert E. Lee High School, was a unanimous All-American and the primary target for quarterback Pat Sullivan, the 1971 Heisman Trophy winner.

That season, the Auburn campus was flooded with “Super Sully and Terry Terrific” bumper stickers, according to the National Football Foundation. The Tigers contended for the national championship in 1971, and won the first 9 games of the season before they lost to equally undefeated Alabama in the final game of the regular season.

Beasley yardage-wise was a better player as a junior for coach Shug Jordan, as he gained 1,051 yards, which eclipsed his senior total by more than 200 yards. His 20.2 yards per catch average tied an NCAA record.

He was a two-time All-SEC selection and his career average of 17.8 yards per catch and his per-game average of 83.9 yards receiving were SEC records. Beasley held several Auburn marks for career receiving yards, touchdown receptions and 100-yard receiving games.

“He was way ahead of his time,” Sullivan said. “He was as fast as anyone playing the game. But the thing that really set him apart was that he was awfully, awfully, strong.”

Beasley was drafted in the first round of the 1972 NFL Draft and played from 1972-1975 with the San Francisco 49ers, but injuries led him to retire.

Image from Auburn Football on X.