Bill Battle, who won a national championship as an Alabama football player and later became UA’s athletics director after a highly successful turn in the business world, has died, UA announced Thursday. He was 82.

Former Alabama athletic director and football player Bill Battle has died, the school announced on Thursday. He was 82. Battle played football for the Crimson Tide under Bear Bryant in the 1960s before going on to a brief coaching career.

Bill Battle, former director of athletics for the University of Alabama and a legendary figure in college athletics, has passed away at the age of 82.