Former LSU athletes Orlando McDaniel and Pearson Jordan have died due to complications of the novel coronavirus, according to the Advocate. 

McDaniel, a football and track and field star, died on Friday, March 27th. Jordan, a sprinter and olympian, died on Saturday, March 28. 

LSU Track and Field Coach Dennis Shaver told WBRZ that McDaniel, 59, flew to Washington D.C. to visit a family member and fell ill shortly after. 

McDaniel was born in Shreveport, Louisiana. He later attended Lake Charles High School, where he was an all-state performer. 

McDaniel played wide receiver at LSU from 1978-1981. He caught 64 passes for 1,184 yards, averaging 17.5 yards per catch. He won an SEC championship in track in the 110-meter hurdles. He became an All-American in the 60-yard hurdles in 1980 and 110-yard hurdles in 1980 and 1981. 

The Denver Broncos drafted McDaniel second-round in 1982. He played three NFL games as a rookie without making a catch. 

McDaniel founded a Dallas-area youth track team, the North Texas Cheetahs, in 2003. 

His daughter Alexis told CBS Dallas-Fort Worth she is grateful for the response she has received from the public.

“I see that everybody else is showing me love, and it just makes me feel so much better, especially seeing the way that he impacted the community,” she said in the CBS report. “I can see how much my dad really meant not just to DFW but to the country.”

Jordan, 69, attended LSU from 1976 to 1979 where he was a part of the university’s first relay team to win a national championship. He was also a part of an NCAA 4×400 champion relay team in ‘79.

He later competed in the men’s 100 meters relay in the 1976 Summer Olympics for Barbados.

LSU Track and Field honored the two men in a Tweet on March 28th. 

“Mourning the loss of letter winners Orlando McDaniel and Pearson Jordan,” the Tweet read.