Former Jets equipment manager Bill Hampton dies at 86

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) - Bill Hampton, the former longtime equipment manager of the New York Jets, has died. He was 86.

The Jets announced Tuesday that Hampton, who worked with the team from 1964 until he retired after the 2000 season, died in Florida.

Hampton is credited for several innovations in football equipment rooms, including stitching the first pockets onto a football jersey - as he and his wife Dottie did for quarterback Joe Namath along with the Jets' running backs, wide receivers and tight ends before the AFL Championship in 1968. Hampton also had players wear pantyhose for warmth under their uniforms.

Hampton's son Clay succeeded him as the Jets' equipment manager in 2001 and is currently the team's senior director of team operations. Another son, Drew, was Jacksonville's equipment manager. Bill Jr. worked with his father for several years with the Jets, and was Cleveland's vice president of operations from 1999-2006. He died in 2011.

The Jets' current equipment staff selects the Bill Hampton Award every year, presenting it since 2004 to the Jets "rookie who acts like a pro in the locker room."

"Bill was a friend, mentor, counselor and father to Jets players for decades," former public relations director Frank Ramos told the team's website. "Along with his wife Dottie, they headed up the Jets family for hundreds of Jets players. He will be sorely missed."

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