1994 Chargers Super Bowl team suffers another loss as Shawn Lee dies at 44

Former Chargers DT Shawn Lee died on Saturday in Raleigh, N.C. Lee, who was battling diabetes, was 44 and the cause of death was cardiac arrest brought on by double pneumonia.

Lee played at Northern Alabama and was drafted by the Buccaneers in the sixth round in 1988. He played two seasons in Tampa Bay, followed by two more with the Dolphins, before joining the Chargers in 1992. Lee spent six seasons with the Chargers before closing out his 11-year career with the Bears in 1998.

The Chargers made Lee a starter on the defensive line in 1993. Playing alongside DT Reuben Davis, the duo became known as the Two Tons of Fun in a talented and close-knit locker room. San Diego made its first and only Super Bowl appearance the next season, but fell 49-26 to the 49ers.

Lee's death is the latest in a string of bad news for players and associates of the 1994 Chargers. The Washington Post published a compelling piece illustrating the tragic circumstances that have followed the team.

Six players from that squad -- three of them defensive starters, including Lee -- met untimely deaths:

• Starting LB David Griggs, 28, died in a car accident five months after the Super Bowl
• Backup RB Rodney Culver, 26, died in a plane crash on May 11, 1996
• Backup LB Doug Miller, 28, died after being struck by lightning in July 1998
• Backup C Curtis Whitley, 39, died from a drug overdose on May 11, 2008
• Starting DE Chris Mims, 38, died of heart failure on Oct. 15, 2008