Derrick Gaffney, who rose to prominence in a celebrated Jacksonville athletic family during a golden age at Raines High School on his way to football success at the University of Florida and the NFL’s New York Jets, died Wednesday at age 69.

His nephew, City Council member Reggie Gaffney Jr., described him as a “beloved father, mentor and pillar of strength for our family,” announcing the news in a press release to the Times-Union and other media outlets.

“The Gaffney name has long been associated with perseverance, excellence, and service — whether on the field or in politics. Coming from a prominent Jacksonville family of five boys, my uncle Derrick embodied these values, just as my father and uncles did in public service,” Reggie Gaffney Jr. said in his statement.

Derrick Gaffney was part of a multi-generation family of athletic success coming out of Raines: His brother, Don Gaffney, went on to start at quarterback for the Gators; two other brothers, Johnny and Warren, also played football at UF; and his son, Jabar Gaffney, won the first-ever Florida High School Athletic Association football championship for a Duval County public school while at Raines in 1997, lined up at receiver for the Steve Spurrier-era Gators and proceeded to a decade-long NFL career.

In a 1999 feature for the Times-Union’s series of Jacksonville’s greatest 100 athletes of the 20th century series, Don Gaffney said the foundation for the brothers’ football future began at home.

”I was always throwing passes to Derrick,” Don Gaffney said. ”I would pretend to be Johnny Unitas and Derrick was Raymond Berry [Baltimore Colts teammates in the 1960s]. Then I switched to becoming Fran Tarkenton when he got to the Minnesota Vikings.”

At Raines under Jimmie Johnson, Derrick Gaffney earned first-team All-City honors as a wide receiver in 1972, where he was part of a Vikings team that went undefeated on the field in consecutive regular seasons.