Holly Bugel dies

Holly Bugel, daughter of Washington Redskins offensive line coach Joe Bugel, lost her long battle with bone cancer early Thursday morning in Arizona. She was 36.

Bugel, who visited his daughter in Arizona from Aug. 10-17, attended practice in the morning. Coach Jim Zorn gathered the players and coaches around as practice ended. When the huddle broke, Bugel hugged tight ends coach Rennie Simmons, a colleague dating to 1981, and then left for Arizona to be with wife Brenda and daughters Angie and Jennifer.

“Joe has been very strong, very real about the situation,” Zorn said. “He’s been real upbeat talking about the little victories — each day he considered it a real blessing that his daughter was alive and able to communicate. I can see the pride he had in how his daughter was fighting this illness and the strength that Brenda had to have through this whole thing.”

Holly Bugel’s death followed those of former linebacker Kevin Mitchell, former receiver Justin Skaggs and nutritionist Ann Litt in the spring of 2007, the murder of star safety Sean Taylor last November and the loss of scout Mike Faulkiner in January.

Offensive tackle Jon Jansen, the longest-tenured Redskins player, said, “We have a real tight family in the building. When you lose a member, it hurts a lot more when you’re tight-knit, but you also know that you’ve got a lot of people around to support you. Everyone in that building will be there for Buges if need be.”

Redskins owner Dan Snyder provided his plane for Bugel’s transportation.

Jansen said Zorn came into their position meeting this morning and asked Bugel to come to the phone to talk to his wife. Bugel then returned and told his players the news.

“He came back in and just told us, ’Hey, love your kids. You never know what’s going to happen,’ ” Jansen said. “We just [told] him that we love him.”

Zorn said since the family had so much time to prepare for Holly’s passing, the funeral arrangements were planned and Bugel might return for Saturday’s game at Carolina.