ALEXANDER CITY, Ala. – The longtime pastor of the Auburn University football team died Sunday after falling into the water at Lake Martin in central Alabama.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said Rev. Chette L. Williams fell from his pontoon boat into the water Sunday evening. His body was found about 90 minutes later. He was 61 years old. The accident occurred near a dock at Kowaliga’s Restaurant on Lake Martin in Elmore County.

Williams, a former Auburn linebacker, had been the Auburn football team’s chaplain since 1999. According to a biography on Auburn’s website, Williams also served as Auburn’s campus director for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and state director of urban ministries for FCA.

He played for the Auburn football team from 1982 to 1984.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who was Auburn’s head coach from 1999 to 2008, said Williams was a “remarkable man who has led hundreds of young people to the Lord over the years.”

“His leadership has been an integral part of Auburn athletics for more than two decades. But more than just sports, Brother Chette helped athletes understand that their goal was much greater than anything they could ever accomplish on the field,” Tuberville wrote in a statement posted on social media.