Ricky Sandoval, the Lions team’s director of security, died Thursday morning at Harper University Hospital in Detroit after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer that lasted more than three years. He turned 49 on June 30th and is survived by his loving wife, Gael. Shortly after Sandoval was diagnosed in May of 2006, he and Gael formed “Team Sandoval,” a support group consisting of family, the Lions organization and his many friends and associates throughout the National Football League who also knew Sandoval from his days working with the San Francisco 49ers and with Contemporary Services Corporation (CSC), a company that once provided security services at Super Bowls for the NFL.