Jack Kemp, the former pro quarterback who turned fame on the gridiron into a career in national politics and a crusade for lower taxes, has died of cancer at age 73.

Jack Kemp AP PHOTO

Family spokeswoman Marci Robinson said Kemp died shortly after 6 p.m. May 2. Kemp died at his home in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington suburbs, friends said.

Kemp's office announced in January that he had been diagnosed with an unspecified type of cancer. By then, however, the cancer was in an advanced stage and had spread to several organs, former campaign advisor Edwin J. Feulner said. He did not know the origin of the cancer.

Kemp, a former quarterback for the Buffalo Bills, represented western New York for nine terms in Congress, then left the House for an unsuccessful bid for the Republican nomination for president in 1988.

Eight years later, after serving a term as President George H.W. Bush's housing secretary, he made it onto the national ticket as Bob Dole's running mate against President Bill Clinton's successful bid for re-election.