Keith Lincoln, a star of the San Diego Chargers in their early years, whose sensational performance in the 1963 American Football League championship led them to the only title in their history, died on Saturday in a hospital in Pullman, Wash. He was 80.

His son Lance said the cause was congestive heart failure.

Lincoln was a slashing running back and talented receiver who in 1963 had the best of his six full seasons with the Chargers, who had drafted him out of Washington State University.

The Chargers were an elite franchise in the A.F.L., which was established in 1960 to challenge the long-established N.F.L. Sid Gillman, the Chargers’ head coach, devised an offense featuring Lincoln, the flanker Lance Alworth and the halfback Paul Lowe.

In the 1963 championship game, at Balboa Stadium in San Diego, the Chargers faced the Boston Patriots, who had one of the league’s top defenses. (They were renamed the New England Patriots in 1971.) The game became Lincoln’s stage.