1994 Notable Deaths
Jan. 2 - Edgar “Gorby” Smith a former pitcher for the Philadelphia Athletics Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox, and the winning pitcher in the 1941 All-Star game, died at age 80. Smith had a career record of 73-113.
Jan. 3 - John G. Masoni, once a major owner of the New Orleans Fair Grounds and the now-defunct Jefferson Downs horse racetracks, died at age 89.
Jan. 4 - Thomas Alston, the first black player for the St. Louis Cardinals, died at age 67. The first baseman signed in 1954 and played until 1957 and finished with a .244 batting average.
Jan. 5 - Michel Sansen, 59, a veteran Belgian motorcyclist, died of injuries suffered just before the start of the Paris-Dakar-Paris Rally.
Jan. 5 - William Whetsell, who posted a 148-115 record as men’s basketball coach at Marietta College, died at age 76.
Jan. 6 - Bailey Robertson, a member of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame and older brother of Oscar Robertson, died at age 58. Robertson holds the University of Indianapolis’ career scoring record of 2,280 points.
Jan. 8 - Harvey Haddix, who threw a 12-inning perfect game only to lose, died at age 68. The threetime All-Star was 136-113 with a 3.63 ERA from 1952-1965 with the St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Baltimore.
Jan. 9 - Johnny Temple, a five-time all-star who was part of baseball’s first interleague trade, died at age 66. The lifetime .284 hitter played second base for the Cincinnati Reds from 1952-59. In 1960, Temple was traded to the Cleveland Indians for Billy Martin and Cal McLish, the first time a trade was made between N.L. and A.L. teams.
Jan. 9 - George “Lefty” James, coach of Cornell football teams that were dubbed the “James Boys” when they beat several national powers, died at age 88. James was 66-58-2 from 1947-60. The 1948 team beat Syracuse and Navy and the 1951 team shocked defending Rose Bowl champ Michigan.
Jan. 10 - Chub Feeney, former N.L. president, died at age 72. Feeney worked for the New York Giants from 1946-1970 and rose to general manager, then succeeded Warren Giles as N.L. president in 1970 and retired in 1986.
Jan. 11 - Joseph “Mule” Sprinz, a catcher who in 1939 fractured his jaw and broke four teeth trying to catch a baseball tossed from a blimp, died at age 91. Sprinz played in 21 major league games during his 26-year professional career.
Jan. 12 - Bill Stockton, former New Mexico basketball coach, died at age 80. Stockton coached from 1955-58 with a 14-57 record, including a 20-game losing streak to close the 1957-58 season.
Jan. 13 - Reginald Wilson, 23, a former Illinois State basketball player and his girlfriend, Felicia Lewis, 20, were slain in a carjacking in Chicago. Wilson was voted Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Year after the 1990-91 season.
Jan. 13 - George Vico, one of 70 major leaguers to hit a home run in his first at-bat, died at age 70. In 1948 with the Detroit Tigers, Vico hit a home run in his first time up. He played two seasons at first base with the Tigers.
Jan. 14 - Ivan Fuqua, a gold medal winner in the 1932 Olympics and Brown’s track coach from 1946 until 1974, died at age 84. Fuqua ran the first leg of the world-record breaking 1,600-meter relay team at the Los Angeles Olympics.
Jan. 17 - Fred Snowden, former Arizona basketball coach and first black to head a NCAA Division I program, died at age 58. Snowden compiled a 167-108 record from 1972-1982.
Jan. 17 - Helen Stephens, winner of two gold medals in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, died at age 75. She won gold medals for the 100-meter dash and with the U.S. women’s relay team. She set a record of 11.5 seconds in the 100 meters that stood until Wilma Rudolph broke it in 1960. Stephens also held American indoor records for 50 meters, the shot put and the standing broad jump, and outdoor records for the 100- and 220-yard dashes.
Jan. 17 - Robert Lee “Big Daddy” Herron, one of the most powerful hitters in semi-professional and Negro League baseball, died at age 69. Herron played for the Canadian League and the National Colored League.
Jan. 18 - Lee Roy Caffey, a linebacker for three Super Bowl champions, died at age 52. The former Texas A&M great went on to play 10 years with Green Bay, Dallas and San Diego. He played on the Packers teams that won the first two Super Bowls, as well as the 1972 Super Bowl champion Cowboys.
Jan. 20 - Matt Busby, who survived an air crash and coached Manchester United to one of British soccer’s greatest triumphs, died at age 84. Busby served as coach of Manchester United from 1945-1969. On Feb. 6, 1958, Busby was injured and eight of his players were killed in a crash in Munich. He rebuilt the team - nicknamed the “Busby Babes” - and in 1968 it became the first English club to win the European Champions Cup.
Jan. 20 - Vern Smith, athletic director for 15 years at the University of Toledo, died at age 70. Before his retirement in 1986, Toledo teams won MAC titles in football, basketball, tennis, wrestling and women’s softball.
Jan. 20 - Jim Callanan, a three-year letterman at Southern Cal who scored the quickest touchdown in Rose Bowl history, died at age 67. In the 1945 Rose Bowl, Callanan blocked a Tennessee punt, then picked it up and ran 32 yards for a touchdown with just 1:50 elapsed.
Jan. 20 - Jockey Ron Hansen, 33, missing since an Oct. 1 car crash, was identified by coroner’s officials after his body was found in mud flats of San Francisco Bay. Hansen won nearly 3,700 races and earned purses worth $36.6 million.
Jan. 23 - Stan Landes, former National League umpire, died at age 70.
Jan. 24 - Hank Thomson, who helped found the Little Brown Jug, one of the Triple Crown races for 3-year-old pacers, died at age 86.
Jan. 25 - Pat Crawford, the last of baseball’s “Gashouse Gang,” died at age 91. Crawford was a part-time infielder on the St. Louis Cardinals team known as the Gashouse Gang that won the 1934 World Series.
Jan. 25 - James Zachery, 36, former Texas A&M defensive lineman, died from wounds suffered in a gang attack. Zachery was a defensive lineman for the Aggies in 1977-79 and spent eight years in the Canadian Football League with the Edmonton Eskimos.
Jan. 27 - Sergei Shcherbakov, an Olympic medalist in boxing for the former Soviet Union, died at age 75. He began his boxing career in 1939, won the silver medal in the 1952 Olympics and won the Soviet championships 10 times between 1944 and 1953. He fought 227 bouts, and won 207.
Jan. 27 - Sherm Feller, the Boston Red Sox public address announcer for more than 26 seasons at Fenway Park, died at age 75.
Jan. 28 - Bob Bjorklund, co-captain of the undefeated 1940 University of Minnesota national championship football team, died at age 75.
Jan. 29 - Austria’s Ulrike Maier, 26, a two-time world champion skier, was killed during a training run in the World Cup downhill in GarmischPartenkirchen, Germany.
Feb. 2 - Mary Washburn Conklin, who ran the first leg on the United States’ silver medal-winning 400-meter relay team at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, died at age 86.
Feb. 5 - George Sauer, a former New Hampshire football coach and New York Jets player personnel director, died at age 81. He was an All-America running back at Nebraska and played one year for the Green Bay Packers before starting his coaching career at UNH in 1937.
Feb. 6 - Marvin Kohn, a New York boxing figure for almost 40 years, died at age 70. Kohn was a publicist for the New York State Athletic Commission and a deputy commissioner in the 1970s before retiring in 1989.
Feb. 6 - Warner Jones, former board chairman of Churchill Downs and breeder of 1953 Kentucky Derby winner Dark Star, died at age 78. Jones was the only person to breed winners of the Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Oaks and a Breeders’ Cup race.
Feb. 7 - Presley Askew, who coached baseball and basketball and also was athletic director during 12 years at New Mexico State, died at age 84. As basketball coach from 1953-65, Askew led the Aggies to a 135-146 record and to NCAA tournament appearances in 1960 and 1961. Askew was baseball coach from 1955-65 and was athletic director from 1954-57. Before coming to New Mexico State, Askew coached the Arkansas basketball team to a 71-46 record for four seasons.
Feb. 8 - Saul Davis, an infielder with the Negro League in the 1920s and 1930s, died at age 92. He played for teams in Birmingham, Cleveland, Memphis, Chicago, Columbus and Detroit.
Feb. 8 - Bob “Horse” Reynolds, a former player for the Detroit Lions and an executive for the California Angels and Los Angeles Rams, died at age 79. Reynolds played for Stanford from 1933 to 1936. In three Rose Bowl games for Stanford, Reynolds set a Rose Bowl record by playing every minute of each game on both sides of the ball - a total of 180 minutes.
Feb. 9 - Bud Wilkinson, who won three national championships at Oklahoma and coached the Sooners to an NCAA-record 47 straight victories, died at age 77. Wilkinson compiled a record of 145-29-4 in 17 seasons.
Feb. 9 - Ray Lammano, who played five seasons with the Cincinnati Reds in the 1940s, died at age 74. Lammano batted .252 in 442 games.
Feb. 10 - Daniel Rathka, harness racing driver, was killed when a horse fell on him in a racing mishap at Sports Creek Raceway in Swartz Creek, Mich.
Feb. 10 - Robert Bobin, a French member of the International Amateur Athletic Federation Council and a former Olympic triple jumper, died at age 73. Bobin was president of the French Athletic Federation from 1987-93, and a member of the IAAF Council in 1991. He competed in the 1948 Olympics in London.
Feb. 11 - Antonio Martin, 23-year-old Spanish cyclist, voted the top rookie in the 1993 Tour de France, was killed when he was struck by a truck while training in Madrid.
Feb. 11 - Neil Bonnett, 47, NASCAR driver and TV personality, died in a crash during a practice session at Daytona International Speedway. Bonnett had 18 Winston Cup victories and won 20 poles.
Feb. 12 - Ray Dandridge, a Hall of Fame third baseman who played in the Negro Leagues and the minors, died at age 79. Dandridge, considered one of the best third basemen ever, began his career with the Detroit Stars of the Negro National League in 1933. He finished in 1953 after four seasons with Minneapolis of American Association and one split between Sacramento and Oakland of the Pacific Coast League.
Feb. 14 - Rodney Orr, 31, died one day after crashing at Daytona International Speedway. Orr, the defending Goody’s Dash series champion, was trying to make the field for his first Daytona 500.
Feb. 12 - Leroy “Spike” Gibson, who toured the world with the Harlem Globetrotters in the 1960s, died at age 57.
Feb. 15 - Donell Lindsey, 28-year-old boxer, died two days after collapsing during an amateur tournament. Lindsey fell after his opponent landed a glancing blow to his protective headgear during the Region V1 Amateur Championships.
Feb. 17 - Gretchen Fraser, the first American to win an Olympic gold medal for skiing, died at age 75. Fraser won the gold medal at the 1948 games in St. Moritz, Switzerland, in what is known today as the giant slalom. She also took the silver medal in the combined slalom and downhill.
Feb. 19 - Renske Vellinga, 19, a sprinter on the Dutch female junior speedskating team, died in an accident in Heerenveen, Netherlands.
Feb. 18 - Alonzo “Jake” Gaither, who coached Florida A&M football to a 203-36-4 record from 1945-69, died at age 90.
Feb. 21 - Huey Cranford, basketball coach at Northwestern State Louisiana from 1957-65, died at age 66. Cranford was 116-98 in eight seasons as the Demons’ coach.
Feb. 23 - Chuck Taliaferro, Remington Park’s second all-time leading trainer, died at age 60. He won 201 races at Remington Park with earnings of nearly $2.3 million since the track opened in 1988.
Feb. 24 - Dinah Shore, who became a major figure in women’s golf through the tournament that carries her name, died at age 76. The tournament began in 1972 and is one of four major championship events on the LPGA tour.
Feb. 24 - Carl “Red” Mayes, a college track star at Texas in the 1950s who played one season with the Los Angeles Rams, died at age 63. Mayes starred on the Longhorns’ 440-yard relay teams that set world records at the Kansas Relays in 1950 and at the California Coliseum in 1952.
Feb. 26 - Jersey Joe Walcott, a Hall of Famer who became the oldest man to win the heavyweight championship, died at age 80. Walcott lost six heavyweight title fights, more than anyone, although he had two memorable bouts with Joe Louis. Walcott was a little older than 37 years, six months when he knocked out Ezzard Charles to become champion in 1951. Walcott beat Charles again before losing the title in 1952 when he was knocked out by Rocky Marciano.
Feb. 28 - Jamie Nicolson, 22, one of Australia’s most talented young boxers, was killed in a car accident. Nicolson was a six-time Australian amateur champion and won bronze medals at the 1989 world championships in Moscow and the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand.
March 1 - Gary Wood, a baseball and football star at Cornell in the 1960s, died at age 52. Wood set five Ivy League records as a quarterback and spent five seasons with the New York Giants and one season with New Orleans.
March 3 - Eugenia Conner, a star basketball player at the University of Mississippi in the 1980s, died at age 30. Conner, a 6-foot-2 center from 1981-85, is the only player in Ole Miss history to be named four times to the all-Southeastern Conference team.
March 7 - Ray Arcel, boxing trainer whose career spanned six decades, died at age 94. Arcel trained 19 champions, including Roberto Duran, and worked in boxers’ corners until age 82. He worked with flyweight champion Frankie Genaro, bantamweight champ Abe Goldstein, lightweight champ Benny Leonard, and heavyweight champs Jimmy Braddhock, Ezzard Charles and Larry Holmes.
March 9 - Elbie Fletcher, a smooth fielding first baseman for the Boston Braves and the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1930s and ‘40s, died at age 77. He hit 79 home runs and had a career batting average of .271.
March 10 - Jim Honochick, an American League umpire for 25 years who later gained fame in beer commercials, died at age 76.
March 12 - Gordy Coleman, a former Cincinnati Reds first baseman who went on to become the team’s broadcaster, died at age 59. He broke into the major leagues with the Cleveland Indians in 1959 and was the first baseman for the Reds from 1960 to 1967.
March 13 - Buddy Rosar, who set a major-league record for consecutive errorless games by a catcher, died at age 78. Rosar spent 13 years in the major leagues from 1939 to 1951, playing with New York, Cleveland, Philadelphia and Boston. His errorless streak ran for 147 games, including all 117 games he caught for the A’s in 1946.
March 14 - Herbert Dorricott, NCAA president from 1959-1961 and former chairman of the NCAA’s first television committee, died at age 80.
March 15 - Eric Ross, a running back from University of the Pacific who lapsed into a coma in 1991 after suffering a head injury during a game against Washington State, died at age 24.
March 16 - Eric Show, 37, an eclectic pitcher who baffled opponents with his slider and others with his beliefs, died at a drug rehabilitation center.
Show helped lead the Padres in 1984 to their only N.L. pennant and held team career marks for victories, 100.
March 17 - Ellsworth Vines, a two-time U.S. national champion who also won Wimbledon in the early 1930s, died at age 82. Vines won the U.S. Nationals, now the U.S. Open, in 1931 and again in 1932, the year he also won Wimbledon.
March 20 - Walter “Red” Tyler Jr., former president of Darlington Raceway, died at age 73. Tyler was Darlington’s fourth president from 1983 until he retired in 1989. From 1967-83, he was the track’s vice president. He had worked at Darlington, NASCAR’s original superspeedway, since 1954.
March 21 - Ben Cohen, co-owner of Pimlico Race Course for 34 years, died at age 94. Cohen and his brother, Herman, bought Pimlico in 1952 and sold it in 1986.
March 23 - Roger Wolff, a major league baseball player from 1941-47, died at age 82. Wolff pitched for the Philadelphia A’s, Washington, Cleveland and Pittsburgh, and compiled 52-69 record.
March 25 - Bob Fontaine, a San Francisco Giants executive and former general manager for the San Diego Padres, died at age 70.
March 28 - Hugo Castello, former New York University fencing great, died at age 79. Castello won three national intercollegiate foil fencing championships in the 1930s, succeeded his father as NYU fencing coach in 1947, and led the Violets to 10 national championships. He also was an assistant coach of the U.S. fencing team at the Olympics in 1960, 1964 and 1968.
March 28 - Ira Murchison, a sprinter who won a gold medal in the 1956 Olympics, died at age 61. Murchison was a member of the U.S. 400-meter relay team that won the gold medal at the Melbourne Games. While in the Army in 1956, Murchison matched Jesse Owens’ 100-meter record of 10.2 seconds. In Cologne, West Germany, he broke Owens’ record with a time of 10.1 seconds. Later that year at the Olympics, his 400-meter relay team set a world record of 39.5 seconds.
March 29 - Cally Belcher, 22, a linebacker for Stephen F. Austin, died after collapsing in practice on March 22.
March 29 - Ray Bare, who pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Detroit Tigers from 1972-77, died at age 44. Bare finished with a 16-26 record.
March 31 - “Pappa” John Venturello, recognized by the American Bowling Congress as the world’s oldest living bowler, died at age 105 after 90 years of participating in the sport. Venturello bowled in five leagues until his failing eyesight forced him to quit.
April 3 - Chad Kinch, 35, who played in the Final Four for North Carolina-Charlotte in 1977 and was a No. 1 draft pick of the Cleveland Cavaliers, died of AIDS.
April 3 - Thomas Hamilton, an All-America halfback in 1926 and one of the U.S. Naval Academy’s all-time football greats, died at age 88. Hamilton was later football coach at Navy and the school’s athletic director in 1948-49. After retiring from the Navy in 1948, Hamilton went on to the University of Pittsburgh as its athletic director from 1949-59.
April 5 - Mike Colman, 25-year-old Kansas City Blades (IHL) defenseman, was killed in a one-car crash in Platte Woods, Mo.
April 5 - Bobby Hofman, a utility infielder for the New York Giants in the 1950s and farm director for eight seasons for the New York Yankees, died at age 68.
April 5 - H.V. “Shorty” Almquist, who quarterbacked the University of Minnesota to an unbeaten season in 1927 before becoming a successful college and high school coach, died at age 90. Almquist played in the same Minnesota backfield as pro football Hall of Famer Bronco Nagurski. He coached football at Augustana College from 1928 to 1940, where he had a record of 67-31-10 in 13 seasons.
April 6 - Goody Rosen, an outfielder for the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants in the 1930s and 1940s, died at age 82. Rosen broke into the majors with the Dodgers in 1937 and was traded to the arch rival Giants during the 1946 season. His best major-league season was with the Dodgers in 1945 when he was second in National League hitting with a .325 average.
April 7 - Frank Griffiths, owner of the Vancouver Canucks and a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, died at age 77. Griffiths bought the team in 1974 and then endured 15 consecutive losing seasons. Last season, the Canucks set team records for wins with 46.
April 10 - Lewis Billups, 30, a former Cincinnati Bengals defensive back, was killed in a car crash in Florida. Drafted by Cincinnati in 1985 out of North Alabama, Billups played there until 1991. He also played briefly for Green Bay.
April 10 - Tim Capaldi, 31, the first to race a blown alcohol hydro boat faster than 200 mph, was killed in a crash at the International Hot Boat Association Springnationals.
April 11 - John Anderson, 27, who played on Ohio State’s NIT championship team in 1986, died in Australia from fungal meningitis.
April 13 - Phil Fox, a referee in the NBA’s early years, died at age 80.
April 14 - James Verderosa, 59, died of a heart attack while driving the pacer Miss Jiffy during the 10th race at Vernon (N.Y.) Downs.
April 15 - John Curry, 44, former Olympic and world champion figure skater whose artistry on ice revolutionized figure skating, died from an AIDSrelated illness. The English skater won the European and World Championships and the gold medal at the 1976 Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria.
April 19 - Dener, 23, a soccer star with the club Vasco da Gama, died in a car crash.
April 25 - George Oliver, one of the top professional polo players from the 1930s to the 1960s, died at age 83.
April 26 - Bill Pennington, a linebacker with the Baltimore Colts from 1953 to 1964, died at age 66.
April 27 - Jim Snyder, the basketball coach at Ohio University from 1949 to 1974, died at age 74. Snyder compiled a 355-244 record at Ohio and his teams won seven Mid-American Conference championships.
April 28 - Bradley Stone, 23-year-old British boxer, died two days after suffering brain damage in the ring. Stone lost in the British superbantamweight title to Richie Wenton on April 26.
April 29 - Marcel Bernard, who won the French Open men’s singles title in 1946, died at age 89. Bernard and Jean Borotra also won the French Open doubles title in 1936.
April 30 - Maurice “Lefty” Lachance, who compiled a record of 151-52-17, fought four world champions and earned Maine and New England featherweight titles, died at age 72.
April 30 - Roland Ratzenberger, 31-year-old Austrian rookie, was killed when his Simtek Ford hit a wall during the qualifying of the San Marino Grand Prix.
May 1 - Ayrton Senna, 34, three-time world champion from Brazil, died after crashing head-on into a concrete barrier at more than 186 mph in the San Marino Grand Prix. Senna won 41 Grand Prix races and world titles in 1988, 1990 and 1991 for McLaren.
May 3 - Charles “Chic” Werner, who coached the Penn State cross country team from 1933-1962, died at age 91. Werner led the Nittany Lions to three NCAA titles. Werner ran for Illinois in the 1920s and set a world record in the high hurdles at 7.5 seconds in the second Big Ten indoor championship. He also set four world records as a runner for the Illinois Athletic Club.
May 5 - Harry O’Boyle, who played on Knute Rockne’s 1924 national championship team at Notre Dame and later for two NFL teams, died at age 89.
May 6 - Steve Wood, 26-year-old British jockey, was killed when kicked during a three-horse pileup in a race at Lingfield Park.
May 7 - Chuck Taylor, a former football player, football coach and athletic director at Stanford, died at age 74. Taylor was an All-America offensive lineman in 1942, coached Stanford to a 40-29-2 record in the 1950s, and was athletic director from 1963-71.
May 8 - Jim Finks, the New Orleans Saints’ president and general manager who nearly became NFL commissioner in 1989, died at age 66.
May 9 - Ralph Brickner, who pitched for the Boston Red Sox in 1952, died at age 69. Brickner was 3-1 with a 2.18 ERA in 14 games for the Red Sox.
May 12 - Easy Goer, the 1989 Belmont Stakes winner, died at age 8. Easy Goer won the race by eight lengths in 2:26, faster than every other Belmont winner except Secretariat. The victory snuffed out Sunday Silence’s bid for the Triple Crown.
May 12 - Marguerite Norris, former president of the Detroit Red Wings and the NHL’s first female chief executive, died at age 67. Norris, the Red Wings president from 1952-55, is the only woman whose name is engraved on the Stanley Cup.
May 14 - Paul Feliciano, 42, who rode Secretariat to his first victory before the colt went on to win the Triple Crown in 1973, was killed in a car crash. Feliciano rode at Fairmount Park in Collinsville, Ill., from 1981-93.
May 14 - Dave Albritton, an Ohio State teammate of Jesse Owens and silver medalist in the high jump at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, died at age 81. Albritton was the NCAA outdoor high jump champion from 1936-38. He set a world record in 1936 with a jump of 6-foot-9, then took the Olympic silver by jumping 6-7.
May 14 - Vince Beall, an outfielder for Sacramento State, died of cancer at age 21.
May 15 - George Fisher, major league outfielder in the 1920s and 1930s, died at age 95. Fisher was member of the 1930 St. Louis Cardinals World Series team and also played for th St. Louis Browns and Washington Senators.
May 19 - George Gregory Jr., who became the first black All-America basketball player, died at age 88.
May 20 - Bill Pearce, chairman of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame, died at age 73.
May 21 - Jimmy Nix, 55, a national hot rod Hall of Famer, was killed when his dragster crashed during an exhibition race at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Texas.
May 23 - Clyde Silvey, the first public address announcer for the San Francisco Giants, died at age 75.
May 26 - Francis “Pug” Lund, a star halfback on the 1934 University of Minnesota team that went unbeaten and was rated No. 1 nationally, died at age 81.
May 26 - Robbie Stanley, 26, a three-time national sprint car champion and the leader in the USAC national sprint car series in points this season, died in a crash at Winchester (Ind.) Speedeway.
May 27 - Art Spinney, a member of two NFL championship teams with the Baltimore Colts in 1958 and 1959, died at age 66.
May 28 - Julius Boros, winner of 18 PGA Tour tournaments, including two U.S. Opens and a PGA, died at age 74. Boros also represented the United States in the Ryder Cup four times and was instrumental in the founding of the Senior PGA Tour for players aged 50 and over.
May 30 - Jack Krol, a 40-year veteran of professional baseball, died at age 57. Krol was interim manager of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1978 for two games and had 10 years’ service in the big leagues, as third-base coach for St. Louis and San Diego. Krol was the manager of the Louisville Redbirds in 1992 and 1993.
June 1 - Jack Stroud, an All-Pro offensive lineman three times in a 13-year career with the New York Giants, died at age 66. Stroud played for the Giants from 1951-63 as a guard and tackle.
June 1 - Howard Snyder, veteran harness driver died at age 64 from injuries suffered in a racing accident at Northfield Park, Ohio. Snyder was catapulted from his sulky and landed inside the pylons after his 2-year-old colt pacer, Mr Dependable, collided with the filly Passion For Grey in a training race.
June 7 - Verlon Biggs, a star defensive lineman on the 1969 Super Bowl champion New York Jets, died at age 51.
June 12 - Jim Brock, the Arizona State coach who won two national titles and was 1,100-440 in 23 years at the school, died at age 57. Brock won national titles in 1977 and 1981.
June 14 - Simon Prior, 40-year-old Brit, died of injuries sustained in a crash June 12 in a sidecar race in the German Motorcycle Grand Prix in Berlin.
June 23 - Joseph Dobson, the Boston Red Sox pitcher who won Game 5 of the 1946 World Series against St. Louis, died at age 77. Dobson had a lifetime record of 137-103 in 14 seasons with Cleveland, Boston and the Chicago White Sox.
June 24 - “Marvelous” Marv Throneberry, who had his best year for the New York Mets in one of the team’s worst seasons, died at age 60. He played from 1958-63. In 1962, the New York Mets were only 40-120, but it was Throneberry’s best year with 16 home runs and 49 RBIs.
June 25 - Pierre Dorion, the Toronto Maple Leafs’ director of scouting, died at age 49. Dorion joined the Maple Leafs in 1990 after 10 years with the NHL’s Central Scouting Bureau.
July 2 - Roberto Balado, 25, the Cuban super heavyweight champion considered one of the world’s best amateur fighters, was killed when his car collided with a train in Havana.
July 2 - Andres Escobar, 27-year-old Colombian defender, was shot outside a bar in Colombia in retaliation for deflecting a ball into his own goal in a 2-1 loss to the United States in the World Cup.
July 3 - Lew Hoad, winner of five Wimbledon titles, died at age 59. Hoad was the first postwar player to win consecutive Wimbledon singles titles. He won in 1956 and 1957 and won doubles titles in 1953, 1955 and 1956.
July 3 - William Earle Smith, the only athlete in Alabama school history to letter in all four major sports - football, basketball, baseball and track - from 1926 to 1930, died at age 86.
July 9 - Bill Mosienko, who holds the record for the fastest three goals in NHL history, died at age 72. Mosienko played his entire career with the Chicago Blackhawks from 1941-1955 and had 258 goals and 282 assists for 540 points.
July 10 - Earl Strom, a basketball referee for 29 years, died at age 66.
July 11 - A. Kenneth Pye, the former Southern Methodist president who led the school back from one of the worst collegiate athletic scandals, died at age 62. Pye spent 21 years at Duke before coming to SMU in 1987, six months after the NCAA imposed its “death penalty” that curtailed SMU football for the 1987 season. The school decided to also cancel the 1988 season.
July 13 - Jimmie Reese, who roomed with Babe Ruth with the New York Yankees in the 1930s and was involved in professional baseball for 78 years, died at age 92. Reese was a conditioning coach for the California Angels since 1972.
July 13 - Robert L. “Jet” Johnson, who coached South Carolina State University’s track team to a national title in 1982, died at age 58.
July 14 - Cesar Tovar, one of only two major leaguers to play all nine positions in a game, died at age 54. Tovar hit .278 in his 12-year career with Minnesota, Philadelphia, Texas, Oakland and the New York Yankees.
July 15 - Hugh Lane Bennett, a world champion rodeo star who helped found the American Quarter Horse Association, died at age 88. Bennett was 1938 steer roping world champion and 1932 steer wrestling world champion.
July 16 - Raymond “Tay” Brown, a Hall of Fame tackle who starred on the University of Southern California’s 1931 and ‘32 national championship teams, died at age 82.
July 17 - Jean Borotra, one of France’s “Four Musketeers” tennis champions who dominated the sport in the 1920s and ‘30s, died at age 95. Borotra, dubbed “The Bouncing Basque,” won the Wimbledon men’s singles in 1924 and 1926, and won doubles in 1925. He captured the French Open singles crown in 1931 and the doubles title three times, and won the Australian Open singles, doubles and mixed doubles in 1928.
July 17 - Merle Hapes, a New York Giants fullback whose NFL career was ended by a scandal involving the 1946 championship game, died at age 75. Hapes and Frank Filchock, another Giants back, admitted being offered bribes by a gambler to fix the championship game with the Chicago Bears. Commissioner Bert Bell barred Hapes from the game, but Filchock was allowed to play. Bell later suspended Hapes indefinitely for “acts detrimental to the NFL and pro football.”
July 17 - Jerry Mays, one of the AFL’s great defensive ends, died at age 54. Mays was a member of the defensive line of Kansas City’s 1970 Super Bowl championship team and retired after that game.
July 19 - Ray Flaherty, a Hall of Fame end who played on the New York Giants’ 1934 NFL championship team and coached the Washington Redskins to titles in 1937 and 1942, died at age 90. Flaherty, credited with introducing the screen pass, began his professional career with the AFL’s Los Angeles Wildcats in 1926. Starred at Gonzaga.
July 21 - Ed Bozik, who headed Pitt’s athletic department from 1982 to 1991, died at age 64.
July 22 - George Munger, former Pennsylvania football coach who led the team through its glory days of the 1940s, died at age 84. In 16 years, Munger compiled an 82-42-10 record.
July 23 - Tony Mason, who coached at Cincinnati and Arizona, died at age 66. Mason coached Cincinnati from 1973-76, compiling a 26-18 record. He was then 16-18-1 in Arizona before resigning under pressure in 1980.
July 24 - Wangila Napunyi, 26, a 1988 Olympic boxing gold medalist from Kenya, died from a head injury sustained in a fight two days earlier. Napunyi was fighting David Gonzales in a 10-round welterweight bout when the referee stopped the fight, giving the victory to Gonzales.
July 26 - Christy Henrich, a gymnast who barely missed making the 1988 U.S. Olympic gymnastic team, died at age 22 after a long battle with eating disorders. Henrich, who suffered from anorexia nervosa and bulimia, missed making the 1988 Olympic team by 0.0188 of a point.
July 30 - Tommy Joe Eagles, 45, died of a heart attack two months after becoming the basketball coach at the University of New Orleans.
July 30 - James Wilfred “Bill” Orwig, the retired athletic director at Indiana University who hired Bob Knight as basketball coach, died at age 87. Orwig lettered in basketball and football for the University of Michigan in the late 1920s. In 1954, he became athletic director at Nebraska before moving to Indiana in 1961. He hired Knight in 1971. During Orwig’s 14 years as A.D., the Hoosiers won 39 Big Ten titles and six NCAA crowns in various sports.
Aug. 1 - Bernie James, a part-time infielder on the 1933 World Series champion New York Giants, died at age 88. James also made brief appearances for the Boston Braves in 1929 and 1930.
Aug. 4 - Steve Myhra, who kicked a key field goal for the 1958 Baltimore Colts championship team, died at age 60. In six years with the Colts, he is best known for his 20-yard field goal in the 1958 championship game that forced overtime against the New York Giants.
Aug. 6 - Peter Mazula, who won more than 600 meets in 29 years as men’s tennis coach at Northern Iowa, died at age 74. He had retired after the 1993 season and his 630 victories are second on the NCAA career list for tennis coaches.
Aug. 7 - Nev Chandler, the radio voice of the Cleveland Browns, died at age 47. Sports director for WEWS-TV in Cleveland since 1984, he also teamed with Herb Score for radio broadcasts of Cleveland Indians games from 1980-84.
Aug. 8 - John Kershaw Stevenson, who co-owned the Detroit Lions when the team won three NFL championships, died at age 79.
Aug. 9 - Joey Dolan, a Spokane featherweight boxer who won 57 of 66 professional fights from 1942-48, and beat Joe Robleto in 1944 for the Pacific Coast championship, died at age 73.
Aug. 9 - Aldo T. “Buff” Donelli, who coached the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Duquesne University football teams in 1941, died at age 86. Donelli also coached football at Boston University and Columbia. As a soccer star, he played for the United States in the 1934 World Cup. In four seasons, Donelli coached Duquesne to a 29-4-2 record. He also was head coach at BU for a decade, going 46-36-4. At Columbia from 1957-1967, he compiled a 30-76-2 record.
Aug. 13 - Simon Robert Naali, 26, winner of the Honolulu Marathon in 1989 and 1990, died of injuries received in a traffic accident on Aug. 8 in his native Tanzania.
Aug. 15 - Paul Anderson, once recognized as the strongest man in the world, died at age 61. Anderson set nine world records and 18 American records in weightlifting in the 1950s. He won a gold medal in the 1956 Olympics at Melbourne, Australia, and set three Olympic records. He is the last American heavyweight to win an Olympic gold medal.
Aug. 15 - Joe Brovia, one of the most feared hitters in the Pacific Coast League in the 1940s and 1950s, died at age 72.
Aug. 16 - Luigi Chinetti Sr., a race driver and automobile dealer who played an key role in the early success of the Ferrari automakers, died at age 93. Chinetti won the 1949 Le Mans 24-hour race in a 166MM model Ferrari driving all but 30 minutes for Ferrari’s first win of the classic.
Aug. 17 - Jack Sharkey, who fought in the golden days of boxing, died at age 91. Sharkey logged 55 professional fights against such opponents as Joe Louis, Jack Delaney, Jack Dempsey, Mike McTigue, Tommy Loughran, Max Schmeling and Primo Carnera. His career record was 38-13-3 with one no-decision. He won the championship June 21, 1932 in a 15-round decision against Schmeling, and lost it to Carnera the following year.
Aug. 19 - Mike Kochel, one of Fordham’s “Seven Blocks of Granite” in the 1930s, died at age 78. Kochel was a reserve on Fordham’s 1936 team that included Hall of Fame coach Vince Lombardi and started in 1937 and 1938.
Aug. 19 - Roy Simmons Sr., the man who built Syracuse’s lacrosse team into a national powerhouse and helped guide Jim Brown’s college football career, died at age 94. From 1932 to 1970, Simmons coached the lacrosse team to a 251-130-1 record.
Aug. 20 - Frank Wilson, president and CEO of North Carolina Motor Speedway, died at age 61. Wilson had worked at the Rockingham speedway since its inaugural event in 1965. He was named president and CEO in 1990.
Aug. 22 - Harry Gamage, the former football coach at the University of Kentucky and the winningest coach at the University of South Dakota, died at age 94. Gamage coached at Kentucky from 1927-1933 and posted a 32-25-5 record. Gamage coached South Dakota for 18 seasons (1934-41 and 1946-55) and compiled a record of 82-67-7.
Aug. 23 - Paul Sommerkamp, public address announcer for the Cincinnati Reds and the NBA’s Cincinnati Royals, died at age 71. Sommerkamp missed only one Reds game in his 34-year career - opening day in 1983, when he had the flu.
Aug. 25 - Hugh Culverhouse, a millionaire tax attorney who ran the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with a frugality that made for sound business but frustrating football, died at age 75.
Aug. 25 - Joe DuCharme, former Dickinson College coach of men’s cross country, basketball and track, died at age 71. He coached the cross country team for 28 years, putting together a record of 159-136. From 1955 to 1964, he compiled a 56-114 record in men’s basketball.
Aug. 25 - Jerode “Smokey” Banks, 20, a promising sophomore forward on the Baylor basketball team, was killed in a car crash.
Aug. 26 - Bert Yancey, 56, collapsed minutes before he was to tee off in the Senior PGA Franklin Quest Championship.
Aug. 31 - Paul Bienz, a former world-record sprinter and an All-American at Tulane, died at age 68. Bienz tied the world record in the 100-yard dash with a time of 9.4 seconds in 1948. He tied the world mark of 20.3 held by Jesse Owens in the 200 the next year. He was a member of the 1949 Green Wave football team that won the Southeastern Conference championship.
Sept. 2 - Walt Chyzowych, coach of Wake Forest’s soccer team and a former coach and player for the U.S. national team, died at age 57.
Chyzowych had been at Wake Forest since 1986. He was coach of the U.S. national team from 1976-81.
Sept. 3 - Glen Rose, an Arkansas basketball All-American in the 1920s who later coached the Razorbacks to five Southwest Conference titles, died at age 89. Rose coached at Arkansas for 23 seasons and had a 325-201 record.
Sept. 5 - Hank Aguirre, former Detroit Tigers pitcher, died at age 62. The three-time All-Star started his major league career with Cleveland in 1955 but he spent most of his career with Detroit, from 1958-67. He later pitched for the Los Angeles Dodgers and ended his career with the Chicago Cubs in 1970. Aguirre was 75-72 with a 3.25 ERA in 16 years.
Sept. 5 - Ike Williams, former lightweight boxing champion, died at age 71. Williams, 123-19-5, won the National Boxing Association lightweight championship by defeating Juan Zurita in Mexico City in 1945. Williams was recognized as the world lightweight champion after knocking out Bob Montgomery in 1947 in Philadelphia. Williams successfully defended his crown six times before losing to Jimmy Carter in 1951 in New York. He retired in 1955.
Sept. 5 - Fred Wilt, a former Olympic runner, NCAA champion and Purdue track coach, died at age 73. Wilt won the NCAA 2-mile and cross country titles in 1941 while competing for Indiana University. Wilt ran the 10,000 in the Olympics twice, finishing 11th in London in 1948 and 21st in Helsinki four years later. In 1950, Wilt won the Amateur Athletic Union’s James E. Sullivan’s Memorial Award for the nation’s outstanding amateur athlete.
Sept. 5 - Cliff Speegle, former Southwest Conference commissioner and Oklahoma State football coach, died at age 75. Speegle served as commissioner from 1973-82. He coached at Oklahoma State from 1955-62 and compiled a 36-42-3 record.
Sept. 6 - Bob Matheson, a member of the “NoName” defense that led the Miami Dolphins to three consecutive Super Bowls in the early 1970s, died at age 49. Matheson joined the Dolphins in 1971 and was a key member of the “53 Defense” - named for his uniform number - that helped Miami finish 17-0 in 1972, the only perfect season in NFL history.
Sept. 10 - John David Crow Jr., 39, a former Alabama running back and son of a the Heisman Trophy winner from Texas A&M, was killed in a traffic accident near Birmingham, Ala.
Sept. 11 - Dernell Every, an Olympic medalist and former national fencing champion, died at age 88. Every was a member of the U.S. Olympic fencing teams in 1928, 1932 and 1948. In 1932, the U.S. team upset France, the eventual gold medalist, and won the bronze.
Sept. 16 - Maureen Stewart, 28, former Rice distance runner, died following complications during childbirth. Stewart set the Southwest Conference meet record of 1:21.40 for 600 yards while winning the 1987 indoor title.
Sept. 17 - Catherine “Katy” Rodolph Wyatt, a former national champion skier who broke her neck in a fall days before the 1956 Olympics, died at age 63. Wyatt, then known by her maiden name Katy Rodolph, was a top medal contender for the Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, before she was injured in the racing accident at Kitzbuhel, Austria. She won the giant slalom in the 1949 national championships. In 1951, she swept the downhill, slalom and giant slalom at the national meet.
Sept. 17 - Adolph “Ace” Marotta, one of boxing’s best corner men who patched up such fighters as Evander Holyfield, Pernell Whitaker and Mark Breland, died at age 76.
Sept. 17 - Larry Klein, 42, a world champion yachting captain, died after being thrown from his boat during a weekend race in San Francisco Bay. Klein was the 1989 U.S. Yachtsman of the Year and had won world championships in the Soling, J-24 and Etchells classes.
Sept. 17 - Clarence Williams, 39, an NFL running back in the 1970s and ‘80s, was shot and killed while driving with a friend in Columbia, S.C. Williams was a running back for South Carolina from 1974-1976. He played for the San Diego Chargers from 1977-81 and the Washington Redskins from 1982-83.
Sept. 18 - Vitas Gerulaitis, 40, once one of the best tennis players in the world, died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Gerulaitis won 27 singles titles and nine doubles championships on the ATP Tour and had career earnings of more than $2.7 million.
Sept. 19 - Don Lash, an Indiana University distance runner who was voted the country’s top amateur athlete in 1938, died at age 82. Lash, a former world-record holder in the indoor and outdoor 2-mile races, anchored Indiana’s 4-mile and medley relay teams, which also held world records in the 1930s. He won seven AAU cross country championships, two NCAA track titles and received the James E. Sullivan Award in 1938 as the outstanding amateur athlete.
Sept. 22 - Frank “Dutch” Weimer, a boxer who was a title contender in the 1930s, died at age 83. Weimer beat Willie “Gorilla” Jones in 1934 and light-heavyweight champion Bob Olin in 1935, but lost to “Slapsie” Maxie Rosenbloom and was knocked out by Max Baer in 1936.
Sept. 22 - Joe Madro, who spent more than 50 years as a football coach and scout, died at age 81. Modro, an offensive guard at Ohio State from 1937-39, scounted for 17 years for the Los Angeles Raiders. Madro coached at Ohio State, Denison University and the University of Cincinnati before beginning his NFL career as an assistant with the Los Angeles Rams in 1955. From there, he worked for the Chargers of the AFL, the Houston Oilers and the Raiders.
Sept. 22 - Irving Mitchell Felt, whose flair for the grandiose helped lead to the construction of a new Madison Square Garden in the 1960s, died at age 84. Felt made a deal in 1960 to build a new Garden at Penn Station. It was under Felt’s direction as president that Madison Square Garden Corp. bought the New York Rangers, the New York Knicks and other entities.
Sept. 23 - Jerry Barber, the 1961 PGA champion and winner of four other tour events, died at age 78. Barber, who played on the tour full time from 1948 to 1962, was a member of the U.S. Ryder Cup teams in 1955 and 1961, and was the PGA’s Player of the Year in 1961.
Sept. 27 - Vic Rail, 49, a leading horse trainer, died a week after he was stricken by a virus with symptoms similar to one that killed 14 racehorses. Rail was best known as the trainer of Vo Rogue, who won more than $2.3 million between 1987 and 1991.
Sept. 28 - Ken Turner, 49, an assistant basketball coach at Ohio State, died seven days after suffering a heart attack while jogging. He joined Ohio State after spending four years as an assistant at Kansas State.
Sept. 29 - Jack Spinks, the first black player from Mississippi to be drafted by the NFL, died at age 64. Spinks was a running back for what was then-Alcorn A&M from 1948-52. He was drafted in 1953 by the Pittsburgh Steelers and played with four teams during a seven-year NFL career.
Oct. 2 - Toby Caston, 29, who spent seven seasons in the NFL with Houston and Detroit, died in an auto crash.
Oct. 5 - Lee Gamble, a Cincinnati Reds outfielder in the late 1930s, died at age 84.
Oct. 7 - Carl Gehlhausen, a race car owner whose drivers included A.J. Foyt and Spokane’s Tom Sneva, died at age 67. Gehlhausen, one of the original members of the U.S. Auto Club in 1956, owned midget, sprint, dirt and Indy cars during a 25-year career.
Oct. 9 - Fred Lebow, who founded the New York City Marathon in 1970 and built it into an international event, died at age 62.
Oct. 11 - Frank McGuire, who coached two schools to the NCAA championship game and helped bring big-time basketball to the South, died at age 80. In 1952, McGuire led St. John’s to the NCAA championship game, which the Redmen lost to Kansas 80-63. McGuire led North Carolina to its first national basketball championship and was the winningest coach in South Carolina history. McGuire had a record of 549-236 over a 30-year career that ended in 1980.
Oct. 12 - Hugh Hindman, the former Ohio State athletic director who fired Woody Hayes, died at age 67.
Oct. 12 - Cassio Barros da Silva, a 25-year-old midfielder for CSE soccer club was shot to death by Gilson Raimundo Veija, the president of the club. The player had asked to be put on waivers after the team failed to give him three months of back pay.
Oct. 13 - Chick Lang Jr., part of a five-generation racing legacy, died at age 47. Lang was an executive at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore from 1983-87. After a brief stint at the Birmingham Turf Club - now the Birmingham Race Course - in Birmingham, Ala., he became administrative director of Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., from 1987 until this year.
Oct. 14 - Alkin Hepburn, a star quarterback at Florida A&M in the 1950s, died at age 65. He led the Rattlers to a 29-6 record.
Oct. 18 - Ralph Hill, the uncomplaining runner-up in one of the most controversial races in Olympic history, died at age 85. Hill won the silver medal at 5,000 meters at the 1932 Los Angeles Games. The winner, Finland’s Lauri Lehtinen, cut in front of the charging Hill twice over the final 200 meters, preventing him from passing. Hill and Lehtinen were given the same time for the race, a world record of 14 minutes, 30 seconds.
Oct. 18 - Eddie Mast, a standout at Temple where he led the Owls to the 1969 NIT title, died at age 46.
Oct. 19 - Joe Paparella, an American League umpire for 22 years who retired in 1968, died at age 85.
Oct. 26 - Andy Mooradian, long-time athletic director at the University of New Hampshire, died at age 71. Mooradian was a player, coach and administrator with the school from 1942-1986.
Oct. 27 - Mark LaMoreaux, former Walsh College basketball coach and athletic director, died at age 49.
Oct. 27 - Walter Halder, the leading goal scorer on Canada’s gold medal team at the 1948 Olympic Games, died at age 74.
Oct. 27 - Kay Bell, an offensive lineman who played with the New York Giants in 1942, died at age 80. Bell also played with the Chicago Bears, the Los Angeles Bulldogs and the Columbus (Ohio) Bulls before wrestling professionally for 18 years under his own name and as “Samson.”
Nov. 3 - Dale Ramsburg, the winningest baseball coach in West Virginia University history, died at age 53. Ramsburg was coming off of his best season, having coached the Mountaineers to a school-record 40-21 mark, a fourth Atlantic 10 title and a berth in the NCAA tournament. He had a 540-387-9 record in 26 seasons.
Nov. 12 - Wilma Rudolph, who overcame pnuemonia, scarlet fever and polio to become the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field at one Olympics, died at age 54. Rudolph won the women’s 100- and 200-meter sprints in 1960 Rome Games and added a third gold with the anchor leg on the winning 400-meter relay.
Nov. 16 - Buster Poole, a three-time All-Pro end for the New York Giants, died at age 79. He played for the Giants from 1937-41 and in 1946, and also was the first University of Mississippi player to be drafted by an NFL team.
Nov. 16 - Richard Saunders, a 23-year-old foward-center at San Francisco State, died after collapsing during practice.
Nov. 17 - Thomas J. Fitzgerald, former president of the New York Racing Association from 1974 to 1978, died at age 74.
Nov. 29 - Charley Smith, a former major league infielder once traded to the New York Yankees for Roger Maris, died at age 56. Smith played from 1960 through 1969 with six teams and finished with a lifetime average of .239.
Dec. 2 - Foolish Pleasure, the 1975 Kentucky Derby winner and victor of the ill-fated match race with Ruffian in Nov. 17, 1975, died at age 22.
Dec. 5 - Rudy Pilous, who coached the Chicago Blackhawks to their last Stanley Cup title in 1961, died at age 80. He coached Chicago from 1957-63 and also coached the Winnipeg Jets to two WHA championships.
Dec. 6 - Richard Garber, one of the most successful college lacrosse coaches, died at age 66. Garber retired in 1990 after 36 years at Massachusetts with a 300-142-3 record.
Dec. 7 - Jean-Claude Tremblay, a star defenseman for the great Montreal Canadiens teams of the 1960s, died at age 55. Tremblay, one of the best rushing defensemen of his era, scored 57 goals and had 306 assists in 794 games for the Canadiens between 1959 and 1972. He was a member of five Stanley Cup champion teams.
Dec. 8 - Gary Palmisano, 42, Bowling Green soccer coach, died of a heart attack. In 16 seasons, he had the most victories of any soccer coach at the school with a 172-97-25 record.
Dec. 9 - Patrick Haggerty, an NFL referee whose career spanned 28 years and three Super Bowls, died at age 67.