Jan. 1 – Don Brocher, 60, Patriots equipment manager and the team’s longest tenured employee in franchise history. The 2012 season was his 41st with the Patriots.
Jan. 1 – Jack Davis, 80, an original Boston Patriot. Davis played college football at Maryland before being drafted by the Washington Redskins in 1958. He was signed by the Patriots in their inaugural season in 1960.
Jan. 3 – Burry Stander, 25, two-time Olympian from South Africa and one of the world’s best mountain bikers, was killed in a road accident. Stander competed at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, finishing fifth at the London Games.
Jan. 3 – Bruce Smith, 63, former CFL defensive lineman. Smith began his CFL career with Hamilton in 1972 and was a member of the Ticats’ Grey Cup-winning squad that season. Smith then spent time with Edmonton, Ottawa and Toronto before retiring in 1979.
Jan. 4 – Pete Elliott, 86, the longest-tenured executive director in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Elliott served as the museum’s director from 1979-1996 and continued as a member of the Hall’s board of trustees in his retirement.
Jan. 4 – Bryan Stoltenberg, 40, former All-America offensive lineman for the Colorado Buffaloes. Stoltenberg was picked by San Diego in the sixth round of the 1996 draft. He played 50 games for the Chargers, New York Giants and Carolina.
Jan. 5 – Jeff Lewis, 39, Northern Arizona wide receivers coach. The former Lumberjacks quarterback (1992-95) played for Denver and Carolina in the NFL.
Jan. 5 – Richard P. McWilliam, 59, founder of The Upper Deck Co. that became a key player in the trading cards and collectibles industry. Upper Deck entered an industry dominated by The Topps Co. in 1989 and succeeded in gaining market share by offering premium products.
Jan. 5 – Chandler Williams, 27, Arena Football League player. Williams, who died playing in a flag football tournament in South Florida, caught 83 passes for 996 yards and 17 touchdowns while leading the AFL with a 23-yard kickoff return average for the Tampa Bay Storm last season.
Jan. 9 – Mirko Jurkovic, 42, former Notre Dame football standout who was part of the 1988 national championship team and later a consensus All-American offensive guard. Jurkovic played defensive tackle on the ’88 team and offensive guard in 1990 and 1991.
Jan. 11 – Thomas Bourgin, 25, French motorcyclist killed in the Dakar Rally when he collided with a Chilean police car. Bourgin was traveling from Calama on the Chilean side of the Andes to the start of the seventh stage in Argentina.
Jan. 11 – Frederick Talbot, 71, former American League pitcher. Talbot pitched from 1963-70 for the Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics and Seattle Pilots. He compiled a career record of 38-56 with an earned run average of 4.12.
Jan. 13 – Enzo Hernandez, 63, former major league baseball player. Hernandez played for the San Diego Padres between 1971-77 and finished his big league career with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1978.
Jan. 14 – Vic Rowen, 93, former San Francisco State football coach from 1961-1989. Rowen won five Far Western Conference titles in the 1960s and nurtured a long list of coaches that included Andy Reid and Mike Holmgren.
Jan. 15 – George Gund III, 75, original owner of the San Jose Sharks. Gund and his brother Gordon relinquished their ownership stake in the Minnesota North Stars in 1990 for the rights to an expansion team in the San Francisco Bay Area. Gund, who sold the franchise in 2002, also previously held ownership roles with the NHL’s California Golden Seals and Cleveland Barons, and the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers.
Jan. 15 – John Thomas, 71, former high jumper and two-time Olympic medalist. Thomas broke the world outdoor record three times, won silver and bronze Olympic medals and captured two NCAA titles while at Boston University. Thomas won bronze in the 1960 Rome Games. Four years later in Tokyo, he won silver. At age 17, he become the first athlete to sail over the 7-foot mark at the 1959 Millrose Games.
Jan. 16 – Gussie Moran, 89, tennis player who shocked a Wimbledon crowd in 1949 when she took the court in a scandalously short skirt and ruffled underwear. When she was 25, Moran made jaws drop at the All-England Tennis Club when she did away with the knee-length skirt most women wore at the time. She lost the match, but made magazine covers around the world and became known as “Gorgeous Gussie.”
Jan. 17 – Bill Albright, 83, former all-star lineman who played in the NFL and the CFL. Albright played defensive tackle at Wisconsin and was drafted in the 1951 NFL Draft by the New York Giants. He played four seasons with the Giants and three seasons with the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts. He was an all-star three times; twice in 1956, for both offensive and defensive line.
Jan. 19 – Taiho, 72, former sumo grand champion whose 32 championships are the most in the history of Japan’s ancient sport. Taiho, who real name was Koki Naya, won 32 Emperor’s Cups in a sumo career that started in 1956 and lasted until 1971.
Jan. 19 – Earl Weaver, 82, the fiery Hall of Fame manager who won 1,480 games with the Baltimore Orioles. Weaver took the Orioles into the World Series four times over 17 seasons but won only one title, in 1970. He had five 100-win seasons, six American League East titles and four pennants. He was manager of the year three times.
Jan. 19 – Stan Musial, 92, the St. Louis Cardinals star who was one of the greatest players in the history of baseball. “Stan the Man” won seven National League batting crowns, was a three-time MVP and helped the Cardinals capture three World Series championships in the 1940s. Musial was the NL MVP in 1943, 1946 and 1948, and was runner-up four other years. In 1958, he reached the 3,000-hit level and became the NL’s first $100,000-a-year player. He spent his entire 22-year career with the Cardinals and held 55 records when he retired in 1963. Musial hit .331 with 475 home runs and never struck out 50 times in a season over his career. Musial’s National League hit record of 3,630 broke down exactly 1,815 at home and exactly 1,815 on the road. He also finished with 1,951 RBIs and scored 1,949 runs.
Jan. 20 – Ron Fraser, 79, the “wizard of college baseball.” Fraser, a member of 10 different Halls of Fame, won two NCAA baseball championships and never had a losing record in a 30-year career with the Miami Hurricanes. Fraser won national titles in 1982 and 1985, and wound up leading the Hurricanes to the College World Series 12 times. He retired in 1992 with 1,271 wins.
Jan. 23 – Calvin Rossi, 88, a two-sport star at UCLA from 1944-47 and a member of the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame. Rossi enjoyed a brilliant four-year varsity football career at right halfback and in the defensive backfield. In baseball, Rossi enjoyed an equally successful career. He hit .456 in 1945 and won All-Coast honors.
Jan. 26 – Ken Staninger, 63, NFL agent. Some of his clients were Super Bowl XXVI MVP Mark Rypien, Brent Pease, Dave Dickenson former Canadian Football League great and Miami Dolphins kicker Dan Carpenter.
Jan. 28 – Lafton Thompson, 28, former safety at Temple (1999-02).
Jan. 28 – Edgar Douglas “Doug” Kenna II, 88, quarterback of West Point’s 1944 undefeated national championship team. Kenna was the captain of the tennis and basketball teams the same the year he lead Army to the football championship. West Point’s basketball team lost only one game that year and the tennis team was undefeated.
Jan. 28 – Earl Williams, 64, 1971 National League Rookie of the Year. Williams earned the rookie award after hitting 33 home runs with Atlanta. He hit 28 homers the next year, then was traded to Baltimore after the 1972 season. The big catcher spent two years with the Orioles and later played for Montreal and Oakland. His final season in the majors was 1977 at age 29. Williams hit 138 career homers with 457 RBIs.
Jan. 31 – Caleb Moore, 25, innovative freestyle snowmobile rider died after being injured in a crash on Jan. 24 during the Winter X Games in Colorado.Feb. 1 – William A. Grana, 70, former Harvard fullback who made the All-Ivy Football team from 1961-63. Grana was a pioneer in sports medicine, doing extensive research on artificial knee ligaments. Grana was also a physician for U.S. teams at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.
Feb. 2 – Lavonne “Pepper” Paire-Davis, 88, a star of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League in the 1940s and an inspiration for the movie “A League of Their Own.” In 1944, she joined the women’s baseball league and played for 10 seasons. She was a catcher and shortstop, and helped her teams win five championships.
Feb. 2 – Walt Sweeney, 71, standout offensive lineman for the San Diego Chargers. Sweeney was a second-round pick out of Syracuse in the 1963 AFL draft, and stayed with the Chargers through the 1970 NFL merger. Sweeney played in either the AFL All-Star Game or the Pro Bowl nine straight seasons, and played in 181 consecutive games. He spent 11 seasons with San Diego and two with Washington.
Feb. 2 – Edith Houghton, 100, one of the first female scouts in Major League Baseball. After a playing career that included a stint with the Philadelphia Bobbies, Houghton worked for the Philadelphia Phillies from 1946-52.
Feb. 5 – Shelby Whitfield, 77, former Washington Senators broadcaster who enjoyed a long career with AP Radio and ABC Radio. Whitfield called Senators games in 1969 and 1970. In 1974, Whitfield became the first sports director of AP Radio. He moved to ABC Radio in 1981 and retired in 1997.
Feb. 4 – P.W. Underwood, 81, former Southern Miss football player and coach. Underwood coached at his alma mater from 1969-74, directing the Golden Eagles in the transition from small-school power to the Division I ranks.
Feb. 5 – Roy Coleman, 54, the first black starting quarterback at Ole Miss and an integral part of the 1977 team that knocked off eventual national champion Notre Dame in Jackson, Miss.
Feb. 5 – Jim Garvey, 70, former Hofstra athletic director and official in football, basketball and lacrosse. He was the director of athletics at Hofstra from 1987 until his retirement in 1997. As an official he worked four bowl games, three NCAA basketball tournaments and six NCAA lacrosse championship games.
Feb. 6 – Monica Quan, 28, assistant women’s basketball coach at Cal State Fullerton.
Feb. 8 – Jim Sweeney, 83, former Fresno State football coach. Sweeney led the team for 19 seasons and retired with a school-record 144 victories. He also coached Montana State and Washington State before he was hired by Fresno State in 1976. He finished with 200 wins in 32 seasons as a head coach.
Feb 10 – Zhuang Zedong, 72, three-time world table tennis champion and a key figure in the groundbreaking “pingpong diplomacy” between China and the United States.
Feb. 11 – Matthew White, 53, member of Pennsylvania’s 1979 Final Four team. White was the starting center on the Penn team that went to the 1979 semifinals before losing 101-67 to eventual national champion Michigan State, led by Magic Johnson.
Feb. 11 – Jack Eskridge, 89, former Dallas Cowboys equipment manager. He was one of coach Tom Landry’s first hires in 1959, the year before the Cowboys’ debut season. Eskridge also designed the white-bordered blue star used after the Cowboys began with a white star. He remained with the Cowboys until 1973.
Feb. 12 – Mayfield Pennington, 62, former boxer and one-time training partner of Muhammad Ali. Pennington’s professional boxing record was 48-16. He defeated former World Welterweight and Middleweight Champion Emile Griffith in 1977. He was trained by Bud Bruner of Louisville, who worked with Ali.
Feb. 14 – Xavier Walton, 20, Anderson University (Ind.) sophomore lineman, died after he collapsed in an intramural basketball game.
Feb. 14 – Walter Easley, 55, former West Virginia fullback who played two years for San Francisco and was a member of the 49ers’ first Super Bowl championship team in 1982. He later played for the Chicago Blitz and Pittsburgh Maulers in the USFL.
Feb. 14 – D. Scott Huckabay, 46, former Baylor fullback from 1985-88.
Feb. 14 – Glynn Gregory, 73, former SMU running back. Gregory later played wide receiver, cornerback and safety for the Dallas Cowboys (1961-62).
Feb. 15 – Kenneth Dement, 80, former tackle at Southeast Missouri State from 1951 to 1955. The two-platoon tackle became team captain in 1954 and was named an NAIA All-American.
Feb. 15 – Ken Clark, 46, two-time All-Big Eight running back for Nebraska. Clark, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards both his junior and senior seasons, went on to play for the Indianapolis Colts from 1990-92.
Feb. 17 – Michael Gage, 75, former publisher of the Green Bay Press-Gazette and president of the Packers Hall of Fame board. Gage was the largest private shareholder of Packers stock.
Feb. 17 – Phil Henderson, 44, leading scorer on the 1989-90 Duke team that lost to UNLV in the national championship game. Henderson was a senior captain on the 1989-90 team and averaged 18.5 points that year. He scored 22.3 points in tournament play during that postseason.
Feb. 17 – Sophie Kurys, 87, star second baseman for the Racine Belles of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League. Nicknamed the “Flint Flash,” Kurys led the league in steals for seven straight years and swiped 1,114 bases in her career. She scored the winning run in the 14th inning of the 1946 championship game.
Feb. 17 – Tony Lorick, 71, Arizona State halfback from 1961-63. Lorick led the team in rushing as a halfback with 704 yards in 1962 and as a fullback with 805 yards in 1963. He also played linebacker on defense. He played four seasons with the Baltimore Colts and one season with New Orleans before retiring in 1969.
Feb. 18 – Jerry Buss, 79, Los Angeles Lakers’ playboy owner. Buss transformed the Lakers into Southern California’s most beloved sports franchise and a worldwide extension of Hollywood glamour after buying the club in 1979. With Buss’ leadership and lavish spending, the Lakers won five championships during the 1980s Showtime dynasty and added five more in an 11-year span of Kobe Bryant’s career. The Lakers made the NBA finals 16 times through 2011 during his 32 years in charge and are the NBA’s winningest franchise since he bought the club.
Feb. 18 – Lou Spadia, 92, longtime executive with the San Francisco 49ers. Spadia worked for the 49ers for more than 30 years, serving as team president from 1967-76. Spadia, who grew up in San Francisco, also founded the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame in 1979.
Feb. 19 – George Herman Enderle, 75, captain of the 1959 Oregon State football team.
Feb. 20 – Jerimiah “J.J.” Moen, 29, amateur boxer. Moen collapsed after the first round of a scheduled three-round, super-heavyweight Golden Gloves fight on Feb. 16 in East Grand Forks, Minn.
Feb. 21 – Gene B. King, 85, former football coach at the University of Tampa. For over 25 years, he was on the Board of Directors and the Selection Committee for the Hall of Fame and Outback Bowls.
Feb. 26 – Fred McCain, 90, former North Texas quarterback and athletic director. McCain served the university for over 40 years, as a standout quarterback from 1945-48, a football coach from 1950-71, director of the UNT Coliseum from 1973-82 and director of athletics in 1972 and again from 1982-87.
Feb. 27 – Folabi Akanbi, 17, Montana State football signee.
Feb. 27 – Michael Marienthal, 89, member of UCLA’s first football team to make the Rose Bowl, a 9-0 loss to Georgia in 1943. Marienthal left school to fight in World War II, losing his leg and earning a Purple Heart as a Marine at the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. He returned to serve on the football team’s coaching staff from 1946 to 1948 and from 1946 to 1996 he worked as official scorer for the Bruins basketball team, documenting all 11 of the school’s national titles.
March 3 – James Strong, 68, chairman of 2015 Cricket World Cup local organizing committee died in Sydney, Australia.
March 3 – Tom Borland, 80, MVP of the 1955 College World Series who later briefly pitched for the Boston Red Sox. Borland was a left-handed pitcher at Oklahoma A&M, now known as Oklahoma State, during its College World Series appearances in 1954 and 1955.
March 3 – Junior Heffernan, 23, British cyclist. Heffernan was fatally injured in a collision with a vehicle during the annual Severn Bridge Road Race near Olveston in Gloucestershire.
March 4 – Durward Pennington, 73, former Georgia kicker. He kicked the winning point to secure the SEC title for Georgia in 1959. Durward was drafted by the Buffalo Bills and played two years for the Dallas Texans.
March 5 – William Moody, 58, better known to pro wrestling fans as Paul Bearer, the pasty-faced, urn-carrying manager for performers The Undertaker and Kane.
March 8 – Bruce Campbell, 56, former Providence men’s basketball player. Campbell recorded 290 assists (2.4 per game), averaged 14.8 points and 7.8 rebounds during his career (1974-78).
March 8 – Tony Martin, 52, former welterweight boxer. Martin was 34-6-1 in his boxing career, with 12 knockouts. He lost his last fight, a decision to Julio Cesar Chavez in Las Vegas, in 1997. He had wins over well-known fighters Micky Ward and Livingstone Bramble to his credit.
March 8 – George Saimes, 71, former Buffalo Bills safety. Saimes was regarded as one of the American Football League’s best safeties. Selected by Buffalo in the 1963 AFL draft, Saimes spent seven seasons with the Bills. He helped the team win back-to-back AFL championships in 1964-65. He was then reunited in Denver with his former Bills coach, Lou Saban, in playing three more seasons with the Broncos. Saimes was a five-time Pro Bowl selection and, in 1970, was selected to the all-time AFL defensive team.
March 13 — Gene Felker, 84, former Arizona State assistant football coach. Felker graduated from Wisconsin in 1952 and went on to play in the NFL as a tight end and defensive back for the Dallas Texans. He served as an assistant football coach at Arizona State under Head Coach Frank Kush between 1959 and 1964.
March 14 — Rocknroll Hanover, 11, the 2005 harness horse of the year. Rocknroll Hanover had developed into one of harness racing’s top breeding horses. On the racetrack, Rocknroll Hanover won 15 of 26 career starts and earned $2.75 million. Trained by Brett Pelling, he won 12 of 18 races in 2005, including the North America Cup, Meadowlands Pace and Breeders Crown.
March 14 — John Konstantinos, 76, former athlete, football coach, sports administrator, and commissioner with: the Cleveland-Canton-Philadelphia Bulldogs, Temple, William and Mary, NC State, Eastern Illinois, Arkansas, Kent State, Cleveland State, and the Ohio State Athletic Commission.
March 14 — Jack Curran, 82, coaching great from Archbishop Molloy High School. Curran spent more than a half century compiling records in high school basketball and baseball that might never be toppled. Curran’s teams won five city championships in basketball and 17 in baseball. No other New York City coach has ever won a title in both sports in the same year. Curran did it four times — 1969, 1973, 1974 and 1987. His record was 972-437 in basketball and 1,708-523 in baseball.
March 16 — Kristina Quigley, 30, Seton Hill’s women’s lacrosse coach. Quigley died of injuries she suffered in a bus crash that was carrying the lacrosse team to a game at Millersville University.
March 17 — Steve Davis, 60, former Oklahoma quarterback. Davis started every game during Barry Switzer’s first three seasons as head coach and won national championships in 1974 and 1975. He compiled a remarkable 32-1-1 record in three years as the Sooners’ starter. The Sooners went 11-0 in 1974, then won the national title again the following year after going 11-1.
March 21 — Pietro Mennea, 60, former Italian sprinter who held the world record in the 200 meters for nearly 17 years. Mennea set the record of 19.72 seconds on Sept. 12, 1979, in Mexico City. The mark lasted until Michael Johnson ran 19.66 on June 23, 1996, at the U.S. Olympic trials. Mennea won gold in the 200 and bronze in the 4×400 relay at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, plus a bronze in the 200 at the 1972 Munich Games.
March 21 — Harlon Hill, 80, former star receiver for the Chicago Bears whose name adorns the NCAA Division II player of the year trophy. Hill, who attended North Alabama, was the NFL rookie of the year in 1954 and became the first winner of the Jim Thorpe Trophy as the NFL’s most valuable player in 1955. In nine seasons with the Bears, Pittsburgh and Detroit, he had 233 receptions for 4,717 yards and 40 touchdowns. He averaged 20.2 yards per catch.
March 22 — Ray Williams, 58, former New York Knicks guard who averaged 15.5 points and 5.8 assists in 10 seasons in the NBA. Williams was drafted 10th overall by the Knicks in 1977. He averaged 16.4 points in five seasons in New York and went on to play for New Jersey, Kansas City, Boston, Atlanta and San Antonio.
March 23 — Joe Weider, 93, legendary figure in bodybuilding who helped popularize the sport worldwide and played a key role in introducing a charismatic young weightlifter named Arnold Schwarzenegger to the world. Weider popularized bodybuilding and spread the message of health and fitness worldwide with such publications as Muscle & Fitness, Flex and Shape. He created one of bodybuilding’s pre-eminent events, the Mr. Olympia competition in 1965.
March 23 — Virgil Trucks, 95, one of five pitchers to throw two no-hitters in a season. Trucks threw two no-hitters for the Detroit Tigers in an otherwise dreadful 1952 season and was the last visiting pitcher to toss a complete-game no-hitter at Yankee Stadium. The two-time All-Star pitched in the major leagues from 1941-58, helping the Tigers beat the Chicago Cubs in the 1945 World Series.
March 25 — Wayne Fleming, 62, longtime NHL assistant coach. Fleming spent 14 seasons in the NHL as an assistant coach with the New York Islanders, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Calgary, Edmonton and Tampa Bay.
March 26 — Ron Lancaster Jr., 69, former CFL assistant coach and the son of Canadian Football Hall of Famer Ron Lancaster. Lancaster Jr. was an assistant coach in the CFL with Toronto, Edmonton, Hamilton and Winnipeg. He made five Grey Cup appearances, winning three, including in 1999 with Hamilton when his father was the club’s head coach.
March 26 — Tom Boerwinkle, 67, former Chicago Bulls center. The 7-foot Boerwinkle played for the Tennessee and helped the team win the 1967 Southeastern Conference championship. He was drafted fourth overall in 1968, averaged 7.2 points, 9.0 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 10 seasons with the Bulls from 1968-69 to 1977-78.
March 26 — Dave Leggett, 79, MVP in the 1955 Rose Bowl win over Southern California that clinched an Ohio State national championship. Leggett helped coach Woody Hayes to his first national championship by passing for a TD, rushing for another, recovering a USC fumble and leading a 77-yard, fourth-quarter drive for the game-winning score.
March 26 — Patricia McCormick, 83, former American bullfighter. McCormick is considered to be the first American woman to fight bulls professionally in Mexico. Patricia debuted as a bullfighter in September 1951 in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. Throughout a decade-long career, she fought in 300 corridas throughout Mexico and Venezuela.
March 27 — Hjalmar Andersen, 90, Norwegian speedskater. In the early 1950s, Andersen was considered the world’s best skater. He was the world all-round champion for three years, won a European title and set world records in 1950, 1951 and 1952. He also set the 10,000-meter world record in 1949, becoming the first to cover the distance in less than 17 minutes. At the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, he won gold in the 1,500, the 5,000 and the 10,000.
March 28 — Soraya Jimenez, 35, Mexico’s first female Olympic champion. Jimenez won gold medal in weightlifting at the 2000 Games in Sydney.
March 28 — Gus Triandos, 82, former major league catcher. Triandos played from 1953-1965. He broke into the majors with the Yankees and played in 20 games over two years in New York before becoming a starter with Baltimore in 1955. He played eight seasons for the Orioles before finishing with Detroit, Philadelphia and Houston.
March 30 — Mal Moore, 73, former athletic director at Alabama. Moore had been part of 10 football national championships as a Crimson Tide player, coach or administrator. Moore was athletic director since 1999 before stepping down March 20.
March 30 — Bob Nichols, 82, former Toledo basketball player and coach. Nichols led the Rockets to three NCAA Tournament appearances and won 376 games in 22 seasons from 1965 through 1987. Nichols, the Mid-American Conference record holder for men’s basketball coaching victories, also won five Mid-American Conference titles.
March 31 — Dick Duden, 88, three-sport standout at Navy. Duden was one of the finest athletes in Naval Academy history who earned nine varsity letters. Duden returned to his alma mater and became a successful coach, compiling a stellar 95-23-2 record in 16 seasons overseeing the freshman football team.
March 31 — H.B. “Bebe” Lee, 96, director of athletics at Kansas State from 1956-1968. Following a successful stint as head basketball coach at Colorado, which culminated with a Final Four appearance in 1955, Lee became the youngest athletics director in the Big Seven Conference when he took over the Wildcat athletic program.
April 1 — Jack Pardee, 76, the only person to coach a team in college football, the National Football League, the United States Football League, the World Football League, and the Canadian Football League. Pardee was one of Bear Bryant’s “Junction Boys” at Texas A&M and went on to become an All-Pro linebacker with the Los Angeles Rams and Washington Redskins 1957-73.
April 1 — Ralph Sanchez, 64, founder of Homestead-Miami Speedway. The Cuban-born businessman brought auto racing to the streets of Miami in the 1980s and later built a major speedway in a city devastated by Hurricane Andrew. The track opened in November 1995 with a successful NASCAR race. It hosts more than 280 events a year and NASCAR ends its season there in November with a weekend of races of all three circuits.
April 1 — Nicolae Martinescu, 73, former Olympic wrestling champion for Romania. Martinescu won gold in the Greco-Roman heavyweight class in 1972 Olympics and light-heavyweight bronze at the 1968 Mexico City Games.
April 2 — Greg Willard, 54, NBA veteran referee. Willard officiated 1,494 regular season games, 136 playoff games, two Finals games and the 2006 NBA All-Star Game.
April 2 — Chuck Fairbanks, 79, former college and NFL coach. Fairbanks amassed a 52-15-1 record in six years with Oklahoma and coached Heisman Trophy winner Steve Owens. He coached the New England Patriots for six seasons and won 46 games, a franchise record at the time. Colorado hired Fairbanks away from the Patriots, but he was just 7-26 in three seasons. Fairbanks left Colorado to become coach and general manager of the New Jersey Generals of the USFL. He was fired after one season.
April 2 — Stan Isaacs, 83, former Newsday columnist. Isaacs worked at Newsday from 1954 to 1992. He covered Casey Stengel, Bill Veeck, Bill Russell and Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali); the early days of the Mets; and Roger Maris’s record-breaking season with the Yankees in 1961. When he began his televised sports column in 1978, only the Boston Globe was the other major newspaper to have one.
April 4 — Richard Cox “Dick” Heatly, 83, halfback and punter at Oklahoma for Hall of Fame coach Bud Wilkinson from 1949-1951.
April 7 — Marty Blake, 86, the “Godfather of NBA Scouting.” Blake worked in the NBA for more than 50 years, first as general manager of the Milwaukee (later St. Louis and Atlanta) Hawks and later for more than 35 years as the NBA’s Director of Scouting.
April 7 — Chelone Miller, 29, snowboarder and the younger brother of Olympic gold medalist Bode Miller. Miller was hoping to make the U.S. squad in snowboardcross for the 2014 Sochi Games. Nicknamed Chilly, Miller recently finished fourth at the 2013 U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix in Canyons, Utah.
April 7 — Carl “The Truth” Williams, 53, former heavyweight boxer, who took Larry Holmes 15 rounds before losing a controversial decision for the IBF title in 1985. Williams beat Bert Cooper in 1987 for the USBA heavyweight title. He defended the crown three times before getting knocked out by Mike Tyson just 93 seconds into their July 1989 fight in Atlantic City. Williams retired in 1997, finishing with a career record of 30-10, winning 21 by knockout.
April 10 — Dave O’Hara, 86, former AP Boston sports editor. O’Hara covered Boston sports greats from Ted Williams to Larry Bird during a 50-year career with The Associated Press.
April 11 — Grady Hatton, 90, former major league third baseman who managed the Houston Astros in the 1960s. Hatton hit .254 with 91 home runs and 533 RBIs in 1,312 major league games in 12 seasons from 1946 to 1960 with six major-league teams. He had a 164-221 record as Houston’s manager from 1966-68.
April 11 — Frank Kaminski, 74, four-year starter (1960-64) for the Randolph-Macon men’s basketball team. Kaminski helped R-MC to four Virginia “Little 8” championships and three Mason-Dixon Conference Southern Division titles. He completed his career as the all-time leading rebounder in school history with 1,494 and ranks second on the all-time scoring list with 1,997 points.
April 11 — Errol Mann, 71, former NFL kicker. Mann spent a dozen years in the NFL, most with the Detroit Lions (1969-76). He kicked for the Oakland Raiders Super Bowl XI championship team. The next year, 1977, he led the NFL in scoring.
April 12 — Marv Harshman, 95, former Washington and Washington State men’s basketball coach. Harshman, who was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1985, spent 40 years coaching in the state of Washington, first at his alma mater Pacific Lutheran. He then moved across the state to Washington State, where he coached the Cougars for 13 seasons. His final coaching job came at Washington, where four times he won 20 or more games and went to the NCAA tournament three times before retiring in 1985. He retired with more than 600 victories at the college level.
April 12 — Frosty Westering, 85, former Pacific Lutheran football coach. Westering retired from coaching with 305 career victories and led Pacific Lutheran to four national championships. In 32 seasons at the NAIA and NCAA Division III school, Westering won four titles and finished as a national runner-up four other times. He went 261-70-5 at the private school.
April 13 — Jim Miller, 81, former Kilgore College football coach. Miller, who had the longest tenure as football coach in the college’s history, joined the staff an assistant coach in 1967. He was named head coach in 1976 and retired in 1992 with a record of 97-66-2.
April 14 — Julius Menendez, 90, head boxing coach for the United States in the 1960 Olympics held in Rome. Menendez coached Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, to the gold medal in the light heavyweight division. Eddie Crook Jr. and Wilbert McClure also won gold medals for the U.S. that year. Menendez also coached the U.S. men’s soccer team in the 1976 Olympics. Menendez also won three NCAA boxing championships as coach at San Jose State and won 295 games in 36 seasons as the Spartans’ soccer coach.
April 16 — Pat Summerall, 82, NFL player-turned-broadcaster whose deep, resonate voice called games for more than 40 years. Summerall was part of network television broadcasts for 16 Super Bowls. His last championship game was for Fox on Feb. 3, 2002, also his last game with longtime partner John Madden. The popular duo worked together for 21 years, moving to Fox in 1994 after years as the lead team for CBS. Summerall played 10 NFL seasons (1952-61) with the Chicago Cardinals and New York Giants. He started doing NFL games for CBS in 1964. He also covered the PGA Tour and tennis.
April 16 — Bob Gregory, 63, a three-year basketball starter for Manhattan College.
April 16 — Pentti Lund, 87, first Finnish-born player to score a goal in the NHL and the 1948-49 rookie of the year with the New York Rangers. The next season, Lund help the Rangers upset Montreal and advance to the Stanley Cup final, where they lost Game 7 in double overtime to Detroit. Lund sustained a serious eye injury from a high stick in the 1950-51 season. He spent the following two seasons with Boston before retiring.
April 16 — Bob Yates Jr., 74, former Syracuse offensive lineman who played for the Patriots in their first six seasons. Yates helped lead Syracuse to the 1959 national championship and played 68 games at tackle, guard and center for the Patriots from 1960-1965.
April 18 — Annie Tribble, 80, former Clemson women’s basketball coach. Tribble took over the Lady Tigers in 1976, a year after the university created a women’s basketball team. She went 200-135 in 11 years with seven 20-win seasons. Tribble’s teams also made the postseason seven times including the inaugural NCAA Tournament in 1982.
April 19 — Jack Shanafelt, 81, a 1953 All-American tackle at Pennsylvania.
April 19 — T.J. “Tommy” Kelly, 93, Hall of Fame thoroughbred trainer. Kelly died after a 54-year career in which he won 65 stakes races. Among Kelly’s standouts was Plugged Nickle, the 1980 champion sprinter. Plugged Nickle was a top 3-year-old in 1980, winning the Florida Derby and the Wood Memorial before finishing seventh in the Kentucky Derby.
April 23 — Mike Mansfield, 63, former North Carolina linebacker and a First-Team All-ACC selection in 1972.
April 24 — Storm Cat, 30, thoroughbred stallion who once commanded one of the highest breeding fees in North America. Storm Cat made only eight starts over two years, winning four times, but he became one of the world’s leading sires. He had produced at least 160 stakes winners who combined to top $127 million. His offspring included 1994 Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes winner Tabasco Cat, and 1994 Kentucky Oaks winner Sardula.
April 24 — Larry Felser, 80, lead sports columnist for The Buffalo News for 25 years. Felser worked for the News for 38 years after spending 12 years at the Courier-Express, where he started as a copy boy in 1953. He chronicled the Buffalo Bills from their inception in 1960 to his retirement in 2001 and continued to write a weekly column until 2012.
April 25 — Rick Camp, 60, former Atlanta Braves pitcher. Camp played with the team between 1976 and 1985. He is perhaps best remembered for a home run he hit July 4, 1985, in the 18th inning of a game against the New York Mets. His run tied the game, but the Braves lost 16-13 in the 19th inning.
April 25 — Sam Williams, 82, former Detroit Lions defensive end and “Fearsome Foursome” member. Williams played in Detroit from 1960 to 1965 after a year with the Los Angeles Rams. He spent his final two NFL seasons in Atlanta. Williams played on a Lions defensive line that included Alex Karras, Roger Brown and Darris McCord.
April 26 — Bill Shapland, 57, longtime Georgetown sports information director. Shapland was the enforcer for John Thompson’s “Hoya Paranoia” no-nonsense dealings with the media during much of the Hall of Fame coach’s tenure at Georgetown. Shapland was the SID from 1984 to 2005 and had since been serving as the school’s senior sports communications director.
April 27 – Tim Taylor, 71, former Yale hockey coach. Taylor served as Yale’s head coach from 1976 to 2006. He coached 28 seasons in New Haven, not including two years with Olympic teams. He won more games (337) than any coach in the 117-year history of the program and the Ivy League.
April 27 – Walter Dubzinski Sr., 93, former pro football player. Dubzinski played on Boston College’s 1940 Cotton Bowl team and 1941 Sugar Bowl and national championship squad. He played two years in the NFL for the New York Giants in 1943 and Boston Yanks in 1944.
April 29 – Brad Lesley, 54, former major league baseball player-turned actor. Lesley played for Cincinnati and Milwaukee from 1982 to 1985. In the 1990s, Lesley the ’90s, he appeared in “Mr. Baseball,” ”Space Jam” and played that angry pitcher with the goatee in “Little Big League.”
May 2 – Ivan Turina, 32, goalkeeper for Swedish football club AIK. Turina joined AIK in 2010 from Dinamo Zagreb. He played 89 matches for AIK.
May 3 – Brad Drewett, 54, former tour player who led the ATP as executive chairman and helped increase prize money at Grand Slam tournaments. Drewett was a top-40 singles and top-20 doubles player before he retired in 1990. He was hired in 2006 to lead operations in the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific regions. He led the ATP since January 2012.
May 4 – Alfred “Fred” Julian, 75, former Michigan football player. Julian was a versatile two-way player, who led the Wolverines in rushing in 1959.
May 4 – Ricardo Portillo, 46, soccer referee died after a week in a coma. A 17-year-old player punched Portillo once in the head on April 27 after Portillo called a foul on him and issued him a yellow card in a recreational soccer league game in Salt Lake City.
May 5 – Nehro, 5, runner-up to Animal Kingdom in the 2011 Kentucky Derby.
May 7 – George Sauer, 69, for New York Jets’ wide receiver. Sauer played a key role in the Jets’ 16-7 win over the Baltimore Colts in the 1969 Super Bowl. He caught eight passes from Joe Namath that day in one of the greatest upsets in pro football history. He played for the Jets from 1965-70. Sauer had at least 1,000 yards receiving for three straight years from 1966-68, with his best season coming in 1967 when he led the AFL with 75 catches for 1,189 yards and six touchdowns.
May 9 – Andrew Simpson, 36, British Olympic sailing champion. Simpson died from “blunt trauma with drowning” after the Swedish America’s Cup craft he was sailing capsized and broke apart in San Francisco Bay. Simpson won a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and silver in the 2012 London Games.
May 11 – Hal Melton Quinn, 83, former football player at SMU in the early 1950s.
May 11 – Jack Butler, 85, Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Fame defensive back. Butler made the Steelers as an undrafted rookie free agent out of St. Bonaventure in 1951. He played nine seasons with the Steelers, collecting 52 interceptions. He made the Pro Bowl four times and was named to the All-NFL first team three times.
May 11 – Alex Rovello, 21, University of Oregon tennis player. Rovello, who had a 21-8 match record this past season, died in a diving accident at Tamolitch Falls in the Willamette National Forest.
May 13 – Chuck Muncie, 60, former NFL running back. Muncie was the New Orleans Saints’ first-round pick, third overall, out of California in 1976. He played 4 1/2 seasons in New Orleans before being traded in 1980 to San Diego, where he finished his nine-year NFL career. In 1979, Muncie became the first Saint to rush for 1,000 yards, finishing with 1,198 and 11 touchdowns, and his 1,506 total yards from scrimmage earned him the first of his three Pro Bowl selections.
May 14 – Stephen Martin, 66, first black athlete to play any varsity sport in the Southeastern Conference. Martin was a center fielder who made his debut for Tulane against Spring Hill in the 1966 season opener.
May 15 – Fred White, 76, longtime Kansas City Royals broadcaster. Over his 25 years, White helped call six division championships, an American League pennant in 1980 and the Royals’ only World Series championship in 1985.
May 15 – Victor Torres, 61, hitting coach and instructor in the San Francisco Giants’ player development department the past six years.
May 16 – Dick Trickle, 71, former NASCAR driver. Trickle raced during the 1970s and 1980s, then broke through as a full-time and widely recognized NASCAR driver in 1989. Trickle never managed a victory in the Sprint Cup series, he did have 15 top-five finishes and won two Nationwide Series races before his retirement in 2002.
May 17 – Ken Venturi, 82, former U.S. Open golf champion. Venturi won the 1964 U.S. Open at Congressional despite playing with severe dehydration. He overcame a stuttering problem as a kid to spend 35 years in the broadcast booth with CBS Sports. He also was the Presidents Cup captain in 2000. He died 12 days after he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
May 18 – David McMillan, 31, defensive lineman at Kansas from 2001-04.
May 19 – Kenneth Noe, Jr., 84, former president, chief executive officer and chairman of The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) board.
May 20 – John Rich, 85, former Vanderbilt football player and who later became a trustee. The school named its renovated football practice facilities in his honor, and in 2008 enshrined Rich in the inaugural Vanderbilt Athletics Hall of Fame class.
May 20 – Harry Schuh, 70, former offensive tackle at Memphis. He helped the Tigers to a combined record of 22-5-1 from 1962-64.
May 20 – C. Homer Bast, 98, former Roanoke track & field coach. Bast became coach in 1947 and is credited with reviving and building the school’s track and cross country programs into national powerhouses. He trained numerous athletes during his 25 years as a coach, including U.S. Olympian Dick Emberger, who competed in the decathlon in the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
May 21 – William “Bill” Durham, 77, an All Mid-American Conference football selection from Toledo in the 1955.
May 23 – Jim Zabel, 91, broadcaster who worked Iowa athletic events for 50 years. Zabel was the colorful play-by-play voice for more than 6,100 sporting events, including six Rose Bowls, 26 NCAA basketball tournaments and several Drake Relays.
May 23 – Shak Pershey, 19, one of North Carolina’s top high school quarterbacks who was headed to Chowan University (N.C.).
May 23 – Epy Guerrero, 71, scout the Toronto Blue Jays. Guerrero signed All-Star outfielder Cesar Cedeno for Houston and brought several top players to the Blue Jays, including Tony Fernandez, Alfredo Griffin and Carlos Delgado. He also scouted for the New York Yankees and Milwaukee Brewers.
May 23 – Flynn Robinson, 72, member of the 1971-1972 Lakers team that won Los Angeles its first NBA title. Dubbed “Mr. Instant Point” by Lakers announcer Chick Hearn, Robinson averaged nearly 10 points in 16 minutes off the bench during his only season with the Lakers. Robinson played seven seasons (1966-73) in the NBA and one season (1973-74) in the ABA. He averaged 14.5 points per game during his NBA/ABA career.
May 23 – Dick Evey, 72, former tackle with the Chicago Bears. Evey played from 1964-69 with the Bears, who selected him out of Tennessee in the first round of the 1964 draft. Evey played with the Los Angeles Rams in 1970 and the Detroit Lions in 1971.
May 25 – Lewis Yocum, 66, renowned orthopedic surgeon. Yocum extended the careers of many big leaguers by repairing injuries that once would’ve ended their playing days. He had been the team orthopedist of the Los Angeles Angels for 36 years. Yocum specialized in sports medicine, shoulder, elbow and knees at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopedic Clinic.
May 26 – Tom Lichtenberg, 72, former Maine, Morehead State and Ohio football coach. He coached Maine from 1967 through 1975 and compiled a 27-53 record, including a Yankee Conference co-championship in 1974.
May 26 – Cullen Finnerty, 30, starting quarterback at Grand Valley State from 2003-06. Finnerty went 51-4 and the led the Lakers to three Division II national championships.
May 28 – Cliff Meely, 65, former Colorado basketball player. He played for Colorado from 1968-71 and averaged 24.3 points per game and 12.1 rebounds, school records that still stand. Meely went on to play six seasons in the NBA with Houston and the Los Angeles Lakers.
May 28 – Jack Mulkey, 95, Fresno State’s first two-time All-American. Mulkey, played wide receiver and defensive back for the Bulldogs for three years (1938-40) and was a first-team All-American selection in 1939 and 1940.
May 30 – Bill Austin, 84, former player and coach for the New York Giants. Austin’s NFL career included stints with eight teams. Austin played in 75 games in his seven seasons, was a Pro Bowl guard in 1954 and a member of the Giants’ 1956 NFL championship team.
May 30 – Larry Jones, 79, former Florida State coach and LSU standout. Jones coached the Seminoles from 1971 to 1973, compiling a record of 15-19. He was a center and linebacker on the 1953 and ’54 LSU teams.
May 31 – Richie Phillips, 72, negotiator for NBA referees and Major League Baseball umpires. Phillips represented NBA referees in the 1970s and ’80s and led MLB umps from 1978 until 1999.
June 2 – Dr. Ed Billings, 84, Houston Baptist’s first director of athletics from 1966-90.
June 2 – Henry Lee Parker, 88, assistant athletic director at SMU who played a role in the football scandal that resulted in the NCAA shutting down its football program for two seasons. Parker lost his job in the wake of a pay-for-players scandal that wiped out SMU’s 1987 and 1988 football seasons.
June 3 – Joe Glynn, 19, Bentley basketball player died after collapsing at a men’s recreational summer league game. The 6-foot-5 forward averaged 3.3 points and 3.2 rebounds per game as a freshman last season for the NCAA Division II Falcons.
June 3 – David “Deacon” Jones, 74, Hall of Fame defensive end credited with terming the word sack for how he knocked down quarterbacks. Jones was the leader of the Rams’ Fearsome Foursome unit from 1961-71, and then played for San Diego for two seasons before finishing his career with Washington in 1974. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1980 and was voted to the league’s 75th anniversary all-time team.
June 6 – Esther Williams, 91, swimming champion turned movie star. Williams became one of Hollywood’s biggest moneymakers in the 1940s and ’50s, appearing in spectacular swimsuit numbers that capitalized on her wholesome beauty and perfect figure. When she was in her teens, the Los Angeles Athletic Club offered to train her four hours a day, aiming for the 1940 Olympic Games at Helsinki. In 1939, she won the Women’s Outdoor Nationals title in the 100-meter freestyle and set a record in the 100-meter breaststroke. But the outbreak of war in Europe that year canceled the 1940 Olympics, and Esther dropped out of competition to earn a living.
June 6 – Joe Rector, 76, former Oklahoma football player. Rector was a two-year starting end for Bud Wilkinson and key part of the Sooners’ record 47-game winning streak.
June 6 – Saron Hood, 22, former University of Buffalo football player.
June 7 – Charlie Coles, 71, former Miami (Ohio) men’s basketball coach. The two-time Mid-American Conference coach of the year was Miami’s all-time leader in victories with 263. He had a career record of 355-308 over 22 seasons at Miami and Central Michigan. Coles retired in March 2012.
June 7 – Lesley Cantwell, 26, New Zealand racewalker. Cantwell won the 5,000-meter walk at the Oceania Track and Field Championships in Tahiti on June 4. She collapsed while walking to a medal presentation ceremony.
June 8 – John Melton, 86, former Nebraska assistant coach (1962-1989). Melton spent 16 of his seasons as linebackers coach. He also coached tight ends and wingbacks during his tenure.
June 8 – Ted Guthard, 75, former Michigan State, Eastern Michigan and Wake Forest assistant football coach.
June 9 – Joe Tereshinski, Sr., 89, member of Georgia’s national championship football team. He played tight end and defensive end for coach Wally Butts, winning a national title in 1942 and SEC titles in both 1942 and 1946 before playing eight seasons with the NFL’s Washington Redskins.
June 11 – Henry Cecil, 70, one of British horse racing’s most successful trainers with 25 classic winners. Cecil was champion trainer in Britain 10 times. His greatest horse in his 44 years as trainer was Frankel, who retired last year after winning all 14 of his races.
June 12 – Miller Barber, 82, former PGA golfer. Barber made the most combined starts on the PGA and Champions tours. Barber, nicknamed “Mr. X,” played in 1,297 tournaments on the PGA Tour and 50-and-over circuit. He won 11 times in 694 PGA Tour starts and added 24 victories in 603 events on the Champions Tour.
June 12 – Jason Leffler, 37, former NASCAR driver. Leffler died after an accident in a heat race at a dirt car event at Bridgeport Speedway in Swedesboro, N.J. Leffler made 423 starts in NASCAR’s three national series, but won just the two Nationwide races and one Truck Series event in a career that began in 1999. After losing his NASCAR ride, Leffler had been racing dirt car events most of this year. He also made three IndyCar Series starts, finishing 17th in the 2000 Indianapolis 500.
June 12 – Dick Mansperger, 80, former director of player personnel with both the Seattle Seahawks (1975-84) and the Dallas Cowboys (1984-92).
June 13 – Scott Winkler, 23, player in Dallas Stars development system. Winkler was Dallas’ third-round selection (89th overall) in the 2008 NHL Draft.
June 14 – Gene Mako, 97, tennis great who won four major doubles titles and was ranked in the world top 10 during the 1930s. Mako and his friend Don Budge won two doubles titles at Wimbledon in 1937 and 1938 and two at the U.S. Championships in 1936 and 1938. As a singles player, Mako reached the final of the U.S. Championships in 1938, where he lost to Budge. Before turning pro, Mako won the NCAA singles and doubles championships in 1934 while at Southern California.
June 15 – Elena Ivashchenko, 28, four-time European judo champion committed suicide. Ivashchenko, who was eliminated in the quarterfinals at the London Olympics, won gold at the European Judo Championships in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2012.
June 16 – Ottmar Walter, 89, member of the Germany squad that won the 1954 World Cup. Walter scored 336 goals in 321 matches for FC Kaiserslautern where he played as a center forward alongside his brother Fritz. The Walter brothers won the German league together in 1951 and ’53, and were part of the national side that won the World Cup after beating Hungary 3-2 in the 1954 final. Hungary led 2-0 before Germany recovered in what became known as the “Miracle of Berne.”
June 16 – Heinz Flohe, 65, member of West Germany’s 1974 World Cup-winning team. The former FC Cologne midfielder played 39 games for West Germany, scoring eight goals. Flohe also captained Cologne when it won the league and German cup titles in 1978. Germany won the 1974 World Cup at home, beating the Netherlands 2-1 in the final.
June 16 – Bob Meistrell, 84, co-founder of the Body Glove clothing company. In the 1950s Meistrell and his identical twin, Bill, developed a wetsuit with the insulating material used in the back of refrigerators. The streamlined suit fit like a glove and eventually was marketed under the name Body Glove.
June 17 – Ed Ehlers, 90, former three-sport athlete at Purdue. Ehlers played basketball, football and baseball. He was drafted third overall in the 1947 Basketball Association of America draft by the Boston Celtics, which was the first official NBA Draft ever held. In two seasons with the Celtics, Ehlers averaged 8.1 points per game. He was also drafted by the Chicago Bears in the 1947 NFL draft and the New York Yankees.
June 17 – Julio Chavez, 19, a defender and former captain of Chivas USA’s Under-18 team.
June 19 – Dave Jennings, 61, former New York Giants punter and radio analyst. The most prolific punter in franchise history, played for the Giants from 1974-84. He holds the franchise records for punts (931) and yards (38,792). Jennings was selected to play in the Pro Bowl in 1978, ’79, ’80 and ’82.
June 19 – Jess Stiles, 83, former Texas Tech defensive ends coach for Jim Carlen and Steve Sloan in the 1970s.
June 22 – Allan Simonsen, 34, Danish driver died following a crash at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the first driver fatality at the high-speed endurance event since 1997.
June 23 – Frank Stranahan, 90, a runner-up at two majors as an amateur and a fitness fanatic before it became vogue in golf. Stranahan was regarded as America’s best amateur since Bobby Jones. He won the British Amateur twice, and was runner-up in the 1947 Masters and 1953 British Open. He never won the U.S. Amateur, though, losing to Arnold Palmer in the championship match in 1954. Stranahan ran more than 100 marathons and was winning trophies for body building and weightlifting in his 70s.
June 25 – Jim Hudson, 70, former New York Jets safety. Hudson helped the Jets to its only Super Bowl title in 1969 against the Baltimore Colts, making a key play in the first half of the Super Bowl victory. The Colts were trailing 7-0 when they tried a flea-flicker from Earl Morrall to Tom Matte and back to Morrall, who never saw a wide-open Jimmy Orr waving his arms near the goal line. Instead, Morrall threw to Jerry Hill near the Jets 10, but Hudson stepped in front of the toss for an interception that ruined the Colts’ potential scoring drive.
June 27 – Alain Mimoun, 92, 1956 Olympic marathon winner. Mimoun, who won the 1956 Olympic marathon after losing three races to Czech great Emil Zatopek, won three silver medals in the 1948 and 1952 Olympics narrowly missing the gold each time to Zatopek. For the 1956 Games in Melbourne, Australia, he switched to the marathon from shorter-distance races and won, waiting at the finish line for Zatopek to cross in sixth place.
June 28 – Ted Hood, 86, yachtsman, yacht designer and builder, and sailmaker from Rhode Island who captained the winner of the 1974 America’s Cup. Considered an innovator in the industry, Hood was a member of both the America’s Cup Hall of Fame and the National Sailing Hall of Fame, which called him the dominant force in sailing for nearly 20 years.
June 29 – Jack “Jocko” Gotta, 83, former Canadian Football League player, coach and general manager. The former Oregon State player began his nine-year CFL career as a wide receiver and defensive back in 1956 with Calgary, Saskatchewan and Montreal. He became Ottawa’s head coach in 1970 and led the Rough Riders to the Grey Cup title in 1973. In 1974, he coached the Birmingham Americans to the first and only World Football League title. Gotta returned to the CFL to coach Calgary and Saskatchewan. He was the CFL’s coach of the year in 1972 and 1973 with Ottawa and 1978 with Calgary.
July 3 – Park Stevens, 20, Mississippi offensive lineman died in a car accident.
July 6 – Leland Mitchell, 72, former Mississippi State basketball star who played in the renowned MSU-Loyola game in 1963. Mitchell starred at guard on the MSU team that won the Southeastern Conference championship and earned a berth in the NCAA tournament. State law prohibited the all-white Bulldogs from traveling to East Lansing, Mich., to face an integrated Loyola University of Chicago team, but MSU coach Babe McCarthy sneaked the team out of town to play the game. Eventual national champion Loyola won 61-51 with Mitchell scoring 14 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in a losing cause.
July 14 – Matt Batts, 91, former major league baseball player. Batts caught Hall of Fame pitcher Satchel Paige in 1951 during a 10-year major league career. Batts caught Paige, the first black pitcher in the American League, with the St. Louis Browns in 1951. Batts retired after playing for five major league teams.
July 16 – Jon Richardson, 53, oldest son of Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson. Richardson was a two-year starter and three-year letterman at North Carolina. He led the Tar Heels in receptions in 1981.
July 16 – Marv Rotblatt, 85, former major league pitcher. Rotblatt, at 5-foot-6, is considered the shortest pitcher in major league history. The left-hander pitched three seasons with the Chicago white Sox (1948 and 1950-51).
July 19 – Mary Ostrowski, 51, former Tennessee women’s basketball star. Ostrowski helped the Lady Vols advance to NCAA Final Fours in 1981, 1982 and 1984. She was an SEC All-Tournament Team member and an All-SEC selection in 1982 and 1984. The 6-foot-2 forward was also was a member of the United States team from 1981 to 1983. She earned a gold medal at the 1983 World University Games.
July 19 – Bert Trautmann, 89, a former German World War II prisoner of war who became Manchester City’s goalkeeper and helped the team win the FA Cup despite a broken neck for the last 17 minutes of the 1956 final. Trautmann made 545 appearances for City between 1949 and 1964 and was revered for his performance in the team’s 1956 FA Cup final win over Birmingham.
July 19 – Phil Woosnam, 80, former North American Soccer League commissioner. Woosnam led the league from 1968-1982 after finishing his playing career with English teams Aston Villa, West Ham and Leyton Orient. The Welshman won the NASL’s first coach of the year award, for the Atlanta Chiefs in 1968, before taking over as commissioner for the next season. He ran the league until 1982, and the league folded after the 1984 season.
July 21 – Andrea Antonelli, 25, died in a crash at the World Supersport race held in Moscow. The Italian rider lost control of his Kawasaki ZX-6R bike in rainy weather and crashed during the opening lap.
July 23 – Lydell Hartford Jr., 20, a freshman walk-on linebacker for Arkansas-Pine Bluff was shot to death outside his home in Louisiana.
July 23 – Emile Griffith, 75, the elegant world champion whose career was overshadowed by the fatal beating he gave Bennie Paret in a 1962 title bout that darkened all of boxing. He was the first boxer from the U.S. Virgin Islands to become world champion and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1990.
July 23 – John “Red” McManus, 88, former men’s basketball coach at Creighton. McManus was an assistant at Iowa when he was selected for Creighton’s top spot. McManus led the Bluejays to national prominence during his tenure, 1959-1969, and coached them in two NCAA tournaments. Among his top players were two future NBA members, Paul Silas and Bob Portman. His career record at Creighton was 138-118.
July 25 – Rick Norton, 69, quarterback in the 1960s for the University of Kentucky and Miami Dolphins. Norton played three seasons at Kentucky and was team co-captain as a senior. He was drafted to the pros in 1966 and played four seasons in Miami. He retired after playing one game for the Green Bay Packers in 1970.
July 26 – Unbridled’s Song, 20, son of 1990 Kentucky Derby winner Unbridled who went on to capture a Breeders’ Cup race and become a prolific sire. Unbridled’s Song sired 730 winners, including 100 stakes winners – 45 graded stakes winners and 15 Grade I – and at least one Grade I winner for 12 consecutive years. As a 2-year-old, Unbridled’s Song won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. The next year, he won the Florida Derby and Wood Memorial. He was the 7-2 favorite in the 1996 Kentucky Derby but finished fifth while another Unbridled colt, Grindstone, was first.
July 28 – Pat Harmon, 97, National Football Foundation historian for 20 years from 1986-2005. Prior to that, he served as a sports editor and columnist for the Cincinnati Post for more than 34 years, starting in 1951.
July 28 – Frank Castillo, 44, former major league pitcher. Castillo had an 82-104 record in 13 major-league seasons. He pitched for the Chicago Cubs, Colorado, Detroit, Toronto, Boston and Florida from 1991 to 2005.
July 28 – George “Boomer” Scott, 69, three-time All-Star first baseman who hit 271 homers in a 14-year major-league career. Scott spent most of his career with the Boston Red Sox and Milwaukee Brewers. He had his best year with the Brewers in 1975, when he hit 36 homers and had 109 RBIs. He won eight Gold Gloves.
July 29 – Christian Benitez, 27, soccer star from Ecuador who led the Mexican league in scoring last season died a day after playing in a game for his club in Qatar.
July 29 – Bobby Crespino, 75, former NFL tight end. Crespino played three seasons (1961-63) for the Cleveland Browns before joining the New York Giants for five seasons, starting in 1964. Crespino played in 107 NFL games and caught 58 passes for 741 yards and nine touchdowns.
July 29 – Don Dempsey, 83, former Arkansas Tech All-American and longtime football coach. Dempsey was an All-American in 1954 when he played center and linebacker. He joined the Arkansas Tech staff in 1959 as an assistant football and head baseball coach. He became head football coach in 1967 and continued to coach baseball until 1970. He stepped down as football coach in 1975.
July 30 – Polo Manukainiu, 19, freshman defensive lineman for Texas A&M, and Gaius Vaenuku, 19, an incoming member of the Utah football team died in a rollover crash in New Mexico during a trip home from Utah.
July 30 – Oscar “Ossie” Schectman, 94, former New York Knicks guard who scored the first basket in NBA history. Schectman scored the opening basket of a game in what was then known as the BAA on Nov. 1, 1946 for the Knicks against the Toronto Huskies.
July 30 – Berthold Beitz, 99, member of the International Olympic Committee from 1972 to 1988, the last four years as an IOC vice president. He was also a member of the board of directors of the organizing committee for the 1972 Olympics in Munich.
July 30 – Gene Wettstone, 100, retired Penn State men’s gymnastics coach who holds the NCAA record for most team championships in that sport. He coached at Penn State for 36 seasons, winning nine NCAA team titles. Wettstone’s gymnasts also won 35 individual national titles, and three Nittany Lions won the Nissen-Emery Award as the nation’s top gymnast during his tenure. Wettstone retired from coaching in 1976. Wettstone also coached the U.S. Olympic men’s gymnastics team in 1948 and 1956. He was an Olympic judge in 1952 and 1968.
July 31 – Robert “Judge” Hughes, 68, former Jackson State football coach. Hughes was head coach from 1999-2003 with a career record of 30-15. A former Tiger player, Hughes was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1967 and played for the Atlanta Falcons as well.
Aug. 1 – Dick Kazmaier, 82, the last Ivy Leaguer to win the Heisman Trophy. Kazmaier played halfback for Princeton and in 1951 won the Heisman Trophy in a landslide, receiving 506 first-place votes and 1,777 points, which was a record at the time. In his final two college seasons, the Tigers went 18-0. His No. 42 was retired by the school in 2008.
Aug. 1 – John Jowdy, 93, Professional Bowlers Association Hall of Famer and pioneer bowling coach.
Aug. 1 – Wilford “Whizzer” White, 84, the father of former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Danny White and a member of the Arizona State hall of fame. White was an ASU running back from 1947 to 1950 and finished his career as the school’s all-time leading rusher with 3,173 yards.
Aug. 4 – Art Donovan, 89, Hall of Fame defensive lineman who spent much of his 12-year career with the Baltimore Colts. He helped the Colts win championships in 1958 and 1959. Donovan broke into professional football in 1950 with the Colts, who folded after his rookie season. He played with the New York Yanks in 1951 and the Dallas Texans in 1952 before the Dallas franchise moved to Baltimore and became the second version of the Colts. He spent the remainder of his career with Baltimore before retiring after the 1961 season.
Aug. 4 – Kramer Williamson, 63, veteran Sprint Car driver died from injuries suffered during a qualifying race at Lincoln Speedway in central Pennsylvania. Williamson had suffered serious injuries in a crash that occurred on Aug. 3 during the United Racing Company 358/360 Sprint Car Challenge. Williamson was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 2008 and had been racing for more than 40 years. He shared the 1971 rookie of the year title at Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg.
Aug. 4 – Josie Seebeck, 19, Central Michigan University soccer player. Seebeck, a midfielder on the school’s women’s team, died of injuries from an auto crash. Seebeck and two other students who play for the Mount Pleasant school, were hurt when their vehicle crashed and rolled over Aug. 2 on Interstate 69 near Lansing.
Aug. 5 – Simone Montgomerie, 26, Australian jockey died following a fall near the finish of the sixth race in Darwin, Australia. Montgomerie was a seasoned jockey who had been racing in the Northern Territory since 2010 and had ridden 51 winners in her 373 starts.
Aug. 5 – Shawn Burr, 47, former NHL player. Burr played 16 years in the NHL, mostly with the Detroit Red Wings. He made his NHL debut in 1984-85 and was with the Red Wings until 1995. He also played for Tampa Bay and San Jose.
Aug. 6 – Jerry Wolman, 86, owner of the Philadelphia Eagles from 1963-69. Wolman was the youngest owner in the NFL when he bought the Eagles from James P. Clark at age 36 in December 1963. The Eagles were 28-41-1 during his five seasons as owner.
Aug. 7 – Kirk E. Breed, 73, executive director of the California Horse Racing Board and a former lobbyist in Sacramento specializing in horse racing issues.
Aug. 9 – Johnny Logan, 86, four-time All-Star shortstop who helped the Milwaukee Braves win the 1957 World Series. In 13 seasons with the Boston and Milwaukee Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates, Logan hit .268 with 93 home runs and 547 RBIs.
Aug. 9 – Hezekiah Braxton, 79, three-time All-CIAA football selection from Virginia Union. Braxton played for VUU from 1956-60.
Aug. 12 – Bill Kane, 75, longtime employee in the New York Yankees front office, mostly as traveling secretary in the 1970s and ’80s.
Aug. 16 – Christopher Lane, 22, East Central University baseball player from Australia, was shot to death in Duncan, Okla.
Aug. 17 – John “Tinker” Connelly, 85, former three-sport Northeastern standout who later coached the Huskies baseball team. Connelly played football, hockey and baseball at Northeastern, earning all-New England honors in all three. As quarterback, he led the football team to an undefeated season in 1951. He was named head baseball coach in 1956 and led the Huskies to four NCAA tournaments and the 1966 College World Series before retiring in 1981 with a 288-280-5 record.
Aug. 18 – Dezso Gyarmati, 85, three-time Olympic water polo champion for Hungary. Gyarmati, who had a powerful left-handed shot and played several positions, was Olympic champion in 1948, 1952 and 1956. He also won bronze in 1960 and silver in 1964. He later coached Hungary’s water polo team for several years, winning three more Olympic medals, including gold in 1976.
Aug. 18 – Elaine Sortino, 64, longtime UMass softball coach. Sortino led Massachusetts to 23 conference titles, 21 trips to the NCAA regionals and three trips to the Women’s College World Series in 34 years at the helm. Sortino was one of just five active coaches to have more than 1,100 career victories. She had an overall record of 1,185-508-6.
Aug. 18 – Tom Gadsby, 26, New Zealand equestrian rider died after falling during a competition in England.
Aug. 18 – Bob Curtis, 78, former Franklin & Marshall and Bucknell football coach. Curtis coached Franklin & Marshall for four seasons (1971-74) and compiled a 32-3 record. He coached Bucknell from 1975 to 1985 season and compiled a record of 48-56-3.
Aug. 20 – James A. “Tank” Crawford, 86, member of Mississippi’s first SEC championship football team in 1947. Crawford was a two-time All-SEC performer at guard.
Aug. 20 – Della Durant, 84, former Penn State assistant athletic director. When the Penn State men’s and women’s athletic departments combined in 1973, Durant was named assistant athletic director and senior woman administrator.
Aug. 20 – Costica Stefanescu, 62, a former Romania captain who was one of the national soccer team’s greatest defenders. Stefanescu played 66 matches for the national team in 1970s and 80s.
Aug. 23 – Dean Meminger, 65, former Marquette guard who played a reserve role on the New York Knicks’ 1973 NBA championship team. Meminger led Marquette to a 78-9 mark in three varsity seasons for coach Al McGuire, averaging 18.8 points. He averaged 21.2 points as a senior in 1970-71 and was drafted by the Knicks. Meminger averaged 6.1 points in six seasons with the Knicks and Atlanta Hawks.
Aug. 25 – Gylmar dos Santos Neves, 83, Brazilian goalkeeper who helped the country win World Cup titles in 1958 and 1962. Neves also was on Brazil’s team during the 1966 World Cup.
Aug. 25 – Scott Plate, 43, former Iowa football player. Plate played for the Hawkeyes from 1989-93. He intercepted nine passes in his career, including five during his senior year.
Aug. 27 – Hector Sanabria, 27, Argentine soccer player died of a heart attack during a match. Sanabria, playing for third-division Club Deportivo Laferrere, collapsed in the 29th minute of a game against General Lamadrid.
Aug. 28 – Frank Pulli, 78, former major league umpire. Pulli umpired in the National League from 1972-99 and worked four World Series, six NL championship series and two All-Star games. Pulli was among the 22 umpires who lost their jobs in a failed mass resignation. He was an MLB umpire supervisor from 2000-07 and charted pitches, helping umps improve their ball-strike calls.
Aug. 28 – Ray Grebey, 85, Major League Baseball’s chief labor negotiator during the tumultuous 50-day strike that split the 1981 season. Players struck on June 12, 1981, the first midseason stoppage in the sport’s history, and they didn’t reach an agreement until July 31. A total of 713 games were canceled by the time the season resumed with the All-Star game at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium on Aug. 9.
Aug. 30 – Leo “Minnesota Express” Lewis, Jr., 80, Hall of Fame running back from Lincoln (Mo.). Lewis led the Blue Tigers to an impressive 27-5-3 record during his four years. He broke the existing school records for touchdowns in a season (22), touchdowns in a career (64), rushing yards in a season (1,239) and career rushing yards (4,561) on his way to becoming a three-time Black College All-America selection. In 1954, he was drafted by the Baltimore Colts, but had an outstanding career in the Canadian Football League. In his 11 seasons with Winnipeg, he earned All-Pro honors six times.
Aug. 30 – William Campbell, 90, former U.S. Amateur champion who played on eight Walker Cup teams and served two years as president of the U.S. Golf Association. Campbell was president of the USGA from 1982-83 and served on its executive committee for 10 years. In 1987, he became only the third American to be elected captain of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club in St. Andrews, and the only man to have led both of golf’s governing bodies. He played on eight Walker Cup teams from 1951 to 1975, never losing a singles match and never playing on a losing team. As an amateur, Campbell had 14 appearances in the U.S. Open and 17 appearances in the Masters.
Sept. 1 – Anthony Robinson, 19, West Alabama freshman defensive back. Robinson died in a two-vehicle crash on U.S. Highway 43, two miles south of Linden.
Sept. 1 – Pal Csernai, 80, former coach of Bayern Munich. Csernai coached Bayern Munich between 1978 and 1983, winning a couple of Bundesliga titles.
Sept. 2 – Tommy Morrison, 44, former heavyweight champion who gained fame for his role in the movie “Rocky V.” In 1993, Morrison beat George Foreman to win the World Boxing Organization heavyweight title. His last fight was in 2005, a loss to Lennox Lewis. He finished with a record of 48-3-1 with 42 knockouts.
Sept. 2 – Frank Weedon, 82, longtime North Carolina State administrator who spent more than five decades with the Wolfpack.
Sept. 3 – Alexis Urbina, 17, national champion boxer. Urbina won the 141-pound Youth Men’s Division at the USA Boxing National Championships in April at Spokane, Wash.
Sept. 3 – Don Meineke, 82, former Dayton basketball star and NBA player. Nicknamed “Monk,” Meineke led the Flyers to their first 20-win season and first NIT appearance. In 1953, he was the first NBA rookie of the year as a member of the Fort Wayne Pistons. He ended his career in 1957-58 with the Cincinnati Royals.
Sept. 4 – Curtis Jones, Jr., 40, West Virginia associate director of athletics.
Sept. 4 – Giant Victory, 25, winner of the 1991 Hambletonian. Giant Victory also won the Breeders Crown as a 3-year-old and was selected Trotter of the Year.
Sept. 5 – Willie Frazier, 71, former AFL-NFL tight end. Frazier played four years with the Houston Oilers and continued to be a standout tight end for the San Diego Chargers, going to the AFL All Star game from 1966-1968. Willie retired from the Oilers in 1975. He finished his 121 game career with 211 receptions, for 3,111 yards and 38 touchdowns.
Sept. 6 – Jack Doyle, 80, former University of South Dakota men’s basketball coach and athletic director. He became head coach in 1973 and coached for nine seasons, leading the Coyotes to a 106-119 record. Doyle was USD’s athletic director from 1982 until his retirement in 1998.
Sept. 7 – Zelmo Beaty, 73, dominating center who led the Utah Stars to the ABA championship in 1971. Beaty, a combined five-time NBA and ABA All-Star and a member of the ABA’s All-Time Team, averaged 17.1 points and 10.9 rebounds over his 12-year career. Beaty played the first seven for the NBA’s Hawks, first in St. Louis and then in Atlanta. He played four years with the ABA’s Utah Stars and his final year with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Sept. 7 – Les Schissler, 83, six-time Professional Bowlers Association Tour champion. Schissler won the 1967 All-Star Tournament (now the U.S. Open) for his only major title. Schissler, a member of the USBC Hall of Fame, was also a three-time USBC Open Championships titlist, winning Classic singles, all-events and team titles in 1966.
Sept. 8 – Nick Pasquale, 20, walk-on wide receiver at UCLA.
Sept. 12 – Frank Tripucka, 85, former Notre Dame quarterback. Tripucka was a backup to Heisman Trophy winner John Lujack, who led the Irish to back-to-back national championships in 1946 and ’47. He was drafted by Philadelphia in 1949 and played for the Eagles, the Detroit Lions, the Chicago Cardinals, the Dallas Texans. He was brought in as a coach of the AFL’s Denver Broncos before the 1960 season, but he was Denver’s best option at QB. Tripucka threw for 3,038 yards and 24 touchdowns that season. He also tossed the first touchdown pass in American Football League history.
Sept. 12 – Warren Giese, 89, former South Carolina coach who led the Gamecocks from 1956-60. Giese compiled a 28-21-1 record over five years.
Sept. 13 – Mike Dunbar, 64, longtime college football coach. Dunbar most recently served as Northern Illinois’ offensive coordinator. He spent 12 years as a head coach, going 83-24-1 at Central Washington from 1987-91 and Northern Iowa from 1997-2000. He was also offensive coordinator at Toledo, California, Minnesota, Northwestern and New Mexico State.
Sept. 13 – Rick Casares, 82, former Chicago Bears running back. Casares was once their all-time leading rusher, was a five-time Pro Bowl pick and a member of the 1963 championship team. He played 10 seasons in Chicago and ran for 5,675 yards. He was the Bears’ all-time leading rusher until Walter Payton surpassed him and currently ranks third.
Sept. 14 – Jonathan Ferrell, 24, former Florida A&M safety.
Sept. 15 – Bonita Spence, 51, veteran NCAA women’s basketball official. Spence worked every NCAA women’s tournament since 2000, including the Final Four in 2001 and 2005. She officiated for 27 years, handling games in the Big East, ACC, Big Ten and SEC. Spence also refereed in the WNBA from 1999-2009.
Sept. 16 – Earl Gunn, 81, former center and defensive end at Georgia in the early 1950s.
Sept. 16 – Scott Adams, 46, former Georgia and NFL offensive lineman. Adams played for Georgia from 1985-88 and played six seasons in the NFL. He played for Minnesota, New Orleans, Chicago, Tampa Bay and Atlanta.
Sept. 18 – Ken Norton, 70, the only heavyweight champion never to win the title in the ring. He was the second man to beat Muhammad Ali, breaking Ali’s jaw and sending him to the hospital in their 1973 heavyweight fight. Norton frustrated Ali three times in all, including their final bout at Yankee Stadium in 1976, where he lost the controversial title fight. Norton came back the next year to win a heavyweight title eliminator and was declared champion by the World Boxing Council when Leon Spinks decided to fight Ali in a rematch instead of facing his mandatory challenger. But on June 9, 1978, Norton lost a brutal 15-round fight to Larry Holmes in what many regard as one of boxing’s epic heavyweight bouts and would never be champion again. Norton finished with a record of 42-7-1 and 33 knockouts.
Sept. 18 – Charles Fobbs, 47, assistant softball coach at Michigan State.
Sept. 19 – Allan Ellis, 62, former Pro Bowl cornerback. Drafted out of UCLA in 1973, Ellis had 22 interceptions over seven seasons with the Bears. He spent his final year in the league with San Diego in 1981. Ellis became the first Bears cornerback to be selected to the Pro Bowl in 1977.
Sept. 19 – Hiroshi Yamauchi, 85, owner of the Seattle Mariners. Yamauchi, who ran Nintendo for more than 50 years, had little interest in baseball, but was approached to buy the Mariners, who may have had to move out of Washington state where Nintendo of America Inc. was headquartered to Florida without a new backer. The acquisition in 1992 made the Seattle club the first in the major leagues to have foreign ownership.
Sept. 19 – John Reger, 82, three-time Pro Bowl linebacker starred for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Washington Redskins in the 1950s and 60s. He forged a 12-year career as one of the finer two-way players in the NFL, making the Pro Bowl from 1959-61. He spent nine seasons with the Steelers from 1955-63 before spending three with the Redskins.
Sept. 21 – Ben Flick, 19, freshman offensive lineman for Cincinnati was killed in a one-vehicle accident south of Oxford, Ohio.
Sept. 21 – Francis Peay, 69, former Northwestern football coach. Peay went 13-51-2 from 1986-91. Peay was offensive lineman at Missouri before the New York Giants selected him in the first round of the 1966 NFL draft. He also played for Green Bay and Kansas City during a nine-year career.
Sept. 23 – Stanislaw Szozda, 62, Olympic medalist and former world cycling champion. One of Poland’s best cyclists, Szozda won silver at the 1972 Munich Olympics and again at the 1976 Montreal Games in the team time trial. He also won team world championship titles in 1973 and 1975.
Sept. 24 – Paul Dietzel, 89, former college football coach and athletic director. Dietzel coached LSU from 1955 until 1961, leaving for Army and South Carolina. He also broadcast Southern Conference football games and helped create Samford University’s athletics department before returning to LSU as athletics director from 1978 until 1982. Dietzel was the last living member of the staff that guided LSU to an undefeated season and national championship in 1958.
Sept. 24 – Paul Oliver, 29, former University of Georgia and San Diego Chargers defensive back. Oliver was a 2007 fourth-round supplemental draft pick from Georgia after he was ruled academically ineligible his senior year. He played four seasons with the Chargers.
Sept. 26 – Denis Brodeur, 82, sports photographer and father of Martin Brodeur. Brodeur enjoyed a lengthy career as one of Canada’s most successful sports photographers, shot pictures of the Montreal Canadiens for several decades, first as a newspaper man and then as the team’s official photographer.
Sept. 27 – Gates Brown, 74, outfielder who played his entire 13-year major league career with the Detroit Tigers. Brown played on Detroit’s 1968 team that won the World Series, and was part of another title with the Tigers in 1984 as a batting coach.
Sept. 29 – Cecil Perkins, 77, former Southwestern Oklahoma State football player, coach and director of athletics.
Sept. 29 – L.C. Greenwood, 67, former Steelers defensive end. Greenwood was the relentless defensive end who made up one quarter of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ “Steel Curtain” defense of the 1970s. A six-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro, Greenwood played for the Steelers from 1969-81, helping Pittsburgh win an unprecedented four Super Bowls in a six-year span. Greenwood, Joe Greene, Ernie Holmes and Dwight White formed the bedrock of the defense that helped turn a perennial loser into a dynasty.
Sept. 29 – Bob Kurland, 88, Oklahoma State basketball legend. Kurland was a 7-footer who led what was then Oklahoma A&M to national championships in 1945 and 1946, and was a member of the 1948 and 1952 U.S. gold medal-winning Olympic teams.
Sept. 30 – Bill McLellan, 81, former Clemson director of athletics. McLellan served as director of athletics from 1971-85. During this time Clemson won 34 ACC Championships in nine different sports. The program was especially successful from 1978-85 when Clemson had 45 top 25 teams and 27 ACC championships.
Sept. 30 – James Street, 65, former Texas quarterback. Street was a backup who took over the Texas wishbone offense in 1968. He led the Longhorns to the 1969 national title, winning 20 straight games, including the 15-14 victory over Arkansas in 1969 dubbed the “Game of the Century” followed by a season-capping Cotton Bowl win against Notre Dame. Street was also a standout pitcher, posting a 29-8 record for Texas that included a perfect game (1970 vs. Texas Tech) and no-hitter (1969 vs. SMU).
Oct. 1 – Jim Rountree, 77, former Canadian Football League star cornerback. Rountree played in college at Florida and was drafted by the Baltimore Colts in 1958. He played with the Toronto Argonauts from 1958 to 1967.
Oct. 4 – Andre Maloney, 17, Kansas football commit who died after suffering a stroke during a game. The senior wide receiver starred for Shawnee Mission West High School.
Oct. 3 – Sergei Belov, 69, former Soviet basketball great and Olympic gold medalist Belov helped the Soviets to the gold medal at the 1972 Munich Olympics, scoring 20 points in the famous 51-50 win over the United States in the final. The shooting guard also won three Olympic bronze medals and two world championship titles. Belov won 11 titles with CSKA Moscow and later coached the club for three years, leading it to two titles. In 1992, he became the first international player inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Oct. 5 – James Carroll Holland, 64, former assistant football coach. Holland had coaching stints at East Carolina, Wofford, Delta State, Western Kentucky, Louisiana-Monroe and Baylor.
Oct. 5 – Larry “Doc” Harrington, 81, longtime Southern Miss Athletic Department member who spent time as an athletic trainer, tennis coach and equipment manager.
Oct. 6 – Ulysses “Crazy Legs” Curtis, 87, two-time Grey Cup champion and the first black player for the Toronto Argonauts. Curtis played for the CFL team from 1950 to 1954 and was one of the most productive running backs in the club’s 140-year history. He made nine playoff appearances, winning titles in 1950 and ’52.
Oct. 7 – Gary Rosenberger, 57, member of Marquette’s 1977 NCAA championship team. Rosenberger, a guard, was a four-year letter winner at Marquette and was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks in 1978 in the ninth round.
Oct. 7 – Basil Dickinson, 98, Australia’s oldest Olympian who competed in the triple jump at the 1936 Berlin Games.
Oct. 7 – Gordon Polofsky, 82, former Tennessee football player who was a member of the Vol’s 1950 and 1951 championship teams. Polofsky played for the NFL’s Chicago Cardinals from 1952-54.
Oct. 8 – Andy Pafko, 92, four-time All-Star who played on the last Chicago Cubs team to reach the World Series. Pafko played with Jackie Robinson for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1951, and with Hank Aaron as a Milwaukee Brave from 1954-59. He was an All-Star from 1947 until 1950.
Oct. 9 – Darris McCord, 80, former defensive linemen for Detroit Lions from 1955-67. McCord was a member of the team’s vaunted “Fearsome Foursome” that became the formidable front for an era of defense considered among the NFL’s all-time greatest. During his 13 NFL seasons, all with the Lions, the durable lineman played in 168 games and missed just two games during his career. He was a member of the Lions’ 1957 NFL Championship team.
Oct. 9 – Gene Schill, 77, former Dayton University sports information director and associate athletics director.
Oct. 11 – Maria de Villota, 33, a pioneering Formula One test driver. De Villota, the first Spanish woman to drive an F1 car, was the daughter of Emilio de Villota, who competed in F1 from 1976-82.
Oct. 11 – Herb Zimmerman, 83, former All-Southwest Conference guard at TCU, and assistant coach at Baylor and SMU.
Oct. 14 – Joe C. Meriweather, 59, former Park University women’s basketball coach and 10-year NBA veteran. Meriweather is the winningest coach in Park University women’s basketball history with 128 wins, and he led Park to its only NAIA National Championship tournament appearance in 2005-06. A graduate of Southern Illinois, Meriweather posted 1,536 points and 1,005 rebounds in his collegiate career. In 1975, he was drafted by the Houston and played 10 seasons in the NBA as a member of Houston, Atlanta, New Orleans, New York and Kansas City.
Oct. 14 – Wally Bell, 48, major league baseball umpire died a week after working the NL playoff series between the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals. Bell worked the 2006 World Series and three All-Star games, including this year’s event at Citi Field, where he was stationed at first base. A veteran of 21 big league seasons, he had also worked four league championship series and seven division series since joining the major league staff in 1993.
Oct. 14 – Bill Purifoy, 53, former Tulsa defensive end.
Oct. 15 – Willie Heidelberg, 63, the first black scholarship football player at Southern Mississippi. Heidelberg was a running back for Southern Miss in 1970-71 and scored two touchdowns in the Golden Eagles’ upset of fourth-ranked Mississippi in 1970. Heidelberg spent the past 15 seasons as an assistant football at Belhaven.
Oct. 15 – Bruno Metsu, 59, former Senegal coach. Metsu, a Frenchman, coached Senegal in its remarkable run to the 2002 World Cup quarterfinals. In 2002, Senegal beat defending champion France 1-0 in one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history. The West African team became the second African team to reach the last eight at the World Cup.
Oct. 15 – Sean Edwards, 26, a promising British driver and the son of former Formula One driver Guy Edwards, died in a crash during training at Queensland Raceway, outside Brisbane, Australia. Edwards, the Supercup Championship leader, was in the passenger seat as an instructor for a private training session.
Oct. 17 – Rene Simpson, 47, a former player, coach and longtime captain of Canada’s Fed Cup tennis team.
Oct. 18 – Demarius Reed, 20, Eastern Michigan football player was shot to death. The junior wide receiver played in six games this season, catching 15 passes for 181 yards and a touchdown. He made 18 receptions for 171 yards in nine games last season. He scored one touchdown.
Oct. 18 – Bum Phillips, 90, the folksy Texas football icon who coached the Houston Oilers during their Luv Ya Blue heyday and later led the New Orleans Saints. Phillips took over as coach of the Oilers in 1975 and led Houston to two AFC Championship games before he was fired in 1980. He left Texas to coach the Saints in 1981, going 27-42 before retiring after the 1985 season.
Oct. 20 – Don James, 80, former Washington football coach who led the Huskies to a share of the national championship in 1991. James was 176-78-3 at Kent State and Washington, going 153-58-2 in 18 seasons with the Huskies from 1975-92. His 1991 team topped the coaches’ poll, while Miami was the national champion in The Associated Press’ media poll.
Oct. 21 – K.S. “Bud” Adams Jr., 90, Tennessee Titans owner. The son of a prominent oil executive, Adams built his own energy fortune and founded the Houston Oilers in the upstart American Football League. Adams moved the team to Tennessee after the 1996 season when he couldn’t get the new stadium he wanted in Houston. The franchise, renamed the Titans, in 2000 reached the Super Bowl Adams had spent more than three decades pursuing.
Oct. 21 – Allan Stanley, 87, Hall of Fame defenseman who won four Stanley Cups with the Toronto Maple Leafs during a 22-year NHL career. During his 10 seasons with the Leafs, Stanley formed a fierce defensive tandem with Tim Horton. Among his four Stanley Cups was one in 1967, Toronto’s last title. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1981.
Oct. 23 – Bill Mazer, 92, sports-talk radio pioneer who also was a fixture in New York television during a 60-year career. Mazer came to New York in 1964 at WNBC-AM after 16 years in radio and TV in Buffalo, and had a long run as WNEW-TV’s sports anchor. He also worked at WOR-AM, on CBS television’s NHL and NFL coverage, on ABC and NBC TV game broadcasts and in radio at WFAN, WEVD and WVOX-AM, retiring in 2009.
Oct. 23 – Wes Bialosuknia, 68, known as the “Poughkeepsie Popper,” who starred for Connecticut between 1964 and 1967. He averaged 28 points a game for the Huskies in the 1966-67 season to set a school record. He averaged 23.6 points for his three seasons.
Oct. 24 – Reggie Rogers, 49, former Washington defensive tackle. Rogers had a stellar football career from 1984-86 while playing for Hall of Fame coach Don James.
Oct. 24 – Donald D. Smith, 69, longtime jockey at Penn National who won more than 1,500 races. Known as D.D., Smith began his riding career in the early 1960s and retired in 1989.
Oct. 25 – Bill Sharman, 87, Hall of Famer who won NBA titles as a player for the Boston Celtics and a coach for the Los Angeles Lakers. He won four NBA titles during an 11-season career as a shooting guard in Boston. Sharman then spent the past four decades with Los Angeles as a successful coach and front office executive. Sharman coached the 1971-72 Lakers to a championship with 69 victories and a 33-game winning streak, the longest in pro sports history. Sharman was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in 1976 and a coach in 2004.
Oct. 29 – John Axford, 78, principal owner of the Knoxville Ice Bears minor-league hockey team since their 2002 inception.
Oct. 31 – Johnny Kucks, 81, former New York Yankees pitcher. Kucks, who pitched a three-hitter for the New York Yankees in Game 7 of the 1956 World Series, pitched in four World Series with the Yankees from 1955-58, going 1-0 with a 1.89 ERA in eight games. Kucks went 54-56 with a 4.10 ERA in six seasons in the majors with New York and the Kansas City Athletics. His best season occurred in 1956, when he went 18-9 with a 3.85 ERA.
Nov. 1 – Derek Moore, 37, offensive line coach at Missouri Southern State. Moore was shot outside a Joplin (Mo.) theater. He came to MSSU after three seasons at Western Illinois.
Nov. 1 – Marcy Scott, 42, the promotion and marketing director at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Nov. 2 – Walt Bellamy, 74, the Hall of Fame center who averaged 20.1 points and 13.7 rebounds in 14 seasons in the NBA. The former Indiana star won an Olympic gold medal in 1960 and was the first overall pick by the Chicago Packers in 1961. He was the rookie of the year with Chicago, averaging 31.6 points and 19.0 rebounds, and also played for Baltimore, New York, Detroit, Atlanta and New Orleans. He played in four All-Star games and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1993.
Nov. 2 – Herm Harrison, 71, former Arizona State player who starred at tight end for the Calgary Stampeders in the Canadian Football League. Harrison – called “Ham Hands” – played for Calgary from 1964-72, helping the Stampeders win the 1971 Grey Cup title.
Nov. 2 – Derek Moore, 37, Missouri Southern State assistant football coach, was fatally shot as he was leaving a movie theater in Joplin, Mo.
Nov. 3 – Lambert Bartak, 94, organist who entertained Rosenblatt Stadium’s baseball fans for more than half a century during the College World Series. Bartak started in 1955 and retired in 2010, the last year the College World Series was played in Rosenblatt.
Nov. 4 – Bob Owens, 77, former Arizona State football coach. Owens was named the Sun Devils’ interim coach after Frank Kush was fired in 1979. He coached Arizona State the final seven games of that season before going on to become an assistant coach at UNLV.
Nov. 5 – Bobby Thomason, 85, former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback. Thomason played for the Eagles from 1952-57 and completed 556 passes in 1,113 attempts for 8,124 yards, 57 touchdowns and 80 interceptions. Thomason made the Pro Bowl in 1954 and 1956-57. Thomason also played for the Los Angeles Rams and Green Bay Packers.
Nov. 6 – Clarence “Ace” Parker, 101, oldest member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame 101. Parker played football, basketball and baseball at Duke, then was a first-round draft choice of the National Football League’s Brooklyn Dodgers in 1937. Parker opted to play baseball for Connie Mack and the Philadelphia Athletics. He later traded baseball for football, starring for the Dodgers from 1937-41, and winning the most valuable player award in 1940.
Nov. 6 – Martin Kahn, 69, former North Texas football tackle. Kahn played from 1963 to 1965 and was drafted in the fifth round by the Atlanta Falcons in 1966.
Nov. 7 – Ian Davies, 57, former Australian Olympic basketball player who played at Graceland University in Iowa. Davies, a forward, represented Australia in the 1980 and 1984 Olympics and the 1982 and 1986 world championships.
Nov. 9 – Paul Moran, 67, Eclipse Award-winning turf writer who covered horse racing since the 1970s. Moran was a mainstay at New York racetracks since joining Newsday in 1985. That year, he won a media Eclipse Award for a story on Daily Racing Form columnist Joe Hirsch. In 1990, he won another Eclipse for his story on Go for Wand’s catastrophic injury in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff that year. He was a president of the New York Turf Writers Association.
Nov. 10 – Taylor Huff, 21, Hardin-Simmons wide receiver. Huff was killed when he has hit by a vehicle.
Nov. 11 – Charles Youvella, 17, high school football player in Arizona died two days after suffering an injury in the fourth quarter of a blowout playoff game loss. The Hopi High School senior died of a traumatic brain injury in Hopi’s 60-6 loss to Arizona Lutheran in a first-round playoff game. Youvella scored his team’s only touchdown in the game.
Nov. 13 – Todd Christensen, 57, five-time Pro Bowl selection at tight end and two-time Super Bowl winner. After a stellar career at running back for BYU from 1974-77, Christensen was selected by Dallas in the 1978 NFL draft. He was waived by the Cowboys and joined the Oakland Raiders the next year. He played for 10 seasons and won Super Bowls in 1981 and 1984. In 1983, he had 92 catches, setting the NFL record at the time for tight ends. He finished the season with 1,247 yards receiving and 12 touchdowns. He broke his own record three seasons later with 95 catches. He finished his career with 467 catches for 5,872 yards and 41 touchdowns.
Nov. 15 – Raimondo D’Inzeo, 88, Italian equestrian rider who won an Olympic gold medal in 1960 and competed in eight consecutive games.
Nov. 15 – Mike McCormack, 83, Hall of Fame lineman. McCormack spent 12 seasons with the Cleveland Browns, helping the franchise win NFL championships in 1954 and 1955. He played with Otto Graham and blocked for running back Jim Brown. McCormack later coached Philadelphia (1973-75), Baltimore (1980-81) and Seattle (1982). McCormack held several executive positions, including president of the Carolina Panthers. He also served as president and general manager of the Seahawks.
Nov. 16 – Billy Hardwick, 72, two-time Professional Bowlers Association player of the year and 18-time winner in his Hall of Fame career. Hardwick was the PBA Tour’s rookie of the year in 1962 and took player of the year honors in 1964 and 1969. He was a three-time major champion, completing the PBA’s Triple Crown by winning the 1963 PBA National, 1965 PBA Tournament of Champions and 1969 Bowling Proprietors Association of America All-Star (now U.S. Open).
Nov. 16 – Jack Donaldson, 86, member of the Cincinnati Bengals’ original coaching staff. Donaldson was hired by Paul Brown and stayed on the staff from 1968-77. He spent his first season as defensive line coach and the rest as offensive backfield coach. He coached Bengals teams that reached the playoffs in 1970, 1973 and 1975.
Nov. 17 – Joe Dean, 83, former LSU basketball star and later the university’s athletic director. Dean was LSU’s top scorer in 1950 and ’51. He became the second LSU player with 1,000 career points in 1952. Dean was the athletic director at LSU for 14 years, beginning in 1987.
Nov. 17 – George M. “Buck” Randall, 73, Mississippi football player who tried to stop violence that erupted on the Oxford campus during integration in 1962. Randal was a Rebels fullback from 1960 to 1963.
Nov. 17 – Frank Chamberlin, 35, NFL linebacker who played with three teams from 2000 to 2005. Chamberlin was a fullback and linebacker at Boston College and was drafted by Tennessee in 2000. He spent three seasons with the Titans and later played with Cincinnati and Houston.
Nov. 17 – Dick Whitney, 78, wide receiver at Cal State-Los Angeles in the 1950s.
Nov. 17 – Jim Vanderslice, 65, three-year letterman at TCU. He was a three-year starter at linebacker for the Horned Frogs in the late 1960’s and was also co-captian his senior year. He was later drafted by the San Francisco 49ers and played one season.
Nov. 18 – Thomas Howard, 30, former Oakland Raiders linebacker. Howard was selected by the Raiders in the 2006 NFL Draft out of UTEP. After 62 starts with Oakland over five seasons, Howard went on to start 16 games for the Cincinnati Bengals between 2011 and 2012.
Nov. 20 – Frank Lauterbur, 88, former football coach aqt Toledo and Iowa. Toledo won 23 consecutive games from 1969-70 under Lauterbur. Lauterbur, who also served as athletic director at Toledo, had a career record of 48-32-2. He coached eight seasons at Toledo before going to Iowa where he coached from 1971-73. The Hawkeyes were 4-28-1 before Lauterbur was let go.
Nov. 20 – Adrian Dudzicki, 23, one of Canada’s top squash players died after he was hit by a car while cycling in Toronto. Dudzicki reached a career-high ranking of No. 9 in Canada and No. 136 in the world in 2012.
Nov. 21 – Maurice “Mad Dog” Vachon, 84, a wrestler for Canada in the 1948 Olympics before fighting in more than 13,000 bouts as a professional. Vachon started his career as an amateur, taking part in the 1948 London Games at 18. He later became an international star as a pro, earning 30 titles. He joined the World Wrestling Federation in 1984. His last pro bout was in his native Montreal on Oct. 13, 1986.
Nov. 21 – Michael Weiner, 51, Major League Baseball players’ union head. He took over as head of the powerful union four years ago and helped smooth its often-contentious relationship with MLB management.
Nov. 21 – Vern Mikkelsen, 85, Hall of Fame basketball player who won four NBA titles with the Minneapolis Lakers. He was a six-time All-Star during 10 years with the Lakers, teaming with George Mikan and Jim Pollard in a frontcourt that to this day is considered one of the best the league has ever seen. Though he was known for his hard-nosed defense, Mikkelsen averaged 14.4 points and 9.4 rebounds in his career and emerged as one of the league’s first true power forwards.
Nov. 24 – Jerry Seeman, 77, former NFL supervisor of officials who worked as the chief referee in two Super Bowls. Seeman was an NFL game official from 1975 to 1990, including 12 seasons as a lead referee. Seeman moved to the league office in 1991 and served 10 years as the supervisor of officials until his retirement.
Nov. 25 – Bill Foulkes, 81, a Manchester United defender who survived the 1958 Munich air crash that killed eight players and had a key role in the storied team’s recovery. Foulkes won titles four times in the top tier of English soccer and helped the club capture the European Cup for the first time.
Nov. 27 – Nilton Santos, 88, one of the most talented left-backs in the history of soccer. Santos, who won the 1958 and 1962 World Cup with Brazil, was seen as a pioneer in his position, as one of the first defenders to take part in the offensive game.
Nov. 30 – Willis Wilson, 21, Hawaii running back. Wilson, a walk-on running back at Washington for three seasons before transferring to Hawaii this year.
Dec. 1 – Evan Chambers, 24, Pittsburgh Pirates minor league prospect. A third-round draft pick in 2009, Chambers spent five years in the team’s minor league system.
Dec. 5 – Tim Marcum, 69, winningest coach in Arena Football League history. Marcum began coaching the Tampa Bay Storm in 1995 after collecting an AFL championship with the Denver Dynamite and three with the Detroit Drive. In 16 years with the Storm, Marcum racked up a 156-79 record while winning three championships. Marcum finished with a career record of 211-99.
Dec. 6 – M.K. Turk, 71, former Southern Mississippi basketball coach. Turk led the Golden Eagles for 20 seasons from 1976 to 1996 and finished with a school-record 301 victories, two NCAA tournament appearances and six NIT appearances, including one NIT championship.
Dec. 7 – Jos Vanstiphout, 62, golf psychologist to Retief Goosen and Ernie Els.
Dec. 7 – Jacob “Baby Jake” Matlala, 51, four-time world champion in the flyweight and junior flyweight divisions. During a 22-year career, he won flyweight and junior flyweight belts for the WBO as well as the IBA light flyweight title and WBU junior flyweight crown.
Dec. 7 – John Joseph Idzik, 85, former NFL assistant coach and father of New York Jets general manager John Idzik. Idzik served as the offensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles from 1973-76 and the Jets from 1977-79. He was also an assistant with Miami and Baltimore, and later coached in the USFL.
Dec. 9 – Shane Del Rosario, 30, UFC fighter. Del Rosario had been a professional mixed martial artist since 2006, also competing in kickboxing and muay thai competitions. He was the first American winner of the WBC world heavyweight muay thai championship in 2007.
Dec. 9 – Joe Black Hayes, 98, former Middle Tennessee assistant football coach. Hayes played for Tennessee from 1935-37 and was a captain his final year. He also lettered in wrestling and track and field at Tennessee. Hayes worked as an assistant coach at Middle Tennessee from 1950-68. He founded Middle Tennessee’s wrestling team in 1950 and established Middle Tennessee’s track program in 1955.
Dec. 10 – Don Lund, 90, former Michigan three-sport athlete major league baseball player. Lund played baseball, basketball and football, lettering nine times as a student-athlete in the early 1940s. In 1945, he was a first-round NFL draft pick of the Chicago Bears, but signed a minor league baseball deal with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He returned to Michigan as a baseball coach from 1959-62, winning the Big Ten championship in 1961 and the national championship and National Coach of the Year honors in 1962. Lund worked in the Detroit Tigers’ organization from 1963-70, then returned to U-M, where he served as an assistant athletic director from 1970 to his retirement in 1992.
Dec. 10 – John Didion, 66, former Oregon State All-American and NFL player. Didion starred at center at OSU lettering 1966-68 and garnering All-America honors in 1968. He was a member of Oregon State’s famed “Giant Killers.” He was selected in the seventh round of the 1969 NFL Draft by Washington where he played from 1969-70 before moving to the New Orleans Saints for the 70-74 seasons.
Dec. 13 – John Bozick, 88, Ohio State’s longtime football equipment manager throughout the tenures of Woody Hayes and Earle Bruce. Bozick is one of only 17 non-athletes honored in Ohio State’s men’s athletic hall of fame.
Dec. 14 – Tom Bass, 78, former Tennessee and Clemson assistant football coach. He coached for one year at Tennessee and 14 at Clemson, for five coaches.
Dec. 15 – Dyron Nix, 46, former Southeastern Conference scoring champion at Tennessee. Nix played for Tennessee from 1985-89 and led the SEC with 22.2 points per game in the 1987-88 season. He averaged 16.6 points and 8.4 rebounds in his college career. Nix played for the NBA’s Indiana Pacers in 1989-90.
Dec. 21 – David Coleman, 87, British sports broadcaster who covered 11 Summer Olympics for the BBC and six World Cups. Coleman retired from the BBC in 2000 after covering the Sydney Olympics. He became the first broadcaster to receive an Olympic Order medal to recognize his contribution to the Olympics.
Dec. 21 – Marv Wolfenson, 87, one of the two businessmen who brought the NBA back to Minnesota. Wolfenson and Harvey Ratner were the Timberwolves original owners when the NBA granted them and Minnesota an expansion franchise that began play in 1989.
