Merlin Olsen, the Hall of Fame tackle who anchored the Los Angeles Rams’ Fearsome Foursome, the line that glamorized defensive play in the National Football League, died early Thursday at a hospital in Duarte, Calif. He was 69. …
Don Haskins, credited with helping break color barriers in college sports in 1966 when he used five black starters to win a national basketball title at Texas Western, died Sunday. He was 78. … Haskins, known for his gruff demeanor, was portrayed in the 2006 movie “Glory Road.” …
Joey Giardello, a former middleweight boxing champion who won a decision over Rubin Carter in 1964 and then sued over how the fight was depicted in the 1999 film “The Hurricane,” has died. He was 78. …
One of the country’s top track announcers, and for the last 10 years the voice of Ellis Park, Luke Kruytbosch, has died. The 46-year-old Kruytbosch, who had called the last 10 Kentucky Derby’s, and was beginning his tenth season at Ellis Park, was found dead in his Evansville apartment Monday morning. …
Jim McKay elegantly covered competitions from badminton to barrel jumping. Yet he may best be remembered for that grim day at the Munich Olympics when he broke the news with three simple words: “They’re all gone.” …
McKay was the one who spanned the globe to bring television viewers the constant variety of sports on ABC’s influential “Wide World of Sports,” where he told of “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.”
A far different kind of agony awaited in 1972 …
January 27, 1932 - May 30, 2008
When the Soviet Union began competing at the Olympic Games in 1952, its biggest successes came in sports with a premium on long hours of disciplined training, such as weightlifting, wrestling and particularly gymnastics, where there was a tradition of excellence. After Viktor Chukarin had won the men’s combined exercises title in the 1952 and 1956 Games, his training partner, Boris Shakhlin, maintained the dominance, collecting 13 Olympic medals, seven of them gold, including that for the combined exercises in Rome in 1960. …
Former Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper who went on to have a successful career as a police officer, receiving two commendations
As well as being a popular figure at Tottenham Hotspur, Newport County and Wolverhampton Wanderers, and playing both at Wembley and in Europe, Mark Kendall was also a much-respected police officer who once prevented a chain-saw attack. …
Mark Kendall, footballer and policeman, was born on September 20, 1958. He died of a heart attack on May 1, 2008, aged 49 …
A former player for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was found dead inside a home in Wesley Chapel Sunday morning.
A friend found 46 year old Thomas McHale dead just after 9 am this morning inside the friend’s home on Ambrose Court. Detectives do not suspect foul play, but are investigating his death. …
Former NFL center Curtis Whitley was found dead in his trailer home in West Texas on Sunday night. …
The ice skating champion Cecilia Colledge might never have set foot on an ice rink had she not attended the 1928 World Championships at the Ice Club in London as a spectator. The seven-year-old was captivated watching the vivacious jumps and spins of the Norwegian skater Sonja Henie — who won the second of her ten world titles on that occasion — and told her mother: “I should like to skate like her.” …
Marzano, a former Major League catcher who most recently served as an engaging host of the “Leading Off” show on MLB.com, died this weekend [Saturday] at his home in South Philadelphia, apparently after taking a fall down a flight of stairs and possibly after suffering a heart attack. He was 45. …
MIDLAND, Texas — Wally Kleine, a football standout who played defensive tackle for Notre Dame and the Washington Redskins, has died, family members said Wednesday. He was 43.
Kleine died of heart failure Sunday at a Lubbock hospital, his sister Emily Kleine said.
Kleine was an all-state player at Midland High School in 1981 and starred at Notre Dame. He was a second-round pick by the Redskins in 1987 and spent two years with the NFL team. … Read full obituary
Jackson first grabbed the spotlight at Sumter High School when he was one of the top players in the state, playing in the 1999 Shrine Bowl. Jackson would move on to USC, playing safety and special teams for coach Lou Holtz from 2001-2204. Jamacia Jackson was about to enter his second season in the Canadian Football League where he continued to pursue his pro football dreams.
Monday morning the 26 year-old was found dead at his girlfriend’s home, he had presumably died in his sleep. How he died remains a mystery. … Read full obituary
Cliff Guilliams, who chronicled Kentucky racing both as the official chart caller and a writer for the Evansville Courier & Press, died in his sleep Saturday night in his Louisville hotel room, Equibase Co. confirmed today.
Guilliams, 52, also was The Courier-Journal’s handicapper the past two years. … Read full obituary
Former WCW wrestler Chase Tatum was found dead late Sunday afternoon of an apparent accidental drug overdose, his father said.
Tatum, 34, was recovering from back surgery 10 days earlier to repair a degenerative disc. His father, Roy Tatum of Kennesaw, said his son had been battling a painkiller dependence for years but had made plans to enter a rehabilitation facility in Miami. … Read full obituary
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Gary Gygax, who co-created the fantasy game Dungeons & Dragons and is widely seen as the father of the role-playing games, died Tuesday morning at his home in Lake Geneva. He was 69. He had been suffering from health problems for several years, including an abdominal aneurysm, said his wife, Gail Gygax. … Read full obituary
NEW YORK — The sign man of Shea Stadium died Thursday.
Karl Ehrhardt was a fixture at Mets games from 1964 through 1981, famous for holding up tailored signs after key plays that displayed his pleasure or frustration with the team. …
Ehrhardt’s block-lettered signs served as color commentary for both fans in the stands and TV viewers at home. He carried dozens to each game, some witty, some biting.
“Jose, Can You See?” was a regular when Mets outfielder after Jose’ Cardenal struck out. … Read full obituary
Georgia Frontiere, the owner of the National Football League’s Rams for nearly three decades and the first woman to take control of a league franchise, died Friday. She was 80. …
Frontiere, an occasional night-club singer and chorus line performer who hoped to become an opera star, was thrust into the pro football world in April 1979 when her husband, Carroll Rosenbloom, the owner of the Los Angeles Rams, drowned in the ocean while swimming near his Florida home. … Read full obituary
REYKJAVIK (AFP) — Bobby Fischer, who died on Thursday aged 64, was a high school dropout who may have been the greatest chess player of all time, but ended his life in eccentric seclusion.
The US-born player had lived for the last two years in Iceland, after serving eight months behind bars in Japan in a new twist to a life that had gone downhill ever since his moment of glory at age 29. … Read full obituary
Johnny Podres, who became the most beloved ‘Bum’ of all pitching Brooklyn to its only World Series title before the team moved to LA, died Sunday at Glens Falls Hospital in upstate New York. He was 75. His wife, Joan, said he was being treated for heart and kidney problems and a leg infection. … Read full obituary
Christopher Bowman, the former U.S. figure skating champion dubbed “Bowman the Showman” for his flair on the ice, died Thursday of a possible drug overdose, authorities said. He was 40. …
Bowman, a former child actor, was one of figure skating’s bigger personalities in the late 1980s and early 1990s. … Read full obituary
Poker legend David “Chip” Reese, a renowned cash-game player and the owner of three World Series of Poker bracelets, died Tuesday. He was 56. … Read full obituary
The Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor died in hospital this morning after being shot at his home in Miami. Taylor, a first-round draft pick for the Redskins in 2004 and Pro Bowl alternate last season, had his femoral artery severed when he was shot in the leg during an apparent robbery. … Read full story
Joe Kennedy, who last pitched for the Toronto Blue Jays during a seven-year major league career, died early Friday morning while at home with family in Florida. He was 28. The cause of death could not immediately be determined, agent Damon Lapa said. … Read full obituary
CINCINNATI — Joe Nuxhall, who was the youngest player in major league history and the beloved “old left-hander” on Cincinnati Reds radio broadcasts, died overnight following a bout with cancer, the team said Friday. He was 79. … Read full obituary
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