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Deaths Of Notable Sports Figures (R.I.P.)

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Jim Bouton, former pitcher, "Ball Four" author, dies at 80

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J.

im Bouton, the former New York Yankees pitcher who shocked and angered the conservative baseball world with the tell-all book "Ball Four," has died. He was 80.

Bouton's family said he died Wednesday at the Great Barrington home he shared with wife Paula Kurman. He fought a brain disease linked to dementia and was in hospice care. Bouton also had two strokes in 2012.

Published in 1970, "Ball Four" detailed Yankees great Mickey Mantle's carousing, and the use of stimulants in the major leagues. Bouton's revealing look at baseball off the field made for eye-opening and entertaining reading, but he paid a big price for the best-seller when former teammates and players and executives across baseball ostracized him for exposing their secrets. He wasn't invited to the Yankees' Old-Timers' Day until 1998.

https://news.yahoo.com/jim-bouton-f...vbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDQjc2MDlfMQRzZWMDc3I-
 
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Former champion Whitaker hit by car, dies

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Pernell Whitaker, a longtime pound-for-pound king and one of the greatest boxers in history, was killed Sunday night when he was hit by a car in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He was 55.

The Virginia Beach Police Department said the incident remains an active investigation but that Whitaker was apparently hit by a vehicle at around 10 p.m. Sunday when he was walking at an intersection.

"When officers arrived on scene they located an adult male victim who had been hit by a vehicle. The victim succumbed to his injuries on the scene," Virginia Beach Police Department spokesman L.M. Bauder said in a statement. "The driver of the vehicle remained on scene with police."

Known as "Sweet Pea," Whitaker, a southpaw from Norfolk, Virginia, was revered as perhaps the best defensive fighter in history as his slick moves confounded opponent after opponent.

Whitaker, who was elected into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2006, won world titles in four weight classes. He was the undisputed lightweight world champion and also won titles at junior welterweight, welterweight and junior middleweight as one of the dominant forces in boxing for much of the 1980s and 1990s. He won a gold medal at the 1984 Olympics.

Entire article: https://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_/id/27195403/former-champion-whitaker-hit-car-dies
 
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Mitch Petrus, a former fullback and offensive guard at Arkansas who went on to play in the NFL, died Thursday night after suffering a heat-related illness, officials said. Petrus, 32, died at 10:45 p.m. after being taken to Baptist Health Medical Center-North Little Rock, Pulaski County Coroner Gerone Hobbs said. He said records indicate Petrus reported feeling ill after working all day outside and in his family’s shop in Lonoke County. The cause of death was listed as heat stroke, Hobbs said.

Shitty news out of Arkansas today with reports that Mitch Petrus passed away far too young at the age of 32. Petrus was a part of the Razorbacks offensive line that paved the way for Darren McFadden and Felix Jones to both rush for 1,000 yards back in 2007 as well as the Super Bowl XLVI champion New York Football Giants.
 
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Jack Whitaker, Hall of Fame sports broadcaster, dies at 95

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Jack Whitaker, whose Hall of Fame broadcasting career included the first Super Bowl, Secretariat’s Triple Crown and short essays from major sporting events, died Sunday morning, CBS reported.

The network said Whitaker died of natural causes in his sleep in Devon, Penn. He was 95.

Whitaker, a Philadelphia native who was wounded on Omaha Beach, France, three days after the D-day invasion, began his broadcast career at WCAU-TV in Philadelphia and spent 22 years with CBS Sports. He worked for ABC from 1982 in the news and sports divisions, and was part of the network’s Olympics coverage in 1984 and 1988.

“I grew up watching him deliver contemplative and contextual prose with his famous short essays, bringing class and dignity to his industry,” Jim Nantz, the lead CBS Sports announcer, said in a statement. “I spoke to him this week after hospice came to his home, and his mind was still brilliantly sharp right to the end.”

Whitaker had been the only living play-by-play announcer from the first 21 Super Bowls.

Entire article: https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2019-08-19/jack-whitaker-dies-hall-of-fame-sports-broadcaster
 
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Vince Naimoli, original owner of the Tampa Bay Rays has died

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Vince Naimoli, the man who brought Major League Baseball to the Gulf Coast of Florida as the founding owner of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, has died after a long illness. He was 81.

Naimoli deserves credit for many years of working to get baseball to the Tampa Bay area, first with the near-purchase of the San Francisco Giants, which he planned to move to Florida in the early 1990s. When that deal was rejected by Major League Baseball Naimoli was awarded with the expansion Rays in 1995 and the team began play in 1998.

While Naimoli was successful in getting a team, he was unfortunately not successful in running it. The Devil Rays, later renamed the Rays, were bad even for an expansion team during his tenure as owner, winning 70 games only once and, more significantly, doing very little to build the fan base or goodwill in the local community, primarily because of decisions Naimoli made as an owner. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times has a thorough accounting of that — including the time he Naimoli invited a high school marching band to play the National Anthem only to have them back out when he expected each member of the pan to pay admission to the game. Or how his employees did not have Internet access as late as 2003. Yes, 2003.

He was equally lacking on the baseball side, often attracting talented people like Lou Piniella but refusing to step aside and run the club and taking on an owner/operator role that (a) has not been successful in baseball for many, many decades; and (b) was not a role Naimoli was suited for. History is history, though, and eventually Naimoli sold his controlling interest in the team to Stuart Sternberg who, unlike Naimoli, has put together an excellent baseball operations department that has often overcome the inherent structural issues facing that particular team in that particular stadium in that particular location.

Naimoli is survived by his wife, four daughters and several grandchildren.

UPDATE: Rob Manfred has issued a statement about Naimoli’s passing:

“Vince Naimoli was the driving force behind the efforts that brought a Major League Club to the Tampa Bay region. Vince believed deeply in the market and overcame significant obstacles to secure a Major League franchise. The Rays’ many winning seasons under Stu Sternberg would not have been possible without Vince’s longstanding devotion to this cause leading up to a successful expansion bid in 1995.

“Vince was also a generous figure who cared deeply about his community and education, including his alma mater, the University of Notre Dame, and universities in the Tampa area and his native New Jersey. On behalf of all of us at Major League Baseball, I extend my deepest condolences to Vince’s wife Lenda and their entire family.”

Entire article: https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2019/08/26/vince-naimoli-original-owner-of-the-tampa-bay-rays-has-died/
 
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LordJeffBuck said:
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ScriptOhio said:
View attachment 17326

Keith Jackson (center) teamed with Howard Cosell (left) and Don Meredith for the first "Monday Night Football" telecast on ABC on Sept. 21, 1970.

Some people forget he was one of the 3 original announcers on Monday Night Football.

and





R.I.P.
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Rose Bowl to build statue for Keith Jackson

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There is perhaps no person more singularly responsible for the Rose Bowl’s place in the lore of American culture than Keith Jackson. It was Jackson, after all, who dubbed the Granddaddy of Them All as, well, the Grandaddy of Them All.

Now, Jackson will get his own statue outside of the most historic venue in our nation’s favorite sport.

According to the NBC affiliate in Los Angeles, the Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation and the Pasadena City Council on Monday approved plans to place a statue of Jackson outside the Rose Plaza near the stadium’s south entrance. His will join statues of Jackie Robinson and Brandi Chastain.

Jackson died on Jan. 12, 2018, at the age of 89. Fundraising for the statue began shortly after his passing.

The Jackson statue could be in place as early as December, in time for the 106th edition of the Rose Bowl Game.

Entire article: https://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2019/08/28/rose-bowl-to-build-statue-for-keith-jackson/
 
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T. Boone Pickens, billionaire OK St. donor, dies

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T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire oil tycoon whose money helped put Oklahoma State football on the map, died Wednesday. He was 91.

Pickens had been battling a series of strokes and head injuries as a result of a fall he took in 2017, according to his spokesman, Jay Rosser.

Pickens' penchant for philanthropy and love for Oklahoma State football dovetailed in 2006 when he donated $165 million to the athletic program, the largest single gift in NCAA history.

"The greatest Cowboy of them all has taken his last ride," athletic director Mike Holder said in a statement. "It will never be the same again. We could never thank him enough for all that he did for our university. He gave us everything he had -- and all that he asked in return was that we play by the rules and dream big. He was living proof that anything is possible if you're wearing orange. 'Great ride Cowboy, great ride!'"

Entire article: https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/27593966/brown-no-1-practices-trainer-nfl-meet

Re: Pickens attended Texas A&M on a basketball scholarship, but he lost the scholarship and transferred to Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University), where he majored in geology.

and

Pickens gave more than $700 million away to charity, of which nearly $500 million was donated to Oklahoma State University.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._Boone_Pickens

I wonder if Texas A&M has ever regretted taking away his basketball scholarship......:biggrin:
 
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Police confirm former Texas, Ole Miss QB Jevan Snead is dead, foul play not initially suspected



Entire artile: https://collegefootballtalk.nbcspor...ad-is-dead-foul-play-not-initially-suspected/

Texas Tech confirms death of College Football Hall of Famer EJ Holub

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College Football Hall of Famer EJ Holub has died, Texas Tech confirmed on Sunday.

A Lubbock native, Holub played center and linebacker for the Red Raiders from 1958-60. Nicknamed “The Beast,” he was a two-time First Team All-American as a center and once posted a single game of 18 unassisted tackles, 10 assisted tackles and a pick-six in a game against Arkansas. Holub helped transition Texas Tech from the Border Conference to the Southwest Conference, becoming the school’s first All-SWC player as a senior in 1960, a year in which he placed 10th in Heisman Trophy voting.

He entered the College Football Hall of Fame in 1986, becoming the first Red Raider to do so.
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Drafted by the AFL’s Dallas Texans and the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, Holub split time between the two leagues. A two-time All-AFL player and a five-time NFL All-Pro, Holub was a member of three AFL champions and helped the Kansas City Chiefs win Super Bowl VI.

He is the only player in Super Bowl history to start two separate games at two different positions.

After football, Holub remained tethered to Texas Tech by helping raise funds for the athletics department. He is also remembered for delivering a rousing halftime speech in Spike Dykes‘s final game as the Red Raiders’ head coach, sparking a 38-28 victory over Oklahoma in 1999.

Holub was 81 years old.

Entire article: https://collegefootballtalk.nbcspor...h-of-college-football-hall-of-famer-ej-holub/
 
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