obits - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights



Gary Coleman Dead at 42, 4'8"
Gary Coleman, the former child star of Diff'rent Strokes and California gubernatorial candidate has passed away after suffering a brain hemorrhage. [People, East Bay Express]...

Former AFL QB, VP Nominee, HUD Secretary Jack Kemp Passes Away At 73
Jack Kemp, best known for his work with supply-side economics and frequent runners-up Bob Dole and the Buffalo Bills, has lost another battle — this one to cancer....

Hall Of Fame Tiger George Kell Passes Away
The passing of an 86-year-old former baseball player—even a Hall of Famer—may not elicit much more than a shrug from most, unless that old man played a pivotal role in your early sports life....

Josh Hancock, One Year Later
It was a year ago today that Cardinals pitcher Josh Hancock was killed in a drunk driving accident. Since then, sports has learned its lesson, and no longer do alcohol advertisements appear on telecasts of sporting events....

Oldest Living NFL Player Passes On
This handsome, rambunctious gentleman is Sam Dana, a former college football player for Columbia who died yesterday at the age of 104. He was the oldest living former professional player....

R.I.P. Bill Wirtz
They say that no one on their deathbed ever says, "I wish I would have worked more" — other than Jack Donaghy, anyway — but one wonders if, ultimately, former Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz, who died this morning at the age of 77, would have secretly smiled to learn that the first line in his obit invo...

R.I.P. Eddie Griffin
We send our condolences to the family and friends of former Timberwolves guard Eddie Griffin, who was killed last Friday when his SUV hit a moving train. Word of his death in Houston only came out yesterday....

R.I.P. Bill Walsh
As you've surely heard by now, legendary 49ers head coach Bill Walsh has died. He was 75 years old, which is older than we realized; something about the guy always seemed young to us....

Buck O'Neil, Safe At Home
John Jordan "Buck" O'Neil, a star player in the Negro leagues, and recent proponent of Negro league history, died last night. No cause of death was given (though being 94 years old is probably a good enough), but O'Neil had been in and out of the hospital recently....

Randy Walker, R.I.P.
Randy Walker, head coach of the Northwestern Wildcats, died last night of a heart attack. The former Miami of Ohio coach — that school has produced an amazing number of coaches, by the way, from Woody Hayes to Bo Schembechler to Ara Parseghian — had just signed a contract extension in April that wou...

Remembering Kirby Puckett
As you've surely heard by now, Twins Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett died last night at the age of 45. Puckett was a player who was impossible to dislike; he played baseball the way we all imagine we would, if we had the chance. His post-retirement career was smeared by Frank Deford's famous Sports Il...