The sports figures we've lost in 2022

Join us as we look back on some of the sports world's most legendary names

Chris Baud,

Jesse Spector,

and Sean Beckwith

2/09/22 11:00AM

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Image for article titled The sports figures we've lost in 2022 — Image: AP

Here’s a look at the athletes and sports figures we’ve lost in 2022.

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Bob Lanier — May 10

One of the NBA’s all-time great big men, eight-time All-Star Bob Lanier, died on Tuesday after a brief illness. He was 73.

Lanier played for the Pistons for 10 seasons and finished his career with the Bucks before retiring in 1984. He was traded for Kent Benson and a draft pick that ended up being Larry Drew. After a standout career at St. Bonaventure, Lanier was the No. 1 pick in the 1970 NBA Draft.

Lanier’s No. 16 was retired by both Detroit and Milwaukee, while his collegiate No. 31 was retired by the Bonnies. He appeared in every NBA All-Star game of the 1970s but two and was named MVP of the 1974 contest. After his playing days ended, he worked as a NBA Global Cares Ambassador. Lanier averaged a career double-double with 20.1 points per game and 10.1 rebounds per game. He also shot 51.4 percent from the field.

“For more than 30 years, Bob served as our global ambassador and as a special assistant to David Stern and then me, traveling the world to teach the game’s values and make a positive impact on young people everywhere,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “It was a labor of love for Bob, who was one of the kindest and most genuine people I have ever been around.”

Bob Lanier was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992.

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Ralph Terry — March 16

Terry, ace of the 1962 World Champion Yankees, died on March 16. He was 86.

Born in Big Cabin, Okla.,Terry joined fellow Oklahoma native Mickey Mantle in the Bronx as a 20-year-old in 1956. Terry was traded to the Kansas City A’s in 1958, but returned to the Yankees the following year.

Terry is perhaps best remembered for giving up Bill Mazeroski’s World Series ending home run in 1960. But he rebounded under new manager Ralph Houk with a 16-3 season a year later, as the Yankees won their 19th title.

Terry got ultimate redemption in the 1962 Fall Classic. He won Game 7 over the powerful San Francisco Giants in dramatic fashion, getting Willie McCovey out on a screaming liner to Bobby Richardson with runners on second and third to preserve a 1-0 victory. Terry, who had led the American League in wins with 23, was named the MVP of the Series.

Terry finished with a lifetime record of 107-99 and a 3.62 ERA, with 78 of his wins coming with the Yankees. After his playing career, he took up professional golf and played on the PGA Tour briefly.

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Jeremy Giambi

Former Oakland A’s player Jeremy Giambi was found deceased at his family home near Los Angeles around 11:40 a.m. Wednesday, according to The Associated Press. The brother and also one-time teammate of Jason Giambi played six seasons in the MLB, with stops in Kansas City, Philadelphia, and Boston, as well. Jeremy was 47.

While the cause of death has not been released, TMZ is reporting a suspected suicide.

While always in the shadow of his older brother’s exploits, the younger Giambi’s most notable on-field moment came in Oakland, when he was on the tagging end of the Derek Jeter “flip play” in Game 3 of the 2001 American League Division Series. The most games he played in a season was 124 (twice) during that 2001 season and 2002. He was traded to Philly in ’02, and that deal was chronicled in the book “Moneyball” and later depicted in its film adaptation.

Jeremy Giambi finished his career with 52 home runs and 209 RBIs.

In 2005, Giambi admitted to using steroids during his career, becoming one of the first of many notable players to admit to using PEDs. Jason, a five-time All-Star selection, also admitted to using PEDs.

All four clubs offered condolences to Jeremy and his family.

“We stand with the baseball world in mourning the loss of Jeremy Giambi,” said the Royals, the team that drafted him. “Our condolences go to his family, and everyone who loved him.”

“We are heartbroken to learn of the passing of a member of our Green and Gold family, Jeremy Giambi,” the Athletics said via Twitter. “We offer our condolences to Jeanne, Jason, and his family and friends.”

Philadelphia posted a picture, with the caption, “The Phillies are saddened to hear the news about Jeremy Giambi’s tragic passing. Our condolences go out to his family during this very difficult time.”

Jeremy’s final team, Boston, tweeted, “We mourn the loss of Jeremy Giambi, who spent six seasons in the major leagues, including 2003 with the Red Sox. We send our heartfelt condolences to the Giambi family.”

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Gerald Williams — February 8

Gerald Williams, an outfielder who played 14 major league seasons, died of cancer on February 8. He was 55.

A 14th-round pick by the Yankees in 1987, Williams was not related to fellow New York prospect and eventual outfield mate Bernie Williams. The speedster became great friends with Derek Jeter, who announced his death via The Players’ Tribune, but did not get to share in the championship success in the Bronx. Williams was traded to Milwaukee on August 23, 1996, two months before the first of the Yankees’ four titles in five years.

Still, Williams was a big part of the 1996 Yankees, and not just because he hit .270 with seven stolen bases before the trade. On May 14, Williams’ running catch of an Alex Rodriguez blast to center field started a double play and kept Dwight Gooden’s no-hitter going.

After the Brewers, Williams played for Atlanta, Tampa Bay, the Yankees again, the Marlins, and finally the Mets. It was with the Devil Rays that Williams famously mixed it up with Pedro Martinez after a first-inning plunking. Martinez wound up taking a no-hitter into the ninth before John Flaherty broke it up with a single.

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Clark Gillies — January 21

Clark Gillies, a rugged left winger who embodied the rough-and-tumble, high-scoring 1980s NHL, died of cancer. He was 67.

Gillies played alongside fellow Hall of Famers Bryan Trottier and Mike Bossy to form the New York Islanders “Trio Grande” line. Their top line carried the Isles to four straight Stanley Cups from 1980 to 1983. Gillies was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2002. His 14-year career, 12 with the Islanders, featured six 30-goal seasons. He finished with 304 goals and 663 points. Perhaps his best moment was in 1983-84 as the Islanders went for their fifth straight Cup. Gillies scored 12 goals in the playoffs but the team lost to Wayne Gretzky’s Oilers.

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Don Maynard — January 10

Don Maynard, a wide receiver who played in two of professional football’s landmark games during his Hall of Fame career and son of Texas, died on January 10 at the age of 86.

“Don Maynard is as essential to the history of the New York Jets as anyone. He came to this franchise at our inception and left a Super Bowl champion,” the Jets said in a statement. “On the field, he cemented himself as many things: record holder, Hall of Famer, and forever our No. 13. Off the field, he was unflinchingly himself — a family man who stayed true to his roots, bringing a Texas cowboy to New York.

“His passing is especially difficult as he remained close with the Jets throughout his life. Our thoughts today are with his family and loved ones. We will all miss him.”

Still the Jets’ all-time leader in catches, receiving yards, and touchdowns — all still by wide margins even as the NFL has gotten ever more pass happy in the half-century since he left New York — Maynard was a key figure on the team that went to and won Super Bowl III against the Baltimore Colts.

Although he didn’t make a catch in that historic game in Miami, Maynard was a huge part of the Jets getting there, with six receptions for 118 yards and a pair of touchdowns against the Oakland Raiders in the 1968 AFL Championship Game. He led the AFL that year with an average of 22.8 yards per catch.

While his No. 13 is retired by the Jets, Maynard began his pro career with New York’s other team, drafted by the Giants out of UTEP — then Texas Western — in the ninth round in 1957. In the 1958 NFL title game, the first-ever overtime contest and widely seen as the game that vaulted the NFL onto its trajectory to be America’s top sports league, Maynard was the Giants’ punt returner. It was because of his presence on that team that Maynard returned to the Super Bowl — Super Bowl XXXIII — to commemorate the 40th anniversary of “The Greatest Game Ever Played.”

After a year with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in Canada, Maynard returned to the U.S. to join the New York Titans in the AFL’s inaugural season in 1960. He stayed with the team that became the Jets through 1972 as Joe Namath’s top target, before brief stops with the St. Louis Cardinals and the World Football League’s Houston Texans. Maynard was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1987.

Maynard was the first receiver to reach 10,000 yards and held the professional yardage record until 1986, when Charlie Joiner broke it. Maynard remains 31st on the all-time list, right between Antonio Gates and Calvin Johnson.

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Dan Reeves — January 1

Dan Reeves died on January 1 at the age of 77, which means that his long overdue addition to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, whenever it eventually comes, will be posthumous.

That Reeves wasn’t honored while he was alive is astounding. He ranks 10th on the all-time NFL coaching wins list with 190, and the only coaches with more wins who aren’t enshrined in Canton are Marty Schottenheimer and the still-active Bill Belichick and Andy Reid.

Reeves, in his best-known coaching job with the Broncos, had legendary battles with Schottenheimer’s Cleveland Browns in the 1980s. Denver went to three Super Bowls in four years, and each time lost to a team with a Hall of Fame coach on the opposite sideline: Bill Parcells, Joe Gibbs, and Bill Walsh.

If the difference between Reeves and Marv Levy is that the Bills went to four Super Bowls, losing to Parcells, Gibbs, and Jimmy Johnson, well, Reeves also coached the Atlanta Falcons to a conference title before losing Super Bowl XXXIII to, of all teams, the Broncos and Reeves’ old quarterback John Elway.

In addition to his 12 seasons coaching the Broncos and seven with the Falcons, Reeves spent 1993-96 coaching the New York Giants, making the playoffs with a 38-year-old Phil Simms at quarterback the first year.

But Reeves wasn’t just one of the top coaches in NFL history. He also played eight seasons as a running back for the Cowboys, with his best year coming in 1966. Reeves amassed 1,314 yards from scrimmage and scored 16 touchdowns that season — his prowess as a receiving back suggests that Reeves would have been comfortable in today’s NFL.

Reeves, who played quarterback in college at South Carolina, also had what almost was one of the most memorable plays in NFL history, a halfback pass to Lance Rentzel for a 50-yard touchdown to give Dallas the lead in the fourth quarter of the Ice Bowl. Had Bart Starr not gone on to make his legendary plunge for the winning score, the Cowboys would have won the historic game and gone on to Super Bowl I.

Also a college baseball player, Reeves had an offer from the Pittsburgh Pirates that he dismissed in favor of pursuing his pro football dreams. It was a good choice, one that should have had, and maybe someday still will have, a Hall of Fame ending.

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