NOTABLE DEATHS OF 2008
(Click on or hold the mouse still over each person for details.)
Actor
Paul Newman
died this year. So did
Larry Harmon,
who was better known as "Bozo the Clown";
W. Mark Felt,
who was the mysterious "Deep Throat"; and
William Stulla,
who as "Engineer Bill" delighted a generation of children with a glass of milk.
William F. Buckley,
the father of the modern conservative movement, also left the scene, as did
singer and self-proclaimed "sex kitten"
Eartha Kitt
and the Nobel Prize-winning playwright
Harold Pinter.
Millionaire
Steve Fossett's
adventurer's life came to an end after a plane crash on a California hillside.
And, after 28 years in a coma, socialite
Martha "Sunny" von Bulow
died in December.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn | 1918-2008
Yves Saint Laurent |
1936-2008
Robert Rauschenberg |
1925-2008
William F. Buckley |
1925-2008
Sir Edmund Hillary |
1919-2008
The sports world said goodbye to many celebrated athletes:
Succeeded George Halas as coach of the Chicago Bears (Jan. 8)
Two-time U.S. figure skating champion (Jan. 10)
Left-hander pitched Dodgers to first World Series title in Brooklyn (Jan. 13)
Christopher Bowman,
40; two-time U.S. figure skating champion (Jan. 10)
Johnny Podres,
75; left-hander pitched Dodgers to first World Series title in Brooklyn (Jan.
13)
Bobby Fischer,
64; the reclusive chess genius who became a Cold War hero when he dethroned the
Soviet world champion in 1972 (Jan. 17)
John McHale Sr.,
86; the first president of the Montreal Expos when the team debuted in 1969
(Jan. 17)
Ernie Holmes,
59; won two Super Bowl titles as an anchor of the Pittsburgh Steelers' famed
"Steel Curtain" defense in the 1970s (Jan. 17)
Georgia Frontiere,
80; inherited the Los Angeles Rams football team from her husband, Carroll
Rosenblum, and infuriated Southern California football fans when she moved the
team to St. Louis (Jan. 18.)
Mike Holovak,
88; former coach of the Boston Patriots and a longtime NFL executive with the
Houston Oilers and Tennessee Titans (Jan. 27)
Larry Smith,
68; led USC to Rose Bowl appearances in his first three years as coach (Jan. 28)
Ed Vargo, 79;
longtime National League umpire called Sandy Koufax's no-hitter in 1964 and his
perfect game in 1965 (Feb. 2)
Thomas T. Roberts,
84; labor arbitrator known for baseball rulings including the decision that
found Major League Baseball owners guilty of collusion in negotiations with free
agents (Feb. 13)
Bob Howsam,
89; a baseball and football executive who assembled the "Big Red Machine" for
baseball's Cincinnati Reds and co-founded professional football's Denver Broncos
(Feb. 19)
Myron Cope,
79; former Pittsburgh Steelers broadcaster (Feb. 27)
Boyd Coddington,
63; car-building legend whose "American Hot Rod" TV reality show introduced the
nation to the West Coast hot-rod guru (Feb. 27)
George Toley,
91; USC tennis coach who led Trojans to 10 collegiate titles in 27 years (March
1)
John Buttera,
68; a trend-setting builder of hot rods and race cars whose minimalist designs
and mechanical ingenuity influenced racing for decades (March 2)
Ted Robinson, 84; prominent golf course architect based in Laguna Beach
(March 2)
Bob Purkey, 78; pitched in three All-Star Games and one World Series with
the Cincinnati Reds (March 16)
Art Aragon,
80; Los Angeles' charismatic "Golden Boy" boxer of the 1940s and '50s (March 25)
Billy Consolo,
73; standout baseball player at Dorsey High School in Los Angeles who went
straight to the Boston Red Sox and later was a coach for Sparky Anderson's
Detroit Tigers (March 27)
Polly Lauder Tunney,
100; Carnegie Steel heiress married boxer Gene Tunney and was the mother of
former California Sen. John V. Tunney (April)
Cecilia Colledge,
87; an innovative figure skater who became the youngest athlete to compete in
the Winter Olympics when she skated in the 1932 Lake Placid Games at 11 years
and 73 days (April 12)
Tommy Holmes,
91; hit in 37 consecutive games to set a National League mark that was broken by
Pete Rose (April 14)
Joe Alston,
81; an FBI agent and the only badminton player ever featured on the cover of
Sports Illustrated (April 16)
Darell Garretson,
76; helped shape NBA officiating as one of the league's most recognizable
referees over a 31-year career in professional basketball (April 21)
Will Robinson,
96; first black basketball coach in an NCAA Division I school who became a
Detroit Pistons scout and discovered Joe Dumars and Dennis Rodman (April 28)
E.J. "Buzzie" Bavasi,
93; former general manager of the Dodgers who guided the team through its
transition from Brooklyn to Los Angeles and later worked for the Angels and
Padres (May 1)
Frank Whiteley Jr., 93; horse trainer who worked with filly Ruffian as
well as Damascus and Forego (May 2)
Lloyd Moore, 95; oldest former driver in NASCAR history (May 18)
Dwight White, 58; the "Steel Curtain" defensive end known as "Mad Dog"
who helped lead the Pittsburgh Steelers to four Super Bowl titles in the 1970s
(June 6)
Jim McKay,
86; the venerable and eloquent sportscaster thrust into the role of telling
Americans about the tragedy at the 1972 Munich Olympics (June 7)
John Rauch,
80; the former Georgia quarterback who coached the Oakland Raiders to a berth in
the second Super Bowl (June 10)
Charlie Jones,
77; the deep-voiced sportscaster whose career as a play-by-play announcer dated
to the beginning of the American Football League in 1960 (June 12)
Bert Shepard,
87; a pilot who lost part of his right leg in a World War II mission over
Germany but returned home to pitch one game in the major leagues (June 16)
Harry Aleo,
88; San Francisco real estate magnate owned several successful thoroughbreds,
including Lost in the Fog (June 21)
John Pont, 80; a college football coach who guided Indiana to its only
Rose Bowl appearance, in 1968 (July 1)
Mando Ramos,
59; former lightweight boxing champion of the 1960s and '70s (July 6)
Bobby Murcer,
62; a five-time All-Star outfielder who spent nearly four decades with the New
York Yankees as a player, executive and announcer (July 12)
Jerome Holtzman,
81; a longtime baseball writer who made the Hall of Fame, created the saves rule
and later became Major League Baseball's official historian (July 19)
Skip Caray,
68; longtime announcer for the Atlanta Braves who was part of a three-generation
dynasty of baseball broadcasters (Aug. 3)
Orville Moody,
74; golfer won just one PGA tournament, the U.S. Open (Aug. 8)
Dottie Wiltse Collins,
84; Los Angeles-native was star pitcher in women's baseball league in the 1940s
(Aug. 12)
Robert P. Benoit, 81; former Southern California thoroughbred racing
official (Aug. 15)
Gene Upshaw,
63; longtime director of the NFL Players Assn. and former star lineman with the
Oakland Raiders (Aug. 20)
Elmer Willhoite,
78; an All-American guard on USC's Rose Bowl championship football team of 1952
(Aug. 21)
Kevin Duckworth,
44; a former All-Star center for the Portland Trail Blazers who ended his career
with the Clippers (Aug. 25)
Barbara Warren,
65; elite endurance athlete paralyzed in a bike accident at the Santa Barbara
Triathlon (Aug. 26)
Phil Hill,
81; the only American-born driver to win the Formula One international
auto-racing championship (Aug. 28)
Tommy Bolt,
92; 1958 U.S. Open champion won 15 PGA events and several more on the senior
tour (Aug. 30)
Walter "Killer" Kowalski, 81; pioneering wrestler who appeared in more
than 6,000 matches in a 30-year career (Aug. 30)
Joey Giardello,
78; former middleweight boxing champion who won a decision over Rubin Carter in
1964 (Sept. 4)
Tony Daly,
74; team physician for the Clippers and director of sports medicine at the
Diagnostic and Interventional Sports Care and Orthopedics center in Marina Del
Rey (Sept. 5)
Don Haskins,
78; Texas Western coach helped integrate college basketball when he started five
black players in the NCAA championship game against Kentucky in 1966 (Sept. 7)
Don Gutteridge, 96; last member of the St. Louis Browns World Series team
from 1944 and a former manager of the Chicago White Sox (Sept. 7)
Eddie Crowder, 77; an All-American quarterback at the University of
Oklahoma who went on to become football coach and athletic director at the
University of Colorado (Sept. 9)
Sherrill Headrick, 71; former Dallas Texans and Kansas City Chiefs
linebacker (Sept. 10)
Olin Stephens,
100; a naval architect who designed eight America's Cup winners along with
thousands of cruising and racing yachts (Sept. 13)
Cece Carlucci,
90; the only umpire enshrined in the Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame (Sept.
17)
Mary Garber,
92; pioneering sports journalist was the first woman to win the Red Smith Award
for career achievement (Sept. 21)
Wally Hilgenberg,
66; former standout linebacker with the Minnesota Vikings (Sept. 23)
Dick Lynch,
72; star cornerback for the New York Giants in the 1950s and later a broadcaster
and analyst for the team (Sept. 24)
Mickey Vernon,
90; a two-time American League batting champion with the Washington Senators and
seven-time All-Star first baseman (Sept. 24)
Jack Faulkner,
82; longtime executive with the St. Louis Rams going back to their days in
Southern California (Sept. 28)
Milt Davis,
79; a UCLA player and All-Pro defensive back who helped the Baltimore Colts win
two NFL championships in the 1950s and became a longtime teacher in Los Angeles
(Sept. 29)
Eddie Brinkman,
66; a major league shortstop who set a record in 1972 with 72 consecutive
errorless games for the Detroit Tigers (Sept. 30)
Craig Fertig,
66; former USC quarterback whose touchdown pass to Rod Sherman ruined Notre
Dame's undefeated season in 1964 (Oct. 4)
Gil Stratton,
86; longtime sports broadcaster in Southern California (Oct. 11)
Tom Tresh,
71; the 1962 American League Rookie of the Year and member of three New York
Yankees teams that reached the World Series (Oct. 15)
Chris Mims,
38; former San Diego Chargers defensive lineman (Oct. 15)
Ben Weider,
85; Canadian businessman helped turn bodybuilding into a worldwide sport (Oct.
17)
Harry Mangurian Jr.,
82; former owner of Boston Celtics and renowned horse breeder (Oct. 19)
Gene Hickerson,
73; the Cleveland Browns right guard whose blocking helped running backs Jim
Brown, Leroy Kelly and Bobby Mitchell join him in the Hall of Fame (Oct. 20)
Rudy Lugo,
60; longtime football and wrestling coach at Canoga Park High School (Oct. 21)
G. Larry James,
61; a middle-distance runner who won gold and silver medals in track in the 1968
Olympics (Nov. 6)
"Preacher" Roe,
92; Dodgers pitcher in the late 1940s and early '50s known for throwing the
spitball (Nov. 9)
Herb Score,
75; the Cleveland Indians pitcher and former broadcaster whose promise on the
mound was shattered by a line drive (Nov. 11)
C. Harmon Brown,
78; a longtime member of the medical and anti-doping commission of the
International Assn. of Athletics Federations and an outspoken advocate for
female athletes (Nov. 11)
Ray Routledge,
77; bodybuilder who held the titles of Mr. America and Mr. Universe in 1961
(Nov. 12)
Pete Newell,
93; the Hall of Fame basketball coach who won an NCAA championship and Olympic
gold medal and later tutored some of the game's greatest big men (Nov. 17)
Bob Jeter,
71; former University of Iowa standout halfback who was MVP of the 1959 Rose
Bowl (Nov. 20)
Armand "Bep" Guidolin,
82, youngest player to skate in a National Hockey League game and later a coach
with the Boston Bruins (Nov. 24)
Slingin' Sammy Baugh,
94; a record-setting passer, punter and defensive back who led the Washington
Redskins to two NFL titles and whose wide-open style of play helped usher
professional football into the modern era (Dec. 17)
Dave Smith,
53; a former All-Star closer who holds the Houston Astros record for games
pitched (Dec. 17)
Dock Ellis,
63; former major league pitcher claimed to have thrown a no-hitter while on LSD
(Dec. 19)
Coy Bacon,
66; a standout defensive lineman with the Rams, Chargers, Bengals and Redskins
(Dec. 22)