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Former MLB Umpire John Kibler dead at age 81

He umpired in the National League for 25 years and had a birdseye view of Bill Buckner’s gaffe during game 6 of the 1986 World Series. Kibler was working first base that night. RIP.

Longtime National League umpire John Kibler has died.

Kibler’s family says he died Thursday in Palo Alto, Calif. He was 81.

Kibler was a full-time NL umpire from 1965 through 1989.

 

Former MLB Pitcher Jim Bibby dead at 65

I remember Bibby quite well. He was a good MLB pitcher who went 111-101 in a 13-year career. He was most remembered for his time in Texas and Pittsburgh but played for St. Louis and Cleveland also. Here’s something you probably won’t hear in reports on his death.Jim Bibby

He was originally in the New York Mets organization. A poor man’s black version of Nolan Ryan. Hard throwing righty with arm and control issues. The Mets gave up on Bibby at the same time they did the same with Ryan. Ryan went to California for Jim Fregosi and Bibby went to St. Louis for among other others Jim Beachump and Harry Parker. A pinch hitter and long reliever respectively on the 1973 pennant winning Mets but hardly compensation for a pitcher who went on to win 111 games. The Mets made a lot of bad trades and this is one of them though it was lesser known than others.

Thanks for memories Jim Bibby. RIP.

Community Funeral Home in Lynchburg said Wednesday that Bibby died Tuesday night at Lynchburg General Hospital. The cause was not disclosed. The family asked for privacy but said a statement would be released later.

Bibby played 12 years in the majors and pitched the first no-hitter in Texas Rangers history, beating Oakland 6-0 in 1973.

He was a member of the Pittsburgh team that won the 1979 World Series, starting two games against Baltimore — including the deciding seventh game.

 

Former Arizona State sports coach William Kajikawa dead at 97

Nicknamed ‘Kaji’, he led ASU’s basketball, baseball, and freshman football teams at one time or another. RIP.

William (Bill) “Kaji” Kajikawa, a legendary former football, basketball and baseball coach at Arizona State, died Monday morning. He was 97.Bill Kajikawa

Kajikawa began his coaching career at Arizona State in 1937 and retired in 1978.

He began coaching the Arizona State Teacher’s College freshman football team in 1937, when the players were known as the Bulldogs. During his tenure, Kajikawa watched the Bulldogs become the Sun Devils in 1946, and he saw his alma mater gain university status in 1958.

Before retiring in 1978, Kajikawa had worked as the freshman football coach under nine ASU head football coaches. In addition, he served as head basketball coach from 1948 to 1957, and he was head coach of ASU’s club baseball team from 1947 to 1957. He was inducted into the Arizona Basketball Hall of Fame in 1968 and the ASU Hall of Distinction in 1982.

 

Former College and NBA Head Coach Fred Schaus dead at 84

He led the Mountaineers to six straight NCAA tournament berths and one finals appearance. Before that he played in the NBA for two teams, including the New York Knicks.RIP.

Fred Schaus, a former Los Angeles Lakers coach and general manager who mentored Jerry West and Hot Rod Hundley at West Virginia, has died. He was 84.Fred Schaus

The former West Virginia University coach and athletic director died Wednesday night in Morgantown, said Dan Hastings, a funeral director at Hastings Funeral Home in Morgantown. Schaus had been living in a nursing home. The cause of death wasn’t immediately released.

“Fred’s passing brings finality to a relationship that began in 1955, when he first came to our house to introduce himself as the coach of West Virginia University,” West said in a statement released by the school.

A Cabin Creek native, West recalled Schaus telling him WVU would be the place for him to attend school and have an opportunity to play basketball.

“At that point in my life, he was the first coach to show interest in me,” West said. “I was thrilled beyond words and to this day, I remember much about our meeting. Little did I know what a long-lasting relationship we would have.”

Born in Newark, Ohio, Schaus became the first Mountaineers player to score 1,000 career points. He was the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft and played five seasons with the Fort Wayne Pistons and New York Knicks.

He compiled a 127-26 record as head coach at West Virginia from 1954 to 1960, including six straight NCAA tournament berths. The Mountaineers, led by West, advanced to the NCAA championship game in 1959, losing to California 71-70.

Schaus followed West to the Lakers, going 315-245 in seven seasons as head coach and guiding the team to four NBA finals before becoming general manager in 1967. The 1972 Lakers, behind West and Wilt Chamberlain, won a then-record 69 games in the regular season and beat the Knicks for the NBA title.

“We shared many incredible experiences, both joyous and painful, during our years together at WVU and then as my coach with the Los Angeles Lakers,” West said. “As a young man with little experience with the outside world, he became my mentor and sounding board as I progressed as an athlete and as a person.”

Schaus returned to the college ranks in 1972, going 105-59 in six seasons as head coach at Purdue. He also served as athletic director at West Virginia from 1981-89 before he retired. Schaus was inducted into his alma mater’s athletics hall of fame in 1992.

 

Olympic Medalist skiier Jimmie Heuga dead at 68

In addition to the bronze medal in the slalom he won at the 1964 Winter Olympics held in Innsbruck, Huega was the 1963 NCAA Champion. RIP.

Former U.S. Olympic skier Jimmie Heuga, who won a bronze medal at the 1964 games and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis six years later, died Monday. He was 66.

University of Colorado ski coach Richard Rokos, a longtime and close friend of Heuga’s, said the former NCAA champion for CU died at Boulder Community Hospital.

“He was a very strong man and an inspiration to so many people in the ski world and the medical world,” said Huega’s wife, Debbie Huega. “He’s skiing the hills of heaven right now.”

Rokos said Heuga had recently been dealing with respiratory problems.

Heuga finished third in the slalom at the ’64 Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria. Fellow American Billy Kidd won the silver. It was the first time U.S. skiing had gained prominence worldwide.

“Jimmie Heuga was a champion in every sense of the word,” said U.S. Ski team president Bill Marolt, who skied with Heuga on the 1964 Olympic Team. “He was a champion as an athlete, as a person and any way you want to measure him.

“When I look back at all the athletes I’ve known, pound for pound, Jimmie Heuga was the toughest I’ve ever met. He was a 5-foot-6, 140-pound guy who didn’t back down from anybody. That’s the kind of toughness you need to be a champion.”

Heuga, born in Squaw Valley, Calif., won the 1963 NCAA championship in the slalom.

In 1968, Heuga and Kidd were pictured on the cover of Sports Illustrated before they competed in the Olympics at Grenoble, France.

Heuga was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1970 after displaying symptoms for a year. The effects of the disease eventually confined him to a wheelchair.

“He was the personification of determination and never giving up — he inspired so many people,” Kidd said in release from the U.S. Ski Team. “Jimmie’s accomplishments on the race course will forever be remembered. But it’s his accomplishments and drive in the fight against MS that will continue to help so many people live their lives. His life is an inspiration.”

Heuga founded in 1983 the Jimmie Heuga Center for M.S. in Edwards, a nonprofit organization now called Can Do Multiple Sclerosis.

 

Pro Football Hall of Famer Bill Dudley dead at age 88

He was league MVP in 1946. RIP.

Bill Dudley, a Hall of Fame player who in 1946 with the Pittsburgh Steelers led the NFL in rushing, punt returns and interceptions, has died. He was 88.

He had a stroke Saturday and was admitted to Lynchburg General Hospital, son Jim Dudley said Thursday. He said his father had not been ill before the stroke and died in his wife’s arms.

“Bullet” Bill Dudley was a runner, passer, punter, kicker and defensive back during his nine-year NFL career, highlighted by his 1946 season in which he was the league’s Most Valuable Player. While with the Washington Redskins, he shared an apartment with NFL great Sammy Baugh. Dudley later served in the Virginia Legislature.

“He lived to a high standard,” Jim Dudley told The Associated Press. “He was devoted to service and having a positive effect on those people he associated with, and he did. If that’s the measure of greatness, he was a great man.”

Dudley starred in college at Virginia and was the No. 1 overall draft choice of the Steelers in 1942. He played three seasons with Pittsburgh, a stay interrupted in 1943 and 1944 because of Army service during World War II. He later played three years with the Detroit Lions and three with the Redskins, ending with his retirement in 1953.

The year after his MVP season, Dudley scored 11 touchdowns — on seven receptions, two rushes, a punt return and an interception return.

 

NBA Hall of Famer Dick McGuire dead at 84

He spent over 50 years with the New York Knicks first as a player, then as a coach, and eventually in the team’s front office. His brother Al was a successful college coach. RIP.

Dick McGuire, a basketball Hall of Famer and longtime member of the New York Knicks organization, died Wednesday of natural causes. He was 84.Dick McGuire

The Knicks said McGuire died at Huntington Hospital in Long Island. McGuire still worked for the Knicks as a senior basketball consultant.

McGuire was a part of the Knicks’ organization for 53 of its 64 seasons.

“Dick McGuire was the epitome of what it means to be a Knickerbocker: pride, tradition and class,” Knicks president Donnie Walsh said in a statement. “It was an honor to watch him play for our hometown team and I consider myself very lucky to say I worked alongside a man who shaped the National Basketball Association for parts of all eight decades of its existence.”

A Bronx native, McGuire was a five-time All-Star and led the Knicks to three straight NBA Finals from 1951-53. He went on to serve the team as a coach, assistant coach and scout. His No. 15 was retired in 1992 and he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame a year later.

McGuire still ranks third on the Knicks’ career list with 2,950 assists.

“As one of its first superstars, Dick was instrumental to the early success of the NBA,” commissioner David Stern said in a statement. “Whether as player, coach, scout or consultant, Dick loyally served the New York Knicks organization.”

Nicknamed “Tricky Dick,” McGuire was born Jan. 26, 1926, in New York, part of a famed basketball family. His younger brother, Al, also played for the Knicks and later won a national championship as coach of Marquette — before being himself inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1992.

Dick McGuire played collegiately at St. John’s and was picked by the Knicks in the first round of the 1949 draft. He played eight seasons for the team before he was traded to the Detroit Pistons on April 3, 1957, for a first-round pick. McGuire spent his final three seasons with the Pistons.

 

Former NCAA Wrestling champ Jack Brisco dead at 68

He is also in the WWE Hall of Fame. RIP.

Former Oklahoma State NCAA wrestling champion Jack Brisco has died at age 68.

The university said Tuesday that Brisco died on Monday after suffering from heart disease.

Brisco was a native of Blackwell and was the 1964 and 1965 Big Eight champion at 191 pounds. He was runner-up for the national title in 1964 and won the NCAA championship the following year. He finished 27-1-1 as a Cowboy.

He wrestled professionally after college and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2008.

 

Ethel Funches, black women’s golf champion, dead at 96

She was a 7-time national champion. Funches died over 3 weeks ago but her death was only reported yesterday in the Washington Post. RIP.

Ethel Funches was six days short of her 48th birthday when she teed off against Althea Gibson in the quarterfinals of the 1961 black women’s golf national championship.Ethel Funches

Gibson, the tennis champion who had recently traded in her racket for a set of clubs, was famous. Mrs. Funches, who was a cafeteria manager at Dunbar High School in Northwest Washington, was not. But what Mrs. Funches lacked in renown she made up for with a long drive, an elegant chip shot and a fierce distaste for losing.

“My name is Ethel P. Funches,” she was fond of saying. “The ‘P’ is for powerful.”

Mrs. Funches not only won the match against Gibson, she also captured seven national titles and, during an amateur career that spanned more than 30 years, went on to win so many tournament trophies that she had to set aside the basement of her Northeast Washington home to hold them all.

“Between 1950 and 1980, Ethel Funches was the best of the best,” said M. Mikell Johnson, author of “The African American Woman Golfer: Her Legacy.” “She would have been identified as a phenom according to the standards of today.”

Mrs. Funches died Jan. 6 of cardiovascular disease at a D.C. nursing home. She was 96.

 

Former NFL player and announcer Tom Brookshier dead at 78

Where do I start? I have many memories of Brookshier. He and Pat Summerall were the lead football announcers for CBS for around a decade. They appeared in the action movie, Black Sunday, as themselves. Brookshier and Summerall also did syndicated NFL highlight shows(In those pre ESPN days) like ‘Game of the Week’ and ‘This week in pro football’. I watched shows every week almost when growing up. It is very hard for me to forget who I thought did a great job describing NFL play. RIP.

Former Philadelphia Eagles star Tom Brookshier has died at 78.

The Eagles said he had cancer and died Friday night.

Brookshier was an All-Pro defensive back who played on the Eagles’ 1960 championship team. He had 20 interceptions in seven seasons with the team, earning All-Pro honors in 1959 and 1960.

After he retired, Brookshier announced NFL games for CBS. He teamed with Pat Summerall to form CBS’ top telecast team.

He is one of seven Eagles to have his number retired.

 
 


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