2014 Notable Sports Deaths


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Sept. 20 — Joel Krog, 79, captain of SMU's only NCAA Final Four team. Captain of the 1955-56 team, Krog averaged 12 points and 9.2 rebounds a game as a senior, when the Mustangs were 26-4 and reached the 1956 Final Four. SMU lost to eventual champion San Francisco, 86-68, in a semifinal.

Sept. 20 — Scott Semmelmann, 47, sprint car driver was killed in a wreck during practice for a race at Beaver Dam (Wis.) Raceway.

Sept. 20 — Rob Bironas, 36, former Tennessee Titans kicker. Bironas was the fourth most-accurate kicker in NFL history, connecting on 85.7 percent of his kicks (239 of 279). He finished as the Titans' second all-time leading scorer.

Sept. 22 — Jason Rabedeaux, 49, former UTEP basketball coach. Rabedeaux succeeded legendary coach Don Haskins in 1999 and led the team for three seasons before resigning for personal reasons. He left UTEP with a 46-46 record.

Sept. 23 — A.W. Davis, 71, former basketball guard at Tennessee. Davis played at Tennessee from 1962-65 and averaged 19.6 points per game. Nicknamed "The Rutledge Rifle" and "The Man With The Golden Arm," he scored 1,225 points and averaged 8.1 rebounds per game in his three-year career.

Sept. 23 — John Toner, 91, athletic director emeritus who is credited with building the University of Connecticut into a basketball power. Toner, who came to UConn as head football coach in 1966, served as athletic director from 1969 to 1987. He hired women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma in 1985 and men's basketball coach Jim Calhoun in 1986. Together, the Hall of Famers had won a combined 12 NCAA championships at UConn.

Sept. 23 — Don Manoukian, 80, a lineman for the Oakland Raiders when they debuted in the American Football League in 1960 and a pioneer of professional wrestling as bad guy "Don the Bruiser."

Sept. 26 — Four softball players from North Texas community college, Meagan Richardson, 19, Brooke Deckard, 20, Katelynn Woodlee, 18, and Jaiden Pelton 20 were killed when an 18-wheel truck crashed into the side of their team bus on a major interstate highway near Davis, Okla.

Sept. 29 — Dan Goossen, 64, boxing promoter who handled a number of world champions. Goossen's champions included brothers Gabriel and Rafael Ruelas, Michael Nunn and Terry Norris. He also promoted fights involving Mike Tyson, James Toney, Bernard Hopkins, Chris Arreola, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and 1996 Olympic gold medalist David Reid.

Sept. 29 — George "Shotgun" Shuba, 89, member of the 1955 World Series champion Brooklyn Dodgers who was best known for offering a congratulatory handshake to minor league teammate Jackie Robinson. Shuba, who was white, congratulated his teammate on the Montreal Royals near home plate after Robinson hit a three-run homer on April 18, 1946, off Jersey City Giants pitcher Warren Sandell. The moment shared by a smiling Robinson and Shuba was captured in a famous photograph and dubbed "A Handshake for the Century."

Oct. 4 — Skyler Holman, 35, Oklahoma State All-American wrestler. Holman transferred to OSU from North Carolina after the 2001 season and was a Big 12 champion and All-American for OSU in 2002.

Oct. 5 — Jimmy Feix, 83, Western Kentucky's winningest football coach and its former athletic director. A former Hilltoppers player, Feix coached Western Kentucky to a 106-56-6 record as head coach from 1968-83. He was then the school's director of alumni affairs and athletic until he retired in 1990.

Oct. 6 — Bill Campbell, 91, Philadelphia radio and TV sports announcer whose career spanned more than seven decades. Campbell began his career in 1940 and continued well into his 80s.

Oct. 6 — Vic Braden, 85, tennis player in the late 1940s and early '50s who became one of the nation's top tennis teaching professionals. Braden was a 1951 graduate of Kalamazoo College in Michigan where he was one of the top players on teams that won the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association championships in each of his four years.

Oct. 7 — Cigar, 24, the two-time Horse of the Year whose 16-race winning streak matched one of racing's greatest achievements. Cigar won 19 of 33 starts and earned nearly $10 million but was best known for his incredible run of wins that made him the first horse to tie the record set by the legendary Citation. An allowance victory at Aqueduct in October 1994 began the Maryland-bred's famed run that included 1995 wins in the Breeders' Cup Classic, Hollywood Gold Cup and Pimlico Special.

Oct. 9 — Harley Clark, 78, former Texas cheerleader credited with introducing the "Hook'em Horns" hand signal used by tens of thousands of Longhorns faithful over the past six decades.

Oct. 11 — Elbert Drungo Jr., 71, former NFL offensive lineman who played 120 games over nine seasons with the Houston Oilers and a season with Buffalo from 1969-78.

Oct. 12 — Tommy Lewis, 83, former Alabama football player who gained fame for coming off the sideline in the 1954 Cotton Bowl and tackled Rice All-America halfback Dicky Maegle near the 50-yard line. Maegle had eluded Alabama's Bart Starr and was on his way to a 95-yard touchdown run when Lewis brought him down. Lewis ran back to the bench, and Maegle was credited with a touchdown.

Oct. 13 — Jazil, 11, the 2006 Belmont Stakes winner. Jazil earned $890,532 in 11 starts featuring two wins and five seconds including the Wood Memorial. He tied for fourth in the Kentucky Derby but went to win the Belmont by 1 1-4 lengths.

Oct. 13 — Stan Saleski, 59, longtime major league baseball scout. Saleski spent more than three decades scouting at the major league level for the Giants, Marlins and New York Yankees.

Oct. 14 — Carly-Mae Pye, 26, died from injuries sustained when the horse she was riding broke its front legs during a training run, throwing her head-first into the track at Callaghan Park at Rockhampton in Queensland state.

Oct. 15 — Caitlin Forrest, 19, died at Murray Bridge race course near Adelaide, Australia. Forrest's mount Colla Voce fell, bringing down three other horses, and she was flung to the ground ahead of the trailing pack.

Oct. 15 — Juan Saez, 17, apprentice jockey from Panama died in a race fall in the eighth race at Indiana Grand Racing & Casino in Shelbyville.

Oct. 16 — Nobby Wirkowski, 88, star quarterback who played for Woody Hayes in college before leading the Toronto Argonauts to the 1952 Grey Cup title and later coaching the CFL team. Wirkowski played at Miami (Ohio) University under Hayes.

Oct. 18 — Lou Lucier, 96, former major league pitcher. Lucier played parts of three major league seasons during World War II with the Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies.

Oct. 19 — Peter Biaksangzuala, 23, Indian soccer player died after injuring his spine while celebrating a goal with somersaults. Biaksangzuala landed on his back while doing flips after he scored in the 62nd minute of an Oct. 14 game.

Oct. 20 — Miloslava Rezkova-Hubnerova, 64, Olympic gold medal winner in women's high jump for Czechoslovakia in 1968.

Oct. 20 — Raymond Beadle, 70, a three-time NHRA Funny Car world champion and a championship NASCAR team owner. Beadle won 28 NHRA national events and titles from 1979-81. He was a two-time winner of the U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis. Beadle fielded his first NASCAR team in 1983 with the late Tim Richmond, who won two races for the car owner. Beadle then fielded cars for Rusty Wallace for five seasons.

Oct. 20 — Peter Daland, 93, coach of swimming champions. Daland coached the University of Southern California swim team to nine NCAA championships. Daland spent more than 45 years coaching at the club and college levels. He coached the U.S. women in the 1964 Olympics as they won six golds medals and the U.S. men in the 1972 games as they captured nine golds — including seven by Mark Spitz. In all, he coached 70 Olympians and 392 All-Americans. He coached at USC from 1958 until 1992.

Oct. 22 — Wayne McClain, 60, former Illinois assistant men's basketball coach and standout high school coach.

Oct. 23 — John "Bull" Bramlett, 73, former professional football player. Bramlett, a star baseball and football player at Memphis State, played minor league baseball for two years before changing to the National Football League. He played from 1965 to 1971 and was a two-time NFL All-Pro linebacker.

Oct. 24 — Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, 34, former 800-meter world champion. Mulaudzi won the world title in Berlin in 2009. He was South Africa's flag bearer at the opening ceremony at the 2004 Athens Olympics, where he won silver. He collected seven medals in total at the Olympics, world championships and Commonwealth Games.

Oct. 26 — Oscar Taveras, 22, St. Louis Cardinals outfielder was regarded as one of the majors' top prospects. Taveras made his major league debut this year. He hit .239 with three homers and 22 RBIs in 80 games for the NL Central champions.

Oct. 26 — Mo Collins, 38, former Oakland Raiders offensive lineman. The Raiders drafted Collins in the first round in 1998. He spent six seasons in Oakland and appeared in one Super Bowl.

Oct. 26 — Jeff Robinson, 52, former major league pitcher. Robinson helped the Detroit Tigers to an AL East championship as a rookie in 1987 and went on to pitch in the major leagues through 1992. Robinson went 47-40 for Detroit, Baltimore, Texas and Pittsburgh.

Oct. 26 — Cliff Hysell, 72, former Montana State football player, assistant coach and head coach. Hysell was part of MSU's first Big Sky Conference championship team as a junior lineman in 1964. He was an assistant coach for three Big Sky title teams and for the 1976 NCAA Division II national championship team. In December 1991, Hysell became head coach.

Oct. 26 — Gordon Soltau, 89, wide receiver and kicker who played nine NFL seasons with San Francisco. Soltau led the team in points each season while sharing the lead once. He led the NFL in points in 1952 (94) and '53 (114), earning All-Pro honors and Pro Bowl selections in three consecutive seasons from 1951-53.

Oct. 29 — Klas Ingesson, 46, former Sweden midfielder who played at the 1990 and 1994 World Cups.

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