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SLAM! Sports Century in Review INTERACTIVE CONTESTS ALSO ON SLAM!  |
MARCH 2 TO MAY 6 March 2 -- Harold Thomas Friermood, a longtime member of the U.S. Olympic Committee who worked to have volleyball added to the Olympic program, died at age 96. Friermood headed the U.S. Volleyball Association from 1952 to 1955 and was a member of the organization for 37 years. He was with the USOC from 1944 to 1985 and was also a vice president of the International Volleyball Federation and the International Council for Sport and Physical Education. March 5 -- Jacori Rufus, 19, an Idaho State defensive back was killed when the car he was driving slammed into a tractor-trailer near Page, Ariz. March 7 -- Roger Rouse, a former light heavyweight boxer who fought on the U.S. Olympic team, died at age 64. Rouse won a Golden Gloves title in 1954 at Chicago and became a member of the 1956 Olympic boxing team. Rouse turned professional in 1958 and became the No. 1 light heavyweight contender in 1965. He fought for the light heavyweight championship of the world three times, losing once to Dick Tiger and twice to Bob Foster. March 8 -- Joe DiMaggio, the former New York Yankees star whose 56-game hitting streak endures as one of the most remarkable records in baseball, died at age 84. DiMaggio spent 13 seasons with the Yankees, missing three seasons to serve in World War II. During that time he played for 10 pennant winners and nine World Series champions, batted .325 and hit 361 home runs. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1955, just four years after retirement. March 11 -- William W. McCurdy, who coached Harvard's men's track and field and cross country teams for three decades, died at age 82. McCurdy began his coaching career at Harvard in 1950 and two years later took over the head job when Jaakko Mikkola retired. His tenure included a 201-62-1 record in cross country competitions, with 10 Greater Boston Championship titles. March 19 -- William "Bill" Gardiner, the chief scout for the NBA's Washington Wizards since 1974 and former head basketball coach at the college level, died at age 77. Before joining the pro ranks, Gardiner was a head coach for 23 years. He served 13 years at Springhill College in Mobile, Ala. (1946-59); eight years at Loyola of New Orleans (1959-67) and two years at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. (1967-69). March 20 -- Willie Peterson, who caddied for Jack Nicklaus during five of his six Masters Tournament golf championships, died at age 66. March 24 -- Birdie Tebbetts, who spent 56 years in the major leagues as a catcher, manager and scout, died at age 86. He made the American League All-Star team four times in a big-league career that began in 1936 and ended in 1952. He played for the Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians. March 25 -- Cal Ripken Sr., whose contributions to the Baltimore Orioles extend well beyond fathering and tutoring one of the best players in the history of the franchise, died at age 63. Ripken spent 36 years in the Orioles organization as a player, scout, coach and manager. He also found time to raise a family that included future Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr., a star with the Orioles since 1982, and former major league infielder Bill Ripken, who also played in Baltimore. March 27 -- Casey Diemert, 23, died of head injuries when his car hit a wall at 100 mph and flipped during practice on the opening day of Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway. April 1 -- John F. "Red" Flaherty, a former American League umpire, died at age 81. In 1952 Flaherty began officiating for the American League, working four World Series during his 21-year career. April 4 -- Early Wynn, the Hall of Fame pitcher who won 300 games and was one of the fiercest competitors of his time, died at age 79. Wynn pitched from 1939 to 1963, winning 20 games or more for the Cleveland Indians four times and once for the Chicago White Sox in the 1950s. April 6 -- H. Donald Loucks, who coached Florida State's first men's basketball team in 1947, died at age 84. His basketball team finished the inaugural 1947-48 season 5-13. That was the only year he coached the team. April 13 -- Harvey Postlethwaite, a leading figure in Formula One race car design and engineering, died at age 55. Postlethwaite started his F1 career in 1971 with March Engineering and designed the car which James Hunt drove to victory for the Hesketh team in the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort in 1975. April 20 -- Charlie Whittingham, the Hall of Fame horse trainer who sent Ferdinand and Sunday Silence to Kentucky Derby victories, died at age 86. Ferdinand won the Kentucky Derby in 1986, and the Breeders' Cup Classic in 1987. Sunday Silence won the Kentucky Derby in 1989 when Whittingham was 76, and went on to win the Preakness and Breeders' Cup Classic that same year. Whittingham was the leading trainer in career victories at Santa Anita with 868, including 204 stakes events. April 20 -- William "Flash" Hollett, the first National Hockey League defenseman to score 20 goals, died at age 88. Hollett played for Ottawa, Toronto, Boston and Detroit between 1933 and 1946. He set the 20-goal mark in 1944-45 in Detroit and it stood until Bobby Orr broke it by just one goal 24 years later. April 21 -- Tim Forster, who trained three Grand National winners, including American chaser Ben Nevis in 1980, died at age 65. April 21 -- Georges Miez, who won eight artistic gymnastics medals in four summer games for Switzerland, died at age 95. He won four gold medals, three silver and one bronze in the games at Paris in 1924, Amsterdam in 1928, Los Angeles 1932 and Berlin in 1936. April 24 -- Paul Scicluna, the 57-year-old coach of the Eastern Michigan women's soccer team, was killed in a car accident. April 24 -- Ray Richard Evans, a former part owner of the NBA's then-Kansas City Kings who also played one season in the NFL for the Pittsburg Steelers, died at age 76. Evans, a basketball and football star at the University of Kansas, played for the Steelers in 1948. April 25 -- Lord Killanin, president of the International Olympic Committee during one of its most turbulent periods, died at age 84. He became president of the IOC in 1972, taking over from American Avery Brundage just after the massacre of Israeli athletes and coaches at the Munich Olympics. In his first year as president, women became eligible for IOC membership. The Munich massacre was followed in 1976 by the African boycott of the Montreal Olympics, and in 1980 the United States led a boycott of the Moscow Olympics to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. When he left in 1980, the IOC was on the verge of bankruptcy and the Olympics were threatened with extinction. April 28 -- Brandon Burlsworth, 22, a second-team All-American guard at Arkansas who was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts, was killed when his car collided with a tractor-trailer rig. April 30 -- Sir Alf Ramsey, who coached England's soccer team to its only World Cup title, died at age 79. Ramsey is considered England's most successful international manager. He coached the national team to a 4-2 overtime win over West Germany in the 1966 World Cup final at Wembley. May 2 -- Ruth Lawrence, an Austrian Jewish swimmer who refused to take part in Hitler's 1936 Olympic games and eventually fled to England, died at age 77. She was 14 when she broke the Austrian records for the 100-meter and 400-meter freestyle and was one of three Jewish girls who were to have represented their country at the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany. May 3 -- Steve Chiasson, 32, a defenseman with the Carolina Hurricanes, was killed when he flipped his pickup truck in north Raleigh. May 3 -- Joe Adcock, who hit 336 home runs during his career and broke up baseball's longest no-hitter, died at age 71. The first baseman came to the majors in 1950 with Cincinnati and was traded to the Milwaukee Braves in 1953. He played on the Braves' World Series championship team in 1957 and National League pennant winner in 1958. Adcock was perhaps best known for turning a 12-inning perfect game into a loss for Pittsburgh's Harvey Haddix on May 26, 1959, at Milwaukee. On July 31, 1954, Adcock hit four home runs and a double to lead Milwaukee to a 15-7 victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers. May 6 -- Mark Tuinei, an offensive lineman who helped lead the Dallas Cowboys to three Super Bowl championships during his 15-year career, died at age 39. 
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