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SLAM! Sports Century in Review INTERACTIVE CONTESTS ALSO ON SLAM!  |
SEPTEMBER 6 TO OCTOBER 31 Sept. 6 -- Steve Little, who matched the NCAA record for longest field goal as a University of Arkansas player in the 1970s, died at age 43. Little, who later played for the St. Louis Cardinals in the National Football League, was paralyzed from the neck down in an automobile accident in 1980. Sept. 6 -- Rene Lecavalier, who hosted French-language NHL games for Radio-Canada for more than 30 years, died at age 81. Sept. 7 -- Edward McNeill, a starting offensive and defensive end on Michigan's 1948 national championship team, died at age 71. McNeill started every game he played at Michigan under coaches Fritz Crisler and Bennie Oosterbaan. Michigan finished 18-0 in McNeill's final two seasons and won the 1948 national title in Oosterbaan's first season as head coach. Sept. 9 -- Jim "Catfish" Hunter, the Hall of Fame pitcher who ushered in baseball's era of big bucks for free agents, died at age 53. Hunter was one of baseball's most dominant pitchers during a 15-year career that brought him five World Series rings with the Oakland Athletics and the Yankees. He strung together five straight 20-victory seasons, pitched a perfect game and won a Cy Young Award. Sept. 11 -- Gonzalo Rodriguez, a 27-year-old rookie driver was killed when his car smashed into a concrete wall at about 140 mph during practice for the Shell 300 at Laguna Seca Raceway, in Monterey, Calif. Sept. 12 -- Bill Quackenbush, a Hall of Famer and one of the least penalized defensemen in NHL history, died at age 77. Quackenbush played for Detroit and Boston in a 13-year NHL career from 1942-56. He once went 132 consecutive games without a penalty. In 1949, he became the first defenseman to receive the Lady Byng Trophy for ability and sportsmanship. Sept. 12 -- Charles Hayward, 21, the top basketball recruit ever at North Carolina Charlotte, died of leukemia. Sept. 12 -- Allen Stack, a gold medalist in swimming at the 1948 Olympics, died at age 71. Stack won the gold medal in the 100-meter backstroke in 1948. He also swam on the U.S. team in the 1952 Olympics. Stack held six world records and 22 American records between 1948 and 1951, when he swam for Yale University. He also won 10 national Amateur Athletic Union championships. Sept. 14 -- Randie Carver, the 24-year-old NABF supermiddleweight champion, died two days after losing consciousness in a title defense at Harrah's North Kansas City (Mo.) Casino. Carver went down in the 10th round of a 12-round bout with Kabary Salem. Sept. 14 -- Cleveland "Big Cat" Williams, who recovered from a gunshot wound to challenge Muhammad Ali for the heavyweight title in 1966, died at age 66. Sept. 16 -- Paul Gregory, a former Mississippi State baseball and basketball coach, died at age 91. Gregory, who once struck out Babe Ruth as a member of the Chicago White Sox, led the Bulldogs baseball team to a 328-200-1 record and 15 winning seasons from 1957-74. Sept. 24 -- Jack Kiefer, a Senior tour golfer, died age 59. Kiefer won the 1994 Ralphs Senior Classic and the 1997 du Maurier Champions. He played 12 events last year before being diagnosed with cancer. Oct. 5 -- Thomas J. Bienemann, who played defensive end for the NFL's Chicago Cardinals from 1951-56 and later headed up the underwear manufacturer Jockey International, died at age 71. Oct. 6 -- Robert "Gorilla Monsoon" Marella, a former professional wrestler one of the most beloved villains of the ring who became a television announcer for the World Wrestling Federation, died at age 62. Oct. 7 -- James "Big Daddy" Carson, a Jackson State University football player in the 1960s who later led his alma mater to two conference championships as its coach, died at age 59. Carson was hired to be Jackson State's head football coach in 1992 and led it through the end of the 1998 season. During his seven years coaching the team, he compiled a record of 54-25-1, and won back-to-back Southwestern Athletic Conference championships in 1995 and 1996. Oct. 8 -- John McLendon, the last surviving student of Dr. James Naismith, the sport's creator, died at age 84. The basketball Hall of Famer McLendon played at the University of Kansas in the early 1930s under Naismith. McLendon went on to a 25-year coaching career and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1978. He was the first college coach to win three consecutive national titles, with Tennessee State of the NAIA from 1957 to 1959. The following season, he became the first African-American professional coach with the Cleveland Pipers of the American Basketball League. Oct. 9 -- Jeremy Streck, 23, a starting senior offensive guard last season for Kentucky, died after being hit by a car. Oct. 12 -- Wilt Chamberlain, one of the most dominant players in the history of basketball and the only one to score 100 points in an NBA game, died at age 63. Known as "Wilt the Stilt" and "The Big Dipper," the 7-foot-1 Chamberlain starred in the NBA from 1959 through 1973, when he played for the Philadelphia (later the San Francisco) Warriors, the 76ers and the Lakers. He scored 31,419 points during his career, a record until Kareem Abdul-Jabbar broke it in 1984. Chamberlain, who never fouled out in a 1,205 regular-season and playoff games, holds the record for career rebounds with 23,924. He was such a force that the NBA changed some of its rules, including widening the lane to try to keep him farther from the basket. Chamberlain, who began his professional career with the Harlem Globetrotters in 1958, was one of only two men to win the MVP and rookie of the year awards in the same season (1959-60). He was also MVP in 1966 through 1968. He led the NBA in scoring seven straight seasons, 1960-66, and led the league in rebounding 11 of his 14 seasons. Oct. 13 -- Marvin Wood, whose team at tiny Milan High School is etched in Indiana basketball lore as the symbol of the triumphant underdog, died at age 71. Milan's march to the 1954 state championship inspired the 1987 movie "Hoosiers," in which Wood's role as coach of the fictitious Hickory High was played by Gene Hackman. Oct. 20 -- Calvin Griffith, a onetime bat boy who became the owner of the Washington Senators and moved the team to Minnesota, died at age 87. Griffith was a bat boy in 1924-25 for the Washington Senators, for which Clark Griffith became a Hall of Fame pitcher. The younger Griffith worked in every capacity in the minors and majors before taking control of the Senators from his adoptive father. Griffith moved the Senators after the 1960 season and the team became the Minnesota Twins. He sold the club to Carl Pohlad in 1984 for $36 million. Oct. 21 -- Erik Wauters, Olympic equestrian bronze medalist, died at age 48. Besides his participation on the Belgian team that took third in show jumping at the 1976 Montreal Games, Wauters also won several international trophies and three Belgian titles, the last one in 1997. Oct. 22 -- John Bromwich, a former Australian Open tennis champion, died at age 80. Although his career was interrupted by World War II, Bromwich won the Australian Open in 1939 and 1946. He played 51 Davis Cup matches from 1937 to 1950, winning 19 of his 30 singles matches and 20 of 21 doubles in 23 ties. Oct. 22 -- Martin Donnelly, considered one of New Zealand's greatest cricketers and regarded as one of the best left-handed batsmen in the game, died at age 82. Oct. 25 -- Payne Stewart, known as much for his trademark knickers as his indomitable spirit in the Ryder Cup and in winning three major golf championships, died at age 42. Stewart won his second U.S. Open in June and played in his first Ryder Cup since 1993. Stewart's first major was the 1989 PGA Championship and his first U.S. Open title came in 1991. Oct. 25 -- Robert Fraley, a former Alabama quarterback who went on to become a sports agent whose clients included golfer Payne Stewart, died at age 46. Oct. 27 -- Johnny "Budgie" Byrne, one of England's top soccer internationals in the 1960s, died at age 60. Oct. 30 -- Max Patkin, the "Clown Prince of Baseball" whose funny faces, pratfalls and one-liners entertained fans for more than 50 years, died at age 79. Oct. 31 -- Greg Moore, a 24-year-old Canadian and one of the budding stars of CART, died after his car went off the track at more than 220 mph and slammed into a concrete retaining wall in the Marlboro 500 at Fontana, Calif. 
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