2022 in memoriam: Recognizing more of those who made an impact in sports

The sports world mourned the loss of dozens of sports personalities in 2022. We remember these other players, coaches, administrators, and journalists for their contributions to the games - and our enjoyment of them - through the years.

Jan. 2 - Larry Biittner, 75, played 14 seasons in the major leagues as a corner outfielder and first baseman with Texas, Montreal, the Cubs, and Cincinnati.

Jan. 4 - Ross Browner, 67, was a two-time national champion at Notre Dame, the 1977 Outland Trophy winner, and played 10 years as a defensive lineman in the NFL, including nine with Cincinnati. He was a member of the Bengals' 40th-anniversary team.

Jan. 4 - Jim Corsi, 60, was a reliever who threw 368 games over 10 seasons with Oakland, Boston, and three other teams from 1988-99.

Jan. 4 - Darwin Semotiuk, 76, was the head football coach at Western University from 1975-84 and won two Canadian championships in 1976 and 1977. He was also the athletic director from 1982-2001.

Jan. 5 - Greg Robinson, 70, was a college and NFL coach for 40 years. He was a defensive coordinator for the Jets, Broncos, and Chiefs for consecutive stints from 1990-2003 and the head coach at Syracuse from 2005-08.

Jan. 6 - Larry Haylor, 76, is a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. He was the head football coach at Western University from 1984-2006. He led the Mustangs to two national championships in 1989 and 1994.

Jan. 7 - Amanda Asay, 33, was a member of the Canadian women's baseball team since 2005, winning silver at the 2015 Pan Am Games and six World Cup medals.

Jan. 7 - Dee Booher, 73, was an original member of the Glorious Ladies of Wrestling in the 1980s, playing heel characters such as Matilda the Hun. She later did stunt work and acted in films and TV.

Jan. 8 - Matt Miller, 49, was the quarterback of the 10-2 Kansas State football team that finished No. 7 in the final AP poll. He later joined Bill Snyder's staff as an assistant coach for 10 years.

Jan. 11 - Tim Rosaforte, 66, was a golf journalist for 40 years in print and on television.

Jan. 18 - Ron Franklin, 79, worked from 1987 to 2011 as a studio host and did play-by-play for college basketball and football on ESPN.

Jan. 18 - Francisco Gento, 88, scored 127 goals for Real Madrid between 1953 and 1971 and appeared 43 times for the Spanish national team including at the 1962 and 1966 World Cups. He was a member of 12 La Liga champions and six European championship teams.

Jan. 19 - Randy Boyd, 59, was a defenseman who played 257 NHL games over nine seasons in the 1980s with Pittsburgh, Chicago, the Islanders, and Vancouver.

Jan. 20 - Bob Goalby, 92, was the 1968 Masters champion and winner of 10 PGA Tour titles between 1958 and 1971. He was also a golf commentator with NBC for 14 years.

Jan. 20 - Popcorn Deelites, 24, was one of the horses who played Seabiscuit in the 2003 film about the legendary 1930s champion. In his own racing career, Popcorn Deelites won 11 of 58 starts with career earnings of $57,000.

Jan. 21 - Billy Waddy, 67, was a wide receiver who played for seven seasons in the NFL, six with the Rams from 1977-82. He was the speed threat on their Super Bowl XIV team that lost to the Steelers 30-19.

Jan. 24 - Tomoo Ishii, 98, was one of the first Asian players to compete in the Masters in the mid-1960s. He won 10 professional events in Asia during his career.

Jan. 25 - David Green, 61, played six seasons in the National League, five of them with the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1980s. He was an outfielder on their 1982 World Series championship team, appearing in all seven games.

Jan. 25 - Wim Jansen, 75, was a Dutch soccer player who was a member of the 1974 and 1978 Netherlands teams that went to the final of the World Cup. He played with Feyenoord from 1965-80 and later with Ajax until 1982.

Jan. 27 - Gene Clines, 75, played 10 years in the majors from 1970-79, the first five with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was an outfielder on their 1971 World Series-winning team and part of the first all-minority starting lineup in major-league history on Sept. 1 of that year.

Jan. 28 - Alphabet Soup, 30, was the winner of the 1996 Breeders Cup Classic, beating Hall of Fame horse Cigar. He had 10 wins and was in the money 19 times in his 24 career races.

Jan. 29 - Ralph Mellanby, 87, was the executive producer of CBC's "Hockey Night in Canada" from 1966-85 and helped produce several Olympic Games for Canadian TV between 1976 and 1996.

Jan. 31 - Mike Nykoluk, 87, had an NHL playing career that lasted only 32 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1956-57 season, but he later won two Stanley Cups as an assistant coach under Fred Shero in Philadelphia in the 1970s. In 1981, he was hired as head coach of the Maple Leafs and spent three additional seasons behind the bench. His greatest playing success came in the American Hockey League; he won two Calder Cups in Hershey, where his number is retired. He is also a member of the AHL Hall of Fame.

Feb. 1 - Maurizio Zamparini, 80, was the owner and chairman of Palermo FC from 2002-17. That period included several successful seasons in Serie A and two Serie B championships.

Feb. 1 - Robin Herman, 70, was a New York Times reporter from 1973-83. She was one of two female reporters allowed into an NHL locker room at the 1975 All-Star Game, breaking a professional barrier that lasted until 1987 when the Maple Leafs finally acquiesced. She later worked for The Washington Post and for Harvard's School of Public Health.

Feb. 3 - Mike Moore, 80, was the president of minor-league baseball's governing body from 1991-2008. Before that, he was the part-owner and general manager of the Reds' minor-league affiliate in Tampa from 1971-88.

Feb. 8 - Gerald Williams, 55, broke into the majors with the Yankees in 1992 and played in the 1998 and 1999 MLB postseason with the Braves. He spent 14 seasons in the league, also appearing with the Mets, Rays, Brewers, and Marlins.

Feb. 9 - Jeremy Giambi, 47, played six years in the majors and was notably a member of the "Moneyball"-era Athletics in the early 2000s along with his brother Jason.

Feb. 12 - Frank Beckmann, 72, was an announcer at WJR in Detroit for nearly 50 years, and was the play-by-play voice for Michigan football for 33 seasons. He also called Detroit Lions games for a decade. In 2014, he received the College Football Hall of Fame's Chris Schenkel Award.

Feb. 22 - Julio Cruz, 67, broke in as an infielder with the inaugural Seattle Mariners in 1977 and played 10 seasons in the majors. He was a prolific base stealer, establishing the team record before being overtaken by Ichiro Suzuki. He had been a color commentator for the Mariners' Spanish broadcasts since 2003.

Feb. 24 - Ken Burrough, 73, played 11 of his 12 NFL seasons as a wide receiver for the Houston Oilers, earning two Pro Bowl selections. He was also a first-team All-American for Texas Southern in 1969. He is a member of the Black College Hall of Fame and was the last player to wear the number 00 in the NFL.

Feb. 25 - Lionel James, 59, played five seasons in the NFL as a running back with the San Diego Chargers. He set an NFL record for receiving yards by a running back in 1985 and also led the AFC in all-purpose yards.

Feb. 26 - Danny Ongais, 79, was a racer who started in motorbike competitions and later competed in dragsters in the 1960s, Formula One in the 1970s, and American open-wheel racing from 1976-87 and again briefly in the 1990s. He competed in 12 Indy 500s in total, earning four top-10 finishes.

Feb. 28 - Ike Delock, 92, pitched 11 seasons in the majors from 1952-63, primarily with the Boston Red Sox, where he began as a bullpen arm and graduated into a starter.

March 1 - Katie Meyer, 22, was a goalkeeper for Stanford's women's soccer team. As a redshirt freshman, she backstopped them to the 2019 national championship with clean sheets in all five of her starts and a key save in the shootout during the final against North Carolina.

March 2 - Keith Ortego, 58, played three seasons as a receiver and kick returner with the Chicago Bears from 1985-87, earning a Super Bowl ring as part of the 1985 championship team. He also appeared in the Bears' Super Bowl shuffle video.

March 4 - Terry Cooney, 88, was a major-league umpire from 1974-92. He worked behind home plate in Game 4 of the 1990 AL Championship Series and famously threw out Roger Clemens in the second inning for arguing about the strike zone. He also earned assignments to the 1981 World Series and two other ALCS.

March 5 - Roy Winston, 81, was a linebacker for the Minnesota Vikings for 15 seasons and played in all four of their Super Bowl losses. He was named as one of the 50 greatest Vikings during their 50th anniversary season in 2010.

March 8 - Go for Gin, 30, won the 1994 Kentucky Derby for trainer Nick Zito and jockey Chris McCarron. He finished second to Tabasco Cat in both the Preakness and Belmont.

March 10 - Odalis Perez, 44, pitched in the major leagues with Atlanta, the Dodgers, Kansas City, and Washington from 1998-2008. He was an All-Star in 2002 with Los Angeles.

March 14 - Charles Greene, 76, was a three-time NCAA 100-yard champion and world-record holder in the 1960s. In 1968, he was the bronze medalist in the 100 meters and gold medalist in the 4x100 relay.

March 22 - Grindstone, 29, won the Kentucky Derby in 1996 and carried on a stud career in Kentucky and Oregon until retiring in 2018.

March 24 - Gil Stein, 94, was general counsel and vice president of the NHL for 15 years under president John Ziegler. When owners decided to change to a commissioner, Stein served as president for two years until the NHL hired Gary Bettman.

March 26 - Joe Williams, 88, led three schools to the NCAA men's basketball tournament, including a Jacksonville team in 1970 featuring Artis Gilmore that lost in the final to UCLA.

March 27 - Joan Joyce, 81, was an LPGA Tour member for 19 years. She was also a professional softball player who once struck out Ted Williams and Hank Aaron in an exhibition of her pitching prowess. She coached women's softball at Florida Atlantic for 28 years.

March 31 - Shirley Burkovich, 89, played for three seasons in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League and had a speaking role in the film "A League of Their Own." She also founded the International Women’s Baseball Center.

April 3 - Bob Babich, 74, was a first-round pick in 1970 by the San Diego Chargers out of Miami (Ohio). He went on to play nine seasons as a linebacker with San Diego and Cleveland from 1970-79. In 1994, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

April 3 - Stan Parrish, 75, was head coach of NCAA football programs for 13 seasons at Division III Wabash, and Division I schools Marshall, Kansas State, and Ball State. Most notably, he was the quarterbacks coach at Michigan from 1996-99 and offensive coordinator/QB coach from 2000-01, working with Brian Griese, Drew Henson, and Tom Brady. He was the QBs coach when Tampa Bay won Super Bowl XXXVII following the 2002 season.

April 9 - Dwayne Haskins, 24, set Big Ten records for passing yards and touchdown passes in 2018 as a sophomore at Ohio State. He was selected by Washington in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft and played three seasons for Washington and Pittsburgh.

April 10 - Joe Horlen, 84, pitched for 12 seasons in the majors, 11 of them with the Chicago White Sox. His final season in Oakland in 1972 saw him pitch in the World Series for the champion A's. In his best season, 1967, he won 19 games, had a 2.06 ERA, and finished second in AL Cy Young voting and fourth in the MVP race.

April 12 - Shirley Spork, 94, was one of the 13 founding members of the LPGA, which started in 1950. Spork and the other founders were inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame in 2022.

April 13 - Tom McCarthy, 61, was the 10th overall pick in the 1979 NHL draft and played in the league for nine years with Minnesota and Boston. He scored 178 goals in 460 games and has the 14th-highest shooting percentage in NHL history (19.2%). His mark of 69 goals for Oshawa in 1978-79 remains in the top 15 in Ontario Hockey League history.

April 19 - Freeman Williams, 65, remains second in NCAA career scoring with 3,249 points in 106 games at Portland State from 1975-78. He was the No. 8 overall pick by the Celtics in 1978 but was traded over the summer to the Clippers, where he spent three-and-a-half of his six NBA seasons.

May 3 - Tony Brooks, 90, earned six wins on the Formula One Grand Prix circuit from 1956-1961. He won the German Grand Prix three times and finished second in the drivers' standings in 1959 in his only season with Ferrari.

May 24 - John Thompson, 95, was the first general manager of the expansion Seattle Seahawks in 1976, holding the position for seven seasons. He previously worked for the Vikings in the 1960s and chaired the NFL management council from 1971-75.

May 29 - Lester Piggott, 86, won 30 British Classic horse races as a jockey and was the champion jockey of the year in Britain 11 times. He still holds the record for the most Epsom Derby wins with nine.

May 31 - Larry Hillman, 85, had his name inscribed on the Stanley Cup six times, seeing playoff action with four of those teams, notably the 1964 and 1967 Toronto Maple Leafs. His 23-year professional career as a defenseman took him to six NHL teams, two WHA teams, and four AHL teams.

June 1 - Marion Barber III, 38, played seven seasons as a running back in the NFL, including six with Dallas from 2005-10. He earned one Pro Bowl selection in 2007 and is top 10 on the list of Cowboys' career rushing yards leaders.

June 4 - Eric Nesterenko, 88, had a 21-year NHL career, first with Toronto but more notably with Chicago. He was a member of the Black Hawks' 1961 Stanley Cup-winning team and played in the 1961 and 1965 All-Star Games.

June 5 - Eldon Rasmussen, 85, was a Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame member who raced on the Indy-car circuit in the 1970s, qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 three times.

June 8 - Rocky Freitas, 76, played 11 seasons in the NFL as an offensive lineman with the Detroit Lions and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He earned second-team All-Pro honors in 1972. He later became a vice president at the University of Hawaii and helped guide the school's move from the Western Athletic Conference to the Mountain West in 2010.

June 9 - Maxine Randall, 92, pitched in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League with the Fort Wayne Daisies for seven seasons, throwing more than 200 innings four times, winning 116 games, and recording a 2.05 career ERA. She was a five-time all-star and threw two no-hitters.

June 9 - Don Perkins, 84, played eight seasons as a running back with the Dallas Cowboys and finished in the top 10 in rushing each year. He earned six Pro Bowl selections and later became a football broadcast analyst.

June 10 - George Izo, 84, was a quarterback at Notre Dame for three seasons in the late 1950s and a first-round draft pick of the Chicago Cardinals in 1960. His NFL career lasted six years with four teams. In 1963, with Washington, he and Bobby Mitchell hooked up for the first 99-yard touchdown pass in the modern NFL, a record that has been equaled several times but can't be broken.

June 13 - Carlos Ortiz, 85, is among the greatest Puerto Rican boxers of all time, becoming world champion in the light welterweight division in 1959 and in the lightweight divisions in 1962, a title he successfully defended until June 1968. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991.

June 14 - Jim "Bearcat" Murray, 89, joined the Calgary Flames as head athletic trainer in 1980, when the team arrived from Atlanta, and remained on the job until 1996. The societies of athletic trainers and equipment managers elected him into the Hockey Hall of Fame for the Class of 2009.

June 17 - Dave Hebner, 73, worked for WWE for nearly 20 years as a referee and road agent. He was in the ring for high-profile matches such as the Wrestlemania III bout between Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat, and the WrestleMania V showdown between Savage and Hulk Hogan. He and his brother Earl played out an evil-twin storyline that began at the 1988 world heavyweight championship match between Andre the Giant and Hogan.

June 19 - Tim White, 68, started in pro wrestling as Andre The Giant's assistant and became a referee who was known for working two legendary Hell in a Cell matches (1998, Mankind vs. The Undertaker; 2002, Triple H vs. Chris Jericho). He also served as a producer on "Smackdown" and worked for WWE for 24 years until 2009.

June 21 - Jaylon Ferguson, 26, played 38 NFL games over three seasons with the Baltimore Ravens as a linebacker/edge rusher. At Louisiana Tech in 2018, he led the country in sacks with 17.5 and was named Conference USA defensive player of the year.

June 27 - Jack Gordon, 94, was a player, coach, and general manager at various levels of hockey, sometimes holding two of those roles at once. It was with Cleveland in the AHL where he first became a head coach while still playing in 1956, leading the team to the Calder Cup. He moved up to the NHL to coach Minnesota for three seasons before adding the GM role. In 1985, he was hired as GM of the Vancouver Canucks where he lasted two seasons, during which he made the franchise's ill-fated trade of Cam Neely.

June 30 - Jean-Guy Gendron, 87, broke into the NHL in 1955 with the New York Rangers and played 863 career games, which included stints in Montreal and Boston, and later with the expansion Flyers. He concluded his career with two seasons in the fledgling WHA with Quebec. He coached the Nordiques for two seasons after retiring as a player.

June 30 - Bill Squires, 89, was a longtime distance running coach, first at Boston College and later as the first coach at the Greater Boston Track Club. His noted trainees included Bill Rodgers, Dick Beardsley, Greg Meyer, and Alberto Salazar.

July 2 - Jim Van Pelt, 86, eschewed the NFL for the CFL after graduating from Michigan and led Winnipeg to back-to-back Grey Cup titles in 1958 and 1959. He was the first CFL quarterback to throw seven touchdown passes in a game. His career ended abruptly when he was drafted into the Air Force in 1960.

July 4 - Mac McLendon, 76, was a four-time winner on the PGA Tour in the 1970s. After being a three-time SEC champion at LSU, he won the first pro event he entered in 1968, what is now known as the Sanderson Farms Championship in Mississippi.

July 6 - Dale Douglass, 86, played for 25 years on the PGA Tour, winning three times. He won 11 events on the Senior Tour, including the 1986 U.S. Senior Open.

July 7 - Mike Brito, 87, was a scout in Mexico for the Los Angeles Dodgers for 45 years. He put players such as Fernando Valenzuela, Joakim Soria, Yasiel Puig, and Julio Urias into the organization's pipeline.

July 8 - Hugh Evans, 81, is one of six NBA referees honored in the Basketball Hall of Fame. He started as an NBA ref in 1972 and officiated 1,961 regular-season games and 35 in the NBA Finals before retiring in 2001.

July 8 - Bob Parsons, 72, began his 12-year NFL career as a tight end drafted in 1972 by the Chicago Bears in the fifth round out of Penn State. He only caught 19 passes in his first five years but took over full-time punting duties by 1974. He still holds the NFL record for punts in a season with 114 in 1981.

July 11 - Gary Moeller, 81, was a long-time assistant coach under Bo Schembechler at Michigan, and succeeded him as head coach in 1990, a job he held for five years. He was also the head coach at Illinois from 1977-79 and later worked in the NFL, including a seven-game stint as interim head coach of the Detroit Lions in 2000.

July 11 - Ducky Schofield, 87, was a major-league infielder for 19 seasons with seven teams, primarily the Cardinals and Pirates. He was a member of Pittsburgh's 1960 World Series-winning team. His son, Dick Schofield, and grandson, Jayson Werth, also had long careers in the majors.

July 18 - Larry Jeffrey, 81, played eight seasons as a winger in the NHL for Toronto, Detroit, and the Rangers. He was a member of the Leafs' 1967 Stanley Cup-winning team.

July 19 - Jim Dillard, 83, was selected in the 1962 drafts for the NFL, AFL, and CFL as a halfback from Oklahoma State. He chose to play in the CFL because it paid better at the time. He spent seven seasons with Calgary, Ottawa, and Toronto, earning three division all-star honors.

July 19 - Charles Johnson, 50, had a nine-year career in the NFL, spent mostly with the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he led the team in receiving yards twice, including a 1,000-yard season in 1996. He was later a member of the Patriots' Super Bowl winner from the 2001 season.

July 20 - Doug Mitchell, 83, was commissioner of the CFL from 1984-88. The Thunderbird Athletic Centre at UBC and the Mitchell Bowl national semifinal game were named in his honor. He was elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2021.

July 21 - Johnny Egan, 83, was a point guard in the NBA for nine seasons from 1961-72, playing for seven teams. He was the second player from Providence to make the NBA, following Lenny Wilkens who was a year ahead of him.

July 22 - Dwight Smith, 58, was the runner-up for rookie of the year in 1989 behind Cubs teammate Jerome Walton. He played another seven years in the majors, highlighted by his spot on Atlanta's World Series-winning team in 1995.

July 26 - Inez Voyce, 97, retired from the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League ranked second in career RBIs with 422 over her eight seasons. A .210 hitter in her rookie season, she improved to .292 and .286 in 1950 and 1951. She was a member of two league championship teams with Grand Rapids in 1947 and 1953.

July 26 - Jean Westwood, 90, won four figure skating world championships for Britain in the 1950s with ice dance partner Lawrence Demmy. They were the first ice dance pair inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1977. She later moved to Canada and became an elite-level coach and instructor.

July 28 - Wayne Hawkins, 84, had a 10-year career as an offensive guard for the Oakland Raiders from 1960-69. He was a second-team All-Star in the AFL for five straight seasons from 1963-67. He is one of only 20 players to suit up in every season of the AFL.

July 28 - William White, 56, was a safety in the NFL for 11 seasons with Detroit, Kansas City, and Atlanta. In his final NFL game, he had a team-high nine tackles in the Falcons' Super Bowl XXXIII loss to Denver.

Aug. 15 - Bob Locker, 84, is among the 87 major-league pitchers who threw 500 or more games without ever making a start. He pitched for 10 seasons with four franchises, starting with the White Sox in 1965 and ending with the Cubs in 1975. He was a member of Oakland's 1972 World Series winners.

Aug. 16 - Charley Frazier, 83, played nine seasons in the AFL with Houston and Boston, earning an all-star nod in 1966 when he caught 12 touchdown passes in 14 games. He was signed by the Oilers as a free agent off the Texas Southern track team having not played college football. He later became an ambassador for the Texans franchise.

Aug. 16 - Doug Ross, 70, played on the 1976 U.S. Olympic hockey team and, starting in 1982, was the head coach for 25 seasons at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. He led the program from its roots as a club team through various levels until it became a Division I program for good in 1999.

Aug. 17 - Jim Mueller, 79, was a longtime broadcast voice in Cleveland, working Browns games on radio from 1975-95. For 33 years until 2017, he was also the public address announcer at Michigan International Speedway.

Aug. 19 - John Powell, 75, was a four-time U.S. Olympian in discus and is a member of the U.S. track and field hall of fame. He won bronze medals in 1976 and 1984. He held the world record for 11 months in 1975 with a throw of 69.08 meters.

Aug. 19 - John Wockenfuss, 73, averaged fewer than 200 plate appearances a year in his 12-season major-league career, but was a productive supersub (115 career OPS+) for the Detroit Tigers for 10 of them, backing up at catcher, first base, DH, and even corner outfield spots. He was part of an offseason trade to Philadelphia that netted Detroit 1984 AL MVP Willie Hernandez.

Aug. 20 - Bill Haller, 87, was an American League umpire for 21 seasons between 1961 and 1982, working more than 3,000 games. He was the last AL umpire to wear an outside chest protector.

Aug. 21 - Jamey Rootes, 55, began his sports executive career as the first general manager of the Columbus Crew of MLS in 1995 before joining the NFL's Houston Texans in 2002 as their first team president.

Aug. 22 - Gary Gaines, 73, was the head football coach at Permian High in Odessa, Tex., the school made famous by Buzz Bissinger's 1990 book "Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream," which was made into a 2004 film and a TV series that ran from 2006-11. Gaines was a head coach at seven Texas high schools over 21 seasons, twice at Permian. He was also head coach at Abilene Christian from 2000-04.

Aug. 25 - Orval Tessier, 89, played 59 NHL games for Montreal and Boston in the 1950s, then spent the 1970s and 1980s coaching junior and pro teams. He coached Chicago for three NHL seasons, taking them to the conference final in his first year. He started in the Quebec major junior league in 1971, winning the Memorial Cup with Cornwall his first year. He later took Kitchener to the Memorial Cup in 1981.

Aug. 29 - Ernie Zampese, 86, spent nearly three decades employed by six NFL teams as a scout, positional coach, offensive coordinator, and offensive consultant. He was a coordinator for 14 consecutive years with the Chargers, Rams, Cowboys, and Patriots. His longest tenure, seven seasons, came with the Rams, but it was with Dallas in the 1995 season that he won Super Bowl XXX.

Aug. 30 - Stephen White, 48, was a defensive end with Tampa Bay for six seasons (1996-2001) and the Jets for one more. In retirement, he wrote regularly about football at SBNation from 2013-20.

Aug. 30 - George Woods, 79, competed at three Summer Olympics for the U.S. in shot put, winning silver medals in 1968 and 1972. He was elected to the U.S. track and field hall of fame in 2007.

Aug. 31 - Lee Thomas, 86, played for six teams in eight seasons as a first baseman and right fielder, but became more known as the general manager of the Phillies from 1988-97. His span included their trip to the 1993 World Series, which was their lone postseason berth in a dry span of 23 years.

Sept. 1 - Earnie Shavers, 78, was a looming heavyweight challenger who had 88 pro fights from 1969-83 with a couple of comeback attempts in 1987 and 1995. He fought twice for a belt: a unanimous loss in 1977 to a 35-year-old Muhammad Ali, and a 1979 TKO to Larry Holmes for Holmes' WBC title. Shavers beat Holmes in their first meeting and also toppled Ken Norton and Joe Bugner in notable wins.

Sept. 5 - Guy Morriss, 71, had a 15-year career as a center in the NFL, first with Philadelphia and later with New England from 1973-86. He later coached Kentucky for two seasons and Baylor for five.

Sept. 6 - Dan Schachte, 64, was the fifth NHL official - and the first born in the U.S. - to work 2,000 games. Between 1982 and 2012, he called the lines in 2,009 regular-season and 227 playoff games, including games in five Stanley Cup Finals. He also officiated in the Canada Cup, World Cup, and Olympics.

Sept. 7 - Lance Mackey, 52, was the first sled-dog racer to win the Yukon Quest and Iditarod in the same year, 2007, and he repeated the double in 2008. He added two more Iditarods in 2009 and 2010.

Sept. 9 - Shelby Jordan, 70, was an offensive tackle in the NFL for 11 seasons with New England and Oakland from 1975-86. He was a member of the Raiders team that won Super Bowl XVIII. He starred as a linebacker in college at Washington University in St. Louis, which earned him induction into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2013.

Sept. 10 - Frank Cignetti, 84, is a College Football Hall of Fame coach who was in charge of the West Virginia program from 1976-79 and then spent 20 years as head coach at Indiana University of Pennsylvania without a losing season. IUP went to two Division II national finals during his tenure.

Sept. 11 - Elias Theodorou, 34, was an MMA fighter who won the middleweight tournament during "The Ultimate Fighter Nations: Canada vs. Australia" in 2014, which launched his UFC career. He was 8-3 in 11 UFC bouts before being released in 2019. He won all 11 of his fights outside UFC.

Sept. 15 - John Stearns, 71, was a four-time all-star catcher for the Mets between 1975 and 1982 after being the No. 2 overall pick in the 1973 draft by the Phillies. Buffalo also selected him in the 17th round of the NFL draft in 1973 as a defensive back out of Colorado. From 1986 through 2014, he worked for several organizations as a scout and a coach in the majors and minors.

Sept. 18 - Wally Tatomir, 76, was the equipment manager for the Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes from 1994 through 2012. He got his start in the Ontario Hockey League with the Windsor Spitfires and later the Detroit Junior Red Wings.

Sept. 19 - Harry Langford, 92, was a lineman for the Calgary Stampeders from 1950-58 and played in 158 consecutive games including pre-season, regular season, and playoffs. He was a four-time West all-star.

Sept. 21 - Greg Lee, 70, was the starting point guard on UCLA's back-to-back national championship teams in 1972 and 1973. He spent one year in both the ABA and NBA, and three playing in Germany, but later became a successful pro beach volleyball player.

Sept. 21 - Darrell Mudra, 93, was nicknamed Dr. Victory for his ability to turn around struggling NCAA football programs. He won national championships at North Dakota State in 1965 and Eastern Illinois in 1978. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2000.

Sept. 23 - Jamie Brannen, 47, competed in six Canadian curling championships for New Brunswick, including the last three with skip James Grattan.

Sept. 29 - Hector Lopez, 93, had a 12-year career as an infielder and outfielder in the majors from 1955-66. He broke in with Kansas City and was then traded to the Yankees with Ralph Terry in 1959. There, Lopez was a part of the 1961 and 1962 World Series-winning teams. In 1969, Senators manager Ted Williams offered him the job as manager of Washington's Triple-A team in Buffalo. He became the first Black person to manage in the International League.

Sept. 30 - Marvin Powell, 67, was a three-time first-team All-Pro tackle for the New York Jets after being taken No. 4 overall in the 1977 draft. He was also a two-time All-American at USC and was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1994.

Sept. 30 - Rick Redman, 79, earned a spot in the College Football Hall of Fame in 1995 as a two-time all-American linebacker in the 1960s at Washington. He spent nine years with the San Diego Chargers from 1965-73 and earned a Pro Bowl nod in 1967.

Oct. 1 - Jim Sweeney, 60, played 16 seasons in the NFL. He was primarily a center but did protect Ken O'Brien's blind side as the left tackle for the 1986 and 1987 Jets. He signed with Seattle in 1995 and concluded his career with four seasons as a backup in Pittsburgh.

Oct. 2 - Shirley Englehorn, 81, won 10 times in the LPGA during her heyday from 1962-70. In 1970, she won her only major, the LPGA Championship, in a playoff over Kathy Whitworth. The major came on the heels of winning three Tour events in the prior four weeks.

Oct. 2 - Eder Jofre, 86, is the only Brazilian to be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He earned his first world title in 1960 in the bantamweight division and successfully defended various belts for nearly five years. He made a comeback in 1969 at age 33 and earned the WBC featherweight title in 1973. He finished with a career record of 72-2-4.

Oct. 4 - Dave Dryden, 81, had a 14-year pro career as a goaltender, nine in the NHL and five in the WHA. He was the WHA league MVP in 1979 as he led Edmonton to the final, where the Oilers lost in six games to Winnipeg. He tended the net opposite his Hall of Fame brother Ken six times in the NHL. He was the chairman of Sleeping Children Around the World, a charity his father set up in 1970.

Oct. 4 - Jerry Vainisi, 80, was an accountant by trade who became the general manager of the Chicago Bears in 1982. His Bears won Super Bowl XX over New England. He later became vice president of player personnel for Detroit from 1987-90 before becoming the first head of football operations for the World League of American Football.

Oct. 7 - Bill Nieder, 89, was the 1960 Olympic gold medalist in shot put for the U.S. after earning silver in 1956. He set the world record three times in 1960, becoming the first to reach 20 meters. After retiring, he joined 3M and was part of the team that developed the first rubberized running surface.

Oct. 10 - Dick Ellsworth, 82, pitched for 13 seasons in the majors, primarily with the Cubs and then with Philadelphia, Boston, Cleveland, and Milwaukee between 1958 and 1971. He won 22 games in 1963 and was selected for the All-Star Game in 1964.

Oct. 11 - Joe Crozier, 93, had two stints as a coach in the NHL, with Buffalo for two-and-a-half seasons in the early 1970s and for half a season with Toronto in 1980-81. At lower levels, he won three Calder Cups as coach of the Rochester Americans in the AHL in the 1960s and one Memorial Cup with Kitchener in 1982. He was inducted into the AHL Hall of Fame in 2012.

Oct. 12 - Lucious Jackson, 80, was the fourth overall pick by Philadelphia in the 1964 NBA draft and played eight seasons in the NBA with the 76ers. He was an all-star in his rookie year and a starter on their NBA championship team in 1967. Prior to his pro career, he was a member of the 1964 U.S. Olympic team that won the gold medal.

Oct. 19 - Dave Herman, 81, was the starting right guard for the New York Jets for eight of his 10 seasons from 1964-73. He was a member of the team that won Super Bowl III over Baltimore. For that game, he was moved from guard to tackle specifically to thwart the pass rush of Bubba Smith. Herman also twice earned Pro Bowl accolades.

Oct. 30 - Mike Fanning, 69, was a defensive lineman for 10 years in the NFL, primarily with the Los Angeles Rams. He was a top-10 pick in 1975 out of Notre Dame, where he was an All-American as a senior, the year after Notre Dame won the 1973 national championship. Fanning was a starter for Super Bowl XIV, a game the Rams lost to Pittsburgh.

Nov. 4 - Dave Butz, 72, was a 6-foot-8 defensive tackle who earned two Super Bowl rings with Washington from the 1982 and 1987 seasons. The Pro Football Hall of Fame selected him as a member of the second team for its all-decade team from the 1980s. He was drafted fifth overall out of Purdue by St. Louis in 1973 but was able to sign as a free agent with Washington in 1975, where he remained for 14 seasons. He was selected to join the College Football Hall of Fame in 2014.

Nov. 4 - Dow Finsterwald, 93, had 11 PGA Tour victories between 1955 and 1963, including the PGA Championship in 1958. He finished third in both The Masters and U.S. Open in 1960 and lost a three-man, 18-hole playoff to Arnold Palmer and Gary Player at The Masters in 1963. He won the Vardon Trophy for the lowest scoring average on Tour in 1957 and was the PGA Tour player of the year in 1958. He played in four Ryder Cups and was the U.S. captain in 1977.

Nov. 6 - Coy Gibbs, 49, was most recently co-owner and CEO of Joe Gibbs Racing. He had his own short-lived racing career, running 39 races in NASCAR's second tier and 58 in the truck series between 2000 and 2003. He is the son of JGR founder Joe Gibbs, and Coy's son Ty won the NASCAR Infinity Series title this year.

Nov. 8 - George Young, 85, competed for the U.S. in four Olympics in various long-distance events. He earned a bronze medal in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Games in Mexico City in 1968. He was inducted into the U.S. Track & Field Hall of Fame in 1981.

Nov. 9 - Jane Gross, 75, was the first female sportswriter granted access to a men's professional locker room in 1975. Working for Newsday, she complained about the double standard and was given the same status as her male counterparts in the Knicks' dressing room. She later worked for the New York Times and moved out of sports into news and features.

Nov. 9 - Fred Hickman, 66, first gained fame as the co-host of "CNN Sports Tonight" with Nick Charles from 1980-84. After a two-year stint at a local station in Detroit, he returned to Turner to resume working with Charles at TBS. In 2002, he became the first studio host for the YES Network, joined ESPN in 2004 for almost four years, and was a studio host with FOX Sports South.

Nov. 13 - Devin Chandler, 20; Lavel Davis Jr., 20; D'Sean Perry, 22, were well-liked and respected members of the University of Virginia football team.

Nov. 13 - Anthony Johnson, 38, was 23-6 in his MMA career. He fought Daniel Cormier twice for the light-heavyweight belt at UFC 187 and UFC 210.

Nov. 16 - Paul Hoolihan, 72, was the athletic director at Vanderbilt in the 1990s before taking over as CEO of the Sugar Bowl, which he led for 24 years.

Dec. 4 - Patrick Tambay, 73, was a Formula One driver between 1977 and 1986, driving in 123 races. His two victories came with Ferrari, in the 1982 German Grand Prix and the 1983 San Marino Grand Prix. He had four other podium finishes in 1983 and placed fourth in the drivers' standings behind Nelson Piquet.

Dec. 13 - Curt Simmons, 93, was a pitcher in the majors for 20 seasons between 1947 and 1967. He made three All-Star Games as a member of the Phillies in the 1950s after missing the end of the 1950 season and all of 1951 to serve in the Korean War. He missed out on the Phillies' trip to the 1950 World Series and didn't make the postseason until starting Games 3 and 6 of the World Series for the 1964 Cardinals, who beat the Yankees in seven games.

Dec. 14 - Billie Moore, 79, was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999 after coaching at Cal State Fullerton and UCLA for 24 years. She was in charge at Fullerton for eight seasons from 1969-77, winning the national championship in her first year after being promoted from assistant. She took Fullerton to two more Final Fours in 1972 and 1975. She was at UCLA, from 1977-93. The Bruins won the national title in 1978 and made the Final Four again in 1979.

Dec. 19 - Tom Browning, 62, had a 12-year career as a pitcher in the majors, 11 of them with Cincinnati. He authored the 12th perfect game in major-league history on Sept. 16, 1988, a 1-0 win over the Dodgers at Riverfront Stadium in which he needed only 102 pitches. In 1990, he was a member of the Reds team that won the World Series over Oakland.

Dec. 19 - Gary Knafelc, 90, played 10 seasons in the NFL as a receiver, primarily with Green Bay. He was a member of two NFL Championship teams in 1961 and 1962. Right after retiring from the field, he became the PA announcer at Lambeau field, a position he held for 40 years.

Dec. 19 - Don McKenney, 88, was the runner-up for NHL rookie of the year in 1955 and later won a Lady Byng Trophy during his 13-year career. He played the bulk of his career in Boston but was also a member of the Maple Leafs' Stanley Cup-winning team in 1964.

Dec. 19 - Steve Smoger, 72, was a lawyer and judge by trade who refereed more than 200 boxing title fights in his 32-year career in his home of Atlantic City, N.J., and around the world. He was elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2015.

Dec. 21 - Ronnie Hillman, 31, was a running back with the Denver Broncos team that won Super Bowl 50 over Carolina. He spent four years with Denver after being a third-round pick in 2012 out of San Diego State, where he gained 3,243 yards and scored 36 touchdowns in two seasons.

Dec. 22 - Stephan Bonnar, 45, fought 24 times in UFC between 2001-14, winning 15 times. His bout against Forrest Griffin in the middleweight final of the first season of "The Ultimate Fighter" was the first fight enshrined in the UFC Hall of Fame.

Dec. 23 - George Cohen, 83, spent his entire 13-year football career with Fulham, appearing in 439 matches as a right-back. The only trophy he earned in his career was the big one: He was a member of the 1966 England team that won the World Cup.

Dec. 23 - Philippe Streiff, 67, competed in 55 Formula One races over a six-year period in the 1980s. He also won the 1981 24 Hours of LeMans with co-drivers Jacky Haran and Jean-Louis Schlesser.

Dec. 24 - Cotton Davidson, 91, was a quarterback and punter for 10 years in the NFL and AFL. He was the No. 5 overall pick in 1954 by Baltimore, where he spent two seasons, mostly as the punter, that were interrupted by two years of military service. He moved to the AFL when it launched in 1960, playing for the Dallas Texans and Oakland Raiders.

Dec. 25 - Kevin Payne, 69, was a longtime executive in MLS, spending 16 years with D.C. United across two stints. He was also the managing director of AEG Soccer's properties for three years and president and GM at Toronto FC for the 2013 season.

Dec. 27 - Arnie Ferrin, 97, first came to prominence in 1944 when he was named the most outstanding player at the NCAA men's basketball Final Four while leading Utah to the championship. In the pros, he was a member of the Minneapolis Lakers' championship teams in 1949 and 1950. Later, he served variously as a radio analyst for the Utes' basketball and football teams, was the school's athletic director from 1976-85, and was GM of Utah's ABA team from 1972-74.