Notable deaths from the sporting world

May & June

 May 1 -- Harold "Happy" Hairston, the former Los Angeles Lakers forward and member of what many consider the greatest basketball team of all time, died at age 58. Hairston was part of the 1971 team that included Wilt Chamberlain, Gail Goodrich and Jerry West. That team went on to win 69 games, including an unprecedented 33 straight -- a winning streak that has never been broken in any professional sport.

 May 1 -- Sports announcer Ben Bentley, known for his work in boxing and as the original host of "The Sportswriters," died at age 81. Bentley was the first announcer and publicist for the Chicago Bulls when the team was founded in 1966. The team mascot, "Benny the Bull," was named after him. Bentley's reputation was made in prize fighting. He was one of few sports experts to predict Muhammad Ali's 1964 upset over Sonny Liston.

 May 2 -- Dick Jamieson, a longtime NFL assistant who helped such players as Neil Lomax, Ottis Anderson and Jake Plummer, has died at 63. Jamieson also served as running backs coach for two years with the Philadelphia Eagles, turning Ricky Watters and Charlie Garner into one of the NFL's top rushing tandems.

 May 5 -- John Lotz, who spent seven years as Florida's head coach and eight as an assistant to Dean Smith at North Carolina, died at age 64. Lotz was Smith's top assistant until 1973. Lotz coached Florida from 1973-80 with an 83-88 record. He was named Southeastern Conference coach of the year in 1977.

 May 7 -- Zoltan Nemere, an epee fencer who won Olympic and world titles for Hungary, died at age 59. Nemere was part of the Hungarian fencing team that won the gold medal at the 1964 and 1968 Olympics. He was individual world champion in 1965.

 May 9 -- Henry "Smokey" Yunick, one of the key innovators from stock car racing's early days, died at age 77. Yunick helped develop Chevrolet's original small-block engine in 1955, the blueprints of which are still used on today's cars. He was the last owner to win at Daytona when they raced on the beach, in 1958. He fielded winners at the 1961 and '62 Daytona 500s and won more than 50 races as a crew chief, chief mechanic or engine builder.

 May 15 -- Ralph Miller, who coached Oregon State to four Pacific-10 titles and eight NCAA tournament appearances, died at age 82. Miller retired in 1989 with 674 victories, the sixth-most for a Division I coach. He compiled a record of 359-186 in 19 seasons at Oregon State.

 May 16 -- Charlie Coe, a lifelong amateur golfer who twice won the U.S. Amateur championship, died at age 77. Coe won the U.S. Amateur in 1949 and 1958, and was runner-up to Jack Nicklaus in 1959. He was a seven-time member of the Walker Cup team, twice serving as captain. He played in the Masters 19 times, tying for second in 1961.

 May 17 -- Murray Murdoch, the former New York Rangers forward who coached Yale for 27 seasons, died at age 96. Murdoch, who won the Lester Patrick Trophy in 1974 for contributions to American hockey, had 84 goals and 192 points in 508 games for the Rangers from 1926-37. He led Yale to 278 victories from 1938-65.

 May 17 -- Ike Brown, a veteran of the Negro Leagues and a popular utilityman with the Detroit Tigers from 1969 to 1974, died at age 59. In six years with the Tigers, Brown batted .256.

 May 20 -- Luther "Bud" Thomas, who gave up Ted Williams' first major league home run during a seven-year big league career, died at age 90. On April 23, 1939, Thomas was pitching for the Philadelphia Athletics against Boston when the Red Sox sent Williams, 20, up to bat. Thomas tossed in a slow pitch that Williams cracked about 420 feet, the first of the "Splendid Splinter's" 521 career home runs.

 May 22 -- Leamon King, who ran the second leg on the United States 4x100-meter relay squad that won a gold medal at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, died at age 65. King went to the 1956 Games as the world-record holder in the 100-yard dash, a mark of 9.3 seconds set on a grass track. He also matched the world record of 10.1 seconds at 100 meters.

 May 23 -- Ed Weaver, a former Ohio State athletic director known for feuding with football coach Woody Hayes and forcing basketball coach Fred Taylor to resign, died at age 90. Weaver became OSU's third AD in 1970 and stepped down in May 1977 after more than 30 years with the university. He helped modernize the facilities for Ohio State's athletic department, which swelled from 18 to 30 varsity sports during his tenure.

 May 29 -- Werner Fricker, who as president of the U.S. Soccer Federation led the bid that brought the 1994 World Cup to the United States, died at age 65. Fricker was a member of the U.S. team that failed to qualify for the 1964 Olympic soccer tournament, was elected USSF president in 1984 and helped develop the World Cup bid.

 May 29 -- Charley Pell, former Florida football coach who helped lay the program's foundation for success before his career was derailed by NCAA sanctions, died at age 60. A former Alabama player, Pell coached the Gators from 1979 through 1984, comprising a 33-26-3 record, including 2-2 in bowl appearances. He left after three games of the 1984 season after the NCAA levied 59 sanctions against the program. He confessed to the violations and resigned, accepting all responsibility.

 May 30 -- Terry Gathercole, who as president of Australian Swimming fought against the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport, died at age 65. Gathercole swam for Australia in the 1950s and 60s before turning to coaching, guiding Australia's Ian O'Brien and Bev Whitfield to Olympic gold medals. He also trained 1991 world champion Linley Frame.

 May 30 -- James W. "Big Jim" Whatley, a former multi-sport coach at the University of Georgia who was widely considered Alabama's greatest athlete, died at age 88. Whatley was part of the Georgia athletics department for more than 25 years. He earned 10 varsity letters at Alabama in football, basketball and baseball and track. He was an All-SEC tackle on the 1934 football team that beat Stanford in the Rose Bowl.

 June 1 -- Troy Stark, a former Georgia football player who went on to play for an XFL team, died at age 28 possibly from complications from a knee injury. The 6-foot-7, 310-pound offensive lineman injured his knee in February playing for the New York-New Jersey Hitmen in the XFL.

 June 2 -- Gene Woodling, a key outfielder on the New York Yankees' teams that won the World Series from 1949-53, died at age 78.

 June 2 -- Jimmy Bragan, former Southern League president, died at age 72.

 June 2 -- Joey Maxim, a former light heavyweight champion who outlasted Sugar Ray Robinson in a sweltering title fight in 1952, died at 79. Maxim, whose real name was Giuseppe Antonio Berardinelli, won the 175-pound world title by stopping champion Freddie Mills in the 10th round in London on Jan. 24, 1950. He made an unsuccessful bid for the heavyweight title against Ezzard Charles in 1951. Then Maxim defended his 175-pound title against Robinson on June 25, 1952 at Yankee Stadium. With temperatures well over 100, Robinson was unable to come out for the 14th round. It was scored a technical knockout for Maxim, the only time Robinson failed to last the distance in 201 bouts. He retired from boxing in 1958 with a record of 82-29-4 with 21 knockouts.

 June 9 -- Malcolm Cooper, former two-time Olympic shooting champion for Britain, died at age 54. Cooper won the gold medal in the small bore division at Los Angeles in 1984 and in Seoul, South Korea, four years later.

 June 10 -- John McKay, the football coach, remembered for his quick wit as well as the success he had at Southern California and in the NFL, died at age 77. McKay won four national titles and popularized the "I" formation before leaving USC to become the first coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. USC went 127-40-8, won nine Pac-8 championships and only lost 17 conference games in 16 years under McKay. Tampa Bay lost its first 26 games under McKay, an NFL record, before rebounding to become the first expansion team to make it to a conference title game within its first four seasons in 1979.

 June 11 -- Trevor Madondo, one of Zimbabwe's most promising young Test cricketers, died from cerebral malaria at age 24.

 June 12 -- Fred Raphael, an innovator in the early days of televised golf whose work led to the creation of the Senior PGA Tour, died at age 80. Raphael helped created the Legends of Golf in 1978. That tournament inspired officials to create the senior tour two years later.

 June 12 -- Lt. Randy Murff, 26, the co-captain of the 1996 Columbia football team and two-time second-team All-Ivy League selection, was killed when an F-16 fighter he was piloting crashed southeast of Kunsan, South Korea.

 June 16 -- Sam Jethroe, one of the first black baseball players in the major leagues and the oldest player to win rookie of the year honors, died at age 83. Jethroe, nicknamed "The Jet" for his speed, was the first black player on the Boston Braves when he made his major league debut in 1950. He was named Rookie of the Year that season at the age of 32. He batted .273 with 18 home runs, 58 runs batted in and 35 stolen bases.

 June 17 -- Sally Bauer, the first Scandinavian woman to swim across the English Channel, died at age 92. In 1939, just days before the outbreak of the World War II, she crossed the English Channel, timing 15 hours and 22 minutes in difficult conditions. She repeated this feat in 1951 at the age of 43.

 June 23 -- Clebson Moreira dos Santos, 22, the Vasco da Gama right-wing defender was killed in a car accident in the northeastern state of Bahia, Brazil.

 June 26 -- George Senesky, who played on the NBA's first championship team with the Philadelphia Warriors in 1947 and coached the team to the 1956 NBA title, died at age 78. Senesky led the nation in scoring at St. Joseph's College, as it was then called, during his senior year, when he averaged 23 points. In his rookie season in the NBA with the Warriors, he averaged 6.3 points on the championship team of 1946-47, the first official year of the NBA. He played for the Warriors until 1954, then became the coach of the team for the 1955-56 season, when it won another championship.

 June 27 -- Mark Smith, the fourth-leading career scorer for the Illinois basketball team, died at age 41. Smith scored 1,653 points while playing at Illinois from 1978-81. In 1981, he teamed with Eddie Johnson to put Illinois in the NCAA tournament for the first time in 18 years.

 June 28 -- David Freeman, winner of eight badminton titles, died at age 80. He began playing badminton at 13 and his domination of the sport lasted for the next 14 years. He won seven national badminton championships in the 1940s and 1950s and brought the United States its first world championship in 1949, winning the All-England Championships.

 June 28 -- Ralph Chandler Bruning Jr., 31, was killed in a crash during a qualifying run for the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Bruning's 1999 Chevrolet Monte Carlo crashed three-eighths of a mile from the starting line.

 June 30 -- Lewis Chitengwa, 26, who had complained of a high fever and withdrew from the Edmonton Open before the third round, died at a hospital later in the day.

 June 30 -- Robert Damron, 36, professional motorcycle racer died in a collision while racing at the Perris (Calif.) Auto Speedway. The accident happened during the first lap of the West Coast Flat Track Series when he collided with two other riders.

 June 30 -- Lou Kusserow, a star running back for Columbia in the 1940s who played a major role in one of college football's biggest upsets, died at age 73. Kusserow scored two touchdowns in Columbia's 21-20 win over Army in 1947. Army was undefeated in 32 consecutive games before the Lions scored twice in the fourth quarter to end what was then the nation's longest unbeaten string.