Notable deaths from the sporting world

November & December

 Nov. 1 -- Tom Cheney, who set the major league record with 21 strikeouts in a 16-inning game, died at age 67. Cheney was pitching for Washington Senators on Sept. 12, 1962, when he went the distance in a 2-1 victory over Baltimore, striking out 21. Cheney finished in 1966 with a career record of 19-29, including eight shutouts.

 Nov. 1 -- John J. Walsh, the coach who guided the University of Wisconsin to eight NCAA boxing championships and 35 individual titles, died at age 89. Walsh coached the Badgers boxing team from 1934 to 1958. The NCAA team championship trophy was eventually named in honor of Walsh, the man who presided over one of college athletics' greatest dynasties.

 Nov. 1 -- Bob Woodruff, former athletic director at the University of Tennessee and head football coach at Florida and Baylor, died at age 85. Woodruff played at Tennessee in the 1930s and was the school's athletic director from 1963-85. He was 19-10-2 at Baylor from 1947-50, and 54-42-6 in 10 seasons at Florida, where he also was the athletic director.

 Nov. 3 -- Art Guepe, who coached Vanderbilt's football team to one of only three bowl wins in school history, died at age 86. Guepe had a 39-54-7 record while at Vanderbilt from 1953-62. Guepe had winning records during four of his 10 seasons, leading the Commodores to a 1955 Gator Bowl victory over Auburn.

 Nov. 4 -- Bonnie M. Heath, a pioneer of Florida's thoroughbred industry whose Needles was the first Florida-bred to win the Kentucky Derby, died at age 85. Heath was a four-time president of the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders' Association. Needles won the Kentucky Derby in 1956.

 Nov. 7 -- Nancye Wynne Bolton, six-time Australian Open women's singles titlist and holder of 20 overall Australian Open titles, second most all-time behind Margaret Court Smith's 21, at age 85.

 Nov. 9 -- Denis Atkinson, former West Indies cricket team captain, known for his part in a 1955 record wicket stand against Australia, died at age 75. Atkinson played 22 Tests with the West Indies between 1948 and 1958. He is best remembered for his world-record seventh wicket stand of 347 with teammate Clairmonte DePeiza against Australia in 1955. That record still stands.

 Nov. 11 -- Leon Gray, who teamed with John Hannah to give the New England Patriots a formidable blocking duo in the 1970s, died at age 49. Also known as "Big Dog," Gray played for the Patriots for six seasons, making the Pro Bowl in 1976 and 1978.

 Nov. 13 -- Cornelius "Dutch" Warmerdam, the first man to clear 15 feet in the pole vault, died at age 86. Warmerdam cleared the 15-foot mark at a meet in Berkeley on April 13, 1940. No other athlete cleared the bar at 15 feet for 11 years, a time in which Warmerdam set indoor and outdoor records using a bamboo pole. In May 1942, he set the outdoor world record of 15-7 3/4, a record that stood for 15 years. In March 1943, he set the indoor mark of 15-8 1/2 at the Chicago relays. Warmerdam won the James E. Sullivan Award from the AAU as the nation's outstanding amateur athlete in 1942.

 Nov. 17 -- Irving Crane Sr., who won seven world pool championships, died at age 89. Known as the "The Deacon," Crane won world titles in 1942, 1946, 1955, 1966, 1968, 1970 and 1972. In 1939, Crane became the first person to sink more than 300 billiard balls into selected pockets before missing a shot.

 Nov. 17 -- Billy Vessels, the elusive Oklahoma halfback who won the 1952 Heisman Trophy, died at age 70. Vessels was an All-American in 1952 and was the first Oklahoma player to win the Heisman. In 1950, he led Oklahoma in rushing and receiving, helping the Sooners capture their first national title.

 Nov. 23 -- Bo Belinsky, the former major league pitcher known as much for his colorful personality as his baseball career, died at age 64. The left-hander pitched a no-hitter as a rookie for the Los Angeles Angels against the Baltimore Orioles at Dodger Stadium in 1962, the first major league no-hitter on the West Coast. But Belinsky gained as much notoriety for dating movie stars such as Mamie Van Doren, Ann-Margret, Tina Louise, Juliet Prowse and Connie Stevens. Belinsky finished 10-11 his rookie season, and was 28-51 with 476 strikeouts and an ERA of 4.10 in an eight-year career that included stints with the Angels, Philadelphia Phillies, Houston Astros, Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds.

 Nov. 24 -- Irwin Weiner, a sports agent who once represented Walt Frazier and Julius Erving, at age 69. Weiner was one of New York's most prominent sports agents in the 1970s and 1980s.

 Nov. 25 -- Spook Express, second in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf last month, was euthanized after falling near the finish line in The Matriarch at Hollywood Park.

 Nov. 29 -- Smylie Gebhart, a Georgia Tech All-America football player, died at age 51. Gebhart was a 190-pound defensive end for the Yellow Jackets when he earned All-America honors in 1971.

 Dec. 6 -- Peter Blake, 53, an expert sailor who headed the New Zealand syndicate that won the America's Cup in 1995 and 2000, was killed by pirates in the Amazon.

 Dec. 7 -- Charlie McClendon, who coached LSU's football team to a school-record 137 victories, died at age 78. McClendon coached at LSU from 1962-79, compiling a 137-59-7 record. The Tigers had only one losing season during his tenure, the longest for an LSU coach in the school's 108 years of football.

 Dec. 8 -- George Young, the general manager who turned the floundering New York Giants into a two-time Super Bowl winner and was one of the National Football League's top executives for more than two decades, died at age 71. In Young's tenure, the Giants had a 155-139-2 record and made eight postseason appearances. Prior to Young's arrival, the Giants had not made the playoffs since 1963.

 Dec. 9 -- Mirza Delibasic, named last year as the best Bosnian athlete of all time, died at age 47. The basketball star's athletic career reached a high point in 1968, when he became the Bosnian champion in tennis. At the same time, he began playing basketball. Playing guard with Bosna, Delibasic helped the team win the 1979 European championship. He also won European, world and Olympic titles with the national team of Yugoslavia.

 Dec. 10 -- Wilfred "Gus" Doerner, who starred for Evansville in the early 1940s and played professional basketball with the Indianapolis Kautskys and Fort Wayne Pistons, died at at 80. He averaged 23.7 points a game as a senior at Evansville. He was named the NAIA tournament's most valuable player in 1942, even though the Aces were eliminated in an early round.

 Dec. 11 -- Larry Costello, who won NBA titles as a player and coach and was one of the last to use the two-handed set shot, died at age 70. Costello played 12 seasons for the Philadelphia Warriors, Syracuse Nationals and Philadelphia 76ers and averaged 12.2 points per game. A season after retiring, Costello became coach of the expansion Bucks in 1968-69. In his third season, led by Lew Alcindor and Oscar Robertson, Costello guided the Bucks to the NBA championship, marking the fastest rise ever in pro sports. He coached for 10 seasons with the Bucks and Chicago Bulls and finished with a 430-300 record. His teams were 37-23 in the playoffs.

 Dec. 20 -- Kira Ivanova, the Soviet Union's first woman figure skater to win an Olympic medal, was found dead in her apartment with numerous knife wounds. Ivanova was a bronze medalist in the 1984 Olympic Games in Sarajevo. She came in second in the 1985 World Championship.

 Dec. 21 -- Dick Schaap, Emmy-winning sports broadcaster died at age 67. Schaap won two sports Emmy Awards for his work on ESPN and three Emmys for features on ABC's "20/20" and ABC's "World News Tonight." Schaap was host of ESPN's "Sports Reporters" and "The Sporting Life With Dick Schaap" on ESPN Radio. He also was host of "Schaap One on One" on ESPN Classic. He also wrote more than 30 books, including the 1968 best seller "Instant Replay," the first of four collaborations with former Green Bay Packers lineman Jerry Kramer.

 Dec. 22 -- Jacques Mayol, record-setting free-dive champion who inspired the film "The Big Blue," died at age 74. Mayol was the first free diver to plunge below 100 meters (330 feet), in 1976. In 1983 he quit after setting a record of 105 meters (345 feet).

 Dec. 22 -- Arnold Ruiz, a 33-year-old jockey, was killed coming down the stretch at Beulah Park. Ruiz fell with Winds of Sonora and was run over by the two horses behind him.

 Dec. 24 -- Harvey Martin, former Dallas Cowboys defensive end and a Super Bowl Most Valuable Player, died at age 51. The four-time Pro Bowler starred for the Cowboys in the 1970s and highlighted his 11-year career by being the co-MVP of the 1978 Super Bowl with teammate Randy White. He led the Cowboys in sacks seven times, leading former Dallas coach Tom Landry to call Martin the team's best pass-rushing defensive end ever.

 Dec. 24 -- Hank Soar, who achieved a rare professional sports "double" during a 50 year career in athletics, died at age 87. Soar played nine seasons with the NFL's New York Giants between 1938 and 1946 and then became an American League baseball umpire from 1950 to 1975, finishing up as a league supervisor of officials before retiring.