Goodbye to Mike Curtis at the age of 77.
"The Mad Dog" starred for the Baltimore Colts from 1965-75 before being one of the Seattle Seahawks expansion draft picks in 1976.
Curtis would then finish his career with two seasons for George Allen's Redskins in 1977 and Jack Pardee's Washington team in 1978.
Curtis was the Colts first-round pick in 1965 as a fullback and part of arguably the best first-round draft in league history that included three Hall of Famers (Joe Namath, Dick Butkus, Gale Sayers), Curtis, who has a case for induction, a Super Bowl losing quarterback (Craig Morton), a receiver that finished with over 6,000 yards (Jack Snow), and two running backs with 8,000 and 6,000 total yards from scrimmage (Ken Willard and Donny Anderson) in a 14 player first round.
Curtis also intercepted the Craig Morton pass in Super Bowl V, setting up the Jim O'Brien field goal that, on the last play of the game, won Baltimore the title.
Most remember the "Mad Dog" for blowing up a fan who ran on the field in Baltimore, but he was an excellent player who has been overlooked for induction in Canton.
The video below was a staple of the TRS VHS collection from the mid-80s when NFL Films produced excellent pieces on players of the past. It also includes the mentioned fan incident.
Goodbye to Bob Oliver at the age of 77.
The father of pitcher Darren Oliver, who would pitch for twenty years in the majors, Bob Oliver was the top power threat in the early 70s for some pretty terrible Royals and Angels teams as their first baseman.
Oliver hit 13 homers as a 26-year-old rookie for the expansion Royals in 1969 before breaking out with his career season for Kansas City in 1970 with 27 homers and finishing the season with 99 RBI.
Oliver was traded to California in April of 1972 and hit 38 homers for the Angels between the 1972 and 73 seasons before struggling in 1974 before a late-season waiver claim by the Orioles moved him to Baltimore.
Oliver would play 18 games for the Yankees in 1975 before his career ended at only 32.
Goodbye to Tom Lester at the age of 81.
Lester was known best for his role as "Eb" the hired hand for the Douglas family on "Green Acres" even though Lester would never again work in a series after "Eb". Lester was able to find occasional roles as a supporting actor and played the adult Pete Maravich in the film "Pistol- Birth of a Legend".
Lester was also a Christian speaker who often traveled the country to spread the word and also appeared at television nostalgia conventions.
Goodbye to Harold Reid at the age of 80.
Reid was the bass vocalist for the Statler Brothers who also played the comedic role for the group onstage and for their variety show on the now-defunct Nashville Network in the 1990s.
Reid was the one part of the act that the Statlers would not have been able to replace and not for his voice, which was memorable on its own, but for his comedic timing and his humor.
The onstage banter could never have been as funny or as successful without Harold Reid and much of the credit for the success of the group has to go to Reid for the quality and longevity of the group.
Goodbye to Scott Bowden at the age of 48.
Bowden was a referee and manager in the Memphis wrestling territory in the 1990s and I've often stated that Scott Bowden was the one person who was born too late to be a star in the wrestling business as he just missed the days of the manager being the main focus of a promotion.
Bowden was a friend of Jerry Lawler's sons and wrestled with the Lawler sons in a neighborhood before being asked to referee for the company.
Bowden then managed in the territory using the gimmick of being former Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden's nephew and referred to his "Uncle Bobby" often in his interviews including Bowden using a Florida State helmet given to him by "Uncle Bobby" against his charge's opponents.
Bowden wrote about his wrestling days at Kentucky Fried Wrestling, which led to a podcast of the same name.
Long-time readers may remember Bowden losing to Rachel in a Wrestlemania guess-the-winner challenge that saw Bowden send her a few DVDs for her victory.
I wasn't a friend of Bowden's, but we did talk a few times through the years and he had committed to do the old TRS podcast, but we were never able to make the times work out for both of us.
The promo below on live Memphis television caught host Dave Brown off guard as the socially incorrect references incensed Brown for real and Bowden reported that when the cameras were off Brown chastised Bowden for the word usage.
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