Goodbye to Daryle Lamonica at the age of 80.
"The Mad Bomber" spent four seasons as a backup to Jack Kemp with the Buffalo Bills before a trade to the Oakland Raiders turned his career around with Lamonica winning two AFL MVPs with the Raiders and taking the team to Super Bowl II.
Lamonica threw six touchdown passes in the first half of a 1969 game against Buffalo, a feat that has only been equaled once before or since (Aaron Rodgers in 2014).
Lamonica's career finished with an excellent 66-16-6 record as a starter.
It was Lamonica that started the "Immaculate Reception" playoff game for Oakland against Pittsburgh in 1972 but was ineffective and the team's only touchdown was scored behind Ken Stabler, who would replace Stabler as the starter the following season, leaving Lamonica as a backup for two seasons before finishing his career with the WFL's Southern California Sun in 1975, when the league went under midway through the season.
Goodbye to Kenny Moore at the age of 78.
Moore ran in the Olympic Marathon in 1968 and 1972, narrowly missing a medal when he finished fourth in Munich in 1972.
Moore may be better remembered as a long-time writer for Sports Illustrated after retiring from track and field.
My favorite work is his article promoting the release from prison of Ethiopian Olympic champion (1968 Gold, 1972 Bronze) Mamo Wolde, who held off Moore down the stretch in Munich.
Moore not only writes of Wolde, he writes of his own frustration during the race and his feelings late in the race knowing that his years of training would fall short of a medal.
Moore would also write a book on legendary Oregon track coach Bill Bowerman and served as a co-writer on the film Personal Best on the life of Steve Prefontaine, who was a close friend and Olympic teammate in 1972.
Goodbye to Gino Cappelletti at the age of 88.
Cappelletti won the AFL MVP award for the then-Boston Patriots in 1964 as a kicker and wide receiver and was one of only three players to play every game for the same team in the history of the AFL.
Cappelletti was named to the AFL all-star team five times, led the league in scoring five times, and holds the distinction of being the only player to run for a two-point conversion, throw for a two-point conversion, catch a pass, intercept a pass, return a punt, and return a kickoff in the same season.
Cappelletti finished his AFL career as the league's leading all-time scorer and in the top ten in receptions and receiving yards before spending twenty-eight as the color commentator on the Patriots radio network.
Goodbye to Jurgen Blin at the age of 79.
The one-time European heavyweight champion, Blin fought Muhammad Ali in Zurich, Switzerland in 1971 as Ali fought three times in that year following his loss to Joe Frazier.
Ali stopped Blin in seven rounds in their affair and Blin never threatened "The Greatest" in a fight that allowed Switzerland a chance to see Ali live.
Blin failed in his various attempts to defeat top ten fighters with two losses to Joe Bugner, the loss against Ali, and was stopped by contender Ron Lyle in two rounds in 1973 in what would be the final fight of the German's career.
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