Cleaning out the Inbox: Passings

  When you take a hiatus of length as I have, things can fall behind quickly, so I will try to churn out some content as quickly as possible.

Goodbye to Greg Haugen at the age of 64. 

Haugen twice held the IBF lightweight title and the WBO junior welterweight title in a career filled with memorable fights and verbal altercations.

Haugen won one of three close fights with Vinny Pazienza, handed Hector Camacho his first career loss, and won his first IBF title with an upset over Kronk Boxing's Jimmy Paul. However, he may be most remembered for playing the heel against Julio Cesar Chavez in Chavez's homecoming fight in Mexico City, which drew a world record for an outdoor fight event with an attendance of over 136,000.

Haugen entered the fight with outbursts towards the record of Chavez as built on knocking out "Tijuana Cab Drivers".

An incensed Chavez punished Haugen before finishing him in the fifth round.

Goodbye to Mike Lange at the age of 76.

The long-time voice of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Lange spent all but one season with Pittsburgh from 1974 through 2021, and other than that one missing season (Lange left as at the time, the Penguins looked on financially shaky ground) when Lange called games for the Washington Diplomats of the NASL, Lange would work for the Penguins.

Lange was beloved by Penguins fans for his unique calls including my favorite as an excited Penguin would celebrate after a goal as being "as happy as a butcher's dog!" 

Goodbye to Mike Collier at the age of 71.

Collier was the main kick returner for the 1975 Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers and would play two seasons with Buffalo before ending his career in 1979.

Collier was Pittsburgh's fifteenth-round pick from Morgan State in the 1975 draft.

Collier would work in Hagerstown as a manager of a local Martin's grocery for several years following the end of his football career.

Goodbye to Eddie Fisher at the age of 88.

Known for his knuckleball, Fisher's best season came in 1965 when he made his only All-Star team, winning fifteen games in eighty-two appearances for the White Sox.

Fisher pitched fifteen seasons in the majors for six teams, spending seven of those with the White Sox in his longest tenure.

Goodbye to Scott Sauerbeck at the age of 53.

Used as a lefthanded reliever in a seven-year career (1999-2006) with four teams, Sauerbeck spent most of his career with the Pirates.

Sauerbeck was involved in the 2003 trade that sent him to the Red Sox at the trade deadline in return for future batting champion Freddy Sanchez.