Goodbye to Mr.Saito at the age of 76 from Parkinson's Disease.
The 1964 Olympian finished seventh in freestyle wrestling before turning professional the following year.
Saito was best known locally for his two WWF tag team title reigns with Mr. Fuji in the territory days, but was a huge star in New Japan pro wrestling as well as the AWA, where he starred in their glory days and their waning ones as well, when he briefly held their world championship, winning it and then losing it back to Larry Zbyszko.
Saito and Fuji were the best "working" tag team of my days as a territorial wrestling fan among the champions of "Captain" Lou Albano and in the ring, the large majority of that was due to the work of Saito.
Sadly, Saito might be most remembered by American audiences for something not televised- his 1984 brawl with Ken Patera against police officers in Wisconsin that would see both men serve jail time for their assault.
Other than Saito's short run in the dying AWA, Saito would wrestle mostly in Japan, following his release...
Goodbye to Gabe Rivera at the age of 57.
Rivera was the best defensive lineman in Texas Tech history and "Senor Sack" often comes up when the topic of Dan Marino being passed over in the 1983 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers as the team selected Rivera over Marino.
Rivera collected two sacks in six games before being paralyzed in a drunk driving accident.
Rivera would never walk again and would struggle with issues from the paralysis for the remainder of his life.
Goodbye to Ray Emery at the age of 35.
Emery drowned in Lake Ontario in what police called a "Case of Misadventure".
Emery played for four teams, but best remembered for his time with the Ottawa Senators that culminated in the Senators reaching their only Stanley Cup finals in 2007.
Emery was known for being pugnacious on and off the ice, where he had various incidents at both sites.
Emery often would have his goalie masks designed with artists renderings of boxers, most notable of these being Marvelous Marvin Hagler.
Goodbye to Lonnie Shelton at the age of 62.
The burly power forward played for three teams, including the Cavaliers, Sonics, and Knicks was a starter for the 1979 world championship team in Seattle, the only title that the Sonics ever won and was known as an enforcer in the days of NBA fights when punches actually were thrown AND landed.
Shelton also signed with the ABA, but never played there, which when it was discovered caused Oregon State to forfeit several games that Shelton played for the Beavers.
Shelton also was a starter for the 1984-85 Cavaliers, who rallied from a 2-19 start under rookie coach George Karl to make the playoffs as the eighth seed and would give the eventual champion Boston Celtics their toughest series of the playoffs.
Shelton was also the father of former Arizona Cardinals tackle L.J. Shelton,
Another enforcer of the time period, this time of the ABA variety, passed away at the age of 67 as
former Kentucky Colonel Ron Thomas passed after a bout with ill health.
Thomas was unable to attend the recent ABA reunion and the Dropping Dimes foundation, a group to help former ABA players in poor health pay medical bills are picking his funeral expenses.
Thomas was known as one of the better ABA fighters with the Colonels and spent much of his Colonels tenure protecting Louie Dampier and Dan Issel.
Goodbye to Frank Ramsey at the age of 86.
Ramsey was a Hall of Famer as a player with Boston and spent his nine-year career with the Celtics.
Ramsey's tenure in Boston saw the Celtics win seven titles and he averaged 13 points a game for his career, which looking at only the numbers isn't all that impressive compared to the current day.
Can you imagine anyone averaging 13 points and five rebounds in today's game even getting a vote from someone for the Hall of Fame, let alone getting in?
The game was different then though and statistics in all sports need to be evaluated in their own time to be truly considered fairly,
The Kentucky native won an NCAA championship in 1952 with the Kentucky Wildcats and would have likely won another in 1954, but an obscure NCAA rule at the time allowed graduate students to play during the regular season, but not in the tournament.
Coach Adolph Rupp's Wildcats finished undefeated but refused the tourney bid because playing without Ramsey and future Hall of Famer Cliff Hagen would have likely meant a loss and a ruined perfect campaign.
Ramsey also coached a portion of the 1970-71 season with the Kentucky Colonels and took the Colonels from a losing record to one game of the ABA title losing to the Utah Stars in seven games.
Goodbye to Lenny Chappell at the age of 77.
Chappell was the centerpiece of Wake Forest's 1962 ACC champions and led the Demon Deacons to their only Final Four appearance in program history in that season.
The 6'8 center was the ACC player of the year in 1961 and 62 and would become the all-time leading scorer in ACC tournament history, which held up until Duke's J.J Redick broke that mark in 2006.
That gets rid of some things from the inbox, but many more to come over the next few days...
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