There hasn't been a lot of news in sports and I'm more aggravated with politics right now to the degree of trying to stay distant politically for a bit before the fall election season arrives.
Goodbye to Tony Taylor at the age of 84.
The long-time Phillies infielder played fifteen of his nineteen seasons (1958-76) in Philadelphia and worked for the team in various capacities after the end of his playing career.
Known for his fielding and speed, Taylor still finished his career with over 2,000 hits and an average of .261.
Taylor's fielding was a key in Jim Bunning's 1964 perfect game against the Mets as he 'ranged far to his left on a Jesse Gonder hit, knocked the ball down with his glove, grabbed the ball a few feet away and with a fancy pirouette fired the ball to first to beat Gonder by a step".
Taylor's fifth-inning play proved to be the saving grace for Bunning, who wasn't tested further as he finished his perfecto.
Goodbye to Carlton Haselrig at the age of 54.
Haselrig is the only collegiate wrestler to win six national championships in four years, a record that will never be equaled due to a rule change.
Haselrig won Division II titles at Pitt-Johnstown in 1987,88, and 89, but at the time the NCAA had a clause that allowed the winners of the Division II and III national tournaments to enter the Division I tournament with automatic entry.
Haselrig won all three of those tournaments for the six titles and shortly thereafter, the "Haselrig Rule" was enacted revoking the Division II and III champions invitation.
Haselrig won 122 matches in a row at one point in his college career and defeated future Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle- Yes, it's true.
Haselrig was selected in the 12th round of the 1990 NFL Draft despite not playing any college football by the Steelers.
Haselrig would make the Pro Bowl in 1992 and started for three of his four seasons in Pittsburgh before finishing his career with one season with the New York Jets.
Haselrig would try MMA with five fights in 2008-09 winning three of the five bouts.
Goodbye to Nazeem Richardson.
Richardson was a long-time fixture in the Philadelphia boxing scene, first as the assistant trainer to famed trainer Bouie Fisher and then on his own as head trainer.
Richardson is remembered as the trainer of three world champions, Bernard Hopkins, Shane Mosley, and Steve Cunningham.
Richardson had been in poor health in recent years after a stroke that significantly slowed him.
Richardson was the person that caught the illegal hand wraps of Antonio Margarito and his trainer, Javier Capetillo, before Margarito's fight against Shane Mosley.
Mosley would upset Margarito that night and Margarito would be suspended for a year following the defeat.
Goodbye to Travell Mazion at the age of 24.
Mazion was a promising prospect for Golden Boy Promotions as a junior middleweight, winning all seventeen of his fights with thirteen of those triumphs via early stoppage.
Mazion had won his first regional title in January after a first-round KO of Fernando Castaneda and would have likely moved into the top fifteen ratings of the various sanctioning bodies sometime this year.
Goodbye to Ben Jipcho at the age of 77.
Jipcho won a silver medal for Kenya in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in the 1972 Munich Olympics but is most remembered for two other reasons, neither of which brought him a medal.
Jipcho was the "rabbit" for countryman Kip Keino in the "race of the century" in the 1,500 meters at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics as Keino faced American Jim Ryun for the first time.
Ryun held the world record for the rough equivalent to the mile and the strategy by the Kenyan coaches was for Jipcho to get out front, set a torrid pace that would result in sapping Ryun a bit, and allow Keino his best chance to win.
Jipcho did just that as Keino would easily defeat Ryun, who finished second and set an Olympic record that would stand until 1984 with Jipcho fading to tenth in the field of twelve.
Jipcho would later apologize to Ryun for his role in the legal, but somewhat unethical, tactical plan, saying that he should have allowed Ryun to face Keino straight-up and allow the better man to win.
Ryun and Keino both signed with the International Track Association after the 1972 games and the newly created professional tour expected the pair to renew their rivalry at the top of the middle-distance runners.
Instead, it was Jipcho that dominated the ITA during its four years in business at those distances as Keino and Ryun rarely ran against each other and when they did, Jipcho often got the better of both, to the surprise of the ITA, who promoted Keino vs Ryun as a mainstay of their tour.
No comments:
Post a Comment