Goodbye to Bobby Unser at the age of 87.
Unser won the Indianapolis 500 three times, when USAC racing was equally, if not more popular than NASCAR, in 1968, 75, and 81, and along with Rick Mears, Unser won his Indy's in three different decades.
The Unser brothers (Bobby and Al Sr.) are the only pair of siblings to win at Indy with seven (four for Al and three for Bobby) and counting his nephew Al Jr's two wins, the Unser family owns nine wins at the Brickyard.
Unser's third win was controversial as during a caution period, Unser and Mario Andretti made a pit stop with Unser passing eight cars under the caution to Andretti's two.
Unser would win the race but was stripped of the win the following day with the victory awarded to Andretti.
After five months of lawsuits, Unser's win was reinstated, but the process took a lot out of Unser and he would retire at the end of the season as he moved into broadcasting IndyCar races along with the occasional NASCAR race for many years.
Goodbye to Colt Brennan at the age of 37.
Brennan led Hawaii to an undefeated season in 2007 before the Rainbow Warriors lost in the Sugar Bowl to Georgia and finished sixth in 2006 and third in 2007 in the Heisman Trophy voting.
Brennan held the NCAA record for touchdown passes in a career (131), and is currently still 4th all-time.
Brennan was a sixth-round draft pick by the then-Washington Redskins in 2008 and made the team but didn't play in a game.
Brennan spent 2009 on injured reserve and was released in training camp in 2010 by Washington.
Brennan suffered a brain injury in a 2010 car wreck and had developed drug dependencies, which had caused him to enter rehabilitation centers on several occasions.
Goodbye to Fred Martinelli at the age of 92.
Martinelli was the long-time football coach at Ashland College (University) from 1959-1993.
Martinelli finished his coaching career with a record of 217-119-12 and was inducted into the college football hall of fame in 2002.
Goodbye to Rennie Stennett at the age of 72.
Most remember Stennett as the only player to go seven for seven in a nine-inning game, which Stennett achieved in 1975 for the Pirates against the Cubs at Wrigley Field, but Stennett, who played for both of the Pirates world championship teams in the 1970s, was just starting to come into his own as a potential star in 1977 when Stennett broke his leg sliding into second base.
Stennett was leading the National League in batting average at .336 at the time but would fall twelve plate appearances short of qualifying for the batting title.
Stennett was never the same player after returning in 1978 and despite signing a five-year contract with the Giants in 1980, Stennett's struggles continued, and would only play two years of the contract before being released by San Francisco.
Stennett would never play in the majors again with his career over at only 31.
Goodbye to Don Kernodle at the age of 71.
A journeyman wrestler for most of his career, Kernodle spent much of his career in the Mid-Atlantic area wrestling for Jim Crockett Promotions.
Kernodle's biggest success was with Sgt.Slaughter as the NWA world tag team champions in a heated feud with Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood that would result in a famous steel cage match that sold out the Greensboro Coliseum on March 12, 1983.
Kernodle moved to the WWF as a high-level preliminary wrestler for eight months before returning to the Mid-Atlantic, where he teamed first with Bob Orton and then with Ivan Koloff, winning the NWA tag titles for the second time with Koloff.
Kernodle would turn against the Koloffs and wrestle against them in 1985, but after the steam of that turn faded, Kernodle dropped down the cards and would leave the company in 1986.
Kernodle would wrestle for independent promotions for many years, but never returned to the larger companies and instead worked for a local sheriff's department until his passing.
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