Cleaning out the Inbox: Passings

    Fortunately, there haven't been as many passings lately to write tributes for (which is always a good thing) so this post has taken a while to be completed.

Goodbye to Henry Boucha at the age of 72.

Known as "the Chief" for his Native American heritage and the headband that he wore on the ice in the helmetless age of the NHL, Boucha was the offensive star for the United States national team that grabbed a surprising silver medal in the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan.

Boucha scored thirty-three goals for Detroit in his first two seasons in the NHL before being traded to the Minnesota North Stars for Danny Grant before the 1974-75 season.

Boucha was in the midst of his first season with the North Stars before the incident that ruined his career when he was beaten by the stick of Dave Forbes of the Boston Bruins which resulted in a broken orbital bone and blurred vision that never cleared for Boucha.

Boucha attempted brief comebacks with the WHA's Minnesota Fighting Saints and the then-Kansas City Scouts in the 1975-76 season but would retire after nine games in 1976 with the Colorado Rockies.

Boucha would spend much of his post-hockey life working on Native American issues and causes.

Goodbye to Paul Roach at the age of 95.

Roach was a legend in Wyoming football history as their athletic director and head football coach, all happening after his tenure in the pros as an assistant with the Raiders, Packers, and Broncos.

Roach was hired as the Wyoming athletic director in 1986 and after Dennis Erickson left after one season to take the job at Washington State, Roach hired himself as the Cowboys head coach in 1987 despite being sixty years of age and never having held a head coaching job.

Roach would win the WAC title twice in his four years as head coach and would reach three bowls with the Cowboys finishing with a record of 35-15 in his stay in Laramie.

Roach would retain his job as the AD for six more years before retiring in 1996.

Goodbye to Phil Sellers at the age of 69.

"Phil The Thrill" was a second-team (1976) and a third-team (1975) All-American at Rutgers and was the leader of the 1975-76 edition of the Scarlet Knights that finished 32-0 and reached the only Final Four in school history before losing to Michigan in the semi-finals and then to UCLA in the consolation game.

Sellers averaged a double-double in his final year at Rutgers averaging nineteen points and ten rebounds a game as a 6'4 power forward with a game similar to that of Adrian Dantley.

Rutgers retired Sellers's jersey as one of only three ever retired by the school and to this day, Sellers is still the all-time scorer and rebounder at Rutgers.

Sellers was drafted by the Detroit Pistons in the third round of the 1976 draft and played one season there, averaging 4.5 points in 45 games in a transition to guard that Sellers admits was beyond his skills after a career at forward.

Goodbye to Mark Manges at the age of 67.

The Cumberland, Maryland native led Maryland to an undefeated season in 1976 and a berth in the Cotton Bowl at a time when ACC football was regarded as a cut below the other major conferences and did not have an automatic bid for their champion.

Maryland would lose to SWC champion Houston 30-21 in the Cotton Bowl but Maryland's season put Manges on the cover of Sports Illustrated during the 1976 campaign and made Manges a Heisman contender for 1977 as a senior.

Manges injured his hand early in 1977 and missed most of the season before being drafted by the Rams in the fourth round in the 1978 draft.

Manges was released by the Rams in camp and spent the season with the St.Louis Cardinals, where he would take one snap in the season finale before a brief period with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the CFL.

Goodbye to Bob Sheridan at the age of 79.

Known as the Colonel, Sheridan was the voice of Don King Productions when DKP was at the top of the boxing game and it was Sheridan behind the mic for so many great fights of the seventies and eighties for King's closed circuit broadcasts and later his pay per views.

Sheridan also called games of the Miami Hurricanes and Miami Dolphins, and in the 1980s when ESPN started their "Superbouts" series which replayed great fights of the past, Sheridan announced many of the episodes with voice-overs.

I have never cared for voice-overs of fights because they sound so rehearsed (which cannot be helped as the fight isn't live) and even during live fights, Sheridan could come off a bit campy and was a sort of forerunner for Showtime's Mauro Ranallo's style of calling boxing matches.