Time for another recurring post of tributes to people who have recently left our Earth.
Goodbye to Mike Patrick at the age of 80.
Patrick is best known for his work on college football, the NFL, and college basketball for ESPN, but to me, Patrick will always be the voice of ACC basketball in the eighties on the Raycom/Jefferson Pilot network.
Patrick called the famous "Len Bias" game when Maryland upset North Carolina in overtime to hand the Tar Heels their first-ever defeat in the "Dean Dome", among many outstanding ACC clashes.
Patrick was also the sports anchor at WJLA in Washington as one of arguably the three best sports anchors in one market with WUSA's Glenn Brenner and WRC's George Michael.
Before moving to Washington, Patrick worked in Jacksonville with one of his jobs as the play-by-play voice of the WFL's Jacksonville Sharks.
Goodbye to Tommy Helms at the age of 83.
The 1966 National League Rookie of the Year, Helms was named to two All-Star teams (1967 and 1968) and won two Gold Gloves at second base in 1970 and 71 for the Cincinnati Reds.
Helms's best seasons were with the Reds, but he (along with Lee May) was the key players who were traded to the Houston Astros in 1972 in the famous trade that saw Joe Morgan, Cesar Geronimo, and Jack Billingham join the Reds.
Helms had four solid seasons with Houston before finishing his career with Pittsburgh and Boston in 1977.
Goodbye to Joey Archer at the age of 87.
The slick-boxing middleweight contender in the 1960s, Archer, overcame his lack of power (only eight knockouts in his 45 wins) to defeat fighters such as Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, middleweight and light heavyweight champion Dick Tiger, and defeated the great Sugar Ray Robinson in what would be the final fight of Robinson's career.
The Robinson win would be the last of Archer's career; he would lose a split decision to contender Don Fullmer and two close decisions to middleweight champion Emile Griffith before announcing his retirement.
Archer was named to the Boxing Hall of Fame despite never winning a championship in 2005.
Goodbye to Lupe Sanchez at the age of 63.
Sanchez was a standout defensive back for UCLA before signing with the USFL's Arizona Wranglers in 1984 and moving to the Orlando Renegades in 1985.
Sanchez would play for the Pittsburgh Steelers for three seasons as a defensive back and special-teams standout, intercepting four passes as a Steeler.
Goodbye to Stan Love at the age of 76.
The father of Kevin Love, Stan Love was the first round pick (ninth overall) of the then-Baltimore Bullets and signed with the Bullets over the ABA's Dallas Chapparals.
Love would play four years of pro basketball with the Bullets, Lakers, and the then-ABA's San Antonio Spurs, averaging six points per game for his career.
Love, the brother of the Beach Boys' Mike Love, would serve as a bodyguard and caretaker for another member of the Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, after his basketball career.
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