Goodbye to Luis Sharpe at the age of 65.
Sharpe spent thirteen seasons with the Cardinals in St.Louis and Arizona after the Cardinals drafted him sixteenth overall in the 1982 draft from UCLA.
An offensive tackle, Sharpe made three Pro Bowls from 1987 to 89, but as good as his career was, it could have been even better without one career decision.
Sharpe played out his contract with the then-St. Louis Cardinals following the 1984 season, signing with the USFL's Memphis Showboats for the 1985 season.
Since the USFL played in the spring, Sharpe moved from the Cardinals to the Showboats without a break and played eighteen games with Memphis.
The USFL ceased operations after the 1985 season, and Sharpe was free to return to the Cardinals for the 1985 fall season.
Sharpe essentially played over three seasons of football without a rest, and even though he was still an excellent tackle, I believe that he would have been a Hall of Fame-level player without the grueling schedule.
Goodbye to Rahaman Ali at the age of 82.
The younger brother of Muhammad Ali, Rahaman, never reached heavyweight contention as a professional, finishing with a record of 14-3-1 in eighteen bouts.
Ali turned professional on the same evening ( as Rudolph Clay) that his older brother defeated Sonny Liston for the heavyweight title and lost for the first time on the undercard of Ali-Frazier I in 1971 by decision to Danny McAlinden.
Ali lost his final fight in 1972 by knockout to Jack O'Halloran, who would eventually become an actor, best known as one of the three Kryptonian villains in the 1980 film Superman II.
Goodbye to Lionel Taylor at the age of 89.
Taylor was one of the top receivers in the American Football League's history, playing mostly for the Denver Broncos.
Taylor was the first receiver to catch one hundred passes in a season (fourteen-game seasons then), accomplishing the feat in 1961, and finished with over one thousand receiving yards four times.
Taylor was named to the All-AFL first team four times and spent many years in coaching as an NFL assistant with Pittsburgh and the Los Angeles Rams, and was a head coach in college with Texas Southern and in the WLAF with the London Monarchs.
Goodbye to Clyde Austin at the age of 67.
The original "Clyde The Glide" Austin was a highly touted recruit with N.C. State in 1976 and played four seasons for the Wolfpack, averaging twelve points per game for his career.
Austin was drafted in the second round of the 1980 draft by Philadelphia, but failed to make the team.
Austin spent eight years playing with the Harlem Globetrotters to conclude his professional career.
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