Goodbye to Paul Westphal at the age of 70.
One of my favorite players of all-time, Westphal was one of the top scorers of the 70s and averaged over twenty points a game for each of five seasons to end the 70s with the Phoenix Suns and would later coach the Suns to the 1993 NBA finals, where they would lose in six games to the Chicago Bulls.
Westphal was drafted by Boston in 1972 and during his three seasons as a Celtic, Westphal never averaged more than nine points a game or played more than twenty minutes a night for Boston and had many Celtics fans thinking that Red Auerbach had pulled the wool over the eyes of yet another team when he traded Westphal and two second-round draft picks to Phoenix in 1975 for Charlie Scott.
Scott had averaged twenty-five points a game over his three seasons in Phoenix and the trade seemed lopsided.
Instead, Westphal made the trade one-sided for Phoenix as the Suns made the playoffs four times in his five seasons in the Valley with the Suns making the NBA finals for the first time in their classic six-game loss to the Celtics.
It was Westphal who came up with the idea of calling a timeout at the end of the second overtime when the Suns were out of timeouts in order to give them a shot at tying the game with two seconds to go.
When Westphal called the timeout, Phoenix received a technical foul, Boston's Jo-Jo White hit the free throw to give Boston a two-point lead, and then Phoenix's Garfield Heard hit an off-balance toss to force a third overtime where Boston would win.
Imagine the headiness to think of that when you are in midst of such a crazy game.
For more on Paul Westphal, check our Forgotten Superstars feature on Westphal from 2014.
Goodbye to Floyd Little at the age of 78.
The first face of the Denver Bronco franchise and their first-round draft choice in 1967 from Syracuse, Floyd Little rushed for over six thousand yards in his nine-years with Denver in the days of fourteen game seasons, and when you combine his rushing with his twenty-four hundred receiving yards, Little had more combined yardage in his first six years in the AFL/NFL than any other back of the time.
Little never played in a playoff game in his career, but Little was "Mr.Bronco" as the first star for the moribund franchise's down years in Denver and was among the first inductees into the Broncos Ring of Honor.
A five-time Pro Bowler, Little made three All-Pro teams and led the NFL in rushing in 1971.
Little was named to the Hall of Fame in 2010.
Goodbye to Gerry Marsden at the age of 78.
Ryan sends word of the passing of Gerry Marsden, who was the lead singer and namesake of the British pop group "Gerry and the Pacemakers", who ranked among the top invaders of the time with several hits in the United States with one, in particular, receiving play in the current time.
Gerry and the Pacemakers were the second most popular group from Liverpool behind a group known as the Beatles and were managed by the Beatles manager Brian Epstein.
The Pacemakers had such hits as "I like it", "How Do You do it" and "You'll never walk alone", all of which hit number one in the UK.
The Pacemakers never hit the top spot in the United States but did hit the top six with "Don't Let the Sun Catch you Crying" (4) and the song I remember them best for "Ferry Cross the Mersey" (6).
"You'll never walk alone" has become the anthem for the Liverpool soccer franchise and for years was used by Jerry Lewis in the sign-off for his Labor Day telethon, which Battlin' Bob has a wonderful rendition I've been told...
Goodbye to Frankie Randall at the age of 59.
Randall held the WBA and WBC junior welterweight titles on two different occasions but will be remembered by most boxing fans for his magical night in 1993 when Randall became the first man to defeat Julio Cesar Chavez (officially that is, anyone that saw Chavez's "draw" with Pernell Whitaker) knows differently), knocking Chavez down in the eleventh round for the first time in his career.
Randall would win the split decision along with the WBC junior welterweight title from Chavez, but lose the rematch via split decision after eight rounds when Chavez was badly cut via a clash of heads.
Randall would later win, lose, and then regain the WBA version of the title from Juan Coggi before his skills began to decline after losing his title to Khalid Rahilou.
Randall would win only five of his eighteen fights after losing to Rahilou but did receive a payday for being selected by Julio Cesar Chavez to be his retirement opponent in Mexico.
Chavez won a ten round unanimous decision over Randall.
Goodbye to Wayne Radford at the age of 64.
Radford played one season for the Indiana Pacers after being selected in the second round in the 1978 draft, but his best memories were with Bob Knight's Indiana Hoosiers and Radford was a backup for the last undefeated NCAA champion- the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers.
Radford might have saved the undefeated season when Radford entered a game against Michigan with Michigan having Indiana on the ropes for what would be the Hoosiers' first loss.
Radford hit six of seven from the floor, rallied Indiana, and when a fluky Kent Benson tip-in at the buzzer forced an overtime that Indiana would control, the closest call to the undefeated season was history.
