• Recent Obituaries - Sports



  • Ed Czekaj (2009)

    Ed  Czekaj

    STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (Associated Press) - Former Penn State University athletic director Ed Czekaj, who was credited with helping coach Joe Paterno build the football team for its success in the 1970s and into the 1980s, has died at age 87. Czekaj died Monday at a retirement home in State College, the university said. The native of Mount Pleasant, Pa., was a three-year letterman on the...

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  • Ken Kirk (2009)

    Ken  Kirk

    Associated Press TUPELO, Miss. -- Ken Kirk, a co-captain on the 1959 Ole Miss national championship football team, has died at a Tupelo hospital. He was 71. Kirk died Monday at the North Mississippi Medical Center after a brief illness. The Tupelo native lettered for three seasons at Ole Miss as a fullback and center. He played four years at linebacker in the NFL, playing games for...

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  • Bobby Frankel (2009)

    Bobby  Frankel

    LOS ANGELES (AP) - Bobby Frankel, a gruff Hall of Fame trainer who possessed a gift for coaxing top performances out of ornery, high-strung thoroughbreds, died of cancer Monday at his home in Pacific Palisades, jockey agent Ron Anderson said. He was 68. Frankel had been running his stable by phone for most of the year while undergoing treatment and concealing details of his illness from...

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  • Elijah Joshuah "E.J." Williams (2009)

    Elijah Joshuah "E.J." Williams

    Associated Press BLUFFTON, S.C. -- The father of former NBA star Jayson Williams has died. The Brice W. Herndon and Sons Funeral Home said Elijah Joshua "E.J." Williams died Tuesday. He was 76. Christopher Adams, an attorney for Jayson Williams, said E.J. Williams died at his son's home in Bluffton, S.C., of complications from several strokes. E.J. Williams was a longtime resident...

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  • Earl Cooley, 98 (1911 - 2009)

    Earl  Cooley

    The following story courtesy of The Wall Street Journal By STEPHEN MILLER On the afternoon of July 12, 1940, Earl Cooley jumped out of an airplane and into history by parachuting to fight an Idaho forest fire, as part of the first team of smokejumpers. Mr. Cooley, who died Nov. 9 at age 98, went on to become the superintendent of the U.S. Forest Service's first squad of smokejumpers,...

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