DEATHS ; Notable Passings; The Thread to Pay Last Respects

[Trenchfriend]

R.I.P., Bill Withers!!

 

[Worf]

Yeah... This is a tough one... My fave is "Grandma's Hands" Makes me cry all the time... A good singer/songwriter if not a great one. Humble too.

"Me being inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame by Stevie Wonder is like a Lion opening the door for a Kitten."

Worf

 

[OldStrummer]

Bobby Mitchell, NFL Hall of Fame running back for the Washington Redskins, and before that, the Cleveland Browns, at 84 of heart complications.

Mitchell was the first African-American signed by the Redskins, the last team in the NFL to integrate. After his playing career, he worked for the Redskins in their front office from 1969-2003.

It's ironic to note that the same team that was the last to sign a black player, was also the first team to win a Super Bowl with a black starting quarterback (Doug Williams, SB XXII).

 

[MisterCairo]

Honor Blackman, best known (for better or for worse) as Pussy Galore in James Bond, has died, aged 94. She died yesterday, April 5th, 2020. Link and picture to follow.

 

[belfastboy]

Bobby Mitchell, NFL Hall of Fame running back for the Washington Redskins, and before that, the Cleveland Browns, at 84 of heart complications.

Mitchell was the first African-American signed by the Redskins, the last team in the NFL to integrate. After his playing career, he worked for the Redskins in their front office from 1969-2003.

It's ironic to note that the same team that was the last to sign a black player, was also the first team to win a Super Bowl with a black starting quarterback (Doug Williams, SB XXII).

Wow, this brings back fond memories. I loved watching Bobby play.

 

[GHT]

Honor Blackman, best known (for better or for worse) as Pussy Galore in James Bond, has died, aged 94. She died yesterday, April 5th, 2020. Link and picture to follow.

Honor Blackman, she is definitely the fine wine of womanhood. She always simply looked good, never tried to look younger, no nips, tucks or botox. This link will show you briefly, her life in pictures. https://www.theguardian.com/film/gallery/2020/apr/06/honor-blackman-a-life-in-pictures

 

[belfastboy]

Bobby Mitchell, NFL Hall of Fame running back for the Washington Redskins, and before that, the Cleveland Browns, at 84 of heart complications.

Mitchell was the first African-American signed by the Redskins, the last team in the NFL to integrate. After his playing career, he worked for the Redskins in their front office from 1969-2003.

It's ironic to note that the same team that was the last to sign a black player, was also the first team to win a Super Bowl with a black starting quarterback (Doug Williams, SB XXII).

I was a big kid so my football days were spend on the offensive line. If I was lucky I would get a few reps as a blocking fullback and on a great day would get an outlet pass thrown my way as an outlet. BUT in my mind, I was fleet of foot, shifty and graceful....just like Bobby Mitchell. Can't tell you how many incredible touchdowns I scored with my speed and grace.....alas but only in my mind. I would close my eyes and I too could run like Bobby.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Baseball great Al Kaline has died at the age of 85. He signed with the Detroit Tigers the day after he graduated from high school in 1953, and two weeks later made his major league debut against the Philadelphia A's. He never wore a minor league uniform, and he never played for any major league club but the Tigers, retiring in 1974 with a lifetime .297 average, 3007 hits, and 399 homers. He always said it never bothered him that he didn't make it an even 400.

It always unsettles me when someone I saw play in person "dies at the age of 85." Next thing you know, you'll tell me Yaz is 81.

I also used to wonder if, since there was a player named "Al Kaline," why there wasn't also a player named "A. Cid."

 

[Fading Fast]

Baseball great Al Kaline has died at the age of 85. He signed with the Detroit Tigers the day after he graduated from high school in 1953, and two weeks later made his major league debut against the Philadelphia A's. He never wore a minor league uniform, and he never played for any major league club but the Tigers, retiring in 1974 with a lifetime .297 average, 3007 hits, and 399 homers. He always said it never bothered him that he didn't make it an even 400.

It always unsettles me when someone I saw play in person "dies at the age of 85." Next thing you know, you'll tell me Yaz is 81.

I also used to wonder if, since there was a player named "Al Kaline," why there wasn't also a player named "A. Cid."

Since you and I are the same age, I get it. Based on a combination of my memory and my mother's very shaky memory, the first ball game I went to was when I was 5 in '69. Hence, if a veteran was 36 years old that year - not a crazy number - and is still alive today, he'd be 87 years old.

 

[belfastboy]

Baseball great Al Kaline has died at the age of 85. He signed with the Detroit Tigers the day after he graduated from high school in 1953, and two weeks later made his major league debut against the Philadelphia A's. He never wore a minor league uniform, and he never played for any major league club but the Tigers, retiring in 1974 with a lifetime .297 average, 3007 hits, and 399 homers. He always said it never bothered him that he didn't make it an even 400.

It always unsettles me when someone I saw play in person "dies at the age of 85." Next thing you know, you'll tell me Yaz is 81.

I also used to wonder if, since there was a player named "Al Kaline," why there wasn't also a player named "A. Cid."

It really hits home when the children of players I idolized start hitting the obits. Kaline was one of the greats, class act, unassuming star. Oh how I miss the days.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I can't get over how unsettling it is. To me an "85-year-old ballplayer" on the obituary page is some guy who played for John McGraw's Giants. How can it be somebody I remember?

 

[belfastboy]

I can't get over how unsettling it is. To me an "85-year-old ballplayer" on the obituary page is some guy who played for John McGraw's Giants. How can it be somebody I remember?

I had that exact same baseball card!

 

[OldStrummer]

I had that exact same baseball card!

As did I!

 

[HudsonHawk]

John Prine, one of the all time great American singer-songwriters died today due to complications from Covid-19. He was 73

 

[Trenchfriend]

Never heared of him, before. May He rest in peace.

 

[Feraud]

Richard Torresgrossa, author of Cary Grant: A Celebration of Style passed away Feb. 20th.
https://www.amazon.com/Cary-Grant-Celebration-Richard-Torregrossa/dp/0821257609

 

[Nobert]

Mort Drucker, 91, ubiquitous Mad Magazine artist who drew most of their feature parodies for decades:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/arts/mort-drucker-dead.html

 

[LizzieMaine]

The greatest caricaturist of his generation. His movie parodies were often much better than the real thing.

 

[LizzieMaine]

A prominent philosopher and gifted mathematician who was also one of the most famous child performers of the 1940s has died at the age of 83. Joel Kupperman rose to fame at the age of five as one of the most precocious of radio's "Quiz Kids," and remained with the program for over a decade, mingling with the elite of show business, selling millions of dollars worth of war bonds, and even co-starring in a movie with Donald O'Connor. And when he realized he was being exploited, he quit show business cold and never returned. Instead, he spent his adult life immersed in the study of ethical philosophy, and wrote several thought-provoking texts on the subject while teaching for decades at the University of Connecticut.

He rarely discussed his celebrity past, even with his family -- refusing to participate in "Quiz Kids" reunions and declining interviews on the topic. But a few years ago he began to talk to his son, cartoonist Michael Kupperman, about his childhood -- and finally seemed to come to terms with that closed chapter in his life. The result was a remarkable "graphic memoir" by Michael Kupperman, telling his father's story -- "All The Answers," published in 2018, a loving tribute to a father he never fully understood, and to a life that managed to survive circumstances he'd never wanted. A highly-recommended look at the darker side of celebrity life in the Era and what it could do to people who had no real desire to be celebrities.

 

[MisterCairo]

Sir Stirling Moss, OBE, Formula 1 racing legend, has died after an amazing life, aged 90.

If you read his story, the dimuative driver (5' 4"), nearly killed more than once racing, forced to retire at only 31, he even fell down an elevator shaft working on his own house in his 80s, you realize what a life lived really means.

Link and photos when can, or if someone could oblige...