Sports obituaries

[sox83cubs84]

Lute Olsen, the head coach for men's basketball at the University of Arizona, died on 8/27 at age 85.

Olsen spent 25 seasons at Arizona, with his team winning the whole ball of wax in 1997, and coaching the Wildcats to 23 straight appearances in March Madness. He also took 5 more trips to the Big Dance at the helm for Iowa and Long Beach State, with one of those trips ending up with the Hawkeyes in the Final Four.

Enshrined in both the Basketball Hall of Fame and the Collegiate Basketball HOF, Olsen retired with 776 career coaching wins.

Dave Miedema

[sox83cubs84]

Jay Johnstone, a longtime OF and PH and a Hall of Fame level clubhouse prankster, died on 9/26 at age 74, due to complications from COVID19.

Johnstone played for 20 seasons (1966-85) and was part of two World Series winners (1978 Yankees and 1981 Dodgers.) Other teams he played for include the Angels, White Sox, A's, Phillies, Padres and Cubs.

Dave Miedema

[sox83cubs84]

Mario Henderson, an OT who spent 2007-10 in an Oakland Raiders uniform, died 10/21 at age 35.

Dave Miedema

[sox83cubs84]

Tommy Heinsohn, a lifelong Boston Celtics great who played, coached and also was a game announcer, died on 11/9 at age 86.

Heinsohn is the only man to be associated with the Celtics for all 17 of their NBA Championships. He is also one of only 4 basketball HoFers to be inducted as a player and a coach.

Dave Miedema

[sox83cubs84]

Dan Pfister, a RHP whose 4-year MLB career was saddled by playing all 4 seasons with a perennial cellar dweller, died 11/9 at age 83.

Pfister's 4 seasons in the Bigs (1961-64) were all spent with the Kansas City Athletics.

Dave Miedema

[sox83cubs84]

Billy DeMars, a back-up infielder in 3 seasons in The Show, and who later become a longtime coach with the Phillies, died on 12/10 at age 95.

DeMars first appeared in the Majors with the Philadelphia A's in 1948. Not in the Majors in '49, he came back to MLB with the St. Louis
Browns for 1950-51, with his '51 ledger indicating that he only played in 1 game that season.

Dave Miedema

[sox83cubs84]

[sox83cubs84]

Pro Basketball HoFer Paul Westphal, best remembered as a star player for the Phoenix Suns, died on 1/2 at age 70 due to brain cancer.

Over 12 seasons in the NBA, Westphal had two tours of duty with the Suns (1975-80 and again in 1983-84, his final year as an active player.) His rookie season was in 1972-73 with the Celtics, spending 3 season in Boston Garden and winning his only NBA championship as a player there. He spent 1 season with Seattle and the two after that with the Knicks between his two stints with Phoenix. He wore jersey #44 for his entire NBA playing career.

Over his playing career, he was an All-Star 5 times, and a member of the all-NBA team 4 times.

After his playing career, he spent roughly 2 decades as an NBA coach, with head coach gigs with the Suns, the Sonics and the Kings. His first season as a head coach was also his most successful. That was 1992-93, when he coached the Suns to the Western Conference Championship before being beaten by the Bulls in the NBA Finals.

Dave Miedema