Sports obituaries

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K.C. Jones a Pro Basketball Hall of Famer whose entire 9-season NBA career was spent with the Celtics, died at age 88 on Christmas Day.

From 1958-59 through 1966-67, Jones' Boston team won 8 NBA Championships out of the 9 seasons he was there as a player. The only NBA stars with more NBA titles in their playing career are two of his Celtics teammates, Bill Russell and Sam Jones. Jones also won 4 NBA titles as a coach.

Jones also is one of only 7 players to win championships in the NBA and NCAA as well as an Olympic gold medal.

Dave Miedema

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[QUOTE=sox83cubs84;413562]K.C. Jones a Pro Basketball Hall of Famer whose entire 9-season NBA career was spent with the Celtics, died at age 88 on Christmas Day.

From 1958-59 through 1966-67, Jones' Boston team won 8 NBA Championships out of the 9 seasons he was there as a player. The only NBA stars with more NBA titles in their playing career are two of his Celtics teammates, Bill Russell and Sam Jones. Jones also won 4 NBA titles as a coach.

Jones also is one of only 7 players to win championships in the NBA and NCAA as well as an Olympic gold medal.

Dave Miedema

OOPS! Wrong photo.

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Ty Jordan, a RB for the University of Utah, died of an accidental gunshot wound at age 19.

Jordan was considered by most to be a rising star in NCAA Football, and had just played the last game of his freshman season a few days ago.

Dave Miedema

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Phil Niekro, a Hall of Famer and a master of the knuckleball, died on 12/26 at age 81.

"Knucksie", whose playing career spanned 24 years, is one of only a handful of MLB pitchers with career totals that ended with over 300 wins and 3,000 strikeouts. He was part of 5 All-Star teams, and earned 5 Gold Gloves.

Most of his career was spent with the Braves, beginning in 1964, when the team was still in Milwaukee, and through 1983, when they were located in Atlanta. He also returned to the Braves for his final mound appearance on 9/27/87. Between those tours of duty, Niekro spent 1984-85 with the Yankees, 1986 with the Indians, as well as part of '87, before a short stint with the Blue Jays and his final game with Atlants. He wore #35 for his entire career in The Show.

Niekro was a 20-game winner twice (1974 and '79), a 20-game loser twice (1977 and '79) and lead the NL once in won-lost percentage (17-4, .810) in 1982 and ERA (1.87 in 1967).

Dave Miedema

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Derek Aucoin, a RHP whose MLB career lasted all of 5 days, died on 12/26 at age 50.

His two appearances on the mound, both for the Montreal Expos, were on 5/21/96 and 5/25/96.

Dave Miedema

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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

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Floyd Little, a HOF RB who starred for the Denver Broncos both before and after the NFL/AFL merger, died on New Year's Day at age 78.

Playing for Denver from 1967-75, Little was named to 5 Pro Bowl teams, and was an NFL All-Pro once. In 1971 he led the AFC in rushing yards (1,133). He also placed first in touchdowns in the AFC in 1973 (12).

Dave Miedema

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George Spriggs, a LH hitting OF/PH who played for 5 seasons in the Big Leagues, died on 12/22 at age 83.

Spriggs was an original Royal, playing for Kansas City in both 1969 and 1970. Before that, he saw limited action with the Pirates from 1965-67.

Dave Miedema

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Tommy LaSorda, a HoFer based on his successful tenure as manager of the Dodgers (1976-1996), died at age 93 on 1/7.

Over that span, LaSorda was named NL Manager of the Year twice, won the World Series twice and captured the NL pennant on 4 occasions.

His playing career as a pitcher was short...cups of coffee with Brooklyn in 1954-55 and 15 games with the Kansas City A's in 1956.

After his MLB managing career was over, he took the helm of the 1998 USA Olympic baseball team, and guided them to a gold medal.

Dave Miedema

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Pedro Gonzalez, a utility player for 5 years in the American League, died on 1/10 at age 83.

Playing in The Show from 1963-67, Gonzalez spent 1963-64 with the Yankees, split 1965 between the Yankees and the Indians, staying with the Tribe through 1967.

Dave Miedema

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Tom Acker, a tall RHP who took the mound for Cincinnati from 1956-59, died at age 90 on 1/4.

Acker finished his rookie year with a sparkling 2.37 ERA. The following year, his W-L ledger was 10-5

Dave Miedema

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Don Leppert, a 2B who played for the Orioles in 40 games during the 1955 season, died on 1/5 at age 90.

Dave Miedema

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Ben Jordan, a king sized RHP for the University of Kentucky,, died on 1/11 at age 22.

Jordan took the mound for the Wildcats in 10 games in 2019.

Dave Miedema

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Hall of Famer Don Sutton, a teammate of both Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale on the 1966 NL champion Dodgers, died at age 75 on 1/19.

Sutton finished his career with 324 wins, 3,574 strikeouts with a 3.24 ERA. He was named to 4 All-Star teams and won the NL ERA title in 1980 (2.20).

He is best remembered as a Dodgers, opening his MLB career there (1966-80) and also ending it in Dodger blue (1988). He pitched for the Astros in 181 and most of 1982 before being acquired by the Brewers for the 1982 stretch run. Sutton also threw for Milwaukee in 1983-84. Most of his 1985 season was with the Athletics, although he again was a pennant race acquisition, joining the Angels late in the season and staying there for the 1986 and 1987 campaigns.

Dave Miedema

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Hank Aaron, MLB's all-time HR king for over 30 years and still the true HR king in the eyes of many, died on 1/22 at age 86.

Playing for the Braves in both Milwaukee and Atlanta for 21 years (1954-74) and then heading back to Milwaukee to wind down his career with the Brewers (1975-76), "Hammerin' Hank" clobbered 755 HR in his MLB career. He led the NL in hits twice, and led in both home runs and RBI on 4 different occasions and won 2 NL batting titles. His 2,297 RBI is still #1 on the all-time MLB list.

Aaron also won 3 Gold Gloves, an NL MVP award (1957) and is the only man in MLB annals to be a member of an All-Star Game team 25 times. Keep in mind that from 1959-1962, there were 2 All-Star Games each season.

He is known for wearing uniform #44 for nearly his entire career, the only exception being his rookie season of 1954, when he wore #5.

Dave Miedema