2016: Notable sports deaths

Sports

2016: Notable sports deaths

A look at sports figures who died in 2016.

Dec. 29: Keion Carpenter appeared in 83 career games and notched 14 interceptions during six NFL seasons with the Atlanta Falcons and Buffalo Bills. Carpenter collapsed during on a run while vacationing with family. He was 39.

Dec. 29: College Football Hall of Famer LaVell Edwards coached the BYU Cougars for 29 seasons. He won the 1984 national championship during his tenure from 1972 to 2000. His 257 wins are second only to Joe Paterno among FBS coaches to spend their entire career at one school. His quarterbacks -- Ty Detmer, Gifford Nielsen, Marc Wilson, Jim McMahon, Steve Young, Robbie Bosco and Steve Sarkisian -- flourished on and off the field. His coaching tree includes Mike Holmgren, Andy Reid, Brian Billick, Kyle Whittingham, Mike Leach, Norm Chow, Ted Tollner and Tom Holmoe.

Craig Sager has spent 44 years in broadcasting.

Dec. 5: Dave Edwards, an All-SEC defensive player in 1961 at Auburn, was a member of the Dallas Cowboys' "Doomsday Defense." Edwards missed only one game in 12 seasons -- all in Dallas. He helped the Cowboys win three NFC Championships and one Super Bowl. He was 76.

Dec. 5: Rashaan Salaam was a running back with the Colorado Buffaloes who won the Heisman Trophy in 1994. Drafted by the Chicago Bears in the first round of the 1995 NFL Draft, Salaam became the youngest player in league history to rush for 1,000 yards at the age of 22. Salaam was found dead at a park in Boulder, Colo. He was 42.

Dec. 1: Joe McKnight, a former USC running back, was a fourth-round draft pick of the New York Jets in 2010. He played three NFL seasons with the Jets and Kansas City Chiefs. McKnight was shot and killed following an argument with another motorist at an intersection in Terrytown, La. McKnight was 28.

Nov. 26: Harry Flournoy Jr., was a co-captain of the 1966 NCAA champion Texas Western basketball team -- the first to win the title with five black starting players. Flournoy was a member of the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame Class of 2007. He died from complications of kidney failure in Atlanta. He was 72.

Nov. 10: Bill Stanfill, an All-American defensive lineman at Georgia, led the Bulldogs to two SEC Championships. He was a two-time Super Bowl champion who played for the undefeated Miami Dolphins in 1972. Stanfill, a native of Cairo, Ga., was 69.

Nov. 4: Eddie Carnett, baseball's oldest living player, began his major league baseball career as a pitcher with the Boston Braves in 1941. He also played outfield for the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Indians before a decade-long career in the minors - including the Seatte's Rainiers. His largest contribution to the game may have been helping Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller develop his slider. He was 100.

Oct. 16: Dennis Byrd was a former New Yorks Jets defensive lineman who was paralyzed during a game in 1992 but defied doctors' predictions that he would never walk again. Byrd died in a two-vehicle collision north of Claremore, Okla.

Oct. 15: Quentin Groves, a former star on Auburn's 2007 football team, shares the school's sack record (26) . He was a second-round draft pick by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2008 - the same year he was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which causes a rapid heartbeat. He played on seven NFL teams until 2014. He was 32.

Sept. 25: Arnold Palmer never liked being referred to as "The King," but the name stuck. He ranked among the most important figures in golf history, winning seven major championships and 62 PGA Tour events in a career that spanned 52 years. He won the Masters Tournaments at Augusta National four times. He spearheaded the growth of the 50-and-older Champions Tour, winning 10 times and drawing some of the biggest crowds. He was 87. | More on golf's 'king'

Sept. 24: Jose Fernandez, who defected from Cuba at the age of 15, was drafted by the Miami Marlins in 2011 and went on to become the franchise's star pitcher, named National League Rookie of the Year 2013 and a two-time All-Star. He died in a boating accident in Miami. He was 24. | More on Fernandez and Braves' reaction

Aug. 10: John Saunders was a longtime sports commentator who worked for ESPN for nearly 30 years, covering college football, basketball and hockey. Saunders did play-by-play coverage and served as an anchor on SportsCenter. He was 61.

Aug. 9: Bill Dooley was a former assistant football coach at Georgia who went on to be the head coach at Virginia Tech, North Carolina, and Wake Forest. With the Tar Heels (1967-76) Dooley won three Atlantic Coast Conference titles, including the school's first outright conference championship in 1971. He left North Carolina as the winningest coach in school history. He was the younger brother of former UGA head coach and athletic director Vince Dooley. He was 82.

Aug. 7: Race car driver Bryan Clauson died from injuries suffered in a midget crash in Belleville, Kan. Clauson, 27, had started three Indianapolis 500s since 2012 and led three laps in this year’s race before finishing 23rd.

July 22: Dennis Green was the second black head coach in the NFL's modern era, coaching the Minnesota Vikings and Arizona Cardinals for 13 seasons. He was 67. Green had a career record of 113-94, and he went 4-8 in the playoffs. His Vikings teams made eight playoff appearances in 10 seasons from 1992 to 2001.

June 28: Buddy Ryan, a defensive guru who led two Super Bowl winning defenses, coached in the NFL for 35 seasons. Ryan was a defensive coordinator with the New York Jets, Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings and Houston Oilers. He had a 55-55-1 record as a head coach with the Philadelphia Eagles and Arizona Cardinals. His sons Rex Ryan and Rob Ryan both coach in the NFL. Ryan had suffered a stroke and was battling cancer. He was 85.

June 28: Pat Summitt was the winningest coach in Division I college basketball history. She uplifted the women's game from obscurity to national prominence during her 38-year career at Tennessee. Summitt had a career record of 1,098-208 in 38 seasons, plus 8 NCAA titles. She retired from coaching in 2012 after announcing in August 2011 that she had been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease. She was 64.

June 11: Former defensive end Bryan Robinson was a 14-year NFL veteran, who spent six seasons with the Bears from 1998 to 2003. He also played for the Rams, Dolphins, Bengals and Cardinals, last playing in 2010. Robinson was found dead in a Milwaukee motel room. He was 41.

June 10: Hall of Fame hockey player Gordie Howe was one of the sport's most recognizable figures. "Mr. Hockey," tops the list of most games played (2,421 from 1946 to 1980) and is the sport's second-leading goals scorer with 1,071 goals. He was 88.

June 7: Sean Rooks, a former center for the Atlanta Hawks and six other NBA teams, died a day after interviewing for job with the N.Y. Knicks. He was a first-round pick in 1992 out of Arizona. Rooks, who was a Philadelphia 76ers assistant coach, was 46. | More on Rooks

June 6: Kimbo Slice was a popular mixed-martial arts fighter who established a large following with his street-fighting videos on YouTube. He was 42.

June 3: Muhammad Ali, a three-time world heavyweight boxing champion who proclaimed himself "the Greatest" mixed athletic prowess with brash self-confidence and was one of the most charismatic sports figures of the last century. His stance on the military draft and his conversion to Islam polarized America. He battled Parkinson’s disease for 32 years. He was 74. | More on Ali and his Atlanta influence

June 2: Donny Everett, a pitcher on Vanderbilt's baseball team, drowned trying to swim across a lake - south of Nashville - while fishing with friends. He was 19.

May 28: Don Horton coached for nearly two decades at Boston College and North Carolina State University. He was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2006 and retired from football in 2013. He was 58.

April 21: Flight attendant-turned body builder Joan Laurer, a.k.a. Chyna, was the WWE's first female wrestling star. She gave herself the title of "9th Wonder of the World" after former wrestling star Andre the Giant, who billed himself as the eighth. She left wrestling to pursue acting interests. She battled drug addiction and died of a suspected drug overdose. She was 46.

April 19: Milt Pappas, who pitched for the Braves' 1969 West Division champions, died at the age of 76. Pappas won 209 games in his 17-year career with the Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Reds, Braves and Chicago Cubs, finishing with a career ERA of 3.40 to go along with 1,728 strikeouts and 43 shutouts. | More on Pappas

April 9: Will Smith, a defensive end who tormented the Falcons for a decade as a member of the New Orleans Saints, was shot and killed in a road rage incident in New Orleans. He was 34. Smith won a Super Bowl with the Saints in 2009 as well as a BCS championship with the Ohio State Buckeyes in 2002.

March 31: Renowned football agent Eugene Parker died of kidney cancer at the age of 60. Parker represented a number of Hall of Fame players, including the Falcons' Deion Sanders (right), Emmett Smith and Rod Woodson.

March 24: Kevin Turner, a 1992 third-round pick out of Alabama, played eight seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots. In 2010, Turner was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease and spent his time helping research the links between ALS and degenerative brain disease CTE that has afflicted a number of former football players. He was 46.

March 18: Baltimore Ravens rookie cornerback Tray Walker died after being critically injured in a collision as he rode a dirt bike in Florida. He was 23.

March 9: Basketball Hall of Famer Clyde Lovellette, a 6-foot-9 center from Indiana, was one of seven players to win an NCAA title (1952), an NBA title (1953,'63 and '64) and Olympic gold (1852). He had been battling cancer. Lovellette was 86.

March 4: Bud Collins, a fixture on tennis broadcasts since the 1970s, was a writer for the Boston Globe before gaining popularity for his commentary of the sport. He was 86.

Feb. 18: Former major league baseball player Tony Phillips, once a multi-sport standout at Roswell High School, died at age 56. Phillips spent nine of his 18 major-league seasons with the Oakland A's, and he also logged five years with Detroit, two each with the Angels and White Sox, and one year for both the Mets and Toronto. He returned to Oakland for his final season in 1999. He won a World Series with the A's in 1989. | More on Phillips

Feb. 2: Mercer guard Jibri Bryan (34) was shot and killed in his car outside a Macon, Ga., convenience store. Two men - one from Atlanta - have been charged in the shooting. Bryan, from Savannah, was 23. | More on Bryan

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Dec. 29: Keion Carpenter appeared in 83 career games and notched 14 interceptions during six NFL seasons with the Atlanta Falcons and Buffalo Bills. Carpenter collapsed during on a run while vacationing with family. He was 39.

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