Photos: 2021 Notable sports deaths

Sports

Photos: 2021 Notable sports deaths

Look back at some of the notable sports figures who died in 2021.

JULY 17 - Greg Knapp was a onetime offensive coordinator with the Atlanta Falcons. Knapp coached in the NFL for 23 seasons with seven teams, including two stops in Atlanta - as offensive coordinator from 2004-06 and quarterbacks coach from 2018-20. Knapp died after being hit by a car while riding a bicycle near his home. He was 58.

JULY 12 - Paul Orndorff wrestled in the 1980s in the WWE under the name "Mr. Wonderful." Orndorff was one of the four main headliners of the first Wrestlemania, the WWE's signature event. The wrestling Hall of Famer - who lived in Fayetteville, Ga., had been diagnosed with dementia. He was 71.

JUNE 8 - Jim Fassel, the 1997 NFL coach of the year, guided the Giants from 1997 to 2003, posting a 58-53-1 record. He was 2-3 in the postseason, including a 34-7 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in the Super Bowl in February 2001. He was on coaching staffs at Denver, Oakland, Arizona and Baltimore, as well as head coach at the University of Utah. He also helmed the United Football League’s Las Vegas Locomotives. Fassel was 71.

MAY 11 - Colt Brennan, former quarterback at Hawaii, finished third in the 2007 Heisman Trophy balloting. Brennan faced the Georgia Bulldogs in the 2008 Sugar Bowl. He was drafted by Washington in the sixth round of the NFL draft in 2008, but he never played a regular season game in two seasons. He was 37.

APRIL 22 - Terrence Clarke, a freshman guard at Kentucky, who had declared for the 2021 NBA Draft. Clarke averaged 9.6 points in just eight games with the Wildcats. He was 19.

MARCH 27 - Howard Schnellenberger played for Paul "Bear" Bryant at Kentucky and embarked on a legendary coaching career of his own, coaching under Bryant at Alabama and NFL Hall of Famers George Allen and Don Shula. Schnellenberger led Miami to its first national championship. He revitalized the program at Louisville. He built the football program at Florida Atlantic. He won 158 games at four colleges and coached the Baltimore Colts (4-13) for parts of two seasons. He was 87.

MARCH 25 - Stan Albeck was an assistant coach on Lenny Wilken's Atlanta Hawks coaching staff for three seasons. Albeck amassed a 307-267 record as head coach with the Spurs, Cavaliers and Nets during a long NBA career that included a one-year stint with the Chicago Bulls during Michael Jordan's second year in the league. Albeck was 89.

MARCH 22 - Elgin Baylor was a Hall of Fame basketball player who served two decades as general manager of the L.A. Clippers. The top overall pick in 1958 by the Minneapolis Lakers, Baylor won MVP and Rookie of the Year honors in 1959. An 11-time All-Star, Baylor averaged 27.4 points and 11.4 rebounds. He appeared in eight NBA finals and was a member of the 1972 Lakers team that won a championship. He was 86.

MARCH 13 - Boxer "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler, a southpaw, defended his middleweight belt in 12 bouts for six years and seven months, losing to Sugar Ray Leonard by split decision in 1987. Hagler retired nearly two years later and become an actor in Italy. He was 66

MARCH 8 - Left-handed Rheal Cormier spent 16 seasons in the majors pitching for six teams. He was 71-64 with two saves and a 4.03 ERA with St. Louis, Boston, Montreal, Philadelphia and Cincinnati. He was a two-time Olympian, playing for his native Canada in 1988 and 2008. He was 53.

FEB. 25 - Darrius Johnson was a defensive back on two Denver Broncos Super Bowl winning teams - against the Falcons in 1999. A fourth-round pick out of Oklahoma in 1996, Johnson appeared in 67 NFL games over five seasons. He was 47.

FEB. 15 - Vincent Jackson spent 12 years a wide receiver in the NFL with the Buccaneers and Chargers. A three-time Pro Bowl Selection, Jackson surpassed the 1,000-receiving yard mark six times in a career that stretched from 2005 to 2016. He was 38.

JAN. 29 - John Chaney, the longtime basketball coach of Temple University, led the Owls to 17 trips to the NCAA Tournament - five to the Elite Eight - winning 741 games at the Philadelphia school and Division II Cheney, where he won a national title. He was 89.

JAN. 26 - Sekou Smith was a beloved former basketball writer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution who went on to gain a national following as an analyst on NBA TV. Smith worked for the Clarion-Ledger and covered the Indiana Pacers for the Indianapolis Star before joining the AJC in 2005. He left to join Turner Sports where he wrote for NBA.com, appeared as an analyst on NBA TV and served as host of the "Hang Time" podcast over the past 11 years. He was 48.

JAN. 22 - Hank Aaron spent nearly all of his 23-year Hall of Fame career with the Braves. He inspired Black Americans by overcoming intense racism in his pursuit of baseball's home run record. The one time baseball’s all-time home run king, finished his career with 755 homers. He retired as the all-time RBI leader (2,297) also racked up the most extra-base hits (1,477) and finished in the top three for at-bats (second with 12,364), runs (second with 2,174 in a tie with Babe Ruth), games (third with 3,298) and hits (third with 3,771). He was inducted into Cooperstown in 1982. He was 86.

JAN. 18 - Don Sutton was a Hall of Fame pitcher who broadcast Atlanta Braves games on TV and radio for almost three decades. Sutton won 324 games with an ERA of 3.26 for five major league teams from 1966-88. He broadcast Braves games for all but two years from 1989-2018. He earned a spot in baseball’s Hall of Fame in 1998. His 3,574 strikeouts are the seventh-most all-time. He was 75.

JAN. 18 - Tony Ingle was a basketball coach who produced winning teams at the high school and college level in Georgia during a career that spanned three decades. He led Cherokee High to a state title game appearance in 1982 before moving to college ranks at Gordon College, Alabama-Huntsville and BYU. He was most successful at Kennesaw State, where he led the Owls to three Division II national tournament appearances from 2003-05, winning the title in 2004. In 2013, he coached his alma mater, Dalton State (formerly Dalton Junior College), to an NAIA Division I championship. Ingle was 68.

JAN. 8 - Tommy Lasorda was a baseball Hall of Fame manager who guided the Los Angeles Dodgers to two World Series titles and later became an ambassador for the sport. Lasorda spent 71 years with the Dodgers, working as a player, scout, manager and front office executive dating to their roots in Brooklyn. He compiled a 1,599-1,439 record, won World Series titles in 1981 and '88, four National League pennants and eight division titles while serving as manager from 1977 to 1996. He was 93.

JAN. 2 - Paul Westphal was a Hall of Fame basketball player who won a title with the Boston Celtics in 1974 and later coached the Phoenix Suns to the 1993 NBA Finals. Westphal, a five-time All-Star guard played 12 seasons with Boston, Phoenix, Seattle and New York. He went on a successful coaching career as a head coach or assistant with Phoenix, Seattle, Dallas, Sacramento and Brooklyn. In the college ranks, he coached Grand Canyon College to the 1988 NAIA title and led Pepperdine to a NCAA Tournament appearance. He would later be an analyst on L.A. Lakers and Clippers broadcasts. He was 70.

JAN. 1 - Floyd Little was a Hall of Fame running back who starred at Syracuse and for the Denver Broncos. During his nine-year pro career that began in 1967, Little rushed for 6,323 yards and 43 touchdowns and caught 215 passes for 2,418 yards and nine TDs. He had the most all-purpose yards in pro football and ranked second only to O.J. Simpson in yards rushing over his career. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983 and the Pro Football Hall in 2010. He was 78.

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JULY 17 - Greg Knapp was a onetime offensive coordinator with the Atlanta Falcons. Knapp coached in the NFL for 23 seasons with seven teams, including two stops in Atlanta - as offensive coordinator from 2004-06 and quarterbacks coach from 2018-20. Knapp died after being hit by a car while riding a bicycle near his home. He was 58.

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