Whitey Ford, Yankees' Winningest Pitcher, R.I.P.

 Whitey Ford, the New York Yankees' Hall of Fame pitcher who won more World Series games than any other, passed away on Thursday night at age 91.

Mr. Ford, who spent his entire 16-year Major League career with the Yankees, played on six World Series championship teams and was a ten-time All-Star.

Whitey was elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame in 1974 (the same year as fellow Yankee legend Mickey Mantle).

More on Whitey's career can be found here.

Charlie Daniels, Country Music Legend, R.I.P.

Singer, songwriter, and fiddler Charlie Daniels, the iconic and legendary Country Music Hall of Famer and longtime Grand Ole Opry member best remembered for his 1979 hit "The Devil Went To Georgia,"
passed away on Monday after suffering a hemorrhagic stroke at age 83.

Mr. Daniels' publicist, Don Murray Grubbs, confirmed Charlie's passing.

More on Charlie's life and career here.

Kirk Douglas, Iconic Hollywood Legend, R.I.P.

Kirk Douglas, one of the last survivors from Hollywood's Golden Age, best remember for starring in movies such as "Lust For Life," "Spartacus," and "Paths of Glory," passed away on Wednesday at age 103 at his Beverly Hills, California home.

Michael Douglas, Kirk's son, announced his father's passing in his Facebook page.

You'll find more on Kirk's life and legendary career here.

Kobe Bryant, Lakers Legend Who Played On Five NBA Title Teams, R.I.P.

Kobe Bryant, the fourth-leading scorer in National Basketball Association history (33,643 points) and who starred on five Los Angeles Lakers NBA championship teams, passed away on Sunday as he and his 13-year-old daughter  were among nine people who perished in a helicopter crash in southern California.

The 41-year-old Mr. Bryant spent his entire 20-year career with the Lakers.

You can click here for more on Kobe's life and career.

Don Larsen, Who Pitched Only World Series Perfect Game, R.I.P.

Don Larsen, the New York Yankees pitcher who pitched the only perfect game in World Series history (Game five of the 1956 series against the Brooklyn Dodgers), passed away on Wednesday from esophageal cancer at age 90.

David Stern, Former Long-Time NBA Commish, R.I.P.

David Stern, the longtime National Basketball Association commissioner (1984-2014) on whose watch the league grew in size and stature, passed away on Wednesday at age 77 of complications from a brain hemorrhage suffered last month.

Jack Whitaker, Legendary CBS Sportscaster Who Called First Super Bowl, Secretariat's Triple Crown Run, R.I.P.

Jack Whitaker, the long-time veteran television sportscaster (CBS, ABC) who worked the inaugural Super Bowl in 1967 for the "Tiffany Network" and who anchored that CBS's coverage of the 1973 Triple Crown horse races, with Secretariat becoming the first horse in 25 years to earn that honor, passed away on Sunday at age 95.

Mr. Whitaker, a Philadelphia native,  passed away at Devon, Pennsylvania of natural causes. 

A look at Jack's career can be found here.

Reed Farrell, Former St. Louis DJ Who Was Filmed Smashing Rock 'N' Roll Records In 1958, R.I.P.

Reed Farrell, a former disc jockey who later went on to become president of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, passed away on July 6 at age 89.

In 1958, Mr. Farrell, when he worked at a St. Louis radio station as shown in the above clip, was filmed smashing rock 'n' roll records, proclaiming that rock and roll was finished at station KWK.

Dave Bartholomew, Composer, Bandleader, Long-Time Collaborator With Fats Domino, R.I.P.

Dave Bartholomew, the New Orleans-based bandleader, songwriter, and long-time collaborator with Rock 'n' Roll legend Fats Domino, passed away on Sunday at age 100.

Mr. Bartholomew is best known for the hits he wrote and/or wrote for Mr. Domino, such as "The Fat Man," "Ain't That A Shame" and "Blue Monday," amongst many others.

More on Dave's life and career here.

Bart Starr, Legendary Green Bay Packers Quarterback, R.I.P.

Bart Starr, the legendary Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame quarterback who was the Most Valuable Playoff of the first two Super Bowls, passed away at his Alabama home on Sunday at age 85.

Drafted out of Alabama in the 17th round of the 1956 NFL College Draft, Mr. Starr spent 16 seasons with the Packers, with his greatest years coming in the 1960s, where the Packers, coached by Vince Lombardi, won five NFL championships (and the first two Super Bowls) during a seven-year span (1961-67).

Perhaps Bart's most famous moment came in the final seconds of the 1967 NFL Championship Game, known infamously as The Ice Bowl at Green Bay's Lambeau Field, when the veteran quarterback scored the game-winning touchdown on a quarterback sneak.

Bart was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1977.

He was the Packers' head coach from 1975 to 1984. 

You can find more on Bart's career here.

Tim Conway, Beloved Comedian, Regular On "The Carol Burnett Show," R.I.P.

Beloved comedian---and six-time Emmy Award winner---Tim Conway, best remembered for his bumbling characters and his stint as frequent guest star-turned-regular on The Carol Burnett Show (CBS, 1967-78), passed away on Tuesday at age 85.

Mr. Conway was for four years a member of the cast of the ABC Network war sitcom McHale's Navy, which starred Ernest Borgnine as a sometimes larcenous Navy Lieutenant Commander during the Second World War.

That show ran from 1962 to 1966.

After having starred in a series of failed sitcoms and a short-lived variety hour, Tim, after having appeared as a frequent guest on Miss Burnett's show, become a regular on that comedy variety hour.

Many of Tim's best skits on that show were those in which he performed with fellow regular Harvey Korman.

You can find more on Tim's life and career here.

Que Sera Sera: Doris Day, Iconic Singer and Actress, R.I.P.

Doris Day, the legendary singer and actress best known for co-starring in a series of 1960s romantic motion picture comedies with Rock Hudson and who had hit records during the 1940s and 1950s, passed away on Monday at age 97.

Miss Day passed away at her Carmel Valley, California home of complications from pneumonia.

Cincinnati-born Doris began her career as a big-band vocalist, most prominently in the 1940s with Les Brown and His Band of Renown.

After starring in a series of movies, amongst those, "Romance on the High Seas," the 1955 version of "The Man Who Knew Too Much," with Jimmy Stewart (in which she sang the Oscar-winning song "Que Sera Sera," which would go on to be her theme song), and "Teachers Pet," Doris starred in a series of 1960s sex comedies that made her a box-office champion.

In 1968, she began starring as a widowed mother in the CBS TV Network sitcom The Doris Day Show, a series that reflected the attitudes of the networks during its' five-year run.

In that first season, the widowed mom lived in the country with two kids and the family dog; by the second city, mom still lived in the country but commuted to San Francisco to work for a news magazine; by the third season, mom, kids, and the dog moved into an apartment in Frisco; for the final two seasons, perhaps spurred by the success of the Mary Tyler Moore Show (and maybe by the cancellation of CBS' remaining rural-based sitcoms), Doris' character was transformed into a swinging single, working for a weekly newspaper.

For more on Doris' life and career, you can clicked right here.

Gino Marchetti, Defensive Star On Colts' 1958 and 1959 NFL Title Teams, R.I.P.

Gino Marchetti, the Hall of Fame defensive end who was a key member of the Baltimore Colts' 1958 and 1959 NFL championship teams, passed away on Monday at age 93.

Mr. Marchetti played 14 years of NFL ball, beginning with the ill-fated 1952 Dallas Texans, before joining the newly re-established Colts in 1953.

Along with fellow defensive linemen Art Donovan, Eugene "Big Daddy" Lipscomb, and Don Joyce, Gino was a member of feared defensive line that helped the Colts win back-to-back NFL titles in 1958 and 1959 (defeating the New York Giants in both of those title games).

Gino was selected to eleven Pro Bowls and was named the NFL's top defensive end of the league's first half-century.

He was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1972.

You can look for more of Gino's life and career here.

John Havlicek, Boston Celtics Legend, R.I.P.

John Havlicek, one of the greatest players in Boston Celtics (and NBA) history, passed away on Thursday at age 79.

Mr. Havlicek played all 16 NBA seasons with the Celtics and was a part of eight league championship squads (1963-66, 1968-69, 1974, 1976).

"Hondo," as John was nicknamed, had been suffering from Parkinson's disease.

John played his college ball at Ohio State, which won an NCAA national title in 1960.

John would best be known for a great defensive play in the seventh and deciding game of the 1965 Eastern Division final against the Philadelphia 76ers, as he intercepted a pass from the Sixers' from Hal Greer to Chet Walker, then passed the ball to Sam Jones to seal the game-seven victory .

The Celtics then defeated the Los Angeles Lakers for their eighth straight NBA crown.

Charles Van Doren, Quiz-Show Whiz Who Really Wasn't, R.I.P.

Charles Van Doren, the Columbia University English professor who became the most acclaimed of all the big-money quiz show contestants in the 1950s who then fessed up to Congress that it was all a scam, passed away on Tuesday in Canaan, Connecticut at age 93.

Mr. Van Doren's passing was due to natural causes.

Frank Robinson, Baseball Hall of Famer, First Player To Be Named MVP In Both Leagues, R.I.P.

Frank Robinson, the baseball Hall of Fame slugger who was the only player to win the Most Valuable Player award in both the National (Cincinnati Reds, 1961) and American (Baltimore Orioles, 1966) Leagues, passed away on Thursday at age 83.

Mr. Robinson spent part of 21 seasons in the Majors as a player.  He hit 586 home runs, tallied nearly 3,000 base hits, was a 12-time All-Star.

Frank won the Triple Crown award in 1966 with the Orioles by leading the Junior Circuit with 49 home runs, 122 runs batted in, and batting .353 as Baltimore won their first World Series title, sweeping the defending champions Los Angeles Dodgers in four games.

Frank was elected on his first try to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982.

Farewell..........

To Super Dave Osborne.

He was the brother of actor-comedian Albert Brooks and the son of comedian Harry (Parkyakarkus) Einstein.

Johnny Maddox, Legendary Ragtime Pianist, R.I.P.

Johnny Maddox, the ragtime pianist best remember for a series of hit recordings in the 1950s, passed away on Tuesday at age 91.

Amongst Mr. Maddox's hits were his 1955 version of the "Crazy Otto Rag."

You can find more on Johnny's career here.

Roy Clark, Iconic Country Music Legend, R.I.P.

Roy Clark, the legendary country music singer, guitarist, banjoist, and fiddler perhaps also remembered for his 24-season run as host of TV's Hee Haw, passed away on Thursday at age 85 at his Tulsa, Oklahoma home of complications from pneumonia.

Mr. Clark hosted Hee Haw for its' entire television run (CBS 1969-71; first-run syndication from 1971 to 1992), the first seventeen years (1969-86) co-hosting with fellow country music great Buck Owens.

A talented instrumentalist, Roy could play the electric and acoustic guitar, the fiddle, the banjo, and the mandolin, amongst other instruments.

He also had many hit recordings, including "The Tips of My Fingers" (1963), "Yesterday, When I Was Young" (1969), "Come Live With Me" (1973), and "Honeymoon Feeling" (1974).

You can find more on Roy's life and career here.

Willie McCovey, San Francisco Giants Legend and Hall of Famer, R.I.P.

Willie McCovey, the San Francisco Giants' Hall of Famer who hit 521 home runs and was one of baseball's most feared hitters, passed away on Wednesday at age 80.

Mr. McCovey had been battling health problems in recent years.

"Stretch," as Willie was nicknamed, burst onto the scene in 1959 and was named the National League's Rookie of the Year in 1959 and its' Most Valuable Player in 1962, when the Giants reached the World Series for the first time since moving West.

He played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball, retiring in 1980.  He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1986.

You can find more on Willie's career here.