Hello Everyone!
So here’s the story. A little over two months ago I started to assemble my annual Memorial Collage, that is my yearly tribute to those notable people who passed in the last year. (you can see last year’s here). It can be quite a progress; listing all the names, ages and causes of death, finding a good picture of the person, deciding who gets more than one picture due to lifetime achievement, etc. Then there’s the matter of sorting them into groups, and outlining and numbering them in a key, and so forth.
WELL, this year after many hours of mind-boggling re-arranging, I looked at the final project and I realized that it was TOO DARN BIG to really appreciate each individual’s contribution to society. Not to mention it overwhelming in scope!! Over 300 names! The last thing I want to do is overtax one’s brain looking for their favorite celebrity or news-maker. So two weeks ago I started ALL OVER again. The best option was to divide all these people up into their own individual group collage. At least it was easier to create since the individual .png files had been cut out and labeled already!
So here, finally, is Part 1 in my series of 6 collages — Athletics! Appropriate for Super Bowl Sunday, no?
Now unlike most Americans, I am not into Football or most sports at all (save the occasional local baseball game or Battlebots!), but as every year, I enjoy learning about the people who passed, even if it’s sad to say goodbye. Bless them all.
Be sure to check back every day this week for a new category, and have a lovely day!

ATHLETES
- Pete Rose, 83, Cardiovascular disease and Diabetes
- Don Gullet, 73 Heart issues
- Rickey Henderson, 65, Pneumonia
- Rocky Colavito, 91, Type 2 Diabetes
- Carl Erskine, 97, Pneumonia
- Kelvin Kiptum, 24, World Record Holder, Car Accident
- Bobby Allison, 86, (undisclosed)
- Tamayo Perry, 49, Master of Surfing, Shark attack
- Jose DeLeon, 63, Cancer
- Mike Brumley, 61, Car Accident
- Willie Mays , 93,“The Say Hey Kid” 93, Heart Failure
- Sean Burroughs, 43, Fentanyl intoxication
- Orlando Cepeda, 86, (undisclosed)
- Rico Carty, 85, (undisclosed)
- Fernando Valenzuela, 63, Liver cancer
- Len Randle, 75, (undisclosed)
- Chi-Chi Rodriguez, 88, (undisclosed)
- Wally Dallenbach Sr. 87, (natural causes)
- Fred Lorenzen, 89, Dementia
- Greg Gumbel, 78, beloved Sportscaster
- Parnelli Jones, 90, Parkinsons.
- Jack Burke Jr., 100 (natural causes)
- Ozzie Virgil Sr. 92, Pancreatitis
- Bud Harrleson, 79, Alzheimer’s
- Jerry Grote, 81, heart procedure
- Ken Holtzman, 78, heart disease
- Dave McCoy 54, Heart Attack
- Luis Tiant, 83, (undisclosed)
- Hector Ortiz 54, pancreatic Cancer
- Sid Eudy, 63, Cancer (Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma)
- Peter Westerbrook, 72, Liver cancer
- Amil Abdir Rahim, 43, Mededical Procedure Complication.
- Darius Morris, 33, Heart failure
- Dikembe Motombo, 58, Brain Tumor
- Joe ‘Jellybean’ Bryant Sixers, and father of Kobe, Massive Stroke.
- Josh Maravich, 42, Son of Pete, Congestive Heart Failure
- Jerry West, 86 Laker Legend, Model for the NBA Logo
- Bob Love, 81, Cancer
- Al Attles, 87, After weeks in Hospice Care.
- Chet Walker, 84, Long Term Illness
- Robert Reid 68. Cancer
- Holden Trent, 25, Car accident
- Israel Vazquez, 46, Cancer
- Franz Beckenbauer, 78, Natural causes
- Tony Huston, 49, (undisclosed)
- Ronald Powell, 32, (undisclosed illness
- Bryce Stanfield, 21, Pulmonary embolism
- Khyree Jackson, 24, Car accident
- Andre Seldon Jr, 22, Drowned
- Jacoby Jones, 40, Cardiovascular disease
- Rich Caster, 75, Long illness
- Andy Russell, 82, Alzheimer’s disease
- Jack Squirek, 64, (undisclosed illness)
- Vontae Davis, 35, Injury from fall
- Eugene “Mercury” Morris, 77, (undisclosed).
- Bill Walton, 71, Cancer
- Chris Simon, 52, Suicide, CTE
- Stan Bowles 75, Alzheimer’s
- Marco Anguilo 22, Car Crash
- Duane Thomas 77, Pulmonary embolism
- Pat Fischer, 84, Dememtia
- Larry Allen, 52, (undisclosed)
- Frank Ryan, 87, Alzheimer’s
- Roman Gabriel, 83, Natural causes
- Jimmy Johnson 86, (undisclosed)
- Bill Bergey, 79, Cancer
- Billy Shaw, 85, Hyponatremia
- Terry Beasley, 73, Complications from old Concussions
- Norm Snead, 84 (undisclosed)
- Golden Richards, 73, Heart Failure
- Joe Schmidt 92, (undisclosed)
- Jim Otto, 86, Dementia
- Bill Hay, 88, (undisclosed)
- Matthew Gaudreau, 29, and brother
- Johnny (Mr. Hockey) Gaudreau 31, both killed by drunken driver while bicycle riding.
