FILE - In this June 29, 1986, file photo, Diego Maradona holds up his team s trophy after Argentina s 3-2 victory over West Germany at the World Cup final soccer match at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City. The Argentine soccer great who was among the best players ever and who led his country to the 1986 World Cup title died from a heart attack on Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2020, at his home in Buenos Aires. He was 60. (AP Photo/Carlo Fumagalli, File)
Carlo Fumagalli
Victoria Will
associated press file photos
Lawrence Jackson
By David Mullen
As is the tradition of this column at the beginning of a new year, we look back at the personalities who passed away in the previous year but had a profound impact on the sports that they served. Many were pinnacles of their game, including seven baseball Hall of Famers and one who deserves enshrinement.
Members of Cooperstown who passed were Al Kaline, 85, the classy right-handed hitter called “Mr. Tiger,” Tom Seaver, 75, the most visible player on the “Amazing Mets” 1969 World Series champion team, St. Louis Cardinals legends Lou Brock, 81, one of the greatest leadoff hitters and base stealers of all-time and Bob Gibson, 84, one of the most competitive pitchers in MLB history, Whitey Ford, 91, the greatest starting pitcher in New York Yankees history, Joe Morgan, 77, who was born in Bonham, raised in Oakland and a two-time NL MVP as a member of Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine and Phil Niekro, 81, a knuckleballer with 318 career victories.
Final goodbye: Recalling influential people who died in 2020 - World News castanet.net - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from castanet.net Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Remembering those who died in 2020, from Ruth Bader Ginsburg and B. Smith to Chadwick Boseman and Eddie Van Halen
Updated Dec 31, 2020;
Posted Dec 31, 2020
FILE - In this Sept. 26, 2018, file photo, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg leaves the stage after speaking to first-year students at Georgetown Law in Washington. Ginsburg died of metastatic pancreatic cancer at age 87. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)AP
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By BERNARD McGHEE, The Associated Press
In a year defined by a devastating pandemic, the world lost iconic defenders of civil rights, great athletes and entertainers who helped define their genres.
Many of their names hold a prominent place in the collective consciousness RBG, Kobe, Maradona, Eddie Van Halen, Little Richard, Sean Connery, Alex Trebek, Christo but pandemic restrictions often limited the public’s ability to mourn their loss in a year that saw more than a million people die from the coronavirus.
Gallery: Recalling lives lost in 2020
Bernard McGhee Associated Press
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English actress Honor Blackman poses for photographers during a break from the filming in London. Blackman, 94, the potent British actress who took James Bond’s breath away as Pussy Galore in “Goldfinger” and who starred as the leather-clad, judo-flipping Cathy Gale in “The Avengers,” died April 5. (AP Photo/Leonard Brown, File) Show MoreShow Less
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Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak delivers a speech at the first day of the 5th annual convention of the ruling National Democratic Party in Cairo, Egypt. Mubarak, 91, the Egyptian leader who was the autocratic face of stability in the Middle East for nearly 30 years before being forced from power in an Arab Spring uprising, died Feb. 25. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser, File) Show MoreShow Less