adminEmile Allais: French ski star died aged 100 on October 17. Son of a baker he won three world titles in 1937 and a fourth in 1938 while also garnering four minor medals and a bronze in the 1936 Winter Olympics.
Went on to found the Ecole du Ski Francais (ESF) that has since taught millions how to stay upright on the pistes.
Was a member of the elite Mont Blanc battalion when France was liberated in World War II. Post-war he was instrumental in the creation of Courchevel, now one of the top stations in the French Alps, and he was also the man who introduced metal skis to France from the United States.
AMERICAN FOOTBALL
Joe Paterno: Penn State’s iconic American football coach died aged 85 of lung cancer on January 22.
However, despite all his success coaching he will be remembered for his lack of action in a pedophilia scandal that rocked America. He was sacked in November 2011 for failing to take tougher action against former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky after being told about an incident in a locker room shower in which Sandusky allegedly molested a 10-year-old boy.
Paterno reported the incident to his superior at the university, and later acknowledged that he regretted never following up further. He didn’t live to see a statue of him erected in his honour on the university campus ingloriously dismantled in July this year as a result of the fallout of the scandal.
Junior Seau: Star linebacker with San Diego Chargers shot himself aged 43 on May 2. He spent 13 seasons with the Chargers, helping the cursed team reach the Super Bowl after the 1994 season.
Seau was incredibly the eighth member of that Super Bowl team to pass away. He was selected for the Pro Bowl 12 times. Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning said Seau and Bruce Smith were the two most dominating defenders when he entered the league with the Colts in 1998. “Junior was truly a once-in-a-lifetime player,” Manning said.
BASEBALL
Marvin Miller: The first head of the Major League Baseball Players Association who revolutionised sports with the creation of player free agency, died November 27 aged 95 of liver cancer. Miller helped major league players form a union in the late 1960s and served as the union head until 1982.
He shepherded players through three strikes and two owner-imposed lockouts, in the process forging what is one of the strongest unions in the United States.
BOXING
Hector Camacho: Thrilling Puerto Rican world champion at three weights who died aged 50 of gunshot wounds on November 24 following a shooting in San Juan.
Nicknamed “Macho” he was a charismatic showman who displayed speed and agility in the ring but his recklessness outside brought him a wealth of trouble. He won super lightweight, lightweight and light welterweight world titles in the 1980s and ended Sugar Ray Leonard’s last comeback bid in 1997 with a knockout victory.
Throughout his life, however, Camacho dealt with drug and alcohol addiction.
In 2007 he was sentenced to seven years in prison in relation to a 2005 burglary. That sentence was suspended, but he did eventually spend two weeks behind bars for violating his probation.
Mike Dokes: Former world heavyweight champion died of liver cancer aged 54 on August 11.
Nicknamed “Dynamite” Dokes had the good fortune to be around in the era in between the peak of Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Joe Frazier and Ken Norton and the arrival of Mike Tyson. He won the world title in 1982 beating Mike Weaver in a first round stoppage.
Eventually lost the title to South African Gerrie Coetzee in 1983 and his career and life went to pieces. A cocaine addict for most of his life he was sent to prison for 10 years in 2000 for the attempted murder of his girlfriend but was released in 2008.
Corrie Sanders: South African former world heavyweight champion died of gunshot wounds aged 46 on September 23. He died of his wounds sustained when he dived in front of his daughter after men burst into a Johannesburg restaurant where the family was celebrating his nephew’s 21st birthday.
Sanders retired in 2008 with an impressive record of 42 wins against just four defeats, with his most famous victory being in 2003 when he won the WBO world heavyweight title by knocking-out Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko in the second round after putting him down four times.
Teofilo Stevenson: Legendary Cuban heavyweight who died on June 11 aged 60 of a heart attack.
Many thought that if he had turned professional he would have been a match for Muhammad Ali, though, his amateur bouts were a lot shorter than the professional game. Won three Olympic titles — in what is now the super-heavyweight category — from 1972-80 with a flamboyant and crowd pleasing style.
Despite lucrative offers to turn pro and take on Ali he stayed loyal to the Cuban revolution. “What is one million dollars compared with the love of eight million Cubans?” he said after he turned down an offer following the 1976 Games.
Johnny Tapia: American five-time world boxing champion died aged 45 on May 27 after taking an overdose.
He earned world titles in the super flyweight, bantamweight and featherweight divisions in a professional career that began in 1988.
However, Tapia — who adopted the nickname “My Crazy Life” — battled drug and alcohol problems throughout his career which included being hospitalised in 2007 after an apparent cocaine overdose.
CRICKET
Kevin Curran: Zimbabwean all-rounder died on October 10 aged 53 after collapsing while out jogging.
One of the first from his country to be considered good enough to play at English county level, representing Gloucestershire and Northants in England in the 1980s and 1990s. Also played in two World Cups and coached his national side from 2005-07.
DARTS
Jocky Wilson: Two-time former world darts champion Jocky Wilson died on March 25 aged 62 of the lung disorder chronic pulmonary obstructive disease.
Pugnacious Scotsman, who lost all his teeth at an early age because he believed his grandmother when she told him that the water had been poisoned by the “Sassenachs” (English).
He reached at least the quarter-finals of every World Championship between 1979 and 1991 and was a four-time British champion between 1981 and 1988 and a three-time Scottish Masters champion. — AFP.
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