Obituaries for 2020

[EasyAce]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jXrmAKBBTU

 

Thank you @roamer_1

[EasyAce]

I'm so sorry!  You will be in my prayers.

Thank you @musiclady - I appreciate that!

[Fishrrman]

Goat wrote:
"So they just recorded Weissberg and some guitar player in a studio and  timed it to what Cox and Redden were "playing" onscreen"

The guitar player was Steve Mandell, who passed on about two years ago.

Ronny Cox did a good job of synching his onscreen playing to the actual soundtrack.

[goatprairie]

Goat wrote:
"So they just recorded Weissberg and some guitar player in a studio and  timed it to what Cox and Redden were "playing" onscreen"

The guitar player was Steve Mandell, who passed on about two years ago.

Ronny Cox did a good job of synching his onscreen playing to the actual soundtrack.

Thanks for the info.

[GrouchoTex]

RIP to my friend Howard Berman, my best music friend in Las Vegas. We jammed together (he was a drummer and harmonica player and loved the blues and jazz as deeply as I do), we had a shipload of laughs and good talk, he was always calling me (sometimes every third day!) to double check the keys of blues songs he wanted to play, and most of all he was a cherished friend.

Shalom, chaver, until we get to play a few more rounds of "Sugar" (Stanley Turrentine) or "Chicago Bound" (Jimmy Rogers) or "The Sermon" (Jimmy Smith) together again . . .

As Alan Freed used to sign off, it isn't goodbye, it's just good night.

Sorry for your loss @EasyAce

[EasyAce]

Sorry for your loss @EasyAce

Thank you @GrouchoTex

[Smokin Joe]

Sorry about your friend @EasyAce.

[EasyAce]

Sorry about your friend @EasyAce.

Thank you @Smokin Joe

[Applewood]

Harlem Globetrotters legend Curly Neal dies at age 77

Neal’s 22-year stint with the exhibition team included north of 6,000 games and some incredible moments in front of awe-inspired fans.

Neal suited up with the Globetrotters during the height of their popularity from 1963-85, playing in 97 different countries. He’s right up there with Meadowlark Lemon as one of the most popular all-time members of the Globetrotters.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/harlem-globetrotters-legend-curly-neal-dies-at-age-77/ar-BB11KT6Y?ocid=msedgdhp

***

I remember as a kid watching the Globetrotters with my Dad on ABC's Wide World of Sports from time to time.  Neither of us were big basketball fans, but those Globetrotter "games"  were a lot of fun.

[PeteS in CA]

Harlem Globetrotters legend Curly Neal dies at age 77

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/harlem-globetrotters-legend-curly-neal-dies-at-age-77/ar-BB11KT6Y?ocid=msedgdhp

***

I remember as a kid watching the Globetrotters with my Dad on ABC's Wide World of Sports from time to time.  Neither of us were big basketball fans, but those Globetrotter "games"  were a lot of fun.

I have similar family memories. Curly had a great hairstyle!

[mountaineer]

I remember being dazzled by Curly's bball skills when I saw the Globetrotters around 1970. So entertaining.

[Smokin Joe]

I remember being dazzled by Curly's bball skills when I saw the Globetrotters around 1970. So entertaining.

Yes, same here. I'm not much on basketball, but that was great fun. RIP, Mr. Neal, and thanks for great memories of fun times!

[musiclady]

I remember being dazzled by Curly's bball skills when I saw the Globetrotters around 1970. So entertaining.

He and Meadowlark Lemon were the best!

My inspiration!

RIP, Curly.

[EasyAce]

He and Meadowlark Lemon were the best!

My inspiration!

RIP, Curly.

@musiclady

I remember a television special with the Trotters for which comedian Soupy Sales was the guest referee. Neal handed Sales a basketball. Sales gave it a dribble to test it---and it shattered into about three trillion pieces. The Trotters arranged to have the glass ball made to look and feel like a basketball before giving it to Sale.

RIP Curly. You could dribble in a crab walk and get it up the court without missing a beat. Come to think of it, quite a few times you did!

[jmyrlefuller]

Mike Stratton
Longtime pro football linebacker dies at 78

Stratton played the bulk of his 12-season professional career (1962 to 1973) with the Buffalo Bills. He is most famous for a play in the 1964 American Football League championship, in which he broke the ribs of San Diego Chargers running back Keith Lincoln with an open-field tackle that lives on as the "hit heard 'round the world." (He would spend his final season of play with the Chargers.)

Obituary from WNY News Now

Wikipedia

Career stats


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[Gefn]

Meadowlark and Curly were my favorites too.

RIP Curly. I’m sure you’re playing basketball in heaven with some greats now.

[goatprairie]

Meadowlark and Curly were my favorites too.

RIP Curly. I’m sure you’re playing basketball in heaven with some greats now.

Well, I enjoyed the Globies too and saw them several times live as a youth and more times on tv.
Nevertheless, the Globies weren't great players for the most part. After the NBA started playing more and more black players, the Globies didn't get as many good black players.
I did see Connie Hawkins play with the Globies before he joined the NBA, and he was a great player.
But the myth of the Globies being a super team still lives on in the minds of many people.
I used to help a friend coach a grade school bb team back in the eighties.
 One time talking to one of the fathers on the team, he was adamant that the Globies were the best team in the world and could beat any NBA team.
I looked at him for a while and then said, no, the Globies would get crushed.
He was still insistent that the Globies would whip any NBA team including the Showtime Lakers with Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
I looked at him for a while longer and then just walked away. He was a nice guy but a total ignoramus concerning basketball.

[musiclady]

@musiclady

I remember a television special with the Trotters for which comedian Soupy Sales was the guest referee. Neal handed Sales a basketball. Sales gave it a dribble to test it---and it shattered into about three trillion pieces. The Trotters arranged to have the glass ball made to look and feel like a basketball before giving it to Sale.

RIP Curly. You could dribble in a crab walk and get it up the court without missing a beat. Come to think of it, quite a few times you did!

Hearing Sweet Georgia Brown still makes me smile. 

[sneakypete]

Hearing Sweet Georgia Brown still makes me smile. 

@musiclady

Hearing "Sweet Georgia Brown" makes EVERYBODY smile.

[Smokin Joe]

Well, I enjoyed the Globies too and saw them several times as a youth and more times on tv.
Nevertheless, the Globies weren't great players for the most part. After the NBA started playing more and more black players, the Globies didn't get as many good black players.
I did see Connie Hawkins play with the Globies before he joined the NBA, and he was a great player.
But the myth of the Globies being a super team still lives on in the minds of many people.
I used to help a friend coach a grade school bb team back in the eighties.
 One time talking to one of the fathers on the team, he was adamant that the Globies were the best team in the world and could beat any NBA team.
I looked at him for a while and then said, no, the Globies would get crushed.
He was still insistent that the Globies would whip any NBA team including the Showtime Lakers with Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
I looked at him for a while longer and then just walked away. He was a nice guy but a total ignoramus concerning basketball.

The Globetrotters were famous for their ball handling antics on the court, which were at the core of their highly entertaining game.
In terms of today's 7-foot tall hard-driving NBA game, no, there is no real comparison, but the Globetrotters played what often were charity games, against teams put together from local or even school 'noteworthies', not so much professional players, at least in the context in which I saw them play. There was no shame in losing to them, and part of those ticket sales went to the cause du jour.
What they are, and ever will remain, is an excellent exhibition game team who played and were watched by a fan base for entertainment, not to make the final four in March Madness.

In a nutshell, they are fun to watch, just for the fun of it.

[musiclady]

@musiclady

Hearing "Sweet Georgia Brown" makes EVERYBODY smile.

 

[sneakypete]

In a nutshell, they are fun to watch, just for the fun of it.

@Smokin Joe

Fun?  WOW! What a concept!

[Smokin Joe]

@Smokin Joe

Fun?  WOW! What a concept!

Ain't it though?
 

[TomSea]

I saw the Harlem Clowns a few times, a Harlem Globetrotters knockoff because the Globetrotters were so popular, the Globetrotters must have played mainly big venues. Globetrotters were on TV and yes, seemed to have their own cartoon show at one time.

The Harlem Clowns was an African American show team based in Chicago that toured the world during its several decades of existence from 1934 to 1983. The team was founded by Al "Runt" Pullins in 1934, when he left the Harlem Globetrotters, and founded a competitive team that he originally called the Harlem Globetrotters. Pullins changed the name of his team many times, changing the name to New York Globetrotters, then the Broadway Clowns, and then a few other name changes before settling on the Harlem Clowns.

https://mwal.fandom.com/wiki/Harlem_Clowns

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[TomSea]

I know I watched it on TV and it's probably on youtube somewhere....they throw the ball from way far away in the arena, up in the balcony or even higher. Some NBAers also I believe did go into the Globetrotters, so I don't knock them too much on the talent level... that shot actually is around a minute into this video. It appears to have been a common trick they did.  Starting around 45 seconds in and I do think they say the guy played in the NBA (this is a recent GT version but this has been in their repertoire a long time).


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Conceivably, that could have been practiced a few times with misses. I don't know if they did it sometimes live, it does seem like I watched them do it on tv once, not sure if it was live.

[goatprairie]

The Globetrotters were famous for their ball handling antics on the court, which were at the core of their highly entertaining game.
In terms of today's 7-foot tall hard-driving NBA game, no, there is no real comparison, but the Globetrotters played what often were charity games, against teams put together from local or even school 'noteworthies', not so much professional players, at least in the context in which I saw them play. There was no shame in losing to them, and part of those ticket sales went to the cause du jour.
What they are, and ever will remain, is an excellent exhibition game team who played and were watched by a fan base for entertainment, not to make the final four in March Madness.

In a nutshell, they are fun to watch, just for the fun of it.

"In a nutshell, they are fun to watch, just for the fun of it."

yes indeed.....

[goatprairie]

Before black players were allowed in the NBA the Globies might have been the best bb team in the world.
In the late forties they beat the NBA champs Minneapolis Lakers with George Mikan on a last second shot.
When the game started the Globies were stunned to discover how quick Mikan was. They thought he was just a big oaf who scored pts on his size. Mikan scored a ton of pts in the first half of the game. In the second half the Globies ganged up on Mikan and according to ballhandling whiz Marquis Haynes, the best known Globie, "beat the hell" out of Mikan.
Mikan didn't do as well in the  second half.
Subsequent games later the Lakers won, and Abe Saperstein cancelled further games. As the fifties progressed, more and more good black players joined NBA teams rather than play with the Globies.

[EasyAce]

Before black players were allowed in the NBA the Globies might have been the best bb team in the world.
In the late forties they beat the NBA champs Minneapolis Lakers with George Mikan on a last second shot.
When the game started the Globies were stunned to discover how quick Mikan was. They thought he was just a big oaf who scored pts on his size. Mikan scored a ton of pts in the first half of the game. In the second half the Globies ganged up on Mikan and according to ballhandling whiz Marquis Haynes, the best known Globie, "beat the hell" out of Mikan.
Mikan didn't do as well in the  second half.
Subsequent games later the Lakers won, and Abe Saperstein cancelled further games. As the fifties progressed, more and more good black players joined NBA teams rather than play with the Globies.

@goatprairie

Question: Name the only member of baseball's Hall of Fame to play with the Globetrotters.

Answer: Bob Gibson.

[goatprairie]

@goatprairie

Question: Name the only member of baseball's Hall of Fame to play with the Globetrotters.

Answer: Bob Gibson.

Name the black athlete who if he chose basketball as his pro sport rather than baseball, very possibly could have been the first black athlete in the NBA and the best player in the league.
I think you know who I'm talking about.

[dfwgator]

Name the black athlete who if he chose basketball as his pro sport rather than baseball, very possibly could have been the first black athlete in the NBA and the best player in the league.
I think you know who I'm talking about.

Dave Winfield?

[TomSea]

I'll guess someone like Willie Mays. Dave Winfield wasn't that long ago but maybe so. Could be anyone.

[goatprairie]

Dave Winfield?

Jackie Robinson.  Winfield was a pretty good basketball player, but Robinson, if he had entered the league in the late forties/early fifties would have been among the best athletes in the league, maybe the best. In the off-season he played semi-pro ball for the LA Red Devils a team that would occasionally play exhibition games against NBA teams and beat them.
Robinson wanted to get his team into the NBA, but LA was too far from most of the other teams, and they, the other teams,  didn't have the money for air travel.
At 5'11 Robinson was not only extra fast, he was a tremendous leaper who regularly dunked in games despite being under six feet. He was an excellent ballhandler.
He was a big star in college at UCLA in four sports. He could have been a pro football player as well.
But he chose baseball, and as they say, the rest is history.

[musiclady]

@goatprairie

Question: Name the only member of baseball's Hall of Fame to play with the Globetrotters.

Answer: Bob Gibson.

@EasyAce  - I LOVED the 1951 movie about the Harlem Globetrotters.  What's your opinion on that film?

[EasyAce]

@EasyAce  - I LOVED the 1951 movie about the Harlem Globetrotters.  What's your opinion on that film?

@musiclady

If you mean The Harlem Globetrotters, I saw that and the sequel---which centered as much on founder/owner Abe Saperstein as on the team---Go, Man, Go (1954). I liked both films.

Here's a clip of the Trotters' famous warmup from the 1950s . . .


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Did you know: Boston Celtics legend Bob Cousy, the diminutive, swift playmaker who was arguably the first true entertainer in the NBA, learned most of his trick dribbling and passing from watching and admiring Trotters legend Marquess Johnson . . .

[musiclady]

@musiclady

If you mean The Harlem Globetrotters, I saw that and the sequel---which centered as much on founder/owner Abe Saperstein as on the team---Go, Man, Go (1954). I liked both films.

Here's a clip of the Trotters' famous warmup from the 1950s . . .


Error 404 (Not Found)!!1

Did you know: Boston Celtics legend Bob Cousy, the diminutive, swift playmaker who was arguably the first true entertainer in the NBA, learned most of his trick dribbling and passing from watching and admiring Trotters legend Marquess Johnson . . .

I remember the Saperstein movie as well.  Liked it too!

My Dad took us to see the Globetrotters when I was a kid (late 50’s or early 60’s..... my older brothers would remember when) and I absolutely loved them!  I think that’s when my love of playing basketball took seed.

I remember Bob Cousy, but didn’t know the Globetrotter connection!

(I remember Cousy mostly because he was a teammate of Buckeye John Havlicek!  )

[goatprairie]

Before black players were allowed in the NBA the Globies might have been the best bb team in the world.
In the late forties they beat the NBA champs Minneapolis Lakers with George Mikan on a last second shot.
When the game started the Globies were stunned to discover how quick Mikan was. They thought he was just a big oaf who scored pts on his size. Mikan scored a ton of pts in the first half of the game. In the second half the Globies ganged up on Mikan and according to ballhandling whiz Marquis Haynes, the best known Globie, "beat the hell" out of Mikan.
Mikan didn't do as well in the  second half.
Subsequent games later the Lakers won, and Abe Saperstein cancelled further games. As the fifties progressed, more and more good black players joined NBA teams rather than play with the Globies.

Correction...it was Goose Tatum, not Marquis Haynes,  who said the Globies beat the heck out of Mikan.

[mountaineer]

Former U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn dies at 72
by Chris Casteel
Published: Sat, March 28, 2020 9:06 AM

Former U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, a physician who became a powerful force in Congress on fiscal matters, died Friday night after a long fight with prostate cancer. He was 72.

Coburn, of Muskogee, served in the Senate from 2005 to 2015 and in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2001.

A statement from Coburn's family on Saturday morning said, "Because of his strong faith, he rested in the hope found in John chapter 11 verse 25 where Jesus said, 'I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, will live, even though they die.' Today he lives in heaven." ...


More from the Oklahoman

[Hoodat]

Coburn was a real Conservative.  He will be missed.

[mountaineer]

Why Tom ‘Dr. No’ Coburn Was Truly ‘The Conscience Of The Senate’
March 28, 2020
By Katie Bailey

It is a rare political figure who was called “the conscience of the Senate” by none other than John McCain — and also forged a working friendship with a young senator from Illinois named Barack Obama. That was Tom Coburn.

The former U.S. senator from Oklahoma, who died today at age 72, was often called the Senate’s “Dr. No,” able to jam up legislation like a committee of one. But those who knew him best knew the truth: Tom Coburn was principled, not partisan.  ...

Make no mistake, he wore the moniker of Dr. No proudly. He was unabashed about fighting to preserve liberty. He felt strongly about trying to prevent the next generation of Americans from being crushed under the debt of their parents’ profligate spending. ...

Entire article at The Federalist

[sneakypete]

Entire article at The Federalist

It is a rare political figure who was called “the conscience of the Senate” by none other than John McCain

@mountaineer

Clearly a line written for him because McLunatic was a sociopath  that had no conscience.

[Smokin Joe]

Prayers up for Senator Coburn's friends and family!

[Gefn]

Spanish Princess Becomes the First Royal to Die of Coronavirus

Princess Maria Teresa de Borbón-Parma has become the first member of a royal family to pass away due to Coronavirus complications.

The Spanish princess' younger brother took to social media to announce the tragedy on Thursday.

"On this afternoon… our sister Maria Teresa de Borbón-Parma and Borbón Busset, victim of the coronavirus COVID-19, died in Paris at the age of eighty-six," Prince Sixtus Henry of Bourbon-Parma, the Duke of Aranjuez, said in a statement on Facebook.

According to the prince, a memorial service was held in Maria Teresa's honor on Friday in Madrid.

https://www.eonline.com/news/1135492/spanish-princess-becomes-the-first-royal-to-die-of-coronavirus-complications

[Gefn]

Spanish Princess Becomes the First Royal to Die of Coronavirus


https://www.eonline.com/news/1135492/spanish-princess-becomes-the-first-royal-to-die-of-coronavirus-complications

It sounds like she accomplished a lot of things and had a pretty amazing life.

[TomSea]

Joseph Lowery, Civil Rights Activist passes away at 98 years old:

https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2020/mar/29/civil-rights-icon-lowery-dies-at-98-202/?news-politics

Jan Howard, country music singer, passes away at 91.

https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/country/9345728/jan-howard-dead

[jmyrlefuller]

Joe Diffie
Country star of the 1990s dies at 61



Diffie's string of country hits, which carried a distinctly 1990s sensibility with a comic touch, included "Third Rock from the Sun," "John Deere Green," "Pickup Man," "Bigger than the Beatles" and "If the Devil Danced in Empty Pockets." He died March 29 from coronavirus.

Obituary from Rolling Stone

Wikipedia

[roamer_1]

Joe Diffie
Country star of the 1990s dies at 61

Dang it!  Pickup Man is dang near my theme song. 

RIP Joe Diffie

[verga]

The Globetrotters were famous for their ball handling antics on the court, which were at the core of their highly entertaining game.
In terms of today's 7-foot tall hard-driving NBA game, no, there is no real comparison, but the Globetrotters played what often were charity games, against teams put together from local or even school 'noteworthies', not so much professional players, at least in the context in which I saw them play. There was no shame in losing to them, and part of those ticket sales went to the cause du jour.
What they are, and ever will remain, is an excellent exhibition game team who played and were watched by a fan base for entertainment, not to make the final four in March Madness.

In a nutshell, they are fun to watch, just for the fun of it.

I worked with a guy that was on the "Washington Generals", The trotters perennial victims. The hours and hours of practice they put into their shows. Amazing teamwork. 

[goatprairie]

I worked with a guy that was on the "Washington Generals", The trotters perennial victims. The hours and hours of practice they put into their shows. Amazing teamwork.

I saw them live twice in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
The last time I saw them was the first time I noticed that the clock never stopped.
During halftime, there was a variety of acts including an exhibition of table tennis by some professional players.  I still remember one of the players standing twenty feet back of the table yelling "get in there" as he hit a shot back.
Can't remember who won the basketball game though......

[TomSea]

Alan Merrill, "I Love Rock and Roll" songwriter, dies of coronavirus complications
Updated on: March 30, 2020 / 8:04 AM / CBS/AP

Alan Merrill - who co-wrote the song "I Love Rock and Roll" that became a signature hit for fellow rocker Joan Jett - died Sunday in New York of complications from the coronavirus, his daughter said. He was 69.

Laura Merrill said on her Facebook account that he died Sunday morning.

"I was given 2 minutes to say my goodbyes before I was rushed out. He seemed peaceful and as I left there was still a glimmer of hope that he wouldn't be a ticker on the right hand side of the CNN/Fox news screen," she wrote. "I walked 50 blocks home still with hope in my heart. The city that I knew was empty. I felt I was the only person here and perhaps in many ways I was. By the time I got in the doors to my apartment I received the news that he was gone."

Read more at: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alan-merrill-died-i-love-rock-and-roll-co-writer-dead-age-69-cause-of-death-coronavirus-complications/

Original,  "I Love Rock and Roll" was a B-side for the Arrows, I guess he was part of that group whom I have heard of previously.


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https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-52089768

John Prine is in critical condition per BBC article.

[mountaineer]

 David Schramm, Star on NBC’s ‘Wings,’ Dies at 73
Jordan Moreau
17 hrs ago


David Schramm, a stage actor who was also a star on the NBC comedy “Wings,” has died. He was 73.

Schramm was a founding member of New York’s The Acting Company, which announced the news of his death on Sunday.

He played Roy Biggins, the rival airline owner on “Wings,” and appeared in all 172 episodes between 1990 and 1997. ...


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