WITH All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day fast approaching, this is the best time for us mortals to pay homage to our departed loved ones as well as reflect on our own lives.
Have we been good or bad to the rest of mankind? What legacy do we want others to remember us by?
Then this question: Are we ready to go when death suddenly comes knocking at our doors? For people of advanced age, the answer probably is. Then again, I am not really sure.
Be prepared but never fight back. Our time on this earthly world has long been predestined by the Lord Almighty. Only God really knows when our time is up.
That being said, I wonder why there have been too many deaths in the NBA fraternity this year.
Here’s a list of people with NBA roots that have crossed the Great Divide in year 2015. Note that there has been a death in the NBA community every month so far this year.
January – (4) Jack Parr (Cincinnati Royals, born 1936), (9) Roy Tarpley (Dallas Mavericks, 1964), and (16) Ray Lumpp (New York Knicks, 1923).
February – (1) Ron Johnson (Detroit Pistons/Los Angeles Lakers, born 1938), (18) Jerome Kersey (Portland Trail Blazers and others, 1962), (20) Richard (Dick) Triptow (Fort Wayne Pistons and others, 1922), (26) Earl Lloyd (Washington Capitols and others, the first African-American ever to play in the NBA, 1928), and (28) Anthony Mason (New Jersey Nets and others, 1966).
March – (1) Christian Welp (Philadelphia 76ers and others, born 1964), (16) Jack Haley (Chicago Bulls and others, 1964), and (27) “Hot” Rod Hundley (Minneapolis Lakers, born 1934).
April – (13) Gerald Calabrese (Syracuse Nationals, born 1925).
May – (15) Robert (Bob) Hopkins (Syracuse Nationals player and former Seattle SuperSonics head coach, born 1934).
June – (29) Jackson Vroman (Phoenix Suns and others, born 1981).
July – (20) George Bon Salle (Chicago Packers, 1935), and (25) Robert Kauffman (Seattle SuperSonics and others, 1946).
August – (4) John Rudometkin (New York Knicks and others, born 1940), (10) Cleo Hill (St. Louis Hawks, 1938), (22) Louis (Lou) Tsioropoulos (Boston Celtics, 1930), (24) Robert (Bevo) Nordmann (Cincinnati Royals, 1939), and (27) Darryl Dawkins (Philadelphia 76ers, 1957).
September – (11) Roy Marble (Atlanta Hawks and others, born 1966), (13) Moses Malone (Buffalo Braves and others, 1955), (25) William (Bill) Bridges (St. Louis Hawks and others, 1939), and (25) Tommie Green (New Orleans Jazz, 1956).
October – (4) Neal Walk (Phoenix Suns and others, born 1948), (7) Harry Gallatin (New York Knicks and others player and New York Knicks head coach, 1927), (9) David Meyers (Milwaukee Bucks, 1953), (15) Nate Huffman (Toronto Raptors, 1975), (18) Thomas (Tommy) O’Keefe (Baltimore Bullets and others, 1926), and (19) D.C. Wilcutt (St. Louis Bombers, 1923).
Some deaths have been due to advanced age but a number also died due to heart-related ailments at age 60 or less such as Mason (48 years old), Dawkins (58) and Malone (60).
There were other basketball personages, including some with NBA roots, that breathed their last this year.
Norm Drucker, who was into professional basketball officiating for 35 years with stints in NBA (1953-69-77) and the old American Basketball Association (1969-76) as a referee and Supervisor of Officials, died on February 6 at age 94. When he retired as a whistletooter after the 1976-77 NBA season to become the league’s Supervisor of Officials, his 24 consecutive seasons of officiating (17 NBA and seven ABA) stood as the longest streak in pro ball annals. It remains the record until today for the longest tenure by a pro referee whose entire career came during the two-referees-per-game era.
Hall of Fame coach Dean Smith died on February 7 at age 83. Smith mentored an all-collegiate U.S. national team to the gold medal in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada. He also won a pair of NCAA Division I championships with the University of North Carolina Tar Heels in 1982 (with James Worthy and Michael Jordan) and 1993.
Colorful Hall of Famer Jerry “Tark the Shark” Tarkanian, who piloted the University of Nevada at Las Vegas (UNLV) Runnin’ Rebels to the NCAA Division I crown in 1990 and briefly coached the San Antonio Spurs in 1992-93 (the first 20 games, 9-11), died on February 11 at age 84.
Dribbling whiz Marques Haynes, who played for the entertainment-oriented Harlem Globetrotters from 1947 to 1953, died on May 22 at age 89. In 1953, he left the Trotters to form his own barnstorming team, the Harlem Magicians. He rejoined the Trotters as a player and coach in 1972, only to leave again in 1979 to suit up for fellow Globie alum Meadowlark Lemon’s Bucketeers and the Harlem Wizards.
According to the 1988 movie Harlem Globetrotters: Six Decades of Magic,” Haynes could dribble the ball as many as six times a second. He retired in 1992 after a 46-year pro tenure and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998, the first Globetrotter to be so honored.
Shooting ace Clarence (Bevo) Francis died on June 3 at the age of 82. A 6-foot-9 forward, Francis scored 100 points or more on two occasions for the Rio Grande College (now known as the University of Rio Grande) in 1953 (116 points against Ashland Junior College) and 1954 (113 points).
Herbert Harvey Pollack, the long-time Director of Statistical Information for the Philadelphia 76ers, died on June 23 at age 93. At the time of his demise, Pollack owned the distinction of being the only individual still working for the NBA since its inaugural season in 1946-47.
Then, the latest death in the NBA family occurred on October 25 when Philip (Flip) Saunders, the erstwhile head coach, president of basketball operations and part owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves, succumbed to cancer (Hodgkin’s lymphoma) at age 60. Saunders was once the head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves (on two tours of duty – 1995-2005 and 2014-15), Detroit Pistons (2005-08) and Washington Wizards (2009-12).