Bill Cody obit

Longtime Grand Ole Opry announcer Bill Cody has died

 

He was not on the list.

For more than three decades, Bill Cody helped bring country music into the homes, cars and workplaces of millions of listeners.

The longtime WSM radio personality and Grand Ole Opry announcer died Tuesday in Nashville at age 67, according to an Instagram post from WSM Radio.

Cody had been a fixture on Nashville's legendary WSM-AM since 1994, hosting the popular morning show Coffee, Country & Cody while also serving as one of the most recognizable voices associated with the Grand Ole Opry.

No official cause of death has been released, but in recent weeks, many members of the country music community had shared requests for prayers after Cody's daughter revealed that he was in critical condition and in need of heart and kidney transplants.

Tributes from across the country music world quickly poured in in the comments on the social media posts announcing Cody's death.

"There might be someone somewhere in the world who loved country music as much, but nobody loved country music more than Bill Cody," wrote Garth Brooks.

Dierks Bentley wrote, "Country music has lost one of its pillars. Bill was just as important to the fabric of our music and city as any artist, songwriter or musician. No one loved country music, its history and its characters more than Bill Cody."

"Bill Cody was one of those rare people who didn't just work in Country Music—he lived it, protected it, and loved it with every fiber of his being," wrote Ty Herndon. "For decades, Bill was a trusted voice, a champion of artists, a keeper of our stories, and a bridge between generations of country music fans. Whether you were a superstar or a struggling songwriter with a dream, Bill made you feel like you mattered. I was fortunate to call him a friend. His kindness was genuine, his passion was contagious, and his belief in this music never wavered. He understood that country music is more than songs and charts—it's people, community, and heart."

According to Variety, Cody began his broadcasting career at age 17 after answering a help-wanted ad at a Kentucky radio station. Born Trent Clutts, he adopted the on-air name Bill Cody in honor of childhood hero Buffalo Bill Cody.

Over the course of his career, he became one of country radio's most respected personalities. He was inducted into the Country Music Disc Jockey Hall of Fame in 2008 and received a star on Nashville's Music City Walk of Fame in 2024. He is also set to be inducted posthumously into the Tennessee Radio Hall of Fame later this year.

Saturday night's live broadcast of the Grand Ole Opry will be dedicated to Cody's memory, while WSM plans to air a special marathon featuring memorable moments from Coffee, Country & Cody.

Dick Strahm obit

UF Football Legend Dick Strahm Passes Away

 

He was not on the list.

Former University of Findlay head football coach and legendary figure in college athletics Dick Strahm passed away on Tuesday, June 9. He was 92 years old.

“We are all deeply saddened by the passing of Dick Strahm,” said Director of Athletics Jim Givens. “Coach, as many knew him, represents an era of excellence for the football program and for this university. He was a ferocious competitor, a dedicated leader, and a spirited ambassador for Findlay who helped cultivate the championship culture we still strive for to this day. While we grieve his passing, we also reflect on his time with gratitude for the impact he made on the lives of so many student-athletes who called Findlay their home. Our thoughts today are with his family as they mourn the loss of an incredible man.”

Born in February 1934 in Toledo, Ohio, Strahm began his coaching career at the University of Toledo as a defensive coordinator in 1970. He then headed west to Kansas State in 1973 where he spent two years as an assistant coach before eventually landing his position as head coach at the University of Findlay in 1975. Little did he know at the time, but his next 24 seasons would not just be good, they would be legendary.

Coach Strahm’s confidence was evident from the beginning. While assembling his first team at Findlay, Dick went recruiting in his hometown of Toledo where he met with Kevin Cassidy. As recounted in the book, Just Call Me Coach, Strahm told Cassidy, “Kevin, if you come to Findlay, we’ll win a national championship. If you don’t come, we’ll win a national championship.” That confidence was the basis of what would become a hall of fame career.

Over the next 24 years, Strahm built the Oilers into one of the most successful and respected NAIA college football programs in the country. From 1975 to 1998, he compiled an overall record of 183-64-5 (.736), standing to this day as the winningest football coach in program history. In just his fourth season, Coach Strahm had Findlay playing in its first national championship game. The following year, in 1979, the Oilers brought the program’s first national title back to Northwest Ohio.

That was the first of four national championships won under Strahm’s leadership. The Oilers also claimed NAIA national titles in 1992, 1995, and 1997. His 1997 team remains the only squad in program history to go a full season without a defeat, capping off a perfect 14-0 campaign.

Throughout his illustrious tenure, Coach Strahm was recognized as a four-time National Coach of the Year and a 12-time District 22 Coach of the Year. His programs were a standard of excellence, producing 13 conference titles, 38 NAIA All-Americans, 16 NAIA Scholar-All-Americans, and one NAIA National Player of the Year.

In recognition of his unparalleled career and contributions to the sport, Coach Strahm was inducted into the University of Findlay Athletic Hall of Fame in 1989 and the NAIA Hall of Fame in 1999. In 2004, he achieved the ultimate honor of being enshrined in the National Football Foundation’s College Football Hall of Fame.

Prompted by friends to memorialize his football anecdotes and experiences on and off the field, Strahm worked with writer John Grindrod to publish his biography, “Just Call Me Coach,” in 2008.

Along with challenges on the football field, Strahm has also met with personal challenges, including four heart attacks, a stroke and cancer. He considers his “greatest victories” to be those over his illnesses. He served as honorary chair of the American Heart Association’s Heart Walk in 2007 and received UF’s Arch Award for more than 25 years of service in 2009. In 2015, Strahm received an honorary doctorate from the University of Findlay and in 2023, Dick Strahm Champions Field was built on campus, a practice facility that will serve as the training grounds for student-athletes for years to come.

“Many words come to mind when describing Dick Strahm – master motivator, football tactician, charismatic leader, and fighter of indomitable spirit both on the field and in the many doctors’ offices and hospitals that have become as much a part of his life as the August two-a-days that were the harbingers to each new season. But, perhaps, the most apt word to describe Dick Strahm is the simplest, winner.” – John Grindrod (Author of Just Call Me Coach)

Rest in peace, Coach Strahm. You will not soon be forgotten.

His biography entitled Just Call Me Coach, written by John Grindrod of Lima, Ohio, was released in December 2008.

In 2023, Findlay announced plans to construct an athletic facility in his honor.

Coaching career (HC unless noted)

1970–1972      Toledo (DC)

1973–1974      Kansas State (assistant)

1975–1998      Findlay

Head coaching record

Overall            183–64–5

Tournaments    18–8–1 (NAIA D-II playoffs)

4–0 (NAIA playoffs)

Accomplishments and honors

Championships

3 NAIA Division II (1979, 1992, 1995)

1 NAIA (1997)

8 Hoosier–Buckeye (1976–1979, 1982–1985)

3 SMFA Midwest League (1995–1997)

Awards

2× NAIA Division II Coach of the Year (1979, 1995)

NAIA Coach of the Year (1997)

Bob Simmons obit

Bob Simmons, former Oklahoma State football coach, dies at 77

 

He was not on the list.

Former Oklahoma State football coach Bob Simmons tied on Tuesday, the school announced.

He was 77.

Specifics of his death are not yet known.

Simmons, who was the first and only Black head football coach at Oklahoma State, spent six seasons leading the Cowboys. The school hired him ahead of the 1995 campaign to replace Pat Jones, who had managed just two conference wins over the past four seasons combined.

Simmons led the Cowboys to an 8-4 record in 1997. They reached as high as No. 12 in the national rankings that season and earned a trip to the Alamo Bowl, which was the program’s only bowl appearance under his watch and the school’s first in nearly a decade. Simmons earned Big 12 Coach of the Year honors that season, too.

In total, Simmons finished with a 30-38 record over his six seasons with the Cowboys. He parted with the program after the 2000 season, and was eventually replaced by Les Miles.

That marked Simmons’ only head coaching stop in his career, though he spent decades as an assistant throughout the sport, and was on staff as the linebackers coach at Colorado in 1990 when the Buffaloes won the national championship. Simmons also spent time on staff at Notre Dame, Washington, Toledo and West Virginia.

He served as the head football coach at Oklahoma State University–Stillwater from 1995 to 2000, compiling a record of 30–38 and being named the Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year in 1997. In 2013, he was hired as the head football coach at Boulder High School in Boulder, Colorado.

 

Biographical details

Born    June 13, 1948

Livingston, Alabama, U.S.

Died    June 9, 2026 (aged 77)

Playing career

1968–1970      Bowling Green

Position           Linebacker

Coaching career (HC unless noted)

1976    Bowling Green (WR)

1977–1979      Toledo (OLB)

1980–1987      West Virginia (OLB)

1988–1991      Colorado (OLB)

1992–1994      Colorado (DL)

1995–2000      Oklahoma State

2002–2004      Notre Dame (LB)

2005–2007      Washington (TE/ST)

2013–2015      Boulder HS (CO)

Head coaching record

Overall            30–38 (college)

10–19 (high school)

Bowls  0–1

Accomplishments and honors

Awards

Big 12 Coach of the Year (1997)

Robert Greenidge obit

Steelpan virtuoso Robert Greenidge dies at 76

 He was not on the list.

Robert Greenidge, the internationally acclaimed steelpan virtuoso, arranger and composer whose artistry helped elevate Trinidad and Tobago’s national instrument to global recognition, died today after a prolonged illness. He was 76.

For more than half a century, Greenidge stood as one of the steelpan’s most influential ambassadors—an artiste whose technical brilliance, musical imagination and versatility connected panyards with prestigious concert halls, recording studios and festival stages.

Born on April 28, 1950, in Success Village, Laventille, Greenidge grew up in a working-class community where pan, Carnival and cultural resilience formed the fabric of daily life. He was introduced to the instrument at the age of eight under the guidance of his uncle, Carl Greenidge, and started an informal apprenticeship in the Savoy Steel Orchestra before joining Desperadoes Steel Orchestra in his late teens.

By the age of 18, Greenidge was performing in cultural showcases across Africa, Europe and North America, with appearances at the First Negro Arts Festival in Dakar, the Montreal Expo, and performances in London and New York.

In 1971, Greenidge migrated to the United States, where he pursued formal studies in composition and arrangement at the Third Street Music School in New York.

His professional breakthrough came through a series of collaborations. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Greenidge recorded and performed with an array of international artistes, including John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Ringo Starr, Carly Simon, Earth, Wind and Fire, Grover Washington Jr. and Taj Mahal.

Among the highlights of his career was his appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival, where he shared the stage with jazz luminaries, including Stan Getz and Jimmy Smith. His contribution to Grover Washington Jr.’s Grammy-winning hit Just the Two of Us further cemented his place in contemporary music history, demonstrating the steelpan’s capacity to sit comfortably within mainstream jazz and pop frameworks.

However, it was his long association with Jimmy Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band—beginning in 1983—that made Greenidge a globally recognisable figure. For four decades, his steelpan lines became central to Buffett’s signature “tropical rock” sound. His work on classics such as One Particular Harbour and Margaritaville was both commercially successful and unmistakably Caribbean in character.

Throughout the years, Greenidge maintained deep ties to the steelband movement. As musical director and arranger for Desperadoes, he led the band to multiple Panorama victories, including landmark wins in 1991 and 1994. In 1993, he was awarded the Hummingbird Medal (Silver) in recognition of his contribution to national culture.

Greenidge also built an extensive solo and collaborative recording career, releasing albums such as Mad Music, Jubilee, Heat and From the Heart, and co-founding the project Club Trini with Michael Utley, further expanding the steelpan’s reach into jazz, pop and island fusion.

In later years, he remained active as a performer, educator and mentor, conducting workshops and continuing to tour and record, including tribute performances following Buffett’s death in 2023.

John Loring obit

Legendary Tiffany & Co. design director John Loring dead at age 86

 He was not on the list.

He was a real gem.

Tiffany & Co.’s John Loring passed away this week in Palm Beach at the age of 86.

Loring worked as the design director for the fabled company from 1979 to 2009, shaping the company’s legacy into what it is today. He was named design director emeritus of the brand following his retirement.

He wrote numerous books about Tiffany, several edited by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis when she was at Doubleday.

Tiffany & Co. told us in a statement that the company are “deeply saddened by the passing of John Loring, whose creativity and vision helped shape the House’s modern identity.”

“For three decades, he served as Design Director of Tiffany & Co. and remained a devoted steward of its heritage, bringing its history to life through his writing and curatorial work while ensuring its legacy continued to inspire new generations,” it continues. “He will be remembered not only for his extraordinary contributions, but also for his enduring passion for beauty and craftsmanship.”

“We extend our heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, and all who knew him. His legacy remains an indelible part of Tiffany & Co.’s story,” they said.

A graduate of Yale, Loring had previously worked as the New York bureau chief of Architectural Digest. He also studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and his prints and paintings have been displayed at Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney and the Met.

He also served on MoMA’s Acquisitions Committee for the Department of Prints and Illustrated Books.

In his role at Tiffanys, he traveled the world to select the items that would be sold in stores, growing from just seven locations when he started to the global powerhouse it is today.

A 1992 New Yorker article described Loring as a “luxury-goods impresario, commissioning watches in Switzerland, pottery in Portugal, vases in Murano, printed silks for scarves and neckties in Como, hand-painted porcelains in Paris.”

While frequently called an arbiter of taste, he seemed to bristle at the title, saying in the article, “The usual thought of an arbiter of taste is a repulsive one, because it leads to sameness in the world, and is killing to the imagination.”

Columbia University has an archive of Loring’s papers from 1961 until 2020, which documents “his wide range of friends and admirers,” including European royalty like Margrethe II, Queen of Denmark and her sister, Queen Anna Maria of Greece; Peggy Guggenheim, Ray Johnson, Harold Pinter, Joseph Losey, Tiffany designers Elsa Peretti and Paloma Picasso, and celebrities like Bette Davis, Joseph Losey, Ray Johnson, and “Ultra Violet.”

Famed celebrity photographer Harry Benson boasted of his friend in a 2011 article in the Palm Beach Post, “John is one of the most interesting people I’ve met and known. He knows an awful lot about everything, and he’s not tiresome with it. He’s got good manners, meaning he’s got time for everybody no matter who they are. People leave him knowing more than when they went in.”

John Loring was born in Chicago, Illinois on November 23, 1939.

Prior to joining Tiffany in 1979 as design director, Loring was the New York bureau chief of Architectural Digest, as well as having been one of the magazine's principal editorial contributors. He was also a professor of art at the graduate school of the University of California.[

Loring earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from Yale University in 1960. After graduating, he continued his studies for four more years at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. Since 1964, his prints and paintings have been exhibited in Europe and the United States.

He continued to write on art and design. He served on the Acquisitions Committee of The Museum of Modern Art's Department of Prints and Illustrated Books. He was also a serious collector of 20th-century furniture and ceramics. His interests in cooking and interior design have been recognized in major publications, including The New York Times Magazine, Bon Appetit, Food and Wine, Architectural Digest, House & Garden, L’Oeil, Arbitare, GQ, House Beautiful, Metropolitan Home, Gala, The New Yorker, and French Vogue. He was honored with the feature profile in The New Yorker in the August 10, 1992, issue.

Billie Tisch obit

Billie Tisch, Matriarch of Billionaire Loews Family, Dies at 98

Wilma “Billie” Tisch, a matriarch of one of America’s wealthiest families and leader of its philanthropy to Jewish causes and to New York City cultural and medical institutions, has died. She was 98. 

She was not on the list.

(Bloomberg) — Wilma “Billie” Tisch, a matriarch of one of America’s wealthiest families and leader of its philanthropy to Jewish causes and to New York City cultural and medical institutions, has died. She was 98.

She died on Sunday at her home in Manhattan, the New York Times reported, citing her son, Thomas Tisch.

The wife of a co-founder of Loews Corp., Tisch rose to leadership positions with the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York including a term as the group’s first elected female president. The federation, known today as the UJA-Federation of New York, raised more than $234 million in 2023, according to the group’s annual report. Tisch had remained an honorary member of its board.

The 2003 death of her husband, Laurence Tisch, followed by the 2005 death of his brother and business partner, Preston Robert Tisch, left Wilma and her sister-in-law, Joan Tisch, to oversee the multibillion-dollar fortune the brothers had built. Joan died in 2017.

Forbes magazine estimated the family’s net worth to be $10.1 billion as of February 2024.

The Tisch brothers had turned Loews, a theater chain when they bought it in 1959, into a conglomerate by investing in hotels, energy companies and insurer CNA Financial Corp. Its principal units include CNA Financial, Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc., Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP and Loews Hotels & Resorts. It spun off Lorillard Inc., maker of Newport cigarettes, in 2008, after owning it for more than 30 years.

The Tisch family’s large philanthropic footprint in Manhattan included funding for the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and for Tisch Hospital, part of NYU’s Langone Medical Center. Laurence Tisch helped raise about $2 billion for the university, more than $40 million of which came directly from his family, according to his obituary in the New York Times.

Two sons of Laurence and Billie Tisch, James and Andrew, have long been involved in running Loews with their cousin, Jonathan. The other two sons are Thomas, managing partner at Tisch Financial, who stepped down as chancellor of Brown University in 2016; and Daniel, managing member of TowerView LLC, an investment fund of the family.

Jessica Tisch, a daughter of James, became New York City’s police commissioner in 2024.

Wilma Stein was born on June 25, 1927, in Long Branch, New Jersey, and raised in nearby Asbury Park. She was one of two daughters of Joseph Stein, who ran a Cadillac dealership in Asbury Park, and his wife, Rose, a bookkeeper.

Though both her parents were Jewish, their ancestry — his family was from Germany, hers from Lithuania — made theirs “really a mixed marriage,” Tisch said in an oral-history interview with the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies.

She majored in economics with a minor in accounting at Skidmore College, in Saratoga Springs, New York. After graduating in 1948 with a bachelor’s of science degree, she landed a job at Time Inc. and began commuting to New York City from Asbury Park.

A blind date with Laurence Tisch, who was known as Larry, changed her plans. Their “whirlwind courtship,” as she put it, culminated in their 1948 marriage, four months after their meeting.

They had their four sons in the following five years, while living at Tisch family-owned hotels in New Jersey and New York. They later settled in Scarsdale, New York.

Tisch began her philanthropic work by serving on the board of Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, New York. She joined the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies’ distribution committee, which decided how to apportion charitable grants, in 1969 and became chairman of the committee in 1975.

Female Leader

The federation had been founded in 1917 by philanthropists led by Felix Warburg, a partner in Wall Street firm Kuhn Loeb & Co. It merged in 1986 with the United Jewish Appeal.

Until Tisch’s election in 1980, the organization had been led by men — typically “a captain of industry or a financial wizard,” such as Lehman Brothers partner Arthur Lehman and Gustave Levy, senior partner at Goldman Sachs & Co., the New York Times reported in 1981.

The one exception to that rule, Madeleine Borg, had served out the unexpired term of a president who died in 1938, and was not elected herself, the Times said.

At the time, the group helped fund more than 100 agencies — including hospitals, childcare facilities and homes for seniors — serving 2 million New Yorkers. Today, the UJA-Federation has activities in more than 70 countries assisting 4.5 million people annually, according to its website.

The Times article described Tisch as “mild-mannered and gracious,” a woman who didn’t mind being described as “a traditional wife and mother.”

For her, the unpaid charitable post was “a seven-day and seven-night-a-week job,” she said, according to the Times. “My main problem is trying to do the job well and still maintain my family life.”

Her husband also was active in the UJA-Federation, serving on the board of trustees and leading its annual fundraising campaign. The organization honored the couple at a 1994 banquet in New York.

Lance Rentzel obit

Former Cowboys WR Lance Rentzel, talented but troubled, dies at age 82

Rentzel was one of the most popular Cowboys players before his infamous fall in the 1970s.

 

He was not on the list.

Lance Rentzel, an electrifying Cowboys receiver married to a TV star when his guilty plea to indecent exposure in 1971 wrecked their glamorous lifestyle, if not his career, died Sunday in Virginia, according to his obituary. He was 82.

Before his infamous fall, Rentzel had been one of the Cowboys’ most popular players. Fast, glib, tall and handsome, he seemed to have it all.

But underneath the “golden boy” image he described in his book, When All the Laughter Died in Sorrow, lay mental illness. He wrote the book at the suggestion of his doctor. In it he described the incidents that led to his exits from Minnesota and Dallas.

Cowboys teammates stood by Rentzel, at least initially, but after the player’s guilty plea in ’71, Tex Schramm traded him to the Rams in a three-way deal that netted them, among others, Lance Alworth, a former star receiver nearing his career’s end.

“We know we are giving up one of the top flankers in the league,” Tom Landry said at the time of the trade, “but I thought he would be better off in another city where he had the same opportunity regularly.

“We found this in Los Angeles, and it was one of the teams Lance wanted to be traded to if he were traded.”

Rentzel played two seasons for the Rams, neither of which met the standards he established in Dallas, before a police raid of his home resulted in his arrest for possession of marijuana. Because he was already on “probation” with the NFL for his guilty plea in Dallas, Pete Rozelle banned him for the ’73 season.

Rentzel came back in ’74 for a third tour with the Rams before retiring.

Born Oct. 14, 1943, in Queens, N.Y., to Del Rentzel, an airlines executive who served as the Department of Commerce’s Under Secretary for Transportation under Harry Truman, and Marjorie Rentzel, Lance grew up in Oklahoma City, where he graduated fifth in his high school class. His obituary notes he was accepted into Harvard, Princeton and Yale but chose Oklahoma in order to play football for Bud Wilkinson. He graduated with honors from OU in 1965 with a degree in mathematics.

He earned 12 varsity letters in four sports at OU, according to his obit, but excelled in football, where he played halfback, receiver and punter. He was named first-team All-Big Eight, then played in the Senior Bowl and College All-Star Game, and the Vikings made him the 23rd pick of the ’65 draft.

Early in his second injury-plagued season, he drove to a St. Paul, Minn., playground, where he exposed himself to two young girls. After Rentzel pleaded guilty and promised to seek psychiatric treatment, the charges against him were reduced to disorderly conduct. He received no jail time.

In return for a third-round pick, the Vikings traded him in the spring of ’67 to the Cowboys. The slow start to his NFL career picked up speed. Paired with Bob Hayes, Rentzel and the world’s fastest man provided Don Meredith and Craig Morton the NFL’s most explosive set of receivers.

Between 1967-69, Rentzel accumulated 2,965 yards and 26 touchdowns over 42 games. In ’69, he led the league in yards per catch at 22.3 and touchdowns with 12.

He caught 13 passes for 223 yards against Washington in 1967, a mark that ranks seventh in Cowboys history. His greater feat came later that season in the NFL Championship Game, when he caught a 50-yard pass from halfback Dan Reeves in the fourth quarter of the Ice Bowl, giving the Cowboys a short-lived lead over Green Bay.

Rentzel’s star-crossed tenure in Dallas would prove to be brief, however. On Nov. 30, 1970, he exposed himself to a 10-year-old girl in University Park. He was arrested four days later. His lawyers said he had been undergoing psychiatric treatment “for some time,” though it was unclear if it was part of the court-ordered treatment in Minnesota. He was sentenced to five years of probation and mandatory psychiatric care with no jail time.

Rentzel’s wife, Joey Heatherton, a popular entertainer, soon divorced him, though Rentzel said the reason for the split was less his “crime” than his “Let’s-have-some-laughs-and-forget-it” attitude afterward.

Rentzel’s book sold well, but at least one critic wasn’t kind. Pete Axthelm, writing for The New York Times, said it lacked any substantive answers.

“One can hope that the writing of it contributed to Lance Rentzel’s personal rehabilitation,” he wrote. “And one must wish just as fervently that he had never decided to publish it.”

Rentzel continued to write, according to his obit, and ventured into the burgeoning world of computers. He was the director of Compucorp’s office of government affairs in 1984 when the company provided the largest computer operation at the Republican National Convention in Dallas. He moved to Alexandria, Va., where he remained a government contractor.

He leaves brothers Del Rentzel and Chris Rentzel of Dallas, and a daughter, Jenny.

“To all who knew him,” his obit reads, “Lance was larger than life – hilariously funny, unfailingly optimistic and happy, warm in spirit, and deeply loyal. He formed many close relationships over the years, most notably the enduring bonds that he shared with his teammates.”

Rentzel was selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the second round (23rd overall) of the 1965 NFL draft. He was also selected in the sixth round (48th overall) of the 1965 AFL draft by the Buffalo Bills. Rentzel played sparingly as a backup running back due to recurring injuries and his contributions came mainly as a kickoff returner during his first two seasons. Rentzel set the record for the longest kickoff return (101 yards) in franchise history as a rookie, which was broken by Aundrae Allison's 104-yarder in 2007 and Cordarrelle Patterson's 109-yarder in 2013.

On May 2, 1967, Rentzel was traded to the Dallas Cowboys in exchange for a third-round draft choice (#76-Mike McGill). Rentzel was converted into a flanker, where he became not only an immediate starter over Pete Gent but also one of the best wideouts in the NFL. Rentzel led the team in receptions with 58 for 996 yards (two yards less than Bob Hayes). If Rentzel had gotten four more yards and Hayes two more, it would have been the first time in NFL history that a team had two 1,000-yard wide receivers. In the tenth game of the season against the Washington Redskins, Rentzel had 13 receptions for 233 yards. His 13 receptions set a franchise record and stood for 40 years until it was broken by Jason Witten in 2007. The 233 yards were good enough for third on the team at the time (now sixth). Rentzel also starred in the 1967 NFL Championship, known since as the "Ice Bowl", scoring a fourth-quarter, go-ahead touchdown later negated by the Green Bay Packers' game-clinching drive.

Career information

High school     Casady (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)

College            Oklahoma

NFL draft        1965: 2nd round, 23rd overall pick

AFL draft        1965: 6th round, 48th overall pick

Career history

Minnesota Vikings (1965–1966)

Dallas Cowboys (1967–1970)

Los Angeles Rams (1971–1974)

Awards and highlights

NFL receiving touchdowns leader (1969)

Second-team All-Big Eight (1964)

Career NFL statistics

Receptions       268

Receiving yards          4,826

Rushing yards 196

Return yards    1,000

Total touchdowns        42

Gordon Wood obit

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author and Historian Gordon Wood Hit and Killed by Motorist

 He was not on the list.

On Sunday, one of Rhode Island’s most accomplished writers and historians, Gordon Wood, was hit and killed by a motorist.

 

He was 92.

Wood won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize.

Wood was one of America’s most accomplished scholars on the American Revolution — he won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for History for his work The Radicalism of the American Revolution. In 2010, he was awarded the National Humanities Medal.

He was the Alva O. Way University Professor and Professor of History Emeritus at Brown University. His list of academic awards over the past 50 years is unmatched - he is the leading Revolutionary era historian.

Police Report

East Providence Police reported that on Sunday, “officers were dispatched to the Shaw's Supermarket parking lot on Taunton Avenue for a report of a pedestrian struck by a motor vehicle. Upon the officer's arrival, they began treating a 92-year-old male from Providence who sustained serious injuries in the crash. The male was transported to Rhode Island Hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries.”

According to the East Providence Police:

"The female operator of the vehicle remained on scene and is cooperating with investigators. The Traffic/Crash Reconstruction Team and Detective Division are investigating the crash. At this time, the operator has not faced any charges," said East Providence Police.

The East Providence Police Department would like to thank the public who called 911 and assisted on scene before first responders arrived. At this time, the operator's name is not being released.

Wood was born in Concord, Massachusetts, and grew up in Worcester and Waltham. He graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Tufts University in 1955 and has served as a trustee there. While serving in the United States Air Force in Japan, he obtained a Master of Arts in history from Harvard University. After finishing his service, he obtained his Ph.D. in history from Harvard in 1964 under Bernard Bailyn. His dissertation discussed the formation of distinctive political values and structures of thought in the late colonial era of British North America and became the basis for his 1969 book, The Creation of the American Republic, 1776–1787.

Early in his career, Wood taught at Harvard University and the University of Michigan.[5] In 1969, he joined the faculty of Brown University where he was Professor of History and Alva O. Way University Professor.

Wood also taught at the College of William and Mary and from 1982 to 1983 was Pitt Professor at Cambridge University. In 2026, Professor Akhil Reed Amar, a friend and associate of Wood's, called him "America’s greatest living historian".

In addition to his books (listed below), Wood wrote numerous influential[how?] articles, notably "Rhetoric and Reality in the American Revolution" (1966), "Conspiracy and the Paranoid Style: Causality and Deceit in the Eighteenth Century" (1982), and "Interests and Disinterestedness in the Making of the Constitution" (1987). He was a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books and The New Republic.

He wrote the third volume of the Oxford History of the United States – Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789–1815 (2009) – a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

Contributing to the anthology Our American Story (2019), Wood addressed the possibility of a shared American narrative. He focused on the idea of equality as "the most radical and most powerful ideological force" that the American Revolution unleashed. "This powerful sense of equality is still alive and well in America, and despite all of its disturbing and unsettling consequences, it is what makes us one people." Wood was elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1988 and the American Philosophical Society in 1994.

Stacey King obit

Bulls champion, broadcaster Stacey King cause of death revealed

 He was not on the list.

Chicago Bulls broadcaster and championship-winning forward Stacey King died June 7 as a result of a fall in his home, as reported by David Kaplan of ESPN Chicago.

King, 59, was a member of the Bulls’ broadcasting team as a color analyst for more than two decades following his eight-year NBA career.

A first team All-American at Oklahoma and a member of three championship teams (1991-93) in Chicago, King first joined the Bulls when he was chosen sixth overall in the 1989 NBA Draft.

After playing five seasons for the Bulls, King finished his NBA career with the Dallas Mavericks, Minnesota Timberwolves, Boston Celtics and Miami Heat. He averaged 6.4 points and 3.3 rebounds in 16.9 minutes across 438 regular season games in his career.

King coached in the CBA after his NBA playing career before joining the Bulls’ broadcast team. He became a popular analyst on Bulls television broadcasts.

“Stacey King was a cherished member of the Bulls family and one of the truly unique personalities in our organization’s history,” Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said in a statement. “His connection to Chicago, the Bulls and our fans spanned more than three decades – first as a player and later as the unmistakable voice that helped bring Bulls basketball into the homes of generations of fans. We will miss him deeply and remember the joy, energy, humor, candor and passion he brought to our organization, our broadcasts and our fans every day.

“Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones.”

At Oklahoma, King was a consensus All-America first team in 1988-89 as a senior, when he led the nation in rebounds. He was named to the NCAA All-Tournament team as a junior in 1988.

Within years, King was an integral part of a Bulls dynasty that rattled off three consecutive championships.

King is survived by his four sons, Erick, Garrett, Brandon and Mason.

He played as a center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and won three consecutive championships with the Chicago Bulls from 1991 to 1993. He played college basketball for the Oklahoma Sooners, earning national player of the year honors in 1989. After retiring as a player, King was the color commentator for the Bulls on their television broadcasts beginning in the 2006–07 season until his death in 2026.

King was born on January 29, 1967, in Lawton, Oklahoma, and attended Lawton High School. He played college basketball at the University of Oklahoma from 1985 to 1989 under "legendary" head coach Billy Tubbs. He was already considered an All-Star during his rookie year, but did not attend the game due to suffering first-and second-degree burns from a car accident in El Reno during the summer.

After the conclusion of his sophomore year, in which the Sooners lost to Iowa in the 1987 NCAA tournament, King contemplated transferring from Oklahoma. He was frustrated with his limited minutes during the close game, but was convinced on the flight back home by academic advisor Rick Pryor, Tubbs, and later his parents to stay. He worked with a construction team at Remington Park during the summer, but was convinced to focus more on his basketball career for his next season.

During the 1987–88 season, King was recognized as "a star on a star-studded team." He averaged 22.3 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game, and set a second for the most blocked shots in the Big Eight Conference with 103. King led the Sooners to the 1988 NCAA championship game, their first appearance in 41 years. He recorded 17 points, seven rebounds and two blocks during the game which Oklahoma ultimately lost to Kansas. He was named the MVP of the tournament and pledged to remain at Oklahoma and finish his degree. The Sooners' 1988–89 season saw King average 26.0 points, 10.1 rebounds and 2.3 blocks on 52.3% shooting, leading the Big Eight in points and blocks per game. He earned the Big Eight Player of the Year award, a first team All-American selection, and The Sporting News Player of the Year award. He ranks sixth in Sooners history in total points (2,008) and eighth in total rebounds (825).

After a standout college career at Oklahoma, King was projected to be a top pick in the 1989 NBA draft, particularly for teams in need of power forwards. He was passed on by the Sacramento Kings for the first overall pick, and ended up being selected by the Chicago Bulls with the sixth overall pick. In his rookie season, King played all 82 games for the Bulls, averaging 8.9 points and 4.7 rebounds in 21.7 minutes and being the team's lead rebounder in six games. He scored a career-high 24 points along with five rebounds, three blocks and three steals in a 122–97 win over the Washington Bullets on March 20, 1990. In the playoffs, he averaged 17 points and 5 rebounds in his two starts in place for Scottie Pippen in the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Philadelphia 76ers. He ended the season earning a selection on the NBA All-Rookie Second Team.

Compared to his rookie year, King's sophomore season was a relative disappointment, with his averages decreasing to 5.5 points and 2.7 rebounds in 15.8 minutes. The season was filled with several off-court incidents, such as a family illness which restricted King from participating in practices and led to him starting the season overweight, his public discontent with the amount of minutes he was receiving, and eventually a walkout from practice near the end of the season, which led to a one-game suspension, further reduced playing time and a game in which he was booed at home. Regardless, King recalled playing well in place for Bill Cartwright for several weeks, and the team eventually won the 1991 NBA Finals for their first championship title.

Jack Maloney of CBS Sports wrote that King "never lived up to the hype from his stellar college career or became a full-time starter with the Bulls". NBA writer Sam Smith regarded him as a miscast on a Bulls roster already with forwards Horace Grant and Scottie Pippen. King himself recalled being initially unhappy with his status as a role player but went on to accept his position for the sake of winning. He played a role for the Bulls as a rotational bench player during the Michael Jordan-led dynasty of the 1990s, winning three NBA championships in 1991, 1992 and 1993. .He notably contributed to Chicago's 15-point, fourth quarter comeback in Game 6 of the 1992 Finals to claim the championship.

On February 24, 1994, just before the season's trade deadline, the Bulls sent King to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Australian-born center Luc Longley and a second-round draft pick. Smith wrote that "Minnesota was where NBA careers went to die, and Stacey's did." His first season with Minnesota was one of his best statistically, with him averaging 11.8 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. However, he did not reflect fondly on his tenure with the Timberwolves, which the Chicago Tribune described as "a maddening season and a half". He signed with the Miami Heat in October 1994. Issues with injuries led to him appearing in only 15 games and 2.5 points and 1.5 rebounds during the 1995–96 season.

Afterwards, King signed with the Grand Rapids Hoops of the Continental Basketball Association, and later the CBA's Sioux Falls Skyforce, where his health and availability improved. In the 1996–97 season, King signed 10-day contracts with the Dallas Mavericks and Boston Celtics but was not able to secure a permanent role on either team as they were prioritizing younger talents.

 Spurred by his friends in the CBA, King became an assistant coach for the Rockford Lightning in their 2000–01 season. On January 15, 2001, he was promoted to head coach after the resignation of Bob Salmi, who had led the team to a 4–11 record by that point in the season. By the end of the month, King had led the Lightning to a 6–2 record. Returning for the 2001–02 season, King led the Lightning to the CBA Finals, where they lost 116–109 to the Dakota Wizards. After leaving the Lightning, he later coached his former team, the Skyforce.

Retiring from coaching in order to spend more time with his children, King began his commentary career in 2004 with Comcast SportsNet as a studio analyst for pre-game and post-game shows for the Chicago Bulls. He was a game analyst during the 2006 NBA Playoffs, and became a regular season game broadcaster for the Bulls for the 2006–07 season. In 2008, he became the lead color commentator along with Neil Funk. King continued in that role when Adam Amin replaced Funk in 2020, until the channel's closure in 2024. King then transitioned to Chicago Sports Network and retained his role as lead color commentator along with Amin.

King’s popularity as an announcer has been attributed to his enthusiastic style and use of catchphrases and nicknames. His best known catchphrase during his broadcasting career was "Gimme the Hot Sauce". Some examples of nicknames he has given to players include "the Windy City Assassin" referring to Derrick Rose, "Red Velvet" for Kevin Huerter and "Lil Buzi Vert" for Matas Buzelis. He has also received attention for his calls of highlight plays by Rose during Rose’s time with the Chicago Bulls.

Personal information

Born    January 29, 1967

Lawton, Oklahoma, U.S.

Died    June 7, 2026 (aged 59)

River Forest, Illinois, U.S.

Listed height   6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)

Listed weight  230 lb (104 kg)

Career information

High school     Lawton (Lawton, Oklahoma)

College            Oklahoma (1985–1989)

NBA draft        1989: 1st round, 6th overall pick

Drafted by       Chicago Bulls

Playing career 1989–1999

Position           Power forward / center

Number           34, 21, 33

Career history

Playing

1989–1994      Chicago Bulls

1994–1995      Minnesota Timberwolves

1995–1996      Miami Heat

1996–1997      Grand Rapids Hoops

1997    Sioux Falls Skyforce

1997    Boston Celtics

1997    Dallas Mavericks

1997–1998      Antalya Büyükşehir Belediyesi

1998    Sioux Falls Skyforce

1998–1999      Atenas de Córdoba

Coaching

2001–2002      Rockford Lightning

2002–2003      Sioux Falls Skyforce

Career highlights

3× NBA champion (1991–1993)

NBA All-Rookie Second Team (1990)

Sporting News Player of the Year (1989)

Consensus first-team All-American (1989)

Big Eight Player of the Year (1989)

First-team All-Big Eight (1989)

No. 33 honored by Oklahoma Sooners

Career NBA statistics

Points  2,819 (6.4 ppg)

Rebounds        1,460 (3.3 rpg)

Blocks 210 (0.5 bpg)

Anthony Guidera obit

'The Godfather III' Anthony Guidera

Dead At 65 After Weeks on Life Support 

He was not on the list.

Actor Anthony Guidera -- known for his roles in "The Godfather Part III" and "Species" -- has died after his heart suddenly stopped, TMZ confirmed.

His wife, Valarie, tells TMZ ... on May 11, the couple was in the living room of their Southern California home when Anthony collapsed, and his heart stopped beating.

Valarie said Anthony was rushed to the hospital, where he was put on life support for 3 weeks. Doctors then took him off life support, per his prior directive, so he could be brought him home for a natural death.

Anthony passed away Saturday ... but his cause of death is still a mystery. Valarie said the doctors have no clue what made Anthony's heart stop.

In 1990, Anthony launched his film career by landing the role of a bodyguard also named Anthony in the third installment of the 'Godfather' trilogy.

Since then, he's played Robbie in the 1995 sci-fi flick, "Species," and received the MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss with his "Species" costar, Natasha Henstridge.

Anthony also took on smaller movie roles in "The Rock" in 1996, "The Postman" in 1997, and "Armageddon" in 1998. 

In addition, Anthony made appearances in several TV shows, namely "Renegade," "Baywatch," "Angel," and "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine."

Anthony was 65.

 

RIP

Actor

L.A. Dicks (2005)

L.A. Dicks

5.0

Jude

2005

 

Anthony Edwards, Julianna Margulies, Ming-Na Wen, Noah Wyle, Laura Innes, Alex Kingston, Eriq La Salle, Kellie Martin, Paul McCrane, Michael Michele, Erik Palladino, Maura Tierney, and Goran Visnjic in ER (1994)

ER

7.9

TV Series

Fireman

2001

1 episode

 

Pamela Anderson, Leah Lail, and Molly Culver in V.I.P. (1998)

V.I.P.

4.3

TV Series

Ty Bolander

2001

1 episode

 

David Boreanaz, Charisma Carpenter, and Glenn Quinn in Angel (1999)

Angel

7.9

TV Series

Ernie Nellins

2000

1 episode

 

Andrea Parker and Michael T. Weiss in The Pretender (1996)

The Pretender

7.5

TV Series

Vince

1999

1 episode

 

James Earl Jones and Lynn Redgrave in The Annihilation of Fish (1999)

The Annihilation of Fish

6.9

Gun Seller

1999

 

Acapulco H.E.A.T. (1993)

Acapulco H.E.A.T.

5.7

TV Series

Frank Bartlow

1999

1 episode

 

James Brolin, Sandra Hess, Bobby Hosea, Kenny Johnson, and Michael Trucco in Pensacola: Wings of Gold (1997)

Pensacola: Wings of Gold

6.1

TV Series

1998

1 episode

 

Liv Tyler, Bruce Willis, and Ben Affleck in Armageddon (1998)

Armageddon

6.7

Co-Pilot Tucker

1998

 

Heist (1998)

Heist

3.0

Doorman

1998

 

David Ramsey and Roz Ryan in The Good News (1997)

The Good News

8.3

TV Series

Jerry

1998

1 episode

 

Kevin Costner in The Postman (1997)

The Postman

6.1

Bridge City Guard

1997

 

Don Johnson and Cheech Marin in Nash Bridges (1996)

Nash Bridges

6.8

TV Series

Rick Montibello

1997

1 episode

 

'Til There Was You (1997)

'Til There Was You

4.8

Maitre D'

1997

 

Joe Lara in Tarzan: The Epic Adventures (1996)

Tarzan: The Epic Adventures

6.1

TV Series

Carson Napier

1997

1 episode

 

David Hasselhoff in Baywatch Nights (1995)

Baywatch Nights

3.8

TV Series

Reese

1996

1 episode

 

Rutger Hauer and Joan Chen in Precious Find (1996)

Precious Find

3.7

Jumper #1

1996

 

Nicolas Cage, Sean Connery, and Ed Harris in The Rock (1996)

The Rock

7.4

Lead F-18 Pilot

1996

 

Hope & Gloria (1995)

Hope & Gloria

6.7

TV Series

Pete

1995

2 episodes

 

George Segal, Yannick Bisson, and Rick Springfield in High Tide (1994)

High Tide

6.5

TV Series

Kurt Bender

1995

1 episode

 

Natasha Henstridge in Species (1995)

Species

5.9

Robbie

1995

 

Athena Massey in Undercover Heat (1995)

Undercover Heat

5.1

Hunt

1995

 

Sally Kirkland, Sharon Case, Melissa De Sousa, and Colleen Morris in Valley of the Dolls (1994)

Valley of the Dolls

6.6

TV Series

Ian Horvath

1994

1 episode

 

Valerie Bertinelli in Cafe Americain (1993)

Cafe Americain

7.6

TV Series

Etienne

1994

1 episode

 

Red Shoe Diaries (1992)

Red Shoe Diaries

5.8

TV Series

Dr. Martin

1993

1 episode

 

Michael Dorn, Terry Farrell, Colm Meaney, Nana Visitor, Avery Brooks, Armin Shimerman, Rene Auberjonois, Cirroc Lofton, and Alexander Siddig in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

8.1

TV Series

Cardassian

1993

1 episode

 

Pamela Anderson, Yasmine Bleeth, Alexandra Paul, David Hasselhoff, David Chokachi, Gena Lee Nolin, and Jaason Simmons in Baywatch (1989)

Baywatch

5.5

TV Series

Alain Begeré

1993

1 episode

 

Lorenzo Lamas, Kathleen Kinmont, and Branscombe Richmond in Renegade (1992)

Renegade

6.0

TV Series

Frank Lupo

1993

1 episode

 

Jeffrey Meek in The Exile (1991)

The Exile

7.7

TV Series

1991

1 episode

 

Al Pacino, Andy Garcia, Sofia Coppola, and Talia Shire in The Godfather Part III (1990)

The Godfather Part III

7.5

Anthony, the Bodyguard

1990

 

Self

The Salvation of Barry (2008)

The Salvation of Barry

Self - Prana Healer

2008

 

Chris Farley and David Spade in 1996 MTV Movie Awards (1996)

1996 MTV Movie Awards

5.2

TV Special

Self - Winner

1996

 

Archive Footage

The Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980 (1992)

The Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980

9.3

Video

Anthony, the Bodyguard (archive footage)

1992

 

Bob Packwood obit

Bob Packwood, longtime Oregon Senator marred by scandal, dies at 93

 

Packwood built a reputation as a maverick Republican and champion of women’s rights. It collapsed amid revelations of sexual misconduct.

He was not on the list.

Bob Packwood, a longtime Oregon Senator who entered national politics young and ascended to the pinnacles of congressional power before his career ended in scandal, died Saturday. He was 93.

Packwood died in a residential care facility in southern California, where he and his wife rented a vacation home, according to one family friend. His family released an obituary to media outlets Saturday afternoon.

“It is with great sadness that I share the news that Senator Packwood passed away earlier today,” Packwood’s wife, Elaine Franklin, said in a statement from a private Facebook post that was also provided to OPB. “He touched many lives and leaves behind a lasting legacy of public service. He will be deeply missed.”

A moderate Republican, Packwood spent decades in the Senate building a reputation for bucking his party’s hard-liners and for supporting women’s rights. That included much-heralded stances in favor of abortion rights and securing landmark federal protections for the Columbia River Gorge.

But that reputation came crashing down in late 1992, just after Packwood had been re-elected to his fifth term in the Senate.

The Washington Post published an investigation detailing allegations by former female staffers and others who described a decades-long pattern of forceful kissing and other sexual misconduct by the Senator.

Packwood kept Congressional investigators at bay for years, while also serving in one of Washington, D.C.’s most powerful roles as chair of the Senate Finance Committee.

But in 1995, he ran out of time.

The Senate Ethics Committee voted to expel Packwood from the Senate, finding he had made unwanted advances toward more than a dozen women and tried to obstruct the investigation into his conduct.

Packwood resigned the next day, but spoke to OPB in 2013 about the scandal.

“In the majority of the cases, I could not remember the woman, could not remember the incident,” he said. “In some cases, it was one time, one night. And all of the charges, save one, were over 10 years old, and in two cases 20 years old, and I just couldn’t remember.”

In the years following his departure from the Senate, Packwood became a successful Washington lobbyist. But he kept a relatively low profile in his home state.

Still, his contributions to his party live on. Packwood played a major role in starting the Oregon GOP’s annual Dorchester Conference, now in its 60th year.

Robert William Packwood was born in Portland in 1932 to a family with a strong pedigree in state affairs. His great-grandfather attended Oregon’s constitutional convention and designed the state seal, Packwood would recall.

His father was a tax analyst at the state Legislature.

After graduating from Grant High School in Portland, Packwood attended Willamette University in Salem and began to dabble in Republican politics. It was there that he first met Mark Hatfield, an advisor who would eventually become governor and Packwood’s equally powerful counterpart in the U.S. Senate.

After attending law school in New York, Packwood returned to Oregon and began his rise through the political ranks. He won a seat in the state House of Representatives in 1962, crediting an army of volunteers – many of them women – who helped to get his name out.

By 1968, Packwood had learned the ropes in Salem and went for a larger prize. He challenged Democratic U.S. Sen. Wayne Morse and made an issue of Morse’s outspoken opposition to the Vietnam War. He won the race by three-tenths of a percent and, at 36, became the youngest senator in the country.

In the Senate, Packwood cultivated a reputation as a maverick.

He was the first Senate Republican to support the impeachment of President Richard Nixon. And he was among the first national politicians to embrace the environmental movement, pushing to protect Hells Canyon in 1975, and helping to preserve the Columbia River Gorge as a national scenic area.

Where Packwood generated most attention, though, was in his stance on abortion and women’s rights. He would ascribe his position favoring a woman’s right to choose an abortion, in part, to the female volunteers who assisted him on the campaign trail.

“They each had, if not personally experienced it, had something very close to a personal experience,” Packwood told OPB. “And they described how brutal it was, how unsanitary it was, and I thought, well, this is wrong.”

Packwood unsuccessfully introduced a bill to legalize abortion in the early 1970s. With the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision at the Supreme Court, he was thrust into the national limelight as the voice of support in Congress.

Packwood said he at first assumed furor over the issue would subside.

“It did not, and it went on,” he said in 2013. “It’s going on. I guess it’s going to go on.”

Packwood was also one of two Senate Republicans to vote against the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who had been accused of sexual harassment.

Packwood said at the time that his vote was based on Thomas’ legal theories, not the allegations against him.

Packwood also played a major role in the nation’s tax policy, eventually ascending to chair of the Senate Finance Committee. And he was among the Senate’s staunchest defenders of Israel.

But the events Packwood would ultimately become best known for were darker. The Washington Post investigation that was published on November 21, 1992, marked the beginning of the end of the senator’s career in elected office.

It detailed allegations that Packwood had forcibly kissed female staffers, attempted to remove one woman’s underwear by force in his office, tried to force himself on another woman in an Oregon hotel room, and more.

The earliest allegation stemmed from Packwood’s first year in the Senate, when a staffer at his Portland office said he came up and kissed her on the neck. “Don’t you ever do that again,” the staffer, Julie Williamson, said she told Packwood.

According to the Post, “Williamson said Packwood then followed her into an adjoining room, where he grabbed at her clothes, pulled on her ponytail and at one point, stood on her toes” to prevent her from kicking him as he tried to remove her undergarments.

Stories from other women followed a similar pattern.

The article launched a three-year process in which Packwood first welcomed – and then obstructed – a Congressional investigation.

That investigation turned up damning evidence from Packwood himself. The Senator’s personal diary included some shocking entries.

In a 2017 memoir, former U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer included one excerpt detailing Packwood’s account of an encounter with a staffer, NPR noted. It read:

“If she didn’t want me to feather her nest, why did she come into the Xerox room? Sure, she used that old excuse that she had to make copies of the Brady Bill, but if you believe that, I have a room full of radical feminists you can boff. She knew I was copying stuff in there. I had my jacket off and my sleeves rolled up, revealing the well-defined musculature of my sinewy arms which are always bulging with desire. I know what she wanted. This didn’t require a lot of thought.”

The investigation concluded with a nearly 200-page report detailing findings that Packwood had committed at least 18 instances of sexual misconduct between 1969 and 1990. The document also concluded that Packwood attempted to obstruct investigators’ work, and that he had sought to use his position as a senator to win work for his then-wife.

Rather than being formally expelled by the Senate, Packwood opted to leave on his own.

“It is my duty to resign,” he said on the Senate floor. “It is the honorable thing to do for this country, for this Senate… I leave this institution not with malice, but with love.”

Alan Hale obit

Passing of Alan Hale: Skywatcher and Hale-Bopp Legacy

He was not on the list. 

I am saddened to report the passing of my dear friend, Alan Hale – an astronomer that made us all look up and ponder about a visitor from afar – the noted Hale Bopp comet. That object was one of the most widely observed space intruders of the 20th century.

When it passed perihelion on April 1, 1997, reaching about magnitude −1.8, its massive nucleus size made it visible to the naked eye for a record 18 months.

From Vickie Stone Moseley Hale in Cloudcroft, New Mexico: “Today the love my life, Father, Grandfather, Astronomer, Comet discoverer, passed away in his home. I am heart broken.”

I will always remember Alan Hale in an interview telling me, after first seeing the object late night, something like, “and then I took my life in my hands and woke up my wife,” inviting her to his telescope’s eye piece to marvel at what he observed.

I’ll miss you Alan, but now you are among the stars, planets, and other objects that you loved to keep an eye on.

He co-discovered Comet Hale–Bopp independently of its other co-discoverer, Thomas Bopp, an amateur astronomer.

Hale specialized in the study of Sun-like stars and the search for extra-solar planetary systems, and had side interests in the fields of comets and near-Earth asteroids. He was an astronomer most of his life and served as the president of the Earthrise Institute, which he founded, and which has as its mission the use of astronomy as a tool for breaking down international and intercultural barriers. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) named an asteroid in Hale's honor, 4151 Alanhale, in recognition of his numerous comet observations.

Alan Hale was born in 1958 in Tachikawa, Japan,[1] where his father was serving in the United States Air Force. Four months later his father was transferred to Holloman Air Force Base outside Alamogordo, New Mexico.

Hale was raised in Alamogordo, where his father retired from the Air Force and worked in civil service. In 2013 Hale said, "I refuse to say that 'I grew up there' because anyone who know me knows that I really haven't grown up yet."[5] He credited several factors for inspiring his interest in science and astronomy in the 1960s: the clear night skies in Alamogordo, library books on astronomy his father gave him in the first grade, the U.S. space program, and the original Star Trek television series. Hale also said that as a child he was interested in other sciences as well, and he "went through a dinosaur phase when I was in second grade. I knew them all. Drove my parent nuts."

Hale graduated from Alamogordo High School in 1976, and then served in the United States Navy from 1976 to 1983. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1980 with a bachelor's degree in physics. Following his Navy service he worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) until 1986 as an engineering contractor for Allied Bendix Aerospace working on the NASA Deep Space Network project, as well as on several spacecraft projects. During the 1986 Voyager 2 fly-by of Uranus, he worked with the Radio Science Experiment, using the spacecraft carrier signal to deduce information about Uranus' atmosphere and rings.

After leaving JPL, Hale enrolled in the astronomy department of New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, where he earned a Master's Degree and a PhD in 1989 and 1992 respectively, both in astronomy. His doctoral dissertation was published in the January 1994 issue of The Astronomical Journal. After completing his studies at New Mexico State University, Hale worked at the New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamogordo as its staff astronomer and outreach education coordinator.