Sonny Jurgensen - # 356

Sonny Jurgensen, Hall of Fame quarterback with Washington and Philadelphia, dies at 91

 He was number 356 on the list.

Sonny Jurgensen, a 1983 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee and one of the purest passers of the 1960s, died at at the age of 91, his family announced Friday.

"It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of our husband, father, and grandfather, Sonny Jurgensen," the Jurgensen family said in a statement released by the Washington Commanders. "We are enormously proud of his amazing life and accomplishments on the field, marked not only by a golden arm, but also a fearless spirit and intellect that earned him a place among the legends in Canton. But to those of us who knew him beyond the stadium lights, he was the steady, humorous, and deeply loving heart of our family.

"He lived with deep appreciation for the teammates, colleagues, and friends he met along the way. While he has taken his final snap, his legacy will remain an indelible part of the city he loved and the family he built.

"We are comforted by the knowledge that he brought joy to so many. This weekend as we enjoy the game that he loved so much, join us and raise a glass, share a story and a smile, as we celebrate the extraordinary life of a man who was, to us, the greatest of all time."

With an 18-year career that spanned from 1957 to 1974, Jurgensen sparkled as a thrower during an era when offenses more commonly operated in a cloud of dust. He led the league in passing yards five separate times, earning five Pro Bowl nominations and one All-Pro nod, which came in his first season as the Philadelphia Eagles' starter in 1961.

The Philadelphia and Washington quarterback was named to the NFL's All-Decade Team of the 1960s alongside Green Bay Packers QB Bart Starr and Baltimore Colts QB Johnny Unitas.

"Few players could rival Sonny Jurgensen's genuine love of the game that continued long after his playing days," Pro Football Hall of Fame president Jim Porter said in a statement. "Whether he was standing tall in the face of an opposing lineman as a quarterback for the Eagles and Redskins for 18 seasons or later as a beloved broadcaster in Washington for several more decades, Sonny captivated audiences and introduced generations of fans to the sport. Watching Sonny throw a football was like watching a master craftsman create a work of art."

Jurgensen's prolific career spawned from humble, unexpected beginnings as a college athlete at Duke University. The future record-holder for passing yards in a single season -- he set the NFL's high-water mark first in 1961 (3,723 yards), and then broke his own record again in 1967 (3,747) -- made his biggest impact for the Blue Devils as a defensive back.

He spent his sophomore season at Duke as a full-time defender before transitioning to being a two-way player for his final two years in school. By the end of his collegiate career, Jurgensen had 77 completions for 1,119 yards and six touchdowns. He bested his QB scoring tally by hauling in 10 interceptions on the other side of the ball throughout his time in Durham.

Regardless, Jurgensen passed the eye test. The Eagles selected him with the No. 43 overall pick in the 1957 NFL Draft. Jurgensen would sit behind another Hall of Famer, Norm Van Brocklin, for four years, and he did not assume the starting role until The Dutchman retired following Philly's 1960 NFL Championship.

The small snapshot Jurgensen provided in his relief appearances for Van Brocklin during the 1960 season proved a picture-perfect microcosm of his career-to-be. The starter in waiting threw for five scores and 486 yards on just 24 completions, good for 20.3 yards per connection.

Finally at the helm the following year, Jurgensen was a revelation. The pocket-passing gunslinger immediately brought the wow factor to Philly, putting on a show for better and for worse. He not only set the single-season record for passing yards, but he also led the NFL in both touchdowns (32) and interceptions (24).

Philadelphia won 10 games but missed the playoffs despite Jurgensen's exploits, then cratered in the next two seasons, introducing a theme of teamwide futility that would plague Jurgensen's individually spectacular career.

The Eagles managed just five wins combined across their 1962 and 1963 campaigns, fired head coach Nick Skorich and completed their face lift by trading Jurgensen to Washington ahead of the 1964 season.

It was in the nation's capital that Jurgensen would cement himself as the foremost pocket passer of his time. The QB compiled 19,693 passing yards, 160 TDs and 100 interceptions during a seven-year stretch as the club's unquestioned starter.

His record 3,747 passing yards in 1967, which he coupled with a league-leading 31 TD passes, stood until Dan Fouts eclipsed it with the NFL's first 4,000-yard passing season in 1979 (Joe Namath had the first 4,000-yard season in the more pass-happy American Football League during the '60s).

In the 10 years following Jurgensen's record-setting feat, the NFL witnessed a 3,000-yard passer only six other times -- one of those being Jurgensen accomplishing the mark again.

Jurgensen's only winning season as Washington's starter came in 1969 with Vince Lombardi, the QB's third head coach in six years. Following Lombardi's death from cancer in September 1970, Jurgensen spent one more year as the team's signal-caller, under interim head coach Bill Austin.

Jurgensen's fifth and final head coach in D.C., George Allen, installed Billy Kilmer as the team's new QB in 1971 to usher in a conservative, run-first offense.

Jurgensen stayed on for four more years, backing up Kilmer as the team's fortunes finally turned around to the tune of 40 wins and four consecutive playoff trips. The final snaps of Jurgensen's career came in relief of Kilmer during a Divisional Round loss to the Los Angeles Rams. He was 40 years old, and it was the only postseason action of his storied NFL journey.

Jurgensen retired with 32,224 passing yards, 255 touchdowns and 189 interceptions. He remains Washington's single-season record holder for passing TDs even today, and his career high of 32 in 1961 still ranks second on the list in Philadelphia.

Although he never attained the individual accolades and championship pedigree of his All-Decade Team counterparts, Starr and Unitas, those who saw him play recognized his brilliance.

During his one-year opportunity to work with Jurgensen, the legendary coach Lombardi put it simply: "He may be the best the league has ever seen. He is the best I have seen."

Personal information

Born    August 23, 1934

Wilmington, North Carolina, U.S.

Died    February 6, 2026 (aged 91)

Listed height   5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)

Listed weight  202 lb (92 kg)

Career information

High school     New Hanover (Wilmington)

College            Duke (1953–1956)

NFL draft        1957: 4th round, 43rd overall pick

Career history

Philadelphia Eagles (1957–1963)

Washington Redskins (1964–1974)

Awards and highlights

NFL champion (1960)

2× First-team All-Pro (1961, 1969)

2× Second-team All-Pro (1964, 1967)

5× Pro Bowl (1961, 1964, 1966, 1967, 1969)

5× NFL passing yards leader (1961, 1962, 1966, 1967, 1969)

2× NFL passing touchdowns leader (1961, 1967)

NFL passer rating leader (1967)

NFL completion percentage leader (1970)

NFL 1960s All-Decade Team

Philadelphia Eagles Hall of Fame

Washington Commanders Ring of Fame

Washington Commanders No. 9 retired

2× first-team All-ACC (1955, 1956)

NFL record

99-yard pass play (tied)

Career NFL statistics

Passing attempts          4,262

Passing completions    2,433

Completion percentage           57.1%

TD–INT          255–189

Passing yards  32,224

Passer rating    82.6

Clay Iles obit

Tennis coach Clay Iles, 83, has died

 

He was not on the list.

Eastbourne based Clay Iles, one of the most successful tennis coaches in the country, has died aged 83.

Iles taught numerous British junior champions including Sussex-based Julie Salmon, Clare Wood and Sarah Gomer.

These three made up the British Federation Cup Team.

He also guided Horsham-based John Whiteford as the British-under 21 champion.

As a player, he competed at Wimbledon 12 times between 1962 and 1974.

Iles played Pancho Gonzales in the first ever "Open Era" singles match at the British Hard Court Championships at Bournemouth in 1968.

He won the North of England hard court championships in 1964, when he beat Mark Cox in the final.

And he later added the British Professional Coaches Championship six times.

He represented Surrey many times when they won the British county title.

As a coach, he  held a position as a national trainer and was responsible for the leading players under 12 in the country. For two years Tim Henman was in that group.

Rohun Beven, former Wimbledon and international tennis player and Sussex No.1 1 said: "I have known Clay for over 55 years, he was one of the most highly respected players and coaches of his generation.

"Clay had a significant impact on the lives and careers of so many Wimbledon and British International players. The tennis world will miss him".

His funeral will be held on Friday, February 13 at Langley Crematorium in Eastbourne at 2pm.

Mickey Lolich obit

Mickey Lolich, Detroit Tigers 1968 World Series hero, dies at 85

 

He was not on the list.

Legendary Detroit Tigers pitcher Mickey Lolich, whose three complete game victories in the 1968 World Series delivered a championship and earned him the series MVP, has died at age 85.

As one of the anchors of the Tigers’ pitching staff in the 1960s and '70s, the portly southpaw, who once called himself “a beer drinker’s idol,” developed into one of the game’s most durable and best left-handed starting pitchers ever.

Fifth on the career strikeouts list for left-handers (2,832, behind only Randy Johnson, Steve Carlton, CC Sabathia and Clayton Kershaw), Lolich struck out more batters than Hall of Famers Bob Feller, Warren Spahn, Don Drysdale, Christy Mathewson, Cy Young and his childhood idol, Whitey Ford.

Over his 16-year major league career, Lolich won 15 or more games eight times, threw 195 complete games and struck out 200 or more batters in seven seasons while missing just one start due to injury. He remains the Tigers' all-time leader in strikeouts (2,679), starts (459) and shutouts (39).

"The Tigers are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Mickey Lolich and we extend our heartfelt condolences to his family and loved ones," the team posted on social media Wednesday. "Lolich will be remembered as one of the most durable and dominant left-handed pitchers of his era and a cornerstone of Detroit’s pitching staff for more than a decade."

"Lolich was a great pitcher, teammate and champion, but he was more than that to me," longtime Tigers teammate Willie Horton said in a statement released by the team. "He was like a brother for over 60 years. I will keep the memories close to my heart and will never forget the close bond we shared. My condolences to Joyce and their family and to everyone who loved him."

Entering the 1968 World Series, the spotlight was on the pitching matchup between St. Louis Cardinals ace Bob Gibson and 31-game winner Denny McLain, the MVP and Cy Young Award winners for their respective leagues.

Although Gibson set a World Series record with his 17 strikeouts in Game 1, it was Lolich who stole the show with three complete-game victories against a powerful lineup that included Lou Brock, Curt Flood and Orlando Cepeda.

In Game 2, Lolich pitched a six-hit, complete-game victory to tie the series at a game apiece. He helped his own cause by hitting the only home run of his career in the 8-1 win.

Down three games to one in the Series, Lolich pitched another complete game, helping the Tigers in a come-from-behind 5-3 win at Tiger Stadium.

During Game 6, when the Tigers pulled away for a 13-1 victory, manager Mayo Smith had begun to seriously think about who was to pitch the deciding seventh game.

“I was at the far end of the bench when Mayo came up to me and asked if I could pitch the next day,” Lolich said. “I knew it was (loser of Game 3) Earl Wilson’s turn to start and I told him that if he needed me for a couple of innings out of the bullpen, I could do that. He said, ‘No, I want you to start, can you give me five?’ I did the math and knew I averaged about 15 pitches an inning and realized I could probably give him that.”

Smith then ordered Lolich to go back to the hotel to rest and avoid reporters.

When Lolich entered the dugout after setting down the side in the bottom of the fifth inning of a scoreless tie in Game 7 on just two days' rest, he assumed his day was done, but Smith asked him if he could give him one more inning. The man with the rubber arm agreed.   

In the bottom of the sixth, Lolich’s heroics continued when he ended a potential Cardinals rally by deftly pulling off the improbable — picking off speedsters Brock and Flood at first base.

After the Tigers took a 3-0 lead in the top of the seventh, highlighted by Jim Northrup’s two-run triple over Flood’s head, Lolich delivered a message to Smith.

“I tapped him on the shoulder and said, ‘Now I’ll finish it for you.’ Mayo said, ‘That’s exactly what I wanted to hear.’ ”

Relying largely on his sinking fastball as he had done all day, Lolich completed his trifecta when Tim McCarver popped out to Bill Freehan, who immediately lifted his batterymate off the ground in a celebratory embrace that was captured in what became one of the most famous images in Tigers history.

In his 27 innings pitched in that series, the Cardinals scored just five runs.

"The first couple of years I played with him I didn’t have that much confidence in him," teammate Mickey Stanley said in 2026. "The way he pitched in the seventh game of the World Series, on two days' rest, was unbelievable. He became a real pitcher in that Series and from then on, it was like night and day. It was great to play behind him because he threw strikes and was a great competitor."

Lolich is the only left-handed pitcher in American League history to win three complete games in a World Series and just the third of either hand, for either league, since the start of the 1921 season. (The other two: Lew Burdette for the Milwaukee Braves in 1957 and Gibson for the Cardinals in 1967.) Given the modern approach to pitcher usage, Lolich will likely be the last.

While riding a tricycle as a toddler in his Portland, Oregon, neighborhood, Michael Stephen Lolich knocked over a parked motorcycle that fell and broke his left arm.

Naturally right-handed, his parents' form of physical therapy included tying his right hand behind his back — forcing him to depend on his left arm. From then on, Lolich threw left-handed.

“I was an only child and there were no other kids on my block, so I used to entertain myself by throwing figs at city buses 150 feet from the top of my grandparents’ garage,” he said in 2015.

Lolich's entry into baseball did not come until his teens, according to his 2018 autobiography "Mickey Lolich: Joy in Tigertown" (penned with Tom Gage). The nascent lefty was introduced to baseball at age 11, when he happened upon a game at the city park maintained by his father. A local team of 14- and 15-year-olds were short one player and asked Lolich if he would play. Having never played before, he borrowed a glove from an opposing player and was relegated to right field.

“We were getting beat pretty bad and I thought, ‘I can throw as good as those guys,’ so I volunteered to pitch,” Lolich said. “To the surprise of everyone, I blew all the batters away because they couldn’t hit my fast ‘fig.’ ”

By age 14, Lolich was a star in the local Babe Ruth League and a batboy for the Pacific Coast League’s Portland Beavers; for two consecutive seasons (1955-56), he took his hometown team to the Babe Ruth World Series while winning MVP awards each year.

After signing with the Tigers in 1958, he struggled with his control in four minor-league seasons and briefly quit in 1962 after refusing an assignment to Knoxville. But on loan that year to the hometown Beavers, he found his groove, thanks to pitching coach Gerry Staley.

Lolich returned to the Tigers for spring training 1963; a month into the season, he was called up to make his major league debut. On May 12, he came out of the bullpen against Cleveland and struck out the first two batters he faced, Max Alvis and Sam McDowell. Two weeks later, he earned his first victory while scattering eight hits and going the distance against the Angels in Los Angeles.

By 1967, Lolich and Denny McLain had established themselves as one of the top starting duos in the AL while the Tigers battled in one of the most exciting pennant races ever, losing out on the AL crown on the last day of the season.

Earlier that year, Lolich found himself wearing a different uniform once civil unrest broke out in Detroit that summer.

He took the loss in the first game of a doubleheader against the Yankees at Tiger Stadium on July 23, the first day the disturbance spilled onto the streets of Detroit. The following morning, he was activated by the Air National Guard. Lolich, who, since 1963, had missed two weeks in the middle of every season for mandatory summer camp, was a sergeant in charge of 11 men and served 10 days in downtown Detroit during the disturbance.

On active duty for 12 days, Lolich was one of three Detroit athletes activated: receiver John Henderson and quarterback Tom Myers of the Lions, were both summoned from the Cranbrook training camp.

The next summer, while McLain became the talk of baseball on his way to winning 31 games, Lolich had struggled a bit. To his surprise, manager Mayo Smith assigned him to the bullpen in August 1968.

“I was mad and told him, ‘I’ll tell you one thing, before this year is over, you’re going to need me,’ and Mayo said, ‘We’ll see,’ ” said Lolich, who, after several successful relief appearances, returned to the starting rotation for the final month of the regular season.

After McLain was traded in 1970, Lolich became the Tigers’ ace and established himself as a workhorse. From 1971-74, he pitched at least 300 innings each season.

"As good as he was, though, I always thought Mickey didn’t realize himself how good he really was," 1968 teammate Jon Warden said in 2026. "[Catcher] Bill Freehan told me ‘I could catch McLain with my bare hand but Lolich killed me. I had to wear a rubber glove and a wrap around my hand because it was swollen after every time I caught him.’"

After perfecting a cut fastball in 1971's spring training, the three-time All-Star had his greatest season, leading the league in wins (25), strikeouts (308), complete games (29) and innings pitched (376). That year, he also earned the save in the 1971 All-Star Game at Tiger Stadium. Lolich was edged out of the Cy Young Award by American League MVP Vida Blue.

Reggie Jackson, who called Lolich’s 1971 season “one of the greatest of all time,” has always praised the man who gave him fits at the plate.

“Lolich was a gallon of ice cream when you only wanted a cone, simply a great pitcher, and for seven or eight years the toughest lefty in the league,” Jackson said in 2015.  “When he stepped on the mound at 1 p.m., you knew he would be there until the end and he never missed a start. Today, they talk about 200 innings being special. Hell, Mickey had 200 innings by Aug. 1. I just wish he had gone into the doughnut business 10 years earlier.”

In 1972, Lolich helped lead the Tigers to the AL East title with 22 victories.

“He was an outstanding starter who could pitch down and away all day long, get a thousand ground balls or with a two-strike count come up and in and blow you out of there,” said former slugger Frank Howard, a teammate with the '72 Tigers, in 2015.

By 1975, the Tigers were bereft of talent and even though Lolich was frustrated with the lack of run support and a poor defense, he was still disappointed when the Tiges traded him to the New York Mets for Rusty Staub.

“I had always wanted to finish my career with the Tigers and I almost didn’t agree to the trade, but looking back now I wish I hadn’t,” he said in 2015.

After signing a two-year contract with the Mets, Lolich pitched in 1976 but then retired and sat out the 1977 season before signing as a free agent with San Diego; the woeful Padres coaxed him out of retirement with a two-year deal worth more than he had ever been paid.

Following the 1979 season, Lolich retired and later owned and operated his own doughnut shop outside of Detroit for several years.

Lolich is survived by Joyce, his wife of 61 years; daughters Kimberly, Stacy, and Jody; and three grandsons.

Ed Iskenderian obit

Ed Iskenderian, beloved "Camfather" of hot rodding, passes away at 104

Ed Iskenderian, the enduring and beloved “Camfather” of hot rodding, passed away Feb. 4. He was 104. For decades beginning in the 1940s, Isky's camshafts powered winners and broke records in all forms of motorsports. 

He was not on the list.

Ed Iskenderian, the enduring and beloved “Camfather” of hot rodding, passed away Feb. 4. He was 104.

Iskenderian was born July 10, 1921, in Cutler, in Central California, and was insatiably curious about mechanics and technology. His first job was repairing vacuum tube radios. According to NHRA historian Greg Sharp, the Iskenderian family was in the wine-making business, but several severe frosts caused the family to move to Los Angeles when he was just a year old.

"As he grew into a teenager, the Great Depression was on, and times were tough, but he noticed guys having fun driving stripped-down Model Ts [they weren’t yet known as hot rods], and he would follow these ‘gow jobs’ on his bicycle just to see them up close,” Sharp wrote in a 2021 article in NHRA National Dragster celebrating Isky’s 100th birthday. He basically grew up around cars, particularly fascinated by the hot rods he and his buddies saw around town.

Like so many returning veterans from World War II – he served in the Army Air Corps and flew supply missions in the Pacific Theater – he was at ground zero for the explosion of the hot rodding sport in the late 1940s, where new innovations and technologies were created on an almost weekly basis to feed the hunger of the insatiable hot rodders looking for a little more power for their machines.

He befriended Ed Winfield, a pioneer in the world of camshaft and carburetor design. Winfield once said he could tell from Isky’s questions that he was going to be big in the camshaft business someday and showed him how to build a cam grinding machine, and Iskenderian began grinding his own hot camshafts and making valvetrain parts out of a small shop in Culver City, Calif.

He intuitively understood marketing, branding, and promotion. A small ad in the second issue of Hot Rod magazine started the inquiries, many from the so-called “bootleggers” of the south. In the heyday of the A/Gas Supercharged wars between Isky customer “Big John” Mazmanian and the Stone-Woods-Cook team, he traded blows with other camshaft manufacturers, especially Jack Engle. Isky was in the thick of it when clever ads touting his success paired with hilarious Pete Millar-drawn cartons. His ads touted everyone who ran his parts, from Don Garlits and the "5 cycle" cam to Cook & Bedwell's wild dragster.

He ran his Model-T rod at the dry lakes and became a major player in the early days of Bonneville and the NHRA. He sponsored and supplied his camshaft magic to racing icons, including Don Garlits and Mickey Thompson. In the 1950s, having Isky (or Iskenderian) Cams lettered on your race car became a status symbol.

From his early days running at El Mirage with the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) to founding Isky Racing Cams, Iskenderian built more than just camshafts, he built a performance brand. He was one of the first to advertise directly to racers in enthusiast magazines, sponsor grassroots competitors, and turn performance parts into a lifestyle.

Iskenderian Racing Cams became a major force in the performance industry, with Iskenderian serving as SEMA’s first president and helped unite the aftermarket industry, and gave racers, builders, and manufacturers a national stage.

Even after eclipsing the century mark in 2021, Iskenderian remained a vital force and a treasured and welcomed guest at any motorsports gathering. Last June, his friends threw a wonderful 104th birthday party for him at the Lions Automobilia Foundation & Museum in Southern California.

Lloyd Monsen obit

RIP, LLOYD: Hall of Famer Monsen, two-time Olympian, passes away

Lloyd Monsen, a force in New York soccer and a two-time Olympian, has passed away. 

He was not on the list.

Lloyd Monsen, a force in New York soccer and a two-time Olympian and a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame, has passed away.

He was 94.

Monsen played and coached and in the Long Island Soccer Football League.

Kimberly Johnson Monsen, his daughter in law, announced his death on her Facebook page late Wednesday night.

“It’s with a sad heart we announce the passing of my father-in-law Lloyd Monsen,” Monsen wrote. “To say he lived a full life is an understatement — Olympian, Hall of Famer, husband, father, grandfather, and great grandfather. Just shy of 95, he’s seen it all. He passed peacefully. We’ll miss you Pop!”

He was inducted into the NSHOF in 1994 and the Long Island Soccer Player Hall of Fame in 2025.

Monsen was barely out of Fort Hamilton High School in Brooklyn, N.Y., having begun to make a reputation first with S.C. Gjoa and then with the New York Americans of the German-American Soccer League (now Cosmopolitan Soccer League).

He represented the U.S. at the 1952 and 1956 Olympics. In 1992, he told this writer that he was one of 10 players who represented the U.S. in the Olympic soccer tournament.

After returning from the 1956 Melbourne Games, Monsen continued to play for the Americans, who had merged with N.Y. Hakoah. In 1956-57, Monsen led the American Soccer League in scoring and finished second in the goal race the next two seasons before securing the crown again in 1959-60. Hakoah won league titles in 1956-57, 1957-58 and 1958-59.

His contract was sold to the German Hungarians (they eventually became the G.H. Metros), for $1,000.

A year later, an injury put an end to his playing career.

Monsen moved to Florida, where he officiated soccer games from 1965-1980. He returned to Long Island and coached the Sachem youth teams, played with an LISFL Over-30 team (and eventually with an O-40 side) before taking over the coaching reins at Patchogue. He joined Huntington, an LISFL First Division club, in 1992.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

Ron Kenoly obit

Gospel legend, 

Ron Kenoly dies at 81

 

He was not on the list.

Legendary gospel singer, Ron Kenoly, has passed away.

Kenoly’s death has been confirmed by several artistes via their social media pages.

He was 81.

Top Nigerian minister, Nathaniel Bassey, wrote on Instagram: “Dr Ron Kenoly crosses to yonder side.

“Thank you for inspiring generations of psalmists like me.

“I grew up on these songs. And today, others are growing up on ours.

“Thank you sir.”

Kenoly was behind hit songs like Majesty, Righteousness, Peace & Joy, Anointing, All honour, Sing out, among others.

Kenoly was born and raised in Coffeyville, Kansas. He stated that when his mother, Edith Kenoly, was pregnant with him, she would rub her stomach and pray "Lord let this one praise you."[This quote needs a citation] He was interested in a musical career from a young age, later saying, "As a child I remember seeing Sammy Davis Jr. and Nat King Cole for the first time. I was so impressed as I watched two Black men grace a national stage. I knew right then that was what I wanted."

After graduating from high school in Coffeyville, Kenoly moved to Hollywood, California. He served in the United States Air Force from 1965 to 1968. During his Air Force career, Kenoly was a member of the Mellow Fellows, a top 40 cover band that toured military bases. After leaving the Air Force, he returned to Los Angeles to continue his music career.

He sang demos of Jimmy Webb songs, including "Up, Up and Away," for the Audio Arts label. The label also released Kenoly's first single, "The Glory of Your Love (Mine Eyes Have Seen)." He later signed with A&M Records. The label's executives gave Kenoly the stage name Ron Keith, and he recorded R&B tracks including as "I Betcha I'll Get Ya," "Soul Vaccination," and 1975's "Can't Live Without You."

Kenoly and Candy Rae were the first act signed to George Semper's Inner City label. Semper remarked on their signing "The two of them came and sang the song at my house, and I knew straight away I wanted to sign them." Their single "Lovely Weekend", recorded in 1972 at Clark Brown Audio studio in Crenshaw, Los Angeles sold nearly 200,000 copies.

Kenoly later stopped recording secular music and spent four years attempting to get a gospel record deal. In 1983, he released his first Christian album, You Ought to Listen to This. Kenoly eventually started leading praise and worship for other pastors such as Jack Hayford and Lester Sumrall. This caught the attention of evangelist Mario Murillo, who introduced him to Pastor Dick Bernal, the founder of Jubilee Christian Center in San Jose, California.

Kenoly began working as a full-time Christian minister in 1985 as Jubilee Christian Center's worship leader, focusing on leading worship services. In 1987, he was ordained and installed as Music Pastor, becoming head of the church's music department. In 1993, Kenoly was named Jubilee Christian Center's Ambassador of Music. He began consulting churches across the United States on developing their music departments. In 1996, Kenoly received his Doctorate in Ministry of Sacred Music.

In 1999, Kenoly moved to Central Florida where he continued to travel, speak, sing, teach and record until his death. Kenoly also wrote a number of books, including one with Pastor Dick Bernal.

Kenoly’s death was announced Tuesday in a collaborative post on his official Instagram account by longtime music director and close associate Bruno Miranda. The post said Kenoly died the morning of Feb. 3. No cause of death was disclosed.

“For over 20 years, I had the honor of walking alongside him in ministry around the world, not just as his music director, but as a son, a student, and a witness to a life marked by faithfulness,” Miranda wrote. “He was never an artist, never an entertainer. He was a worship leader.”

“And he took all the time necessary to explain what that truly meant. A worship leader’s calling is not to perform songs, but to lead people into true worship in the presence of a King; the King of Kings, Jesus Christ. … Today we grieve deeply but not without hope. The worship he lived is now the worship he beholds.”

Kenoly, best known for “Ancient of Days,” “Anointing Fall On Me” and “Jesus Is Alive,” rose to international prominence in the early 1990s as a central figure in the contemporary praise and worship movement. His 1992 live album Lift Him Up became the fastest-selling worship album of its time, introducing a generation of churches to large-scale, congregational worship marked by Scripture-driven lyrics.

Another album, Welcome Home, produced by Tom Brooks, was later named Billboard’s top contemporary worship music album and won the Gospel Music Association’s Dove Award for praise and worship album in 1997.

Jim Morrison obit

Former Leafs defenceman Morrison dead at 94

 

He was not on the list.

The Toronto Maple Leafs announced the passing of Jim Morrison on Tuesday at the age of 94.

A defenceman, Morrison appeared in 399 games for the Leafs over seven seasons and played in three All-Star Games.

Morrison was the second-oldest living Maple Leafs alumnus.

A native of Montreal, Morrison made his NHL debut in 1951 with the Boston Bruins. He was traded to the Leafs in early 1952 for centre Fleming Macknell.

He scored 23 goals and added 88 assists during his Leafs tenure,

Morrison went on to a second stint with the Bruins, traded for Hockey Hall of Famer Allan Stanley in 1958, and would also suit up for the Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins, Morrison played his last NHL game in 1971.

For his career, Morrison had 47 goals and 191 assists in 704 NHL contests.

He played in the National Hockey League for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins between 1951 and 1961, and again from 1969 to 1971. He also played in the minor American Hockey League during his career, which lasted from 1951 to 1973. A fast-skating, offensive-minded defenceman, he would score many goals and assists during his career, a rarity for a blueliner.

Morrison also played eight seasons with the Quebec Aces and three seasons with the Baltimore Clippers in the American Hockey League. Morrison won the Eddie Shore Award in 1965–66 as the league's outstanding defenceman.

After his retirement, he briefly coached the Kitchener Rangers before moving behind the bench of the Kingston Canadians (later Kingston Frontenacs) for seven seasons. He later served 18 years as a scout in the Bruins organization before being forced into retirement.

Morrison’s son, Dave Morrison, appeared in 39 NHL games for the Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver Canucks over four seasons.

Allan Massie obit

Acclaimed novelist Allan Massie dies aged 87

 

He was not on the list.

Acclaimed novelist, journalist and literary critic Allan Massie has died aged 87, his son has confirmed.

Throughout his career Massie wrote 40 books, including about 20 novels. His work included historical books about roman emperors Augustus and Caesar, as well as wartime novels like A Question of Loyalties, The Sins of the Father and Shadows of Empire.

He also had a long career in journalism and spent 50 years as the Scotsman's chief literary critic before stepping back from the role in January due to serious illness.

Massie's family said he died peacefully on Tuesday afternoon surrounded by his children.

According to his son, the writer Alex Massie, his father had "a good and gentle end to a good and gentle life".

He said their family home was always full of books and newspapers, and that Massie worked daily at his typewriter for most of his life.

Posting on Substack, Alex Massie said: "He was a good and kind man and there are many younger writers and others for whom he has been a source of encouragement and much else besides.

"He was also - and forgive me for stressing this but it does feel important - a great father. We shall miss him greatly while being consoled that all those words do form and furnish a kind of self-made monument."

Born in Signapore in 1938 and raised in Aberdeenshire, Massie studied at Cambridge's Trinity College before settling in the Scottish Borders, where he lived for more than 40 years.

Over the decades he also wrote for The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Times, The Scottish Daily Mail, The Glasgow Herald, The Spectator and many other publications.

His journalism covered a wide range of subjects, from literature, politics and even rugby.

In addition to his novels, he published biographies, books on Scottish culture and history, and studies of well‑known authors such as Muriel Spark and Eric Linklater.

Massie continued writing until earlier this year, when he stepped back due to what he called his "wretched cancer."

Author Ian Rankin led tributes to his fellow writer.

On X, he said: "Allan Massie was hugely important to me. One of my very first readers and champions.

"He was also an underappreciated novelist, a sharp but humane literary critic, a gentleman."

Ron Teasley obit

Third-Oldest MLB Player, Negro Leagues Veteran, Dies at 99

A veteran of the Negro National League died Tuesday at 99, making him the third-oldest major leaguer at the time.

 

He was not on the list.

Ron Teasley, one of the last living Negro League veterans and the third-oldest major league player at the time of his death, died Tuesday. He was 99.

Bob Kendrick, the president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, announced Teasley's death on Facebook.

"Teasley epitomized the kind of scholar-athlete that called the Negro Leagues home," Kendrick wrote on Facebook. "He attended Wayne State University, where he was an outstanding baseball and basketball player before serving in the @usnavy from 1945-46."

Teasley's death leaves 101-year-old Bill Greason as the last living player from the Negro Leagues whose records were incorporated into MLB's official accounting in 2020.

Teasley was the first African American baseball captain for Northwestern High School in Detroit. He was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1948, but was released that same year after batting .267 with three home runs in 23 games for Olean (N.Y.) of the Pony League.

The New York Cubans, a Negro National League team, signed Teasley. He went 2 for 7 in two games in 1948, just before the league folded.

"When I joined the Negro Leagues, we would travel from city to city and the fans just welcomed us -- especially the African American fans," Teasley told Jerry Crasnick for MLBPlayers.com in a 2025 interview. "They felt like we were some kind of saviors. Things were pretty tough sometimes, with discrimination and that sort of thing. But whenever we came to town, it was like the circus was coming to town.

"They were so happy to see us.  We played an outstanding brand of baseball, and they were so appreciative. I often think about that -- how we would just encourage people to hang in there and work hard, and eventually things would change for the better."

As baseball’s color line fell, Teasley returned to integrated baseball and played with Carman (Manitoba) of the Mandak League. He was selected to the independent Canadian minor league's All-Star team.

After finishing his baseball career in 1951, he returned to Wayne to finish his Bachelor's of Physical Education degree, which he received in 1955. Teasley also received a Master's of Administration from Wayne State in 1963.

Teasley worked with the Detroit Board of Education for 34 years, coaching basketball, golf and baseball in his home state. He also worked as a columnist and photographer for the Michigan Chronicle, for whom he covered the 1948 Goodwill Games in Russia.

Teasley was inducted into the Wayne State Athletic Hall of Fame, and the Michigan High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

"Teasley leaves an indelible legacy of servitude that we should all strive to emulate!" Kendrick wrote on Facebook. "He was a great athlete but an even better man! He will be missed!"

As of 2025, Teasley had three children, seven grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife, Marie.

Ken Peplowski obit

Sudden death of top clarinet, 66

 

He was not on the list.

Birdland Jazz Club has reported the sudden death of Ken Peplowski at the age of 66.

Ken made numerous clarinet and saxophone recordings and was jazz advisor of Oregon Festival of American Music.

We are shocked and devastated by the sudden passing of our dear friend Ken Peplowski. Certainly one of the greatest jazz clarinetists ever, Ken was a frequent presence on the Birdland stages. In fact, few if any, better represented our aesthetic and devotion to the straight ahead acoustic jazz tradition and repertoire. More importantly he was a witty, wise presence who charmed and befriended everyone — proprietors, staff, and customers alike. It’s hard to contemplate Birdland without Ken. Rest in peace dear friend. Thanks for all the laughs, music, and everything…

LaMonte McLemore obit

LaMonte McLemore Dies: Founding Member Of Hit-Making Vocal Group The 5th Dimension Was 90

 

He was not on the list.

LaMonte McLemore, a founding member of the chart-topping vocal group The 5th Dimension and a longtime celebrity and sports photographer, died Tuesday, February 3 of natural causes at his home in Las Vegas. He was 90 and suffered a stroke several years ago.

His death was announced today by family.

With The 5th Dimension, McLemore was at the forefront of a smooth vocal group style that dominated American pop and soul charts in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The group won multiple Grammy Awards and sold millions of records with such ubiquitous, era-defining hits as “Up, Up and Away” and “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In,” both songs scoring Grammy Awards for Record of the Year twice in, respectively, 1968 and 1970. Both recordings were later inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame.

McLemore co-founded The 5th Dimension in Los Angeles with Billy Davis Jr., Marilyn McCoo, Florence LaRue and Ron Townson. They’d been singing together under various group names since the early 1960s, officially becoming The 5th Dimension in 1966.

McLemore lent the bass vocals that were a crucial anchor to the group’s immensely pleasing, sophisticated, radio-friendly harmonies which have been credited with expanding the sounds of 1960s pop, soul and R&B. The group was a frequent presence not only on radio but television variety shows and international concert stages that included a 1973 State Department cultural tour taking American pop music behind the Iron Curtain.

“Lamonte loved music and was always so generous, making his photography studio available to us in our early years before the hits started,” said McCoo.

“As a childhood friend to me from St. Louis, Mo., he will certainly be missed,” said Davis, while LaRue paid tribute with, “Proverbs 17:22 states that ‘A joyful heart is good medicine…’ Well, Lamonte really knew my prescription. His cheerfulness and laughter often brought strength and refreshment to me in difficult times. We were more like brother and sister than singing partners. I didn’t realize the depth of my love for Lamonte until he was no longer here. His absence has shown me the magnitude of what he meant to me and that love will stay in my heart forever.”

McLemore continued in various iterations of the group until 2006. Original group member Townson died in 2001.

Outside the recording studio, McLemore was a longtime and successful photographer with work spanning decades and such genres as entertainment, sports and editorial portraiture. His images for Jet magazine and other publications captured many of the defining figures of 20th-century popular culture.

Born Sept. 17, 1935, in St. Louis, Missouri, McLemore served in the United States Navy where he trained and worked as an aerial photographer. He later pursued professional baseball in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ farm system, one of the first African Americans to participate, before settling in Southern California and turning his attention to music and photography full time.

The 5th Dimension’s “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” medley topped the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks in the spring of 1969 and remains an iconic, era-defining recording. Other hits included the Number 1 “Wedding Bell Blues,” as well as “Stoned Soul Picnic,” both songs written by Laura Nyro and providing that singer-songwriter’s work its widest popularity.

In all, The 5th Dimension scored seven Gold albums and six Platinum RIAA-certified singles. Other hits included “One Less Bell To Answer” (1967), “Sweet Blindness” (1968) and “(Last Night) I Didn’t Get To Sleep At All” (1972), among others.

In 1991, the original 5th Dimension line-up received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

More recently, McLemore and The 5th Dimension were featured in Questlove’s Oscar-winning 2021 documentary Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), which revisited the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival and its musical impact.

In 2014, McLemore co-authored with Robert-Allan Arno the autobiography From Hobo Flats to The 5th Dimension: A Life Fulfilled in Baseball, Photography, and Music.

McLemore is survived by wife Mieko McLemore, daughter Ciara, son Darin, sister Joan, and three grandchildren.

A memorial service and celebration of life will be announced at a later date.

Lee Hamilton obit

Lee Hamilton, U.S. Congressman and Evansville native, dies at 94

The longtime public servant called on politicians to tone down rhetoric and focus on 'how to solve problems'

 

He was not on the list.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Former U.S. Rep. Lee Hamilton, a crewcut-wearing Indiana Democrat from southern Indiana who was a leading foreign affairs voice during three decades in Congress and helped oversee investigations of the Sept. 11 attacks, died Tuesday. He was 94.

Hamilton, a moderate lawmaker respected by Democrats and Republicans alike who also led a congressional probe of the Reagan administration’s Iran-Contra affair, died Tuesday peacefully in his Bloomington, Indiana, home, said his son Doug Hamilton, who did not cite a cause.

The elder Hamilton was at the forefront of congressional opposition to the 1991 Persian Gulf War waged by President George H.W. Bush and advocated continued economic sanctions against Iraq before military action over its invasion of Kuwait.

He decided against seeking reelection in 1998 and said after leaving Congress that he believed the U.S. needed to be regarded around the world as more than a leader of military coalitions.

“The United States must be — and must be seen as — an optimistic and benign power,” Hamilton said in 2003. “We must speak and act as a source of optimism, a beacon of freedom, a benign power forging a consensus approach toward a world of peace and growth and freedom. And American power must be accompanied by American generosity.”

President Barack Obama presented Hamilton with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015, saying during the ceremony that Hamilton was a man “widely admired” on both sides of the aisle, “for his honesty, his wisdom, and consistent commitment to bipartisanship.”

“Indiana mourns the passing of Lee Hamilton, a man whose life embodied integrity, civility, and public service," Indiana Gov. Mike Braun, a Republican, said in a statement Wednesday.

9/11 investigations

Hamilton was a small-town lawyer known for his exploits as a high school basketball star when he first won election to his southern Indiana congressional seat in 1964 at the age of 33.

With his thick glasses and calm, deliberate manner, Hamilton rose to become chairman of the House Foreign Affairs and Intelligence committees and a Democratic leader on international relations before retiring from Congress in 1999.

His reputation as an evenhanded moderate had Capitol Hill leaders turn to him for some of the most tumultuous matters facing Washington. But he also faced criticism that he was not aggressive enough in pursuing allegations of wrongdoing by Republican administrations.

Hamilton was tapped in 2002 as vice chairman of the Sept. 11 attacks commission. That group spent 20 months investigating the 2001 attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people when 19 hijackers flew airliners into New York’s World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon and the Pennsylvania countryside.

He presented a united front with the panel’s Republican chairman, former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean, through clashes with the George W. Bush White House and its lobbying efforts for changes to the U.S. intelligence system.

The commission found that both the Clinton and Bush administrations failed to grasp the gravity of terrorist threats and took actions so feeble that they never even slowed the al-Qaida plotters.

“The fact of the matter is, we just didn’t get it in this country,” Hamilton said when the commission released its report in 2004. “We could not comprehend that people wanted to kill us; they wanted to hijack airplanes and fly them into big buildings.”

Iran-Contra committee

Hamilton gained national prominence in the mid-1980s with his selection as a co-chairman of the congressional Iran-Contra committee, which investigated the Reagan administration’s diversion of profits from Iran arms sales to help Nicaragua’s Contra rebels. The panel’s report found that President Ronald Reagan created an atmosphere at the White House in which subordinates felt free to skirt the law and Constitution.

“There was too much secrecy and deception,” Hamilton said at the time. “Information was withheld from the Congress, other officials, friends and allies and the American people.”

Hamilton, however, gained little Republican support for the committee’s work. Then-Rep. Dick Cheney, a top Republican on the Iran-Contra committee, called the report a political document that selected only the most damaging evidence against the Reagan administration.

Hamilton was considered as a possible vice presidential running mate both for Michael Dukakis in 1988 and Bill Clinton in 1992, but they decided against picking the nontelegenic congressman from a Republican-leaning state.

Born April 20, 1931, in Daytona Beach, Florida, Hamilton was the son of a Methodist minister and moved with his family to Evansville, Indiana, as a child.

He went on to college at DePauw University and attended Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany, before graduating from Indiana University’s law school in 1956.

Former Indiana governor and former vice president Mike Pence, a Republican, said in a statement that while their politics differed, his respect for Hamilton was “boundless.”

After Congress

After serving in Congress, Hamilton continued with his interests in foreign affairs and congressional reform as director of the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Center. He also spent time as a faculty member at Indiana University, which in 2018 named its School of Global and International Studies after Hamilton and longtime Republican Sen. Richard Lugar, who died in 2019.

Hamilton's son said he took his father into his office on Monday, the day before he died.

“He believed in doing as much good as he could for as long as he could,” Doug Hamilton said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Hamilton and his wife were married for 58 years after meeting while students at DePauw. Nancy Hamilton died in 2012. He is survived by three children, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Hamilton was born in Daytona Beach, Florida, on April 20, 1931, and raised in Evansville, Indiana. He attended public schools and graduated from Evansville Central High School in 1948.An outstanding basketball player, he led the Central Bears to the state title game in March 1948; he then continued his playing career at DePauw University, where he played for Coach Jay McCreary. Hamilton graduated from DePauw in 1952, and from the Indiana University School of Law in 1956. He worked as a lawyer in private practice for the next ten years in Columbus, Indiana.

As chairman of the House Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran (1987), Hamilton chose not to investigate President Ronald Reagan or President George H. W. Bush, stating that he did not think it would be "good for the country" to put the public through another impeachment trial. Hamilton was later chair of the House October Surprise Task Force (1992).

He remained in Congress until 1999; at the time he was one of two surviving members of the large Democratic freshman class of 1965 (the other being John Conyers). He was viewed as a potential Democratic vice-presidential running mate in 1984, 1988, and 1992, due to his foreign policy credentials and Indiana's potential to turn toward the Democratic Party due to economic concerns.