Merv Pregulman obit

 Gridiron Star Merv Pregulman has died

He was not on the list.

Professional Football Player. He attended Lansing Central High School in Lansing, Michigan and played collegiate football at the University of Michigan. While with the Wolverines, he distinguished himself as a versatile force on the gridiron whom was capable at playing the tackle, center and guard positions. He earned All-American and All-Big Ten Lineman status in 1943. Selected by the Green Bay Packers during the 1st-round of the 1944 NFL Draft, his professional initiation was delayed due to his service as a gunnery officer with the United States Navy during World War II. He joined the Packers in 1946 and would go onto the Detroit Lions and New York Bulldogs, totaling 47 regular season games in four seasons in the National Football League (1946 to 1949). Following his football career, he became a successful business executive in Chattanooga. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1982.

In 1944, Pregulman entered the United States Navy where he served as a gunnery officer on the USS Taluga in the Pacific Theater of Operations. The Taluga left Norfolk, Virginia in October 1944. On December 10, 1944, the ship reached Ulithi, an atoll in the Caroline Islands in the western Pacific Ocean, which served as the ship's base of operations until the end of World War II. For the next 11 months, Pregulman and the Taluga crew were in and out of Ulithi picking up oil and other supplies and delivering them to units of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. During that time, they supported carrier strikes and landings on Luzon in the Philippine Islands, landings on Okinawa, strikes on Formosa, and the final sweep of the Japanese home islands in the summer of 1945. Between April and July 1945, Pregulman and the Taluga crew spent much of their time in and around the anchorage at Kerama Retto, just west of the southern end of Okinawa. At dawn on April 16, 1945, ten kamikazes attacked their formation. One of the kamikazes dove at Taluga, strafed the deck, and then made for the superstructure. The attacker careened off the ship's bridge and hit the wheelhouse. However, only 12 men were injured, and the oiler was soon back in action. Pregulman normally would have been in the wheelhouse, but he went on deck just before the attack. He recalled: "If he had been five minutes later, I would have been in the wheelhouse and I certainly wouldn't be here". He recalled that the plane sheared off the top of the wheelhouse, and blew a hole in the deck, but no American soldiers were killed.

Just 11 days after the cessation of hostilities, Taluga entered Tokyo Bay on August 26, 1945, and took up duty as station oiler until early October. On November 18, 1945, the ship left Japan to support ships engaged in the occupation of China and Korea. The ship visited Tsingtao and Jinsen before returning to Yokosuka, Japan, on December 6, 1945. On January 31, 1946, the Taluga began its return to the United States, arriving in San Pedro, California, on February 16.

His biography at the University of Michigan Athletic History site says: "Originally a center he was shifted to guard, then back to center where his accurate passes were a vital factor in Michigan's famed single-winged attack. Smart and aggressive, he never turned in a performance below the high standard he set for himself."

Sportswriter Grantland Rice wrote that Pregulman was "fast and alert … was voted the best combination center, guard, and tackle the Middlewest had known in years."

In addition to his father, Pregulman said he had three heroes in his life: Michigan Coach Fritz Crisler, Michigan's line coach (and future Michigan State head coach) Biggie Munn, and Axle Martin, a university professor.

In 1969, Pregulman was selected for the Michigan Wolverines' all-time football team. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1982 and the University of Michigan Hall of Honor in 1988. He was also part of the second group inducted into the Michigan Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1986.

In 2005, Pregulman was selected as one of the 100 greatest Michigan football players of all time by the "Motown Sports Revival," ranking 61st on the all-time team.

Pregulman was selected by the Green Bay Packers in the first round (seventh choice overall) of the 1944 NFL Draft, but was called into military service in the Navy. After completing his military service, Pregulman finally signed with the Packers in June 1946. A Wisconsin sports writer touted the signing: "Curly Lambeau came up with a dandy for the Green Bay Packers when he landed Merv Pregulman. … At Michigan he was a star at three different positions -- tackle, guard and center. I've a hunch that he would do just as well at end." Pregulman appeared in nine games for a Packers' team that had a 6–5 record in 1946.

During the spring of 1947, Pregulman joined the coaching staff of the Michigan State Spartans football team when Biggie Munn took over as head coach. Munn had been Pregulman's position coach at Michigan.

In June 1947, Pregulman was traded by the Packers to the Detroit Lions in exchange for his former teammate at Michigan, Paul White. Pregulman played in all 24 games for the Lions during the 1947 and 1948 seasons. The Lions went 3–9 in 1947 and 2–10 in 1948. Pregulman had three interceptions and recovered three fumbles for the Lions. He also handled the Lions' kicking duties in 1948, kicking two field goals in six attempts, and completing 26 extra points in 27 attempts. He also had a punt return for nine yards (eight m) in 1947.

In August 1949, Pregulman was traded by the Lions to the New York Bulldogs in exchange for John Treadaway and John Prochlik. He played in all 12 games for the Bulldogs team that went 1–10–1.

In June 1950, Pregulman announced that he was retiring from football. He said he had received a contract to play for the Philadelphia Eagles, but had decided to remain in Lansing, Michigan, where he was in the furniture business.

Susan Luckey obit

Report: Actress Susan Luckey Dies at 74

She starred as a youngster in the famed movie musicals “Carousel” and “The Music Man.”

 She was not on the list.

Susan Luckey, who played young daughters in the classic movie musicals Carousel and The Music Man, died Nov. 29 at her home in Los Angeles, TMZ reported Wednesday. She was 74.

Luckey starred as Billy Bigelow’s (Gordon MacRae) kid in Carousel (1956) and as Zaneeta, Mayor Shinn’s (Paul Ford) daughter, in The Music Man (1962). In one memorable scene in Music Man, she kissed Timmy Everett while hanging upside down on a jungle gym.

Luckey’s last movie role was a small part in Step Out of Your Mind (1966).

She was married to actor Larry Douglas from 1964 until his death in 1996.

On Broadway in the 1950s, Luckey performed in the stage musicals Peter Pan and Take Me Along. She also appeared in the 1957 telefilm Annie Get Your Gun and the series The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show.

Luckey was born in Hollywood, California, where her father was a sound editor in the film industry. She graduated in 1956 from Hollywood Professional School. Luckey had a romance with race car driver Jack Martin while in her early teens

Survivors include her daughter Shayna.

 

Actress

Step Out of Your Mind

Lucia Brand

1966

 

Buddy Hackett, Paul Ford, Hermione Gingold, Shirley Jones, Pert Kelton, and Robert Preston in The Music Man (1962)

The Music Man

Zaneeta Shinn

1962

 

Annie Get Your Gun (1957)

Annie Get Your Gun

Winnie Tate

TV Movie

1957

 

Greer Garson and Florenz Ames in Telephone Time (1956)

Telephone Time

Laura Lockwood Madeleine de Vercheres

TV Series

1956–1957

2 episodes

 

The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950)

The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show

Madeline Craig

TV Series

1956

2 episodes

 

Ginger Rogers, Warren Berlinger, Lili Gentle, Diane Jergens, Betty Lou Keim, Michael Rennie, and Rusty Swope in Teenage Rebel (1956)

Teenage Rebel

Madeleine Johnson (uncredited)

1956

 

The 20th Century-Fox Hour (1955)

The 20th Century-Fox Hour

Gretchen

TV Series

1956

1 episode

 

Carousel (1956)

Carousel

Louise Bigelow

1956

 

Producers' Showcase (1954)

Producers' Showcase

Indian (as Suzanne Luckey)

TV Series

1955

1 episode

 

Deep in My Heart (1954)

Deep in My Heart

Arabella Bell (uncredited)

1954

Zig Ziglar obit

Motivational speaker Zig Ziglar dies at 86

He was not on the list.

Motivational speaker Zig Ziglar has died after a battle with pneumonia, according to his Facebook page.

“Though his time on earth has ended, he is speaking with Jesus now in his heavenly home,” read a statement on the page. “The angels in heaven are rejoicing and his family is celebrating a life well lived.”

Ziglar's executive assistant Laurie Magers says Ziglar died Wednesday at a hospital in the Dallas suburb of Plano.

Ziglar’s speaking career had lasted more than 50 years, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports, before he retired in 2010.

He was known for corporate training and motivational speeches that aimed to improve people's personal lives and careers. His company includes more than a dozen other speakers who advocate "The Ziglar Way."

Ziglar has written more than 29 sales and motivational books, including "See You at the Top" and "Over the Top," and has made appearances with U.S. presidents and world leaders, according to his website

James Hodgson obit

Hodgson, former Secretary of Labor, dies at Malibu home

He was not on the list.

James D. Hodgson, the former secretary of Labor under President Richard Nixon, died Nov. 28 at his home in Malibu due to complications from hip surgery, his family announced. He was 96.

As secretary Hodgson helped navigate the Occupational Safety and Health Act into law, according to the Los Angeles Times. He also served as director of industrial relations at Lockheed Aircraft Co., working there for nearly three decades. He was appointed by President Nixon as undersecretary of Labor in 1969 and then secretary of Labor in 1970. From 1974 to 1977, he served as ambassador to Japan under President Gerald Ford.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis issued a statement Monday after news of Hodgson’s death spread.

“Under his leadership, the Occupational Safety and Health Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Nixon. ‘Safety was extremely important in aircraft plants,’ the former Lockheed executive once said, ‘but as I went around looking at other industries, I was just appalled at the conditions I saw.’ Today, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration — the agency he envisioned and built – employs more than 2,200 people and strives to keep nearly 8 million U.S. workplaces safe and healthy through setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance."

James Day Hodgson was born Dec. 3, 1915, in Dawson, Minn., to a lumber dealer and his wife, according to the Times. In 1938 he earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota, then moved to California. He broke into the aerospace industry in 1941 with Lockheed as a personnel clerk at their Burbank office. In 1943 he married his wife Maria, whom he is survived by as well as two children.

Hodgson served three years in the Navy in the Pacific as a combat intelligence officer before returning to Lockheed, where he was “known as a man of integrity,” according to the Times.

Don Rhymer obit

Screenwriter Don Rhymer dies at 51

Credits include 'Big Momma's House,' animated 'Rio' 

He was not on the list.

Don Rhymer, a screenwriter behind animated films including “Rio” and feature comedies including the “Big Momma’s House” franchise and “The Santa Clause 2,” died of cancer in Los Angeles on Nov. 28. He was 51.

Rhymer penned Sony Pictures Animation’s “Surf’s Up” before contributing to Twentieth Century Fox Animation’s 2011 hit “Rio.” His final credit will come on the “Rio” sequel, penned with Carlos Saldanha and to be released in 2014.

Rhymer penned 2000 Martin Lawrence comedy vehicle “Big Momma’s House” with Darryl Quarles as well as 2006 sequel “Big Momma’s House 2” and received story credit on 2011’s “Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son.”

He was also one of the screenwriters on the 2005 feature adaptation of “The Honeymooners” that starred Cedric the Entertainer and the 2006 Christmas comedy “Deck the Halls” starring Danny DeVito and Matthew Broderick.

Rhymer started in television, penning episodes of the Valerie Harper sitcom “Valerie” in the late 1980s. He was co-producer of the brief animated series “Fish Police.” He subsequently wrote episodes of Burt Reynolds vehicle “Evening Shade” and “Hearts Afire,” both from Linda Bloodworth-Thomason.

“Big Momma’s House” was his first feature credit.

Rhymer was born in Union, S.C., and majored in English and communications at James Madison U. in Virginia.

He documented his long battle with cancer in the blog “Let’s Radiate Don.”

 

Filmography

Year     Name            Writer            Producer         Note

1989    McGee and Me!            Yes            No            1 episode as writer

1989    Coach            Yes            No            2 episodes as writer

1990    Bagdad Café     Yes            No      

1991-93            Evening Shade   Yes            No            8 episodes

1992    Fish Police   Yes            Yes            Co-producer (6 episodes)

1993    Banner Times   Yes            No            Television film

1993-94            Hearts Afire     Yes            Yes            Co-executive producer and writer (4 episodes)

1995    Past the Bleacher            Yes            Yes            Television film

1996            Carpool           Yes            No      

1997            Chicago Sons  Yes            No      

1997    Under Wraps  Yes            Yes            Television film, executive producer

1997    Fired Up       Yes            No            1 episode as writer

1998            Caroline in the City            Yes            No            1 episode as writer

2000    Big Momma's House  Yes            No      

2002    The Santa Clause 2            Yes            No      

2004    Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London            Yes            No      

2005    The Honeymooners            Yes            No

2006    Big Momma's House 2            Yes            No      

2006    Deck The Halls            Yes            No      

2007    Surf's Up       Yes            No      

2011    Big Mommas: Like Father Like Son      Yes            No      

2011    Rio            Yes            No      

2014    Rio 2            Yes            No            Posthumous release; dedicated to his memory

2017            Ferdinand        Yes            No            Posthumous release

Marvin Miller #32

Marvin Miller has died. He is number 32 on the list to pass away.

Marvin Miller's exclusion from the Hall of Fame was Major League Baseball community's most shameful snub

The Baseball Hall of Fame's rejection of 93-year-old Marvin Miller, a snub that had the owners' greedy fingerprints all over it, was petty at best, unconscionable at worst.

By any measure, Miller, the founder and longtime executive director of the players' association, was among the most significant figures in the game's history. Longtime Dodgers broadcaster Red Barber once suggested that only Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson had a greater impact.

"If baseball ever buys itself a mountain and starts carving faces on it, one of the first men to go up is sure to be Marvin Miller," stats guru Bill James wrote in his introduction to Miller's book, A Whole Different Ball Game.


For all its pretentious reverence, the Hall is home to scoundrels of every stripe - racists, drunks, misanthropes, wife-beaters, gamblers, syphilitics - and more than a few whose baseball resumés don't warrant their inclusion.

Morgan Bulkeley, whose career in the game spanned two years as a team owner and one as National League president, is in the Hall. Miller is not.

Bowie Kuhn, a bumbling commissioner who was KO'd by Miller every time they shared the same ring, is in the Hall. Miller is not.

Phil Rizzuto, who had 1,588 hits, 38 homers, and 563 RBIs in a so-so 13-year career, is in the Hall. Miller is not.

Holy cow!

All Miller did was forever change the game - all of sports, really. Until he came along, baseball was a plantation. Players had no rights and no opportunity to change the status quo.

He looked at baseball, stripped away its sentimental veneer, and saw it for what it was: a moneymaking enterprise. He convinced the cowed players they had the same rights as any other American worker. And that included the right to organize.

It was Phillies Hall of Famer Robin Roberts who, with the aid of Penn professor George Taylor, found Miller and in 1966 gave the labor economist the job of molding the powerless players into a bargaining force.

That was quite a challenge. Historically, the owners had ruthlessly crushed any organizing effort. The average major-league salary in 1965 was $19,000. The minimum was $6,000, $900 below what a typical American family earned that year. The reserve clause, as odious a judicial construct as the Dred Scott decision, bound them to one team for perpetuity.

The nation's pastime was past time for a change.

Eventually, with the aid of stars such as Roberts and Jim Bunning, Miller persuaded the players of their worth. Through a decades-long series of negotiations, strikes, lockouts, and court actions, he transformed the 90-pound-weakling players' association into sports' heaviest hitter.

And what about all the whining and doomsaying that accompanied the union's rise?

Well, all those teams that swore they'd be forced out of business if players had to be paid anything close to what they deserved are still around. Even the worst of them are worth hundreds of millions.

Fans - many of whom took it on the chin economically precisely because they, too, had no clout - still carp about players' salaries yet continue to shell out big bucks for tickets and merchandise.

Despite rapidly rising prices, almost 808 million fans have paid to watch major-league baseball since 2000.

The Veterans Committee that rejected Miller, by the way, was made up of Hall of Fame manager Whitey Herzog; Hall of Fame players Johnny Bench, Eddie Murray, Jim Palmer, Tony Perez, Frank Robinson, Ryne Sandberg, and Ozzie Smith; White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf; Orioles president Andy MacPhail; former Phillies president Bill Giles; Royals owner David Glass; and writers Bob Elliott, Tim Kurkjian, Tom Verducci, and Ross Newhan.

You have to believe all four management representatives snubbed Miller. Reinsdorf, after all, headed the coup that ousted independent commissioner Faye Vincent and replaced him with fellow owner Bud Selig. His antipathy for Miller is well-known.

As for the seven players, all of whom were enriched by Miller's efforts, I can't imagine any would vote no. And I'm equally sure those four top-shelf writers fully understood the man's contributions.


But only 11 of the 16 voted for him, one shy of the necessary 12. If you assume the four management representatives rejected Miller, that still means either Herzog or one of the players or writers joined them.

So Bowie Kuhn - Sgt. Garcia to Miller's Zorro - made it to Cooperstown before Miller.

That's not only a mistake. It's an embarrassment

Mickey Baker obit

Mickey Baker, Guitarist, Is Dead at 87

 

He was not on the list.

Guitarist Mickey Baker, whose signature riffs helped push rhythm & blues into rock & roll, died Tuesday at his home in France of heart and kidney failure, The New York Times reports. He was 87.

Baker most notably recorded the hit 1956 single “Love Is Strange” with Sylvia Vanderpool Robinson as Mickey & Sylvia. The track sold over a million copies, hitting Number One on the Billboard R&B chart, and reached Number 11 on the pop chart. The song found new life in 1987’s Dirty Dancing, and again in 2012 as a sample on Pitbull’s track “Back in Time.”

Baker also spent time as a studio musician for the record companies Atlantic, Decca, RCA and Savoy, and recorded on tracks including the Drifters’ “Money Honey” and “Such a Night,” Big Joe Turner‘s “Shake, Rattle & Roll,” Ruth Brown‘s “Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean” and Big Maybelle‘s “Whole Lot of Shakin’ Goin’ On.” His aggressive blues chords and ear-popping solos placed him at the forefront of rock & roll, along with influential guitarists Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry.

Baker was born on October 15th, 1925, in Louisville, Kentucky, and endured a rough childhood. He spent several years in an orphanage, where he first played musical instruments and from which he frequently ran away, ending up in New York City when he was 15. Though Baker had originally wanted to play trumpet, he could only afford a beat-up pawnshop guitar. He played in a jazz band called the Incomparables in his 20s, but by 25, he decided he couldn’t make a proper living playing jazz. He embraced rhythm & blues instead, and started picking up studio work.

Baker also taught, and wrote a series of instructional materials for jazz guitar. He moved to France in the early 1960s, and rarely visited the U.S. Baker later composed a classical concerto, “The Blues Suite,” for guitar and orchestra.

Buddy Roberts obit

Fabulous Freebird Buddy Roberts passes away

 

He was not on the list.

Buddy Roberts, one-third of the legendary Fabulous Freebirds, passed away at age 65. He was born Dale Hey.

Roberts first made an impact on wrestling in the 1970s, working his way through the territories as one-half of a tag team called The Hollywood Blonds with Jerry Brown. The duo racked up championships across the United States before parting ways late in the decade. 

As the 1980s began, so did The Fabulous Freebirds. The technically sound Roberts joined forces with the charismatic Michael “P.S.” Hayes and the hard-hitting Terry “Bam Bam” Gordy, and Southern wrestling was never the same. The trio ran roughshod over the South before landing in Dallas and World Class Championship Wrestling.

On Christmas night 1982, The Freebirds made history — not only for becoming the first WCCW Six-Man Tag Team Champions, but also more notoriously for turning against Kerry Von Erich, setting off a rivalry that is remembered as one of the greatest in history. The battles between The Freebirds and The Von Erich family are legendary for their sheer brutality and the passion they inspired in Texans.

In the midst of the Freebirds–Von Erichs war, Roberts developed a rivalry with Iceman King Parsons. It began when Roberts cut off Iceman’s signature braids, ultimately culminating with a Hair vs. Hair Match at Reunion Arena in June 1983. Leading into the bout, Roberts taunted Parsons with a Nair-like substance he called “Freebird Hair Cream,” claiming he would take the rest of Parsons’ hair with it.

Roberts used nefarious tactics to win the match, only for the official to restart the bout, during which Parsons smeared the cream over his cranium. The Freebird writhed around the mat, clutching what was left of his once-luxurious blond hair, to the fans’ delight. Over the next few weeks, fans giggled as Buddy Roberts appeared on television wearing a blond wig held in place by boxing headgear, claiming his hair had grown back immediately.

After stints in WWE, AWA and Cowboy Bill Watts’ UWF, Roberts returned to WCCW, this time as the manager for the animalistic Samoan Swat Team. Buddy Roberts left the industry shortly after WCCW’s closing in the late 1980s.

In the years since he left the ring, Roberts survived a battle with throat cancer. Buddy Roberts will always be remembered as a tenacious competitor.

Earl "Speedoo" Carroll obit

Singer Earl Carroll Dies

 He was not on the list.

The Cadillacs star Earl Carroll has died at the age of 75.

The singer passed away on Sunday (25Nov12) at a nursing home in New York following a stroke and a battle with diabetes.

Carroll co-founded the doo-wop group in the early 1950s, and the band went on to enjoy chart success with several singles, including their most famous hit Speedo.

He joined rival R&B group The Coasters in 1961, and performed with them for 20 years, before reforming with his original band in the early 1990s for a car commercial.

As well as touring with the reunited The Cadillacs, Carroll also worked as a janitor at Public School 87 in the Big Apple.

The group's biggest hit was "Speedoo", which with a minor spelling change became Carroll's subsequent nickname. It was released in 1955. He joined The Coasters in 1961, leaving the group in the early 1980s to permanently reform The Cadillacs.

In 1982, Earl took a job as a custodian at the PS 87 elementary school in New York City and worked there until retiring in 2005. A popular figure with the students, he was chosen to be the subject of a children's book, That's Our Custodian, by Ann Morris (Brookfield, Connecticut: Millbrook Press). The publicity helped him to revive his career. He became a mainstay of the PBS series honoring doo wop, hosted by Jerry Butler and continued performing until the early 2010s when deteriorating health forced him to retire.

The death Sunday was confirmed to the newspaper by Vito Picone, the lead singer of the doo-wop group the Elegants and a longtime friend.

The Cadillacs were one of many doo-wop groups to come out of the streets of Harlem, but one of the first to choreograph dance moves.

Carroll got the nickname "Speedo" because fellow singer Bobby Phillips pointed at a torpedo on display in Massachusetts and said, "Hey Speedo! There's your torpedo!" because Carroll had a pointy head. Carroll responded icily, "My name is Earl."

They wrote that into a song called "Speedo" they recorded the next day. It was a hit in 1956. The Cadillacs also recorded the hit "Gloria."