July & August

 July 2 -- Karl Sweetan, who went from an 18th-round draft choice to starting quarterback for the Detroit Lions in one year, died at age 57. Sweetan holds the NFL record for the longest pass from scrimmage, a 99-yard TD to Pat Studstill on Oct. 16, 1966, at Baltimore. In 1966, Sweetan took over after Milt Plum injured his knee. In 10 games, he completed 157 of 309 passes for 1,809 yards and four touchdowns, with 14 interceptions.

 July 2 -- Joey Dunlop, a five-time motorcycle world champion, was killed in a road race when his bike skidded in heavy rain and hit a tree. Dunlop was racing in a 125cc race on a 3.7-mile road circuit in the Estonian capital of Tallinn when he crashed. Dunlop started racing in 1969 and won 26 Isle of Man TT races, the first in 1977. He won five Formula One world championships between 1980 and 1988.

 July 3 -- James Grogan, a figure skater who won the 1952 Olympic bronze medal and was a four-time silver medalist at the world championships, died at age 68. He won Olympic bronze in Oslo, Norway in 1952. Grogan won the silver medal at four consecutive world championships, beginning in 1951.

 July 4 -- Leonard Hilton, former U.S. Olympian and a world record-holder while at the University of Houston, died at age 52. Hilton lettered at Houston from 1967-71 and was the anchor of the Cougars' relay team that set a world record in the indoor distance medley relay in 1970. Hilton made the 1972 Olympic team in the 5,000 meters.

 July 4 -- Don Blessing, an Olympic gold medalist in the sport of crew, died at age 94. Blessing was a member of the University of California crew team that won the gold medal for the United States in the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam. As the team's coxswain -- the member of the team who calls out the rowing rhythm for the crew -- Blessing was given credit for his team's Olympic win.

 July 6 -- Fred Lane, 24, Indianapolis Colts running back, was shot to death at his Charlotte, N.C., home after an argument with his wife, Deidra. Lane, a 5-foot-10, 205-pound running back, was the leading career rusher for the Carolina Panthers, who traded him to the Colts in April. Lane spent three seasons with Carolina and finished with 2,004 yards rushing.

 July 7 -- Kenny Irwin, 30, was killed when his car slammed into a wall at 150 mph at New Hampshire International Speedway. Irwin, the rookie of the year in 1998, was entering the third turn when his car struck the wall and flipped onto its roof during practice for the New England 300.

 July 9 -- John Vitale, a former All-American at Michigan and a three-year starter at center for the Wolverines, died at age 34.

 July 10 -- Conrad McRae, 29, a former Syracuse University basketball player, collapsed as he was playing summer league basketball in Irvine, Calif. McRae played for Syracuse from 1989-93, averaging close to 13 points in his senior season. He was an intimidating shot blocker and ranks No. 6 in school history in that category with 203 blocks.

 July 10 -- Bill Munson, 58, a former NFL quarterback, drowned in his swimming pool. Munson spent 16 years in the NFL, playing for the Detroit Lions, Los Angeles Rams, Seattle Seahawks, San Diego Chargers and Buffalo Bills.

 July 13 -- Alice Lord-Landon, a member of the first U.S. women's Olympic swim team in 1920 who went on to become a pioneering woman in the sport, died at age 98. She didn't win a medal in Antwerp, Belgium, but became the darling of the press when she struck up an Olympic romance with track and field medalist Dick Landon. The couple married two years later.

 July 18 -- Sam Perry, who shared the world record in the 60-yard dash with Bob Hayes, died at age 55. In 1965, Perry, running for Fordham University, was clocked in 5.9 seconds at the Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden, tying the world record Hayes set the year before.

 July 19 -- Allen E. Paulson, a horse breeder of some 80 stakes winners, died at age 78. Cigar, bred by Paulson, went on to win 16 straight races, including the Dubai World Cup and Breeders' Cup Classic, equaling Citation's North American record of consecutive wins in the 20th century. He also earned a North American-record $9,999,815 by the time he was retired at age 6 in 1996.

 July 24 -- Anatoly Firsov, a three-time Olympic gold medal winner who helped the Soviet Union dominate the sport of hockey for a decade, died at age 59. Firsov played for the Soviet teams in the 1960s and early '70s, winning eight world championships. He led the team to three consecutive Olympic golds beginning in 1964.

 Aug. 1 -- Steve McCrory, a 1984 Olympic boxing champion, died at age 36. McCrory handily won the gold medal in the flyweight class at Los Angeles. McCrory and his brother, Milton, helped bring international fame to the Detroit Kronk Gym Boxing team.

 Aug. 4 -- Fred Hooper, who won the 1945 Kentucky Derby with the first thoroughbred he ever purchased and helped develop Florida's breeding industry, died at age 102. Hooper won the Kentucky Derby and Wood Memorial Stakes with Hoop Jr. He also introduced to the United States leading Latin American riders Laffit Pincay Jr., Braulio Baeza and Jorge Velasquez. All three eventually won classic races and became members of the Racing Hall of Fame.

 Aug. 6 -- Aurele "Al" Couture, a former welterweight fighter who holds the record for the fastest knockout in boxing history, died at age 77. Couture fought 296 professional fights and was once ranked sixth in the world in his division, ahead of Jake LaMotta. But he was immortalized in 101/2 seconds that he spent in the ring on Sept. 24, 1946 with boxer Ralph Walton.

 Aug. 9 -- Herb Thomas, a NASCAR pioneer and a two-time series champion, died at age 77. Thomas began his racing career in 1948, won the Grand National Racing (now Winston Cup) championship in 1951 and 1953. He ranks 12th on the career victory list with 48 wins in 230 starts. Thomas earned his first win at Martinsville Speedway in 1950. His last victory was in 1956 at Merced Fairgrounds in California.

 Aug. 9 -- Bold Forbes, the 1976 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner, was humanely destroyed at age 27. Bold Forbes won seven of eight starts in 1975 and the next year went wire-to-wire in to take the Derby and Belmont. He finished third in the Preakness. He also won the Saratoga Special and the Wood Memorial that year. Trained by Laz Barrera, Bold Forbes was retired to stud after his 3-year-old season with earnings of $546,536. He sired 13 crops through 1990 with 460 named foals, including 304 winners. Some of his offspring include Kentucky Oaks winner Tiffany Lass, Bold Apparel, Air Forbes Won and Barb's Bold.

 Aug. 13 -- Pedro Lavoura, 26, a Venezuelan midfielder playing for Portugal's Sporting Braga, was killed in an auto accident in Aveiro, Portugal.

 Aug. 14 -- Amy W. Yee, who was twice rated the top women's singles player in the country and helped build youth tennis programs, died at age 77. Yee, who won nine national titles, mostly in seniors competition, was the nation's top-ranked women's singles player in 1951 and 1954.

 Aug. 15 -- Clyde Eugene Flowers, a two-way tackle and two-time All-Southwest Conference selection at Texas Christian in the 1940s, died at age 78. Flowers played for TCU from 1940-44 and was elected captain of the team in his junior year.

 Aug. 20 -- Mitch Halpern, 33, a boxing referee who worked dozens of title fights, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Las Vegas. He got his start in March 1991 and went on to referee 87 championship fights and hundreds of non-title fights around the world. He refereed the second fight between Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield in November of 1999, when Lewis won on a unanimous decision. Two months earlier, he worked the welterweight championship fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Felix Trinidad. Halpern was the referee when Holyfield stopped Mike Tyson in the 11th round in their first fight in November 1996.

 Aug. 21 -- Gustav "Bubi" Scholz, one of Germany's biggest boxing idols and most colorful figures, died at age 70. The former European light heavyweight champion, who had a career record of 88-2 with six draws, became a symbol to many of his countrymen of Germany's rise from the ruins of World War II. He made his professional debut in 1948 among the rubble of Berlin and fought his way up to a 1962 world title fight against Harold Johnson of the United States.

 Aug. 24 -- Andy Hug, World kickboxing champion, died at age 35. Hug was a sports icon in his homeland, where he gave a farewell appearance June 3 in Zurich, when he defeated Croatian Mirko Filopovic to retain the WKA Thaiboxing World Super Heavyweight title.

 Aug. 24 -- Bill Sudeck, the basketball coach for 37 years at Case Western Reserve, died at age 74. Sudeck had an overall record of 329-482. He was 280-394 in 29 years at Case Western Reserve and 49-88 in eight years at Case Institute of Technology.

 Aug. 26 -- Henry "Bunny" Austin, who teamed up with Fred Perry to win four Davis Cup finals in a row between 1933-36 in a golden era of British tennis, died at age 94. They ended a streak of six straight French triumphs by beating them 3-2 at Roland Garros in 1933. Then came 4-1 and 5-0 triumphs over the United States at Wimbledon followed by a 3-2 beating of Australia in 1936. Austin never won a major, losing to Americans Ellsworth Vines and Donald Budge at Wimbledon in 1932 and 1938 and to Germany's Henner Henkel at the 1937 French Open at Roland Garros.

 Aug. 31 -- Ron King, 74, a former professional cyclist, died just minutes after carrying the Olympic flame on the 85th day of the torch relay in Australia.