September & October

 Sept. 1 -- Willard "Bubba" Scott, a key defensive player at Southern California in the late 1960s, died at age 53. Scott was one of the "Wild Bunch," the nickname given to the 1969 Trojans' defensive line, which included Al Cowlings, Jimmy Gunn, Charlie Weaver and Tody Smith. That team had a 10-0-1 record and beat Michigan in the 1970 Rose Bowl game.

 Sept. 3 -- Clyde Sukeforth, a former major league catcher and Brooklyn Dodgers scout who helped set the stage for Jackie Robinson to break baseball's color barrier, died at age 98. Sukeforth also scouted for the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Atlanta Braves. Among the players he signed were Don Newcombe and Roberto Clemente. Sukeforth was a confidant of Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey, who sent him to Chicago in 1945 to watch a Negro League game involving Robinson's Kansas City Monarchs.

 Sept. 4 -- Jim Ward, who at age 77 became the oldest-ever athlete to finish Hawaii's Ironman competition, the most difficult triathlon of all, died at age 83.

 Sept. 4 -- Merrill "Pinky" May, who played third base for the Philadelphia Phillies for five seasons and was the father of former major league catcher Milt May, died at age 89. May played for the Phillies from 1939 to 1943, then joined the Navy to fight in World War II. After the war, May became a minor league manager. Future Cincinnati stars Johnny Bench and Hal McRae were among the players he managed.

 Sept. 5 -- Vernon Dancer, a harness driver, trainer and breeder who was recently nominated for the sport's Hall of Fame, died at age 77. One of Dancer's best-known trainees was the trotting filly Honeysuckle Rose, who won multiple stakes races and never made a break. On the pacing side, he trained Tempered Yankee, who beat the top contenders of his day, including Rum Customer, Fulla Napoleon, Laverne Hanover and Sunnie Tar. Vernon Dancer drove 1,723 winners, had earnings of $8.96 million and a lifetime winning percentage of .395.

 Sept. 5 -- George "Moose" Musso, a lineman who played on four Chicago Bears championship teams and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, died age 90. Musso, who played on both the offense and defensive lines, was with Chicago from 1933-44. He played in seven NFL championship games under Bears founder and coach George Halas, including the 73-0 thrashing of the Washington Redskins in 1940. He was the first player to win All-NFL honors at two positions, at tackle in 1935 and at guard in 1937.

 Sept. 6 -- Roy Fredericks, former West Indies cricketer, died at age 57. Fredericks debuted in the 1968-69 series in Australia and played 59 cricket test matches. He ended his test career in the early 1980s with an average of 42.49 per innings.

 Sept. 7 -- Hyginus Anugo, 22, a promising 200- and 400-meter Nigerian runner who had participated in the World Junior Championships in 1996 in Sydney, was struck by a car and killed while training in southwestern Sydney.

 Sept. 13 -- Thurman "Fum" McGraw, the former Detroit Lions lineman and Colorado State athletic director, died at age 73. McGraw played defensive tackle for Detroit from 1950-54, helping the Lions to three NFL championships. He was an assistant coach with Pittsburgh from 1958-62. In 1970, McGraw became an NFL scout, but returned to Colorado State six years later as athletic director, a post he held until retiring in 1986.

 Sept. 17 -- Nicole Reinhart, 24, a two-time U.S. National Track bicycle racing champion, died when she was thrown from her bicycle and struck a tree during the BMC Tour race in Arlington, Mass. It was the final event of the 17-race Saturn Professional Tour, which Reinhart was leading. A competitive rider since age 12, Reinhart won nine U.S. National Junior Championship titles. She won two U.S. National Track titles in 1997.

 Sept. 21 -- Warren Rutledge, one of the winningest high school basketball coaches in the country, died at 69. Rutledge had 949 victories in 43 years at Benedictine High School in Richmond, Va. Rutledge retired last season after leading Benedictine to the State Catholic championship for the 26th time. He finished with a 949-334 record.

 Sept. 23 -- Aurelio Rodriguez, a model of consistency at third base for the Detroit Tigers during the 1970s, died at age 52. Rodriguez broke into the major leagues with the California Angels in 1967. Rodriguez played in at least 128 games in seven of his nine years in Detroit, and won a Gold Glove award in 1975. Rodriguez' big league career with seven teams ended in 1983. He finished with a .237 average with 124 home runs and 648 RBIs in 2,017 games.

 Sept. 23 -- Bob Hurt, the driver who broke his neck trying to qualify for the 1968 Indianapolis 500 and became a paraplegic, died at age 61. He drove his own Ferrari to victory in the Puerto Rico Grand Prix in 1962 and competed in a Lotus 18 as well as driving USAC stock cars in 1963. Hurt never drove in the Indy 500. Before his accident he drove in 21 Champ car races, with a best finish of sixth in the Trenton 200 in 1967.

 Sept. 24 -- Jerry Claiborne, a former University of Kentucky player and coach who was elected to college football's Hall of Fame died at age 72. Claiborne was a blocking back and defensive back for the Wildcats between 1946-49, and played for Paul "Bear" Bryant. Claiborne was hired as head coach of Virginia Tech in 1961 and guided the Hokies to a 61-39-2 record in 10 seasons. He was chosen head coach at Maryland in 1972 and the Terrapins went 77-37-3 during his 10 seasons there. He became Kentucky's football coach in December 1981. The Wildcats went 0-10-1 during his first season, but posted a 6-4-1 mark in 1983 and earned a berth in the Hall of Fame Bowl. Kentucky went 9-3 and returned to the Hall of Fame Bowl in 1984.

 Oct. 3 -- William "Bill" Grice, who coached football at Oberlin College for 15 years and later served as Case Western Reserve's athletic director, died at age 80. Grice was Oberlin's head coach from 1958-72.

 Oct. 8 -- Edie Payne, who ran in the 1928 Amsterdam Games and was Australia's oldest living Olympian, died at age 94. Payne died weeks after taking part in ceremonies for the Sydney Olympics. Under her maiden name of Robinson, she was the first woman to represent Australia at an Olympic track event when she ran the 100 meters and 800 meters in Amsterdam.

 Oct. 10 -- Dick Oland Klein, founder of the Chicago Bulls, died at age 80. Klein founded the Bulls in 1965, and the franchise remains the only modern-day expansion team to make the playoffs in its inaugural season, 1966-67.

 Oct. 11 -- Fred Williams, a standout defensive tackle at the University Arkansas who played 12 years with the Chicago Bears, died at age 71. Williams' last game with the Bears was on December 29, 1963, when Chicago beat the New York Giants 14-10 for the NFL title.

 Oct. 14 -- Tony Roper, 35, NASCAR Trucks series driver, died hours after a fiery crash in the O'Reilly 400 race at Texas Motor Speedway. Roper was in just his fifth Craftsman Series race this season, but the 60th of his career. He never won in the series, his best finish being second in Clermont, Ind., in 1998.

 Oct. 14 -- Wayne Bailey, 47, died hours after crashing during qualifying for the IHRA World Finals at Red River Raceway in Gilliam, La.

 Oct. 14 -- Art Coulter, a Hall of Fame defenseman who played for the Chicago Blackhawks and New York Rangers, died at age 92. Coulter was with Chicago from 1931-36. He played the last five years of his career with the Rangers, retiring in 1942. He played on Stanley Cup championship teams in 1934 with the Blackhawks and in 1940 with New York.

 Oct. 17 -- Harry Cooper, Hall of Fame golfer who won the first Vardon Trophy for the lowest average score and had 32 victories on the PGA Tour, died at age 96. Cooper turned pro in 1923 and was the longest-serving member of the PGA of America. Cooper got his first victory in the inaugural Los Angeles Open at age 22. A year earlier, in 1925, he lost to Walter Hagen in the semifinals of the PGA Championship. Thirty years later, Cooper finished sixth in the tournament.

 Oct. 17 -- Leo Nomellini, a two-way Hall of Fame player who starred for the San Francisco 49ers from 1950-1963, died at age 76. Nomellini was a two-time All-American at Minnesota and became the 49ers' first NFL draft choice in 1950. Nomellini, a tackle, played both ways for part of his career and was chosen All-NFL six times, four on defense and twice on offense.

 Oct. 19 -- Gustav Kilian, a German cycling legend, died at age 92. He was known in Germany as the "kaiser" of the Six-Day Races, winning 34 of them before and after World War II.

 Oct. 25 -- Vern Wolfe, who guided Southern California to seven men's NCAA track championships during his 22 years as coach, died at age 78. Wolfe was USC's coach from 1963-84. His teams won five NCAA outdoor titles -- in 1963, 1965, 1967, 1968 and 1976, and two indoor crowns -- in 1967 and 1972. In 13 of his 22 years, the Trojans placed among the top four teams in the NCAA meet.

 Oct. 25 -- Robert Benson, 24, a featherweight boxer from Saugus, Mass., who fought under the ring name Bobby Tomasello, died at New England Medical Center. Benson had just fought Steve Dotse of Ghana to a 10-round draw on Oct. 20 in Boston when he collapsed in his dressing room. Benson had a professional record of 14-0-1, with eight knockouts. The fight was his first 10-round bout.