2012 Obits: R.I.P. and Remembrance thread

[genlock]

Rodney King dead




Police sources told TMZ that officers responded to a call at a home in Rialto, about 55 miles east of Los Angeles, at 5:25am local time.

They removed King from the bottom of a swimming pool and attempted CPR. He was pronounced dead at 6:11am, sources said.

Police in Rialto will investigate King's death as a drowning, according to TMZ.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/r ... z1y494CAjA

[jag]

Barry Becher of Ginsu Knives Fame Dies

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Barry Becher, a marketing mastermind and infomercial pioneer best known for bringing Ginsu knives to the American public, has died. He was 71.

Becher had been suffering from kidney cancer and died Friday at a hospital of complications from surgery, his stepdaughter Stacy Paradise said Wednesday. He had lived in Parkland.

Though Becher brought many campaigns to the airwaves with his business partner Ed Valenti, they are forever linked with Ginsu, the ubiquitous knives shown slicing through tin cans and chipping a wood block.

Millions were sold from the commercial's debut in 1978 into the early 1980s, with audiences mesmerized by images of an exotic-sounding knife that seemed able to cut through anything. The infomercial promised a 50-year guarantee and "much, much more."

Becher was born in Brooklyn. His father was a chemical engineer; his mother an opera singer. He left for Rhode Island after high school, passing broken-down cars on the highway. He figured he might be able to make a living in the auto business.

Becher was running two AAMCO franchises near Warwick, R.I., when he met Valenti, an account executive for a local television station who was handling the auto shops' advertising. They drove the same Datsun 240Z, had wives who were schoolmates, shared a passion for sales and became fast friends. They decided they wanted to find a product they could market through an extended TV commercial, the way some records were sold. Becher found a mohair-bristled paint pad that prevented splatter and cut work times.

They were roundly rejected when they pitched the product to Madison Avenue firms and ultimately produced it themselves through a joint company initially run out of Becher's garage.

Their first two-minute commercial was on the air, and the Miracle Painter was born.

They sold more than a million units and repeated their winning formula with products others created. But the duo rechristened and popularized: Armourcote Cookware, the Miracle Slicer, Lusterware Silverware and Royal DuraSteel mixing bowls.

"We tried to find the most unique products in the world," Valenti said.

In the course of a decade, the men said they amassed more than $500 million in sales. Armourcote was the most profitable, but Ginsu remains the most widely known, a household name across the U.S., and fodder for countless comedians.

Sam Craig, a marketing professor at New York University's Stern School of Business, said Ginsu stands apart from most other infomercial products because it was popular for so long and it had common sales methods that are used to this day.

"They're taking these things that were done at state fairs and carnivals where it could be demonstrated to a group of maybe 10, now you could demonstrate the same thing to a million people or more at the same time," Craig said. "And it takes something that's relatively mundane and makes it appear dramatic."

Becher and Valenti eventually shifted their business to become mainly a media buying firm, PriMedia, but their legacy was sealed. They helped popularize the use of credit cards and 800-numbers for over-the-TV sales and their work is seen as a precursor to extended 30-minute infomercials and round-the-clock shopping channels, including Home Shopping Network.

Becher's funeral was Monday and his family is considering etching in his tombstone one of the catchphrases he helped popularize: "But wait, there's more."

[genlock]

WILLIAM THOMAS SMITH, 49, of Ashland, Ky., died June 25 in Community Hospice Care Center, Ashland. He had worked at WTSF TV and was a referee and wrestler in Smoking Mountain and CPW wrestling. Funeral service will be 1 p.m. Friday, Steen Funeral Home Central Avenue Chapel, Ashland; burial at Golden Oaks Memorial Gardens, Ashland. Visitation one hour before service. www.steenfunerawlhome.com.

[just saying]

Don Grady, who was one of television's most beloved big brothers as Robbie Douglas on the long-running 1960s hit "My Three Sons," died Wednesday. He was 68

His "My Three Sons" co-star Barry Livingston, who played youngest brother Ernie, confirmed Grady's death to The Associated Press. Livingston said Grady had been suffering from cancer and receiving hospice care at his home in Thousand Oaks, Calif. But the exact cause and place of death were not immediately clear.
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/20 ... ies-at-68/

[just saying]

Andy Griffith Has Died
Former UNC President Bill Friday says Andy Griffith died this morning in Dare County. Friday, who is a close friend of the actor, confirmed that to WITN News.


http://www.witn.com/home/headlines/SHER ... 01175.html

[just saying]

Ben Davidson, towering Raiders lineman, dies at 72
http://www.sfgate.com/raiders/article/B ... 682923.php

[David Paleg]

Oscar-winning film star Ernest Borgnine dies in LA at age 95
By Wendy Carpenter
The Upshot – 5:30 PM 07/08/12

Ernest Borgnine, who created a variety of memorable characters in both movies and television and won the best-actor Oscar for his role as a lovesick butcher in "Marty" in 1955, died Sunday. He was 95.

Borgnine's longtime spokesman, Harry Flynn, told The Associated Press that Borgnine died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles with his family by his side.

A prolific and talented character actor, Borgnine was known for gruff, villainous roles such as the heavy who beats up Frank Sinatra in "From Here to Eternity" and one of the bad guys who harasses Spencer Tracy in "Bad Day at Black Rock."

Borgnine, who earned a salary of $5,000 for playing his Academy-Award winning role Marty, once said "I would have done it for nothing."

Borgnine, who was born Ermes Effron Borgnino on Jan. 24, 1917 in Hamden, Conn., began acting after serving in the Navy during World War II. He made his film debut in 1951's "Whistle at Eaton Falls" before winning an Academy Award four years later. He appeared in other notable films including "Jubal," "Flight of the Phoenix," "The Dirty Dozen,""The Wild Bunch," "The Poseidon Adventure," "Johnny Guitar," and "Escape from New York."

"No Stanislavsky. I don't chart out the life histories of the people I play," Borgnine told The New York Times in 1973 when asked about his acting methods. "If I did, I'd be in trouble. I work with my heart and my head, and naturally emotions follow."

Sometimes he prayed, he said, or just reflected on character-appropriate thoughts. "If none of that works," he added, "I think to myself of the money I'm making."

He was also known as the Navy officer in the television series "McHale's Navy," which aired from 1962-66. Younger audiences would know him as the voice of Mermaid Man in "Spongebob Squarepants."

Borgnine earned an Emmy Award nomination at age 92 for his work on the series "ER," and was honored with the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2011.

"The Oscar made me a star, and I'm grateful," AP reports that Borgnine told an interviewer in 1966. "But I feel had I not won the Oscar I wouldn't have gotten into the messes I did in my personal life."

The actor was married five times, including to singer Ethel Merman, who became his third wife in 1964. The marriage barely lasted a month.

He is survived by his fifth wife, Tova Traesnaes — whom he married in 1973 —his children Christofer, Nancee and Sharon Borgnine; a stepson, David Johnson; six grandchildren; and his sister, Evelyn Verlardi.

[EZ103.3FM]

Norman Sas, inventor of electric football, died at age 87
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d8 ... dies-at-87
A few decades ago, before we wrote entire posts dedicated to Robert Griffin III's likeness in a video game, Electric Football ruled the world. The man who invented the sublimely popular game, Norman Sas, died last week at the age of 87.

Electric Football was simple. One metal playing field and 11 plastic figures on a rectangular stand on each side. The human players would carefully put their figures in position, flick a switch, and the metal would vibrate them into action. The "players" would rumble all over, caring not for field position or their coach's gameplan. Every so often, the figure holding the tiny football would find one of the end zones. This could be for a safety or a touchdown.



I remember my dad taking his dusty Electric Football game out of the attic one day and showing me how it worked. (That it was still operational is a testament to my father's famous fastidiousness). I was hopped up on Nintendo's "Tecmo Bowl" at the time -- and also, being 11 or so, a little jerk -- so Electric Football looked to me like a relic left behind by cavemen.

But for people of a certain age, Electric Football was "Tecmo Bowl." It was "Madden."

According to the Hackensack Record (via PFT), Sas invented Electric Football in 1948 and introduced it a year later. But the game didn't take off for nearly two more decades, when Sas signed a deal with NFL Properties in 1967. It wasn't long after that Electric Football was under Christmas trees across the country.

The emergence of video games in the early '80s quickly turned Electric Football into a dinosaur staring down the fiery meteor. But by then, the game -- and the man who invented it -- had already left an indelible mark.

[David Paleg]

Oscar-winning producer Richard Zanuck dead at 77
Jul 13, 6:38 PM (ET)
By LYNN ELBER and BOB THOMAS


LOS ANGELES (AP) - Film producer Richard Zanuck, who won the best picture Oscar for "Driving Miss Daisy" and was involved in such blockbuster films as "Jaws" and "The Sting" after his father, Hollywood mogul Darryl F. Zanuck, fired him from 20th Century Fox, died Friday. He was 77.

Zanuck's publicist says he died of a heart attack at his Beverly Hills home.

Zanuck's run of successes as an independent producer rivaled the achievements of his legendary father who reigned over 20th Century Fox from the 1930s until age and changing audience tastes brought him down.

Richard Darryl Zanuck was born in 1934, the third child and only son of the mercurial mogul and his wife, former actress Virginia Fox Zanuck. His mother had appeared in several Buster Keaton shorts in the years before her marriage to the elder Zanuck in 1924.

Richard Zanuck had grown up at 20th Century Fox, once recalling, "When I was a kid I was playing hide-and-seek on the movie back lot."

As a student at a military school and later at Stanford University, he had worked summers at the studio in various departments, including editing and story. After graduation, he became a special assistant to his father.

Richard Zanuck's first wife was actress Lili Gentle and the couple had two daughters, Virginia and Janet. His second wife was also an actress, Linda Harrison, and they had two sons, Harrison and Dean. Both marriages ended in divorce.

Full story at Iwon/AP News.

[David Paleg]

Oscar-winning actress Celeste Holm dies at 95
Jul 15, 12:49 PM (ET)
By MARK KENNEDY

NEW YORK (AP) - Celeste Holm, a versatile, bright-eyed blonde who soared to Broadway fame in "Oklahoma!" and won an Oscar in "Gentleman's Agreement" but whose last years were filled with financial difficulty and estrangement from her sons, died Sunday, a relative said. She was 95.

Holm had been hospitalized about two weeks ago with dehydration after a fire in actor Robert De Niro's apartment in the same Manhattan building. She had asked her husband on Friday to bring her home, and she spent her final days with her husband, Frank Basile, and other relatives and close friends by her side, said Amy Phillips, a great-niece of Holm's who answered the phone at Holm's apartment on Sunday.

Holm died around 3:30 a.m. at her longtime apartment on Central Park West, Phillips said.

"I think she wanted to be here, in her home, among her things, with people who loved her," she said.

Full story at Iwon/AP News.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Cause elusive in death of Stallone son in LA home
Jul 14, 4:03 AM (ET)
By ANTHONY McCARTNEY

LOS ANGELES (AP) - There were no signs of foul play or trauma in the death of Sage Stallone, whose sudden passing at the age of 36 left his father Sylvester Stallone devastated, a publicist and investigators said.

Sage Stallone was found unresponsive in his Los Angeles home Friday by an employee and a relative, and police arrived and confirmed Sage Stallone was dead, Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter said.

"Sylvester Stallone is devastated and grief-stricken over the sudden loss of his son," publicist Michelle Bega said in a statement. "His compassion and thoughts are with Sage's mother, Sasha."

The cause of death was not clear.

No suicide note was found, Winter said, though prescription bottles were recovered from the home on Mulholland Drive in the Studio City area. Winter could not say what kind of medication bottles or how many, and whether they had a role in the death.

Full story at Iwon/AP News.

[EZ103.3FM]

'7 Habits' author Stephen Covey dead at 79
http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/16/us/obit-s ... hpt=hp_bn9
(CNN) -- Author Stephen Covey, whose "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" sold more than 20 million copies, died Monday at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman said. He was 79.

Covey's family issued a statement, reported by CNN affiliate KSL, saying he died from residual effects of an April bicycle accident.

"In his final hours, he was surrounded by his loving wife and each one (of) his children and their spouses, just as he always wanted," the statement said, according to KSL.

Covey was "one of the world's foremost leadership authorities, organizational experts and thought leaders," according to a biography posted on the website of his 2011 book, "The 3rd Alternative."

Other best-sellers by Covey include "First Things First," "Principle-Centered Leadership," and "The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness," according to the biography.

"The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People" has been named one of the most influential management books by several organizations, including Time and Forbes magazines. The audio book is the best-selling nonfiction audio in history, according to the website.

Once named one of Time magazine's 25 most influential Americans, according to the biography, Covey "made teaching principle-centered living and principle-centered leadership his life's work."

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert released a statement saying he was "saddened" to hear of the death of Covey, a "good friend."

"His combination of intellect and empathy made him a truly unique and visionary individual," Herbert said. "The skills he taught, and importantly, the personal example provided by the life he led, will continue to bless the lives of many. Our hearts go out to his beloved wife Sandra and the entire Covey family."

Covey held a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Utah, a master's in business administration from Harvard and a doctorate from Brigham Young University. He also received 10 honorary doctorate degrees, his biography said.

He founded Covey Leadership Center, which in 1997 merged with Franklin Quest to create FranklinCovey Co. The company is a "global consulting and training leader in the areas of strategy execution, leadership, customer loyalty, sales performance, school transformation and individual effectiveness," with 44 offices in 147 countries, according to the website.

In 2010, Covey joined Utah State University's Jon M. Huntsman School of Business faculty as a tenured full professor, the biography said.

Covey and his wife, Sandra, lived in Provo, Utah. He was a father of nine, a grandfather of 52 and a great-grandfather of two, according to the website.

[jag]

Kitty Wells, country music's first female superstar, dies


NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Singer Kitty Wells, whose hits such as "Making Believe" and "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" made her the first female superstar of country music, died Monday. She was 92.

The singer's family said she died peacefully at home after complications from a stroke.

Her solo recording career lasted from 1952 to the late 1970s and she made concert tours from the late 1930s until 2000. That year, she announced she was quitting the road, although she performed occasionally in Nashville and elsewhere afterward.

Her "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" in 1952 was the first No. 1 hit by a woman soloist on the country music charts and dashed the notion that women couldn't be headliners. Billboard magazine had been charting country singles for about eight years at that time.

She recorded approximately 50 albums, had 25 Top 10 country hits and went around the world several times. From 1953 to 1968, various polls listed Wells as the No. 1 female country singer. Tammy Wynette finally dethroned her.

In 1976, she was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame and 10 years later received the Pioneer Award from the Academy of Country Music. In 1991, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences — the group that presents the Grammy Awards.

Her 1955 hit "Making Believe" was on the movie soundtrack of "Mississippi Burning" that was released 33 years later. Among her other hits were "The Things I Might Have Been," "Release Me," "Amigo's Guitar," "Heartbreak USA," "Left to Right" and a version of "I Can't Stop Loving You."

In 1989, Wells collaborated with Brenda Lee, Loretta Lynn and k.d. lang on the record "The Honky Tonk Angels Medley."

"I never really thought about being a pioneer," she said in an Associated Press interview in 2008. "I loved doing what I was doing."

Her songs tended to treasure devotion and home life, with titles like "Searching (For Someone Like You)" and "Three Ways (To Love You)." But her "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" gave the woman's point of view about the wild side of life.

[jag]

Deep Purple keyboardist Jon Lord dies at 71
Deep Purple keyboardist Jon Lord has lost his battle with cancer at the age of 71.

Lord was diagnosed with a tumor in his pancreas in 2011, and he headed to Israel in February to undergo treatment. He was due to make his return in Hagen, Germany, earlier this month, but had to postpone the gig due to poor health.

A statement released at the time read, "Jon wishes to assure everyone that this is not a matter for concern, but it is a continuation of his regular treatment that has just taken longer than anticipated. He and the Hagen Philharmonic Orchestra hope to be able to reschedule the concert for later in the year."

However, Lord's condition took a turn for the worse, and he passed away Monday at a private hospital in London.

A post on his official website states, "It is with deep sadness we announce the passing of Jon Lord, who suffered a fatal pulmonary embolism today, Monday 16th July at the London Clinic, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Jon was surrounded by his loving family."

[jag]

Bob Babbitt, a bass player for Motown's studio band the Funk Brothers

Babbitt was 74.

The veteran musician, born Robert Kreinar in Pittsburgh, had been battling brain cancer for some time.

"He was a tough man — strong," said his son, Joe. "He could take pain. Right now I miss him deeply, and it's only been a few hours."

Although Babbitt's musicianship was always known to other players, his fame spread to a broader audience after the release of the 2002 film about the Funk Brothers, "Standing in the Shadows of Motown."

"Funk Brothers" was the nickname that Motown's core group of studio rhythm players gave themselves. They weren't credited on any Motown recordings by design, because the instrumentation was so vital to the "Sound of Young America" that Berry Gordy Jr. was afraid that his competitors would hire his musicians away.

Even in that heady company, Babbitt was known for being able to sit down, plug in and hit an unstoppable groove.

"He was one of the last of the breed of journeymen bass players who were total pros, could go in and crank out a hit, go to the next session and crank out another one," said Allan Slutsky, writer and producer of "Standing in the Shadows of Motown."

That's him on several Del Shannon songs, including "Little Town Flirt," "I Go to Pieces" and "Handyman." The thrum of his bass can be heard on other seminal Detroit hits such as "Cool Jerk" by the Capitols," "Love Makes the World Go 'Round" by Deon Jackson, "War" and "S.O.S. Stop Her on Sight" by Edwin Starr, "Oh How Happy" by the Shades of Blue, among many others.

Babbitt's bass solo on "Scorpio," the 1971 international smash by Dennis Coffey and the Detroit Guitar Band, propels the song along so memorably, that, as Detroit bass player Ralphe Armstrong once said, every bass player in Detroit had to be able to play it or they couldn't get a gig.

"His bass solo on 'Scorpio' has not been equaled, when you get right down to it," Coffey said. "That set the bar pretty high for bass players."

That rumbling, funky solo wasn't planned or written, Babbitt came up with it on the spot at the DM Studio (now Superdisc). Coffey had penciled in a "breakdown" for the middle of the song, and let the musicians do whatever they wanted.

"Everybody went crazy," Coffey recalled. "First, that wild percussion with 'Bongo' Eddie, and then Bob just dropped that bass solo in, it was impromptu."

It was Babbitt's bass providing the funky bottom on Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered," the Temptations' "Ball of Confusion," "Inner City Blues" by Marvin Gaye, among many others.

After Gordy packed up and took Motown to Los Angeles in 1972, Babbitt continued to work in Detroit, Philadelphia and New York, cutting some memorable sides for Thom Bell with the Spinners ("Rubberband Man" and "Then Came You.")

When he moved to Nashville, things quieted down a bit.

As Babbitt told The Detroit News in 2002, many established studio musicians in Nashville had been falsely claiming to be Motown sidemen for years. By the time he arrived and gave his legit Motown credentials, nobody believed him. The release of "Standing in the Shadows of Motown" was his vindication.

"Now, with this film, everybody will know who we are, and what we did," Babbitt said.

After the release of the film, he and the Funk Brothers won two Grammys and toured in the United States and Europe. In 2010, Phil Collins flew Babbitt and several of the Funks to Europe to record an album, "Going Back."

In March 2011, Babbitt appeared on "American Idol," playing the song "You're All I Need To Get By" behind Jacob Lusk, for the show's Motown week.

He was stoic about his fight with brain cancer, and didn't talk about it a lot with his Detroit friends. Coffey is happy that he got through by phone and talked to his old friend about six weeks ago. "We talked about the old days," Coffey said. "I said 'Man, I always bring you up for that solo on 'Scorpio.'"

In addition to his son, Babbitt is survived by his wife, Ann, and two daughters. Memorial services are in the works for Nashville and Detroit.

[cgarison]

Donald Sobol, the creator of Encyclopedia Brown, dies at age 87.

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/07/ ... obol-dies/

Donald Sobol, the creator of the best-selling Encyclopedia Brown series of mysteries, has passed away at the age of 87. The news of his death was made public this morning; Sobol died last week of natural causes in Miami, according to reports.

Sobol’s famous chronicles of 10-year-old Leroy “Encyclopedia” Brown launched nearly 50 years ago with Encyclopedia Brown: Boy Detective in 1963.

Encyclopedia Brown was a proto-hacker, a bad-ass in the style of Buckaroo Banzai and MacGyver, who could sleuth a complicated crime, break it down, and solve it in the span of three pages. In addition to being a whiz kid detective, he was also an entrepreneur who created his own startup detective agency to solve mysteries for the princely sum of “25 cents per day, plus expenses.”

Brown was cooler — and nerdier — than Harry Potter, and many of the other heroes of children’s books of today. Plus, the Encyclopedia Brown books were designed to be interactive, by the standards of their time — readers could solve the mysteries along with Brown, by reading the text closely and carefully noting down the details of the story.


Sobol’s Encyclopedia Brown series was also notable for the inclusion of a strong female lead character. Sally Kimball, Brown’s pint-size best friend and sidekick, was also his bodyguard, who protected him from the wiles of local bully Bugs Meany, the leader of a neighborhood gang called the Tigers. Together, Brown and Kimball roamed their fictional town of Idaville, Florida, solving mysteries through an intense reading of the facts.

“In the early 1960s, girls and women weren’t supposed to work up a sweat, and here was a woman doing a man’s work,” Sobol told the Oberlin College alumni magazine last year in a rare interview.

For decades, Sobol avoided the spotlight, preferring to live in relative obscurity in Florida with his wife and children. His refusal to do interviews almost approached the hermetic level of J.D. Salinger. He avoided all television interviews, and only rarely granted interviews for articles.

Over the decades, the well-loved children’s book series spun out into 28 books, a comic strip and an HBO live-action television series. The books were translated into more than a dozen languages, and sold millions of copies worldwide.

The final Encyclopedia Brown book written by Sobol, Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Soccer Scheme, will be published in October.

[EZ103.3FM]

Bob Babbitt, a bass player for Motown's studio band the Funk Brothers

Babbitt's bass solo on "Scorpio," the 1971 international smash by Dennis Coffey and the Detroit Guitar Band, propels the song along so memorably, that, as Detroit bass player Ralphe Armstrong once said, every bass player in Detroit had to be able to play it or they couldn't get a gig.

"His bass solo on 'Scorpio' has not been equaled, when you get right down to it," Coffey said. "That set the bar pretty high for bass players."

That rumbling, funky solo wasn't planned or written, Babbitt came up with it on the spot at the DM Studio (now Superdisc). Coffey had penciled in a "breakdown" for the middle of the song, and let the musicians do whatever they wanted.

"Everybody went crazy," Coffey recalled. "First, that wild percussion with 'Bongo' Eddie, and then Bob just dropped that bass solo in, it was impromptu."

I had the vinyl album with Scorpio on it. Here's a youtube link; the bass solo starts at 2:03 and goes for a full minute and a half. Great work.
http://youtu.be/KBn_oUH8Uo0

EVEN BETTER!!! Here's a live performance of Scorpio from 8 years ago in Nashville. It's by an all bass band and includes Babbitt as a special guest.
http://youtu.be/Lq-ATlSd-A8

[David Paleg]

`I Love Lucy' director Bill Asher dies at 90
Jul 17, 12:34 AM (ET)

PALM DESERT, Calif. (AP) - The director and producer behind the television classics "I Love Lucy" and "Bewitched" has died. Bill Asher was 90.

His wife, Meredith, says he died Monday at a facility in Palm Desert, Calif., of complications from Alzheimer's disease.

Asher was best known for his work on "I Love Lucy," where he directed Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz for 100 of the show's 181 episodes between 1952 and 1957.

He also produced and directed "The Patty Duke Show" and "Bewitched," which starred his then-wife Elizabeth Montgomery. Montgomery and Asher had three children together.

Asher brought Sally Field to TV screens in "Gidget," and took the same sensibility to movies as director of the teen romps "Beach Blanket Bingo" and "Beach Party," starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello.

[just saying]

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Jim Carlen, who coached South Carolina’s only Heisman Trophy winner and also led West Virginia and Texas Tech to success, died Sunday. He was 79.

Carlen died in Columbia, according to Dale Morton at Dunbar Funeral Home. He did not know the cause of death.
Carlen was 107-69-6 in his 16-year coaching career and had just three losing seasons. He led his teams to eight bowl games.

Carlen was a punter and linebacker for Georgia Tech and was an assistant for the Yellow Jackets before he got his first head coaching job in West Virginia in 1966. He’s credited with bringing West Virginia football to the big stage, convincing the school’s leaders to leave the Southern Conference and become an independent.

The Mountaineers went 25-13-3 in Carlen’s four years, including their second 10-win season in the program’s history in 1966 that ended with a 14-3 win over South Carolina in the Peach Bowl.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/co ... story.html

[jag]

Sally Ride, 1st US Female in Space


Sally Ride, the first US woman to fly in space, died on Monday after a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer, her foundation announced. She was 61.

Ride first launched into space in 1983, on the seventh US space shuttle mission.

[just saying]

Sherman Hemsley has died.
Sherman Hemsley, the actor who made the character George Jefferson famous in "The Jeffersons," has died, El Paso cops tell TMZ.

Hemsley died at his home in El Paso, Texas.

Sources tell us ... it appears Hemsley died from natural causes.
http://www.tmz.com/2012/07/24/sherman-h ... effersons/