2017 Obituaries

[Eagles One]

Hal Bedsole, former Minnesota Vikings tight end (1964-1966) died on December 22, at the age of 76.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/n ... 108861120/

[SixtiesFan]

Hal Bedsole, former Minnesota Vikings tight end (1964-1966) died on December 22, at the age of 76.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/n ... 108861120/

I remember Hal Bedsole for a Sport magazine profile from 1963. He was a self-promoter which was frowned on back then, which was the point of the Sport piece. Bedsole was a star of USC's 1962 National Championship team.

[John Grasso]

Pervis Atkins, 82, 12/22/17
https://www.abqjournal.com/1110401/perv ... -dies.html

[John Grasso]

Here’s a list of some people associated with professional football
(either U.S. or Canadian) who passed away in 2017 that the
PFRA obituaries section of the forum overlooked. Information
was found at Wikipedia.

Bill Fischer 3/10/27 - 1/20/17 – Chicago Cardinals 1949-53
Jim Mitchener 3/19/29 - 1/31/17 – CFL 1948-57
George Maderos 11/3/33 - 2/2/17 – San Francisco 49er 1955-56
Bill Britton 12/15/34 - 2/6/17 – CFL 1958-64
Larry Hickman 10/9/35 - 2/10/17 – NFL/CFL 1959-63
Jeremy Geathers 6/19/86 – 2/11/17 – Arena Football/CFL 2008-15
Darrell K. Smith 11/5/61 – 2/13/17 – CFL 1986-93
Rich Ingold 5/15/63 – 2/15/17 – Arena Football 1987-2010
Darryl Hammond 9/24/67 – 2/17/17 – Arena Football 1991-2006
Ellery Williams 3/20/26 - 3/7/17 – NFL New York Giants 1950
Dave Brazil 3/25/36 – 3/10/17 – WFL player 1975-76; NFL asst coach 1984-2003
Linwood Sexton 4/16/26 – 3/29/17 – AAFC Los Angeles Dons 1948
Wayne Hardin 3/23/26 – 4/12/17 – coach Continental Football League 1966
Dan Rooney 7/20/32 – 4/13/17 - NFL owner
Rod Monroe 7/31/76 – 5/7/17 – NFL 1999-2001
John Stroppa 1/2/26 – 5/7/17 – CFL player 1949-51; referee
Bill Cox 5/9/29 – 5/14/17 – NFL Washington Redskins 1951/55
Stan Kaluznick 8/2/31 – 5/15/17 CFL 1948-54
Claude Hipps 4/23/27 – 5/20/17 NFL Pittsburgh Steelers 1952-53
Don Matthews 6/22/39 – 6/14/17 coach CFL, WLAF 1977-2008
Larry Hayes 7/21/35 – 6/15/17 CFL/NFL 1956-63
George Hansen 4/22/34 – 7/6/17 CFL 1959-66
Phil Muntz 5/18/34 – 8/1/17 CFL 1956-59
Jerry Campbell 7/14/44 – 8/9/17 CFL 1966/76
Jerry Janes 4/1/35 - 8/11/17 CFL 1957/63
Bill Lasseter 5/6/41 – 8/16/17 CFL 1963-69
Rick Sowieta 3/10/54 - 8/26/17 CFL 1977-86
Joe Tiller 12/7/42 – 9/30/17 CFL player/coach 1964/76
Bill Wilkerson 1945 – 11/2/17 – NFL St. Louis Cardinals radio announcer 1973-87
Frank Kuchta 9/18/36 – 11/24/17 – NFL/CFL 1959-62
Bob Dawson 2/4/32 – 12/10/17 – CFL 1953-59

also a few notables who nearly played pro football
Willie Evans 12/1/37-1/4/17 - AFL 1st round draftee
Don Coleman 5/4/28-1/30/17 – NFL draftee, played in pre-season
Carl “Duke” Washington 10/11/33 – 2/16/17 NFL draftee
George Genyk 6/6/38 – 4/29/17 – AFL/NFL draftee
George Mans 1/31/40 – 12/20/17 NFL 1962 signed with Cardinals but did not play

[Rupert Patrick]

Here’s a list of some people associated with professional football
(either U.S. or Canadian) who passed away in 2017 that the
PFRA obituaries section of the forum overlooked. Information
was found at Wikipedia.


Rich Ingold 5/15/63 – 2/15/17 – Arena Football 1987-2010

Rich Ingold went to Seton LaSalle HS in Pittsburgh, and at the time I was attending Keystone Oaks HS from 1979-81 which was pretty much across the street. At the time he was considered the top high school quarterback in the Pittsburgh area. I saw Ingold play in HS a couple times, and thought he had real talent. He got a scholarship to South Carolina, going there in the fall of 1981, and in a strange twist of fate, I had moved to SC a few months earlier. I hoped he would get playing time at USC but it wasn't meant to be and he transferred to Indiana University of PA, and I lost track of him until he won the Arena Bowl in 1988. He promptly retired as a player after the 1988 Arena Bowl, and became an Arena coach, and I followed his coaching career as best I could. I wasn't aware he had esophageal cancer in 2006 but beat it, and his cause of death was not given.

[Eagles One]

Ray Brown, former Baltimore Colts defensive back and punter (1958 to 1960) died on December 26, at the age of 81.


http://www.baltimoresun.com/bs-sp-diges ... story.html

[Rupert Patrick]

The story doesn't get into his marriage to Georgia Rosenbloom very much, but he started seeing her shortly after Carroll Rosenbloom died, and they married the following year. Their relationship caused a rift amongst the Rosenbloom children, and led to the chaos in the Rams upper management in the early 80's.

That being said, Dominic Frontiere was a fine composer, and his signature work was the theme to the Outer Limits TV series.

http://variety.com/2017/music/news/domi ... 202648539/

[fgoodwin]

If you guys already know this, forgive the redundant info, but PFR has a fairly lengthy list of pro-football-related deaths in 2017 at:

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/ ... deaths.htm

I wish they had a drop down box for various seasons, as it is you must click "Previous season" to see how far back it goes.

[LJP]

Former Lions, Vikings & Saints WR Tom Hall died December 14th, aged 77.

http://obits.masslive.com/obituaries/ma ... =187691756

[LJP]

Former NFL official Hendi Ancich died December 20th, aged 80.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dailyb ... =187656127