Nate Thurmond

popular name: Curt Gowdy

date_of_death: February 20, 2006

age: 86

cause_of_death: Leukemia

claim_to_fame: Sports

best_know_for: In the history of sports broadcasting, few figures have had the power to legitimize an event simply by attending it. For 40 years, Curt Gowdy was that figure. Over the course of a career that spanned five decades and all three broadcast networks, the “Cowboy at the Mic” called hundreds of football, basketball, baseball, Olympic, and outdoorsman events on his way to becoming one of the most heralded sportscasters of all time.

popular name: Bill Monbouquette

date_of_death: January 25, 2015

age: 78

cause_of_death: Acute myelogenous leukemia

claim_to_fame: Sports

best_know_for: Bill Monbouquette was an American professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a right-handed pitcher and was a four-time All-Star player. Monbouquette was a stalwart right-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox during one of the leaner periods in the history of the franchise. Born and raised in the Boston area, he played eight of his 11 major league seasons with the Red Sox, from 1958 to 1965, and for much of that time he was the best pitcher on a bad team. During his time with them, the Sox never finished higher than third in the American League. Monbouquette was notable for pitching a no-hitter in 1962 as a member of the Red Sox, and was inducted into the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2000.

popular name: Hugh Duffy

date_of_death: October 19, 1954

age: 87

cause_of_death: Heart attack

claim_to_fame: Sports

best_know_for: Hugh Duffy was an American outfielder and manager in Major League Baseball. He was a player or player-manager for the Chicago White Stockings, Chicago Pirates, Boston Reds, Boston Beaneaters, Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies between 1888 and 1906. A textile mill worker who had taken up baseball as a semipro for a weekend diversion, Hugh Duffy went on to set the MLB single-season record for batting average (.440 if you were wondering). In fact, from 1891 through 1900, Duffy knocked in 100 runs or more eight times. In 1894 Duffy had one of the greatest seasons in baseball history, leading the league with 18 home runs, with 145 RBI and a .440 batting average (see Major League Baseball Triple Crown). Duffy's .440 average is the major league single-season batting average record. At one point during the season, Duffy had a 26-game hitting streak. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1945. He worked for the Boston Red Sox until 1953 when that year, Nora Duffy died, bringing to a close a happy but childless 57-year marriage. Hugh, suffering from prostate cancer, succumbed to a fatal heart attack at his home in the Brighton section of Boston on October 19, 1954.