Evan Tanner died at 37 - Former UFC champion Mixed Martial Arts ...

Evan Loyd Tanner was an American professional mixed martial arts fighter. He was a former UFC Middleweight and USWF Heavyweight champion with a professional record of 32 wins and 8 losses. He was also the first American to win the Pancrase Neo-Blood tournament in Tokyo, Japan.

Tanner won his first championship when he defeated Heath Herring at USWF 7, and went on to successfully defend that title five times. Tanner then won the UFC Middleweight title at UFC 51, stopping David Terrell with strikes in the first round.

Tanner died of hyperthermia (heat exposure) in a desert near Brawley, CA, in early September, 2008.

(February 11, 1971 – c. September 5, 2008)

Tanner was born in Amarillo, Texas and graduated from Caprock High School in 1989 where he won the Texas State Championships in wrestling as a junior and senior despite only entering the sport in his sophomore year of high school. Tanner attended college but dropped out because he felt that he was not receiving a "real world" education that he was searching for. After dropping out, he traveled the country and eventually returned to Amarillo where he entered a local mixed martial arts tournament. What he thought would be an isolated event served as a springboard to his professional career. In 2008, he relocated to Oceanside, California.

Tanner, with a wrestling background, began fighting in 1997 when he was convinced by friends to enter a local MMA tournament, hosted by the now defunct Unified Shoot Wrestling Federation. Tanner won the tournament, defeating three fighters including future UFC Heavyweight contender Paul Buentello, in one night.

After his initial success, Tanner taught himself submission and grappling techniques using instructional videos created by the famous Gracie family. He continued to fight in local shows and tournaments in Texas and Iowa before traveling across the world to Japan to compete in the Pancrase organization. Tanner won five fights overseas and competed in the USWF once more before being asked to join the UFC.

Tanner made his UFC debut in 1999 at UFC 18, submitting fellow Amarillo native Darrell Gholar by rear naked choke in the first round. Tanner's next fight in the UFC was against Valerie Ignatov at UFC 19. Ignatov was widely known for his leg submissions and because of this, Tanner decided to fight barefoot for the first time in his career, citing that shoes sometimes make it easier for an opponent to gain a submission.

Tanner fought once more in Pancrase and defended his title two more times in the USWF before deciding to take the first of multiple breaks from fighting in his career. He returned to action in July of 2000 and remained undefeated in the USWF, successfully keeping his Heavyweight belt in victories over Raoul Romero and Vinny Nixon. Tanner made his next appearance in the UFC at UFC 29, beating Lance Gibson by TKO.


With three victories in the UFC, Tanner received a title shot against UFC Light Heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz at UFC 30. Unfortunately, Tanner suffered his first UFC loss in just 32 seconds, being knocked unconscious due to a high level slam by Ortiz. It was after this defeat that Tanner began to become a more disciplined fighter.

Also during that time, Tanner began training with Oregon-based Team Quest. He returned to the Octagon at UFC 34, taking on Homer Moore, who he stopped in the second round with an armbar. At UFC 36 he defeated Elvis Sinosic by TKO(cut), and at UFC 38 won a unanimous decision over Chris Haseman in an unaired undercard bout. In his next fight, at UFC 42, he faced Rich Franklin. He was defeated by TKO(strikes) in the first round.

After his loss to Franklin, Tanner decided that his frame was not large enough for Light Heavyweight, and decided to drop to Middleweight, where he would be more physically imposing than many of the opponents in that division.


Upon becoming a Middleweight, Tanner faced Phil Baroni in consecutive fights at UFC 45 and UFC 48 respectively. Both of the bouts between the two had their share of controversy. In the early minutes of their fight at UFC 45, Baroni was in control as he stunned and bloodied Tanner. However, Tanner was able to regain his composure and take Baroni to the ground where he threw a series of unanswered punches and elbows. After a brief verbal exchange between Baroni and referee Larry Landless the fight was stopped and Tanner was awarded the victory.

Immediately after the fight, Baroni contended that he did not submit and in the confusion struck Landless in the face twice. Baroni maintained that it was a verbal miscommunication and he never asked for the fight to be stopped. To quell the controversy, the UFC agreed to give Baroni a rematch at UFC 48.

Their matchup at UFC 48 showed Tanner to be the clearcut victor. It was noted many times during the broadcast that Baroni did not look like himself. After the fight, Baroni stated that his gameplan was to prevent fatigue in the earlier rounds by pacing himself. Tanner credited his ability to stand with Baroni to training with his newly hired boxing coach, Curtis Crawford.


After winning these fights, Tanner was victorious for a third time in the Middleweight division against Robbie Lawler at UFC 50, submitting him with a triangle choke. Shortly after the Lawler fight, Tanner left Team Quest and began training on his own.

Because of his success, Tanner was given a shot at the vacant UFC Middleweight championship against David Terrell at UFC 51. Despite being the underdog, Tanner overcame losing his mouthpiece early on and a guillotine choke that almost ended the fight. He went on to control Terrell on the ground against the cage, delivering punches and elbows until referee Herb Dean stopped the fight in the final seconds of the first round. Tanner became the first UFC Middleweight champion since Murilo Bustamante held the title before leaving for PRIDE Fighting Championships in 2002.

Tanner was next given the opportunity to avenge his loss to Rich Franklin at UFC 53, who had also decided to drop down to the Middleweight division after fighting as a Light Heavyweight for years. Tanner was able to knock Franklin down with a right hand in the first round of the bout but Franklin took control from there, dominating Tanner until the fight was stopped by the ringside doctor.

Tanner's fight against Franklin at UFC 53 was for more than just the Middleweight title, as the winner of the fight would also become one of the coaches for the The Ultimate Fighter 2 reality show. Tanner had expressed a great deal of interest in being one of the coaches, stating that the opportunity would give him tremendous exposure. Franklin subsequently became a coach on the show along with then UFC Welterweight champion Matt Hughes.

After losing the title, Tanner began training with American Top Team, but lost his next fight to David Loiseau at Ultimate fight Night 2. Tanner was ahead on points until the fight was stopped in the second round due to a cut Tanner received from a Loiseau elbow. After this defeat, Tanner took time away to deal with some personal issues but stated that he would become an official member of the Chute Boxe team.

Tanner returned to the UFC in April of 2006 at UFC 59, defeating Justin Levens by way of triangle choke. Levens was a late replacement for Jeremy Horn who was originally scheduled to fight Tanner but was forced to withdraw after a training injury.


On December 29, 2006, Tanner unveiled plans to set up a mixed martial arts training camp that would reside in his house in Gresham, Oregon. The focus would be setting up a home for disadvantaged athletes and young men at risk. Tanner traveled from Las Vegas to Gresham in the following weeks and began to set up the project. Tanner remodeled and refurnished the house so it would be fit for the athletes to live in.

In February 2007, Tanner announced further details about the foundation. Twelve athletes would reside in the house from six different weight classes. (Heavyweight, Light Heavyweight, Middleweight, Welterweight, Lightweight, and Featherweight).

In a March 2007 interview with MMA Weekly, Tanner was asked about the possibility of fighting again but indicated that he wanted to focus on developing his foundation. However, he did hint that he would be training year-round with the athletes he would be coaching and that it might only be a matter of time before he returned. UFC president Dana White was interviewed by CBS Sportsline one week later and stated that Tanner would be welcomed back whenever he was ready.

On May 11, 2007, further foundation development was put on hold by Tanner, citing his own training and a bad experience with the first fighter that was invited to the house. Tanner announced through his official website that he would return to active competition and continue his quest to regain the UFC Middleweight title.


On November 8, 2007, Tanner announced the signing of a new 4 fight deal with the UFC. In addition to his signing with the UFC Tanner revealed that he intended to accept no corporate sponsorships in favor of starting "Team Tanner" intended as an exclusive fan club to be represented in his upcoming fights.

His first fight back in the UFC was at UFC 82, where he lost to Japanese fighter Yushin Okami by KO in the second round.

In what would be his final fight, Tanner lost to Kendall Grove in a split decision at The Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale on June 21, 2008. In a post-match interview, Tanner stated that he felt "flat" throughout the fight, and that he had begun wondering if his two years of serious alcohol abuse had damaged his body past the point where he could compete at the level he once had.
In the second-to-last entry posted on his Spike-TV blog on August 16, Tanner wrote,

"I'm hoping that very soon I'll be sitting out in the quiet of the desert beneath a deep blue midnight sky, listening to the calm desert breeze. The idea going into the desert came to me soon after I moved to Oceanside. It was motivated by my friend Sara's talk of treasure hunting and lost gold, and my own insatiable appetite for adventure and exploration. I began to imagine what might be found in the deep reaches of the untracked desert. It became an obsession of sorts.

"Treasure" doesn't necessarily refer to something material.

Today, I ran to the store to pick up a few things, and with the lonesome, quiet desert thoughts on my mind, I couldn't help but be struck with their brutally stark contrast to my current surroundings, the amazing congestion in which we exist day to day. The landscape as far as I could see, crowded, choked, with me and the rest of the species, an almost writhing mass of organisms, fighting over space and resources,....on the highways, in the parking lots, on the sidewalks, and in the ailse of the stores. And to think, there are still places in the world where man has not been, where he has left no footprints, where the mysteries stand secure, untouched by human eyes. I want to go to these places, the quiet, timeless, ageless places, and sit, letting silence and solitude be my teachers.


Tanner had recently purchased a dirt bike, and on September 3 he rode into the desert region north of Brawley, California to go camping. According to Tanner's manager John Hayner, Tanner called that afternoon to say that his bike had run out of gas, and that he would accordingly walk back to his camp. Temperatures that day reached 118 degrees Fahrenheit (48C), and friends became concerned and reported Tanner missing after he failed to contact them. His body was discovered by a Marine helicopter on September 8. The Imperial County coroner determined Tanner's time of death to be sometime between late September 4 and early September 5, but the legal date of death was recorded as September 8. Tanner's body was found near Clapp Springs with empty water bottles. Tanner had reportedly intended to refill his bottles at the springs before heading back to the provisions at his campsite, but the springs were unexpectedly dry, and Tanner text messaged a friend informing him of this. However, Evan felt he could make it back to camp if he traveled during the later hours of the evening, refusing offers at that time to send help. Friends were told that if they had not heard from Evan by the next morning and could not reach him by 8am, they then needed to contact Search and Rescue. Rescuers found Evan at a spot where he stopped to rest. During that rest, he succumbed to the excessive heat, slipping over onto his side into the position that rescuers found him in. An empty pouch of water was nearby. According to the military article that was posted, Evan's motorcycle was at his camp, and within his provisions were ample supplies of water. The Imperial County sheriff's office official cause of death was cited as heat exposure.

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Georgia Frontiere died she was 80 she was the First Female N.F.L. Owner

Georgia Frontiere (born Violet Frances Irwin) sometimes referred to as Madame Ram, was the co-owner and chairwoman of the St. Louis Rams from 1979 to 2008. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and grew up in a middle-class home, the daughter of an insurance salesman and entertainer Lucia Pamela. When she was 15 years old, her parents divorced and a shaken Frontiere eloped with her boyfriend, a U.S. Marine who died in World War II. After going to college at Pepperdine University for business and working for several years as a secretary, Frontiere decided that she wanted to enter show business. She moved to Los Angeles and later Miami, where she worked as a dancer, a singer, a weather forecaster, and in various other jobs.
(November 21, 1927 – January 18, 2008),

In 1957 Frontiere, a well-known Miami dancer, began running with an elite crowd. It was Joseph P. Kennedy, father of future president John F. Kennedy, who introduced Frontiere to Carroll Rosenbloom, NFL owner and millionaire uniforms manufacturer. Their marriage was her sixth.

Frontiere inherited ownership of the team, then based in Anaheim, California, in 1979 after the death of her husband. Rosenbloom, an avid ocean swimmer, died mysteriously in the Atlantic. Although no evidence of foul play was uncovered it is rumored that Rosenbloom, a high-stakes gambler, was killed over failure to repay debts. The PBS series Frontline investigated the story and reported mafia involvement. Two months after Rosenbloom's death, Georgia married the musician and Hollywood composer Dominic Frontiere and became Georgia Frontiere. They divorced in 1988.

A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Frontiere moved the Rams to St. Louis. The city of St. Louis provided a publicly funded stadium for $260 million, and more than $22 million was guaranteed in annual luxury-suite and ticket revenues. In the 1999 season, under head coach Dick Vermeil and MVP quarterback Kurt Warner, the Rams beat the Tennessee Titans in Super Bowl XXXIV.

In 2004 Frontiere was diagnosed with breast cancer. She died, aged 80, on January 18, 2008 at UCLA Medical Center.

Pete Newell, coach and innovator, died he was 93

Peter Francis Newell was an American college men's basketball coach and basketball instructional coach. He coached for 15 years at the University of San Francisco, Michigan State University and the University of California, Berkeley, compiling an overall record of 234 wins and 123 losses. He led the University of California to the 1959 NCAA men's basketball championship, and a year later coached the gold medal-winning U.S. team at the 1960 Summer Olympics. After his coaching career ended he ran a world-famous instructional basketball camp and served as a consultant and scout for several National Basketball Association (NBA) teams. He is often considered to be one of the most influential figures in the history of basketball.

(August 3, 1915 – November 17, 2008)

He was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, and grew up in Los Angeles, California. Encouraged by his mother, he had small roles in several movies before he turned ten. Newell attended both high school and college in Los Angeles, California, and was a classmate of Phil Woolpert at Loyola Marymount University (then called Loyola University). He played on the basketball team.


After serving in the United States Navy from 1942 to 1946, Newell was appointed head men's basketball coach at the University of San Francisco in 1946. During his four-year tenure at USF, Newell compiled a 70-37 record and coached the Dons to the 1949 National Invitation Tournament championship, beating his alma mater, Loyola.In 1950 he accepted an appointment as head coach at Michigan State University, where he stayed until 1954.

Newell returned to the West Coast in 1954 when he was hired as head coach at the University of California, Berkeley. Newell was very successful at Cal, compiling a 119-44 record, winning four consecutive Pac-8 titles from 1957 to 1960, and leading the Golden Bears to two straight appearances in the NCAA tournament championship game—which they won in 1959. Newell himself earned national Coach of the Year honors in 1960. At Berkeley, he became a faculty initiate of the Nu Chapter of Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity where player Darrall Imhoff was a member.

Newell also coached the U.S. men's Olympic basketball team to a gold medal in the 1960 Summer Olympics, leading a talented squad that featured future National Basketball Association (NBA) stars Oscar Robertson, Jerry West, and Jerry Lucas. His win in the Olympics made him one of only three coaches to win the "Triple Crown" of NCAA, NIT and Olympic championships. Newell is also known to have introduced the reverse-action offense in the late nineteen fifties.

After being advised by doctors to give up coaching because of stress, he served as the Athletic Director at Cal from 1960 to 1968.


Newell's wife Florence died in 1984. His four sons have all been involved with basketball. His grandson, Pete Newell Jr., led the Santa Cruz High School boys' basketball team to the California state championship in 2005.




In 1979, Newell was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. An annual college basketball tournament is held in his honor in Oakland, California, and frequent participants in the Pete Newell Challenge include USF and Cal—the very schools where Newell coached. In addition in 1987 Cal dedicated the court in Harmon Gym as "Pete Newell Court".

Since 2000, the National Association of Basketball Coaches has annually presented the Pete Newell Big Man Award to the top frontcourt player in the nation.

In an interview with Mike Greenberg on ESPN's Mike and Mike in the Morning on January 2, 2007, Bob Knight singled Newell out as one of the greatest coaches in college basketball history. Knight stated that although he had not won as many championships as some other coaches he felt "he was as good as anybody who's ever coached this game." Newell's influence on basketball is often stated in what would seem to be almost exaggerated terms by many Hall of Fame coaches and players. However, his contributions to the game of basketball have been so great that according to many Newell has perhaps had as much or more influence on the game of basketball as any person in the modern era.

In 1999, author Bruce Jenkins published a biography of Newell entitled A Good Man.

Newell died at Rancho Santa Fe, California on November 17, 2008, at age 93.

Dick Enderle was found dead at his home he was 60

Richard Allyn Enderle was an American guard who played eight seasons in the National Football League. Enderle attended the University of Minnesota.

(November 6, 1947 in Breckenridge, Minnesota-September 4, 2008)

Enderle was found dead at his home in Manhattan, New York on September 4, 2008.

Harry Skip Caray Jr died he was 69

Harry Christopher "Skip" Caray, Jr. died he was 69. Caray was an American sportscaster, best known for his long career as a radio and television play-by-play announcer for the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball. He was the son of baseball announcer Harry Caray, and the father of fellow Braves broadcaster Chip Caray; another son, Josh Caray, is an announcer for the Rome Braves.
(August 12, 1939 - August 3, 2008)

Skip Caray grew up in baseball as the son of Hall of Fame broadcaster Harry Caray, who would routinely refer to his son at 8:30pm during every broadcast by saying, "Good night, Skippy," a phrase for which Skip was teased throughout his adolescence.

He studied television and radio at the University of Missouri where he received a degree in journalism. He began his career in St. Louis calling Saint Louis University and St. Louis Hawks basketball. In 1968, Caray moved with the Hawks to Atlanta, where he also called Atlanta Flames hockey games.




Skip Caray's broadcasts were characterized by his witty and sarcastic sense of humor, a personality trait that endeared him to most fans, but alienated him from some.For example, during a particularly long losing streak in the 1980s, Skip declared at the start of a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, "And, like lambs to the slaughter, the Braves take the field". More recently, in a game against the Florida Marlins, the Braves had loaded the bases, to which Caray quipped, "The bases are loaded, just like (Marlins manager) Jack McKeon probably wishes he was." During the 2004 season, Caray frequently made fun of Braves relief pitcher, Jung Bong, declaring every time the opposing team got a hit against him, "that's another hit off of Bong". In 2008, a player popped a fly ball so high that Skip said "That wouldnt've been a home run in a phone booth." Other frequent targets of Skip's jokes included the Montreal Expos' mascot Youppi, New York Mets fans, professional wrestling, TBS baseball broadcast producer Glenn Diamond, and the post game B-movie frequently shown on TBS during the 1980s. In one celebrated instance, in order to get back at Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Ron Hudspeth for a critical column, Caray paid to have an airplane tow a banner above Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium during a Braves game which read, "For a good time, call Rona Hudspeth," and included Ron's actual phone number.

Among other memorable lines, Caray said of Braves pitcher Charlie Kerfeld, who was 6'4" and 245 lbs., "Boy, he is big enough to go to work." And during a losing streak, after talking about a promotion in which Braves fans could come on the field and meet the players, Caray commented, "The way things are going, we may make the fans go through a metal detector on the way to the field."

Skip was also known for his tendency to identify the hometowns of fans who catch foul balls during Braves games in jest. Fans who reside in the metro Atlanta area were identified by a random suburb, though there was no legitimacy behind these references. Similarly, when daytime home games went long, Caray would routinely give a "traffic report" at exactly 5 o'clock on radio broadcasts. It consisted of him rattling off a random list of major Atlanta arteries, and describing each one as hopelessly backed up.

In addition to his play-by-play duties, Caray also hosted a pre-game call in show, until 2004, during which he was notorious for insulting on-air fans with curt and sarcastic responses, particularly when asked baseball questions of the simplest order, such as "how do you calculate E.R.A.?" or "could you please explain the infield fly rule?"

Judging from his words over the air, Caray had a distaste for the sports entertainment empires ESPN and FOX.

Skip Caray's rather distinctive nasal voice has been parodied by former SportsCenter anchor Rich Eisen during highlights for Atlanta Braves games.



On August 3, 2008, the Atlanta Braves announced that Caray had died. His wife, Paula, reported to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that on Sunday afternoon when she thought her husband was napping, she looked out the window and saw a bird feeder not hanging where it should be and thought it had been blown down by the wind. When she stood up, she noticed her husband lying on the ground next to the bird feeder. He had been suffering from failing health for nearly a year prior, but returned to work for the 2008 season, calling a game on radio as recently as 3 days before his death. Tributes to Caray were given on all of the Atlanta television stations that evening and on WGST-AM the next morning.

Shortly after Caray's death, the Atlanta Braves began wearing a memorial patch on their uniforms that read "SKIP", which appeared on the sleeve opposite the "BEACH" patch honoring Jim Beauchamp that they had been wearing since the beginning of the 2008 season.

Chris “Flash” Richardson of the famous Harlem Globetrotters died he was 28

Chris “Flash” Richardson, a member of the famous Harlem Globetrotters has died in his sleep while on tour in Japan.
The cause of death was not yet confirmed, although a Harlem Globetrotters spokesman said he likely died of natural causes, which is interesting given he was 28 at the time of his death.
The Harlem Globetrotters were at a U.S. military base in Sasebo, Japan, as part of an annual tour.
Chris “Flash” Richardson previously played for University of Nevada Las Vegas and joined the Globetrotters shortly after his college career ended. He was best known for his dunking skills.

Carlos Manuel Santiago died he was 82

Carlos was born March 2, 1926 in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.

(March 2, 1926 - December 21, 2008)

Santiago was selected in 1944 to play for the Puerto Rico All-Star team in the Caribbean World Series, played that season in Caracas, Venezuela. When he returned from Caracas, he signed a professional contract with the Mayaguez Indians for the 1944-45 season. Following the 1945 season, Santiago traveled to New York on a barnstorming trip with other Puerto Rican All-Stars. He was scouted by Negro League veteran John Beckwith who signed him to play for the Atlanta Black Crackers. Midway through the 1945 season, Santiago left the Black Crackers and signed with the New York Cubans of the Negro National League. He played second base and shortstop for the Cubans in 1945 and 1946.


In 1947, Santiago signed with the Stamford Bombers of the Class B Colonial League. This was the same season that Jackie Robinson joined the Dodgers; Santiago was the first Afro-Caribbean Puerto Rican to break the color line in "organized" baseball. The Colonial League started in 1947 and folded on July 16, 1950. Santiago hit .341 during the abbreviated 1950 season.

In 1951 Bill Veeck and Lou Boudreau invited Santiago to Cleveland's spring training camp. However, Santiago was drafted into the U.S. Army and sent to Korea. Santiago served for 25 months and was honorably discharged as a sergeant. Santiago returned from Korea and continued playing professionally until 1960.


After his retirement as a player, Santiago held many positions in professional baseball. He was general manager of Mayaguez for three years. He served as National Instructor of Baseball in Columbia for four years. He scouted for the California Angels for three years.

Santiago was elected to the Puerto Rican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame in 1993. Until his passing, he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Negro League Baseball Players Association.