Ed Frutig, American football player (Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions) died he was , 92.

Edward C. Frutig was an American football end who played for the University of Michigan Wolverines from 1938-1940 died he was , 92.. He was selected as a first-team All-American in 1940 by William Randolph Hearst's International News Service. A teammate of Heisman Trophy winner Tom Harmon for three years at Michigan, he was Harmon's main receiver. Frutig played professional football with the Green Bay Packers (1941, 1945) and Detroit Lions (1945–1946) of the National Football League.

(August 19, 1918 – February 26, 2011)

Early years

Frutig was born and raised in River Rouge, Michigan, the son of a River Rouge councilman.^[3]

1938 season

Frutig attended the University of Michigan from 1937-1941. He came to Michigan with very little football reputation and is reported to have “barely made the freshman squad” in 1937.^[4] Frutig put himself through college by covering Ann Arbor for a Detroit newspaper.^[5]
As a sophomore in 1938, he was part of coach Fritz Crisler's first Michigan football team. This was the year that Crisler introduced the Winged Helmet at Michigan. He was “just another varsity candidate as a sophomore” in 1938 but before the season was over, he was “the best end” on the team. “That’s real development,” said Fielding H. Yost.^[4] Going into the 1938 season, Michigan had not scored a touchdown against Ohio State in four years. On November 19, 1938, the drought ended as Michigan beat the Buckeyes, 18-0. In the fourth quarter, Frutig caught two passes from Tom Harmon, one a 22-yard pass to the 18-yard line and then a five-yard pass for a touchdown.^[6]

1939 season

As the 1939 season got underway, former Michigan head coach Fielding H. Yost called Frutig the greatest Michigan pass receiver since Bennie Oosterbaan. Yost said, “He's got the grace and the speed. And the tips of his fingers appear coated with glue.”^[7] Frutig was also described as “a sweet defensive player.”^[8]
In the Big Ten opener against Iowa, Frutig caught a 27-yard pass from Tom Harmon and was pushed out of bounds at the two-yard line to set up Michigan's first touchdown in a 27-7 win.^[4] However, he suffered a twisted knee in the Iowa game and did not play against Chicago.^[9][10] He came back in the Minnesota game but was injured again, with a dislocated ankle tendon, and did not play the rest of the season.^[11]

1940 season

Frutig finally put together a complete season as a senior in 1940. Michigan started all eight games at end for the 1940 Wolverines team that went 7-1 and finished the season ranked No. 3 in the AP poll. The only loss was a 7-6 defeat to Minnesota. The 1940 season was the year Tom Harmon won the Heisman Trophy and Frutig's accomplishments were largely overshadowed. In Michigan's eight games, Frutig had 12 receptions for 181 yards (over 15 yards per catch) and three touchdowns. He also blocked five punts and won a reputation as a superior defensive player.
As the 1940 season was about to start, Yost said that Frutig was the best pass catcher he had seen in ten years, though he admitted Frutig was "not the best wingman" in other areas of play.^[4]
In the season opener against the California Bears, Michigan won, 41-0, and Frutig blocked one of Reinhard’s punts, setting up Harmon's fifth touchdown.^[12] In the second period against Illinois, Frutig caught a Harmon pass at the 25-yard line and ran untouched across the goal line. On the next possession, Illinois drove the ball to the Michigan 12-yard line, but Frutig intercepted a Pfeffer pass to end the threat.^[13]
Against Pennsylvania, Frutig made a “leaping catch on the goal line” for a touchdown on a pass from Harmon, as the Wolverines won, 14-0.^[14] Frutig played all 60 minutes against Penn and said afterward he could have played 60 minutes more. “Of course,” Frutig added, “I'd need that boy Al Wistert right by me if I had to play much more than the regulation time.”^[15]
The season's only loss came to Minnesota in a close 7-6 game. Frutig nearly won the game for Michigan as he blocked a George Franck punt, which Reuben Kelto recovered on the Minnesota three-yard line. But Minnesota intercepted Harmon's pass in the end zone, and Michigan lost by one point. Harmon had also missed a point after touchdown kick earlier in the game.^[16] Despite the loss, one columnist said of Frutig's performance against Michigan: “The best end I saw all year I saw in this game. That was Frutig of Michigan and that goes for offense and defense. He ruined about six coming in there trying to block those Gopher punts. He did block one.”^[17]
Against Northwestern, Frutig blocked a punt from the end zone to set up Harmon's 30th touchdown of the season.^[18] In his final game in the Michigan uniform, a 40-0 win over Ohio State, Frutig caught his third touchdown pass of the season.^[19]
Aside from his pass receiving and defense, Frutig won praise as a punt blocker. In Michigan's eight games in 1940, Frutig “personally blocked five punts, all of them at a crucial moments.”^[20][21] Oddly, despite numerous accounts referencing his punt blocking exploits, Frutig is not listed among NCAA Division I players to have blocked as many as three punts in a season.^[22]
Frutig was a first-team All-American pick by Hearst Publications' International News Service^[23] and football writer Maxwell Stiles.^[24] Frutig was selected as a third-team All-American by UP, AP and Central Press.
Frutig, Harmon and Forest Evashevski teamed up one last time in the 16th annual East-West Shrine Charity Football Game in San Francisco on New Year's Day 1941. Evashevski and Frutig scored the East's only touchdowns, with Frutig scoring on a 21-yard pass from Harmon into the end zone.^[25] Frutig leaped high to grab Harmon's pass “while boxed in between two West defense men.”^[26]

Professional football and military service

Frutig was selected by the Green Bay Packers in the third round of the 1941 NFL Draft, and played for the team in 1941. However, when the United States entered World War II, Frutig enlisted in the United States Navy where he earned his wings as a pilot. While serving in the Navy, Frutig was named to the All-Navy All-American football team in 1942. He also played for the Navy's Corpus Christi Flyers team that compiled a 4-3 record playing against southwest college teams.^[27] He also played for the Navy's Corpus Christi Flyers team that compiled a 4-3 record playing against southwest college teams.^[28] In 1942, he was transferred from Corpus Christi to the naval air base at Grosse Ile, Michigan where he served as an instructor.^[28][29]

Later years

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Frutig served as the end coach at Washington State College. Former teammate Forest Evashevski was the head coach who recruited Frutig to Washington State. Frutig was credited with developing Ed Barker, Washington State's end who broke two Coast Conference pass-catching records in 1951.^[30] He resigned in December 1951 to take a job with an advertising firm in East Lansing, Michigan and went on to become successful in the advertising business.^[3] In 1967, Frutig and Bob Westfall were the leaders of the Alumni for Evy Committee, organized to bring Evashevski to Michigan as both head football coach and athletic director.^[31] Instead, Bo Schembechler and Don Canham were hired to the jobs.
Frutig's daughter, Suzy Bales, has published 13 books about gardening, including "The Garden in Winter" published in 2007.^[32]

Honors and accolades

• Selected a first-team All-American by the Hearst newspaper syndicate in 1940.
• Inducted into the University of Michigan Hall of Honor in 1988.^[33]
• In 2005, Frutig was selected as one of the 100 greatest Michigan football players of all time by the "Motown Sports Revival," ranking 87th on the all-time team.^[34

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

Greg Goossen, American baseball player (New York Mets) and actor (Wyatt Earp, Unforgiven) died he was , 65

Gregory Bryant Goossen  is a former catcher and first baseman in Major League Baseball, playing from 1965 through 1970 for four different clubs in the American and National leagues. Listed at 6' 1", 210 lb., he batted and threw right handed died he was , 65.

(December 14, 1945 – February 26, 2011)

Baseball Career

Born in Los Angeles, California, Goossen was the fourth member of a family of eight brothers and two sisters. He was a standout football and basketball player at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California, where he graduated in 1964.^[2]
Following his graduation, the Los Angeles Dodgers signed Goossen for a six-figure bonus. He spent 1964 in the Minor leagues playing first with the Dodgers rookie-level Pioneer League team, the Pocatello Chiefs and then their single-A Florida State League team, the St. Petersburg Saints. After accepting a spring training invitation with the Dodgers, in which he shared a locker with future Hall of Famers Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale who were on their way to winning the 1965 World Series, on 9 April the woeful New York Mets selected the 19-year-old Goossen through the first-year waiver process. Needing talented players, the Mets promoted the former bonus baby directly to the majors. Goossen would hit .290 in eleven games as part of a catching tandem that included Chris Cannizzaro, Jesse Gonder, John Stephenson and Yogi Berra before being assigned for the rest of the season to single-A Auburn in the New York-Penn League.^[3]
On May 31, 1968, while playing for the Mets, Goossen broke up a possible perfect game by St. Louis Cardinals' pitcher Larry Jaster after hitting a single with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning.^[4] In his time with the Mets, Goossen bounced between the majors (99 games in 4 years) and the minors (with all but 40 minor league games at AAA Jacksonville) and on 5 February, 1969, New York traded him along with cash to the Seattle Pilots for a player to be named later (on 14 July the Pilots sent outfielder/first baseman Jim Gosger to the Mets to close the deal). Although Goossen again missed out on the possibility of getting a World Series ring, this time with the Miracle Mets, he got to see his only extended amount of playing time in his career when he was called up to Seattle on 25 July platooning as the right-handed bat opposite lefty Don Mincher at firstbase. Goossen would post career numbers in average (.309), home runs (10), runs batted in (24), at bats (139), and games played (52), while catching and playing at first base and left field.^[1][5] Although in Seattle for only two months, Goossen would be there long enough to became one of the lasting characters in Jim Bouton’s iconic diary, Ball Four.
After starting the 1970 season as the now Milwaukee Brewers' first baseman, Goossen's production would tail off badly from 1969 and he'd be sent to AAA Portland after hitting only .255 with one homerun over the first 21 games. On 14 July, the Washington Senators purchased Goossen from the Brewers and he would spend the rest of the season in Washington playing for Hall of Famer Ted Williams, but would hit an empty .222 with no homers and 1 RBI and only 3 extra base hits in what would be his final taste of the major leagues. On 3 November, 1970, Goossen was sent by Washington to the Philadelphia Phillies left fielder Gene Martin, and relief pitcher Jeff Terpko for a player to be named later and Curt Flood, whose lawsuit for free agency was pending against Major League Baseball (on 10 April, the Phillies would send Jeff Terpko back to the Senators as the player to be named to complete the trade).^[1] Goosen would spend the 1971 season playing for the AAA teams of three organizations, the Phillies, Chicago Cubs, and California Angels, before calling it a career following the end of the season at the age of 25.

Retirement

After his baseball retirement, Goossen worked as a private investigator at his father's firm, a job he had started during his baseball off-seasons. Later he helped his brother, Dan Goossen who owned Ten Goose Professional Boxing along with his brothers, as a boxing trainer. Notable boxers that he worked with included Rick Lindland, an amateur boxer-turned-actor and 1980's middleweight champion Michael Nunn.^[6]
While at the gym in 1988, his brother Joe asked him to meet with actor Gene Hackman, who was doing research for the film Split Decisions. Soon after the two became friends and the actor hired Goossen to work as his stand-in. Hackman then had written into his contract that Goossen would serve as his stand-in for every film he did. He would eventually appear in 15 of Hackman’s movies between 1989 and 2003, including Unforgiven, The Firm, Get Shorty and Wyatt Earp.^[2][7]
Goossen was scheduled to be inducted into the Notre Dame High School Hall of Fame on February 26, 2011, but when he did not arrive for a photo session, a family member went to his nearby home in Sherman Oaks and found him dead at the age of 65. The cause of death was not determined.^[2]

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

Bill Grigsby, American radio sportscaster (Kansas City Chiefs), died from prostate cancer and fall he was , 89.

William W. "Bill" Grigsby was an American sportscaster and member of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. Grigsby was best known for his work with the Kansas City Chiefs died from prostate cancer and fall he was , 89..


(February 13, 1922 – February 26, 2011)

Personal life

Bill Grigsby was born in Wellsville, Kansas in 1922, the youngest of three sons of Harry Ludwell Grigsby and Elanore Amelia Grigsby. His father was a geologist, frequently unemployed during the Great Depression so the family moved to Lawrence, Kansas when Bill was in third grade.^[2] After graduating from the University of Kansas, Grigsby served three years in the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) during World War II as a cryptographer.^[3] He married wife Frances in 1949 and they would have five children: three sons and two daughters.

Professional career

Following his discharge from the USAAF Grigsby took a job with the Joplin Globe newspaper in Joplin, Missouri, advancing from copy boy to sports reporter.^[4] It was while in Joplin he began his first foray into broadcasting, serving as play-by-play voice of the Joplin Miners minor-league baseball team. In 1957 Grigsby returned to his alma mater to broadcast Kansas Jayhawks football and basketball games. While at KU, Grigsby broadcast the first nationally-televised NCAA Final Four game as Kansas lost to North Carolina in triple overtime.^[5] Bill Grigsby began his long association with the Kansas City sports scene in 1959 when he was hired as part of the Kansas City Athletics broadcasting team. The Kansas City Chiefs hired Grigsby in 1963 and he would remain a fixture of game broadcasts until his retirement in 2009. His trademark, no matter the weather, "Its a bea-youuu-tiful day for Chiefs football" endeared him to generations of Chiefs fans. Other work included broadcast and management duties with the Kansas City Scouts of the NHL, local commercial voiceovers, and even a brief stint as a wrestling promoter.^[6] Grigsby published the first of two books, Grigs! A beauuutiful Life in 2004, followed by Don't Spit in the Wastebasket, a collection of sports memories, in 2005.

Failing health

Grigsby suffered a heart attack in October 2003 which caused him to miss several broadcasts^[7]. It was also during that decade he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. When the Chiefs honored Grigsby with a special ceremony in September 2010, Grigsby was seen in a wheelchair. Bill Grigsby died of prostate cancer on February 26, 2011 at the age of 89.

Honors

• Grigsby was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 1994.
• Inducted into the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Hall of Fame in 1991.
• Grigsby Field, a community baseball field in Parkville, Missouri was named in his honor in 2002.^[8]
• In 2007, a life-size statue of Bill Grigsby was erected at the National Golf Club of Kansas City in Parkville.^[9

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

Cynthia Holcomb Hall, American circuit judge for the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (1984–1997), died from cancer she was , 82

 Cynthia Holcomb Hall  was a United States federal judge died from cancer she was , 82.

(February 19, 1929 – February 26, 2011)

 Early life and career

Born in Los Angeles, California, Hall received an A.B. from Stanford University in 1951, an LL.B. from Stanford Law School in 1954, and an LL.M. from New York University School of Law in 1960. She was a United States Naval Reserve Lieutenant, JAG Corps from 1951 to 1953. She was a law clerk, Hon. Richard Harvey Chambers, U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit from 1954 to 1955. She was a Research assistant to editor, Tax Law Review from 1959 to 1960. She was a Trial attorney of Tax Division, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. from 1960 to 1964. She was an Attorney advisor, Office of Tax Legislative Counsel, U.S. Department of the Treasury from 1964 to 1966. She was in private practice in Beverly Hills, California from 1966 to 1972.

Judicial career

Hall was a judge on the United States Tax Court from 1972 to 1981 and a federal judge on the United States District Court for the Central District of California. She was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on October 14, 1981, to a seat vacated by Harry Pregerson. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on November 18, 1981, and received her commission the same day. Hall served in that capacity until October 4, 1984, due to appointment to another judicial position.
Hall was a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Hall was nominated by Ronald Reagan on August 1, 1984, to a new seat created by 98 Stat. 333. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 3, 1984, and received her commission on October 4, 1984. She assumed senior status on August 31, 1997.

Death

Hall died of cancer at her home in Pasadena, California on February 26, 2011 at the age of 82.

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

Shawn Lee, American football player (Buccaneers, Dolphins, Chargers, Bears) died he was , 44

Shawn Swaboda Lee  was an American football defensive tackle who played eleven seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1988–89), the Miami Dolphins (1990–91), the San Diego Chargers (1992–97), and the Chicago Bears (1998) in the National Football League died he was , 44. He started in Super Bowl XXIX for the Chargers. Lee and Reuben Davis were nicknamed "The Two Tons of Fun".

(October 24, 1966 – February 26, 2011)

Shawn Lee was educated at the University of North Alabama as a communications Major. He was a co-founder of the Players Community Resource Center.^[1]
Lee, who had been struggling with diabetes for the past few years, died on February 26, 2011 from cardiac arrest brought on by double pneumonia.^[2] Lee was 44.

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

Arnošt Lustig, Czech writer and Holocaust survivor, died from cancer he was , 84..

Arnošt Lustig was a renowned Czech Jewish author of novels, short stories, plays, and screenplays whose works have often involved the Holocaust died from cancer he was , 84...

(21 December 1926 – 26 February 2011)

Lustig was born in Prague. As a Jewish boy in Czechoslovakia during World War II, he was sent in 1942 to the Theresienstadt concentration camp, from where he was later transported to the Auschwitz concentration camp, followed by time in the Buchenwald concentration camp.^[2] In 1945, he escaped from a train carrying him to the Dachau concentration camp when the engine was mistakenly destroyed by an American fighter-bomber. He returned to Prague in time to take part in the May 1945 anti-Nazi uprising.
After the war, he studied journalism at Charles University in Prague and then worked for a number of years at Radio Prague. He worked as a journalist in Israel at the time of its War of Independence where he met his future wife, who at the time was a volunteer with the Haganah.^[2] He was one of the major critics of the Communist regime in June 1967 at the 4th Writers Conference, and gave up his membership in the Communist Party after the 1967 Middle East war, to protest his government's breaking of relations with Israel.^[2] However, following the Soviet-led invasion that ended the Prague Spring in 1968, he left the country, first to Israel, then Yugoslavia and later in 1970 to the United States.^[2] He spent the academic year 1970-1971 as a scholar in the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa. After the fall of eastern European communism in 1989, he divided his time between Prague and Washington, D.C., where he continued to teach at the American University. After his retirement from the American University in 2003, he became a full-time resident of Prague. He was given an apartment in the Prague Castle by then President Václav Havel and honored for his contributions to Czech culture on his 80th birthday in 2006. In 2008, Lustig became the eighth recipient of the Franz Kafka Prize.^[3]
Lustig was married to the former Věra Weislitzová (1927), daughter of a furniture maker from Ostrava who was also imprisoned in the Terezín concentration camp. Unlike her parents, she was not deported to Auschwitz. She wrote of her family's fate during the Holocaust in the collection of poems entitled "Daughter of Olga and Leo." They have two children, Josef (1950) and Eva (1956).
Lustig died at age 84 in Prague on 26 February 2011 after suffering from lung cancer for five years.
His most renowned books are A Prayer For Katerina Horowitzowa (published and nominated for a National Book Award in 1974), Dita Saxová (1962, trans. 1979 as Dita Saxova), Night and Hope (1957, trans. 1985), and Lovely Green Eyes (2004). Dita Saxová and Night and Hope have been filmed in Czechoslovakia.

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

James A. McClure, American politician, U.S. Representative (1967–1973) and Senator from Idaho (1973–1991), died from multiple strokes he was , 86..

James Albertus "Jim" McClure  was an American politician from the state of Idaho, most notably serving as a Republican in the U.S. Senate.

(December 27, 1924 – February 26, 2011)

McClure attended public schools in Payette. Upon turning 18, he joined the U.S. Navy, having served during World War II, from 1942 to 1946. McClure graduated from the Navy Program at the University of Idaho-Southern Branch (now Idaho State University) in 1943. After his discharge from the Navy, he attended the University of Idaho's College of Law, graduating in 1950.
From 1950 to 1956, he served as prosecuting attorney for Payette County; he also served as city attorney for Payette from 1953 to 1966. During this span, he was also a member of the Idaho State Senate, serving from 1961 to 1966.
In the 1966 election, McClure ran for the U.S. House from Idaho's first Congressional district. He won the race, defeating incumbent Compton I. White, Jr., and was reelected in 1968 and 1970.
In 1972, McClure ran for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the retiring Len Jordan. In the general election he defeated the Democratic nominee, Idaho State University President William E. Davis. McClure was reelected by wide margins in 1978 and 1984.
In 1981, McClure joined Republican colleagues Jesse Helms of North Carolina and Steve Symms of Idaho in an unsuccessful fight to return to a purchase requirement for participation in the food stamp program. Helms cited a Congressional Budget Office study which showed that 75 percent of the increase in food stamp usage had occurred since the purchase requirement was dropped in 1977. Senators voted 33 to 66 against the Helms-McClure position. "It's obvious the majority of the Senate is not really concerned about constraining the growth of the food-stamp program," McClure said.^[1][2]
In 1984 McClure ran for Senate Majority Leader, but was defeated by Senator Bob Dole of Kansas, who three years earlier had led the intraparty opposition to the Helms-McClure position on reinstating the purchase requirement for food stamps.
During his 18 years in the Senate, McClure served as the chairman of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources from 1981 to 1987. In this capacity McClure emerged as an early proponent of electric cars and energy independence. He also chaired of the Senate Republican Conference from 1981 to 1985.
At age 65, McClure declined to run for a fourth term in 1990. Republican congressman Larry Craig of Midvale easily won McClure's Senate seat in November 1990.
After leaving the Senate, McClure became a mining consultant and lobbyist in Washington, D.C., founding the firm of McClure, Gerard, & Neuenschwander. Up until his death McClure maintained a residence in McCall.
In September 1995, the new home of the College of Mines and Earth Resources at the University of Idaho was dedicated as James A. McClure Hall.
On December 12, 2001, the Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Boise was renamed for McClure.

Death

In December 2008, the 83-year-old McClure suffered a stroke and was sent to the intensive care unit at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise. Although initially he was expected to recover^[3], McClure died at the age of 86 on February 26, 2011.^[4]

To see more of who died in 2010 click here