Judith Coplon, American political analyst, convicted of espionage died she was , 89

Judith Coplon Socolov  was one of the first major figures tried in the United States for spying for the former Soviet Union; problems in her trials in 1949-1950 had a profound influence on espionage prosecutions during the McCarthy era died she was , 89.

(May 17, 1921 – February 26, 2011)

Career

Work and arrest

Coplon obtained a job in the Department of Justice shortly after she graduated from Barnard College, cum laude in 1943.^[2] She transferred to the Foreign Agents Registration section in 1944, where she had access to counter-intelligence information, and was allegedly recruited as a spy by the NKGB at the end of 1944.^[3]
She first came to the attention of the FBI as a result of a Venona message in late 1948. Coplon was known in both Soviet intelligence and the Venona files as "SIMA". She was the first person tried as a result of the Venona project—although, for reasons of security, the Venona information was not revealed at her trial. FBI Special Agent Robert Lamphere testified at her trial that suspicion had fallen on Coplon because of information from a reliable "confidential informant".^[4]
An extensive counter-intelligence operation planted a secret document for her to pass to the Soviets. FBI agents detained Coplon in March, 1949 as she met with Valentin Gubitchev, a KGB official employed by the United Nations, while carrying what she believed were secret U.S. government documents in her purse.^[4][3]

Trials and appeals

Coplon was convicted in two separate trials, one for espionage in 1949, and another for conspiracy along with Gubitchev in 1950; both convictions were later overturned in 1950 and 1951, respectively in appeal.^[4]
The appellant judge in New York concluded that while the evidence showed that she was guilty, that the FBI had lied under oath about the bugging. Moreover, he wrote, the failure to get a warrant was not justified. He overturned the verdict, but the indictment was not dismissed. In the appeal of the Washington trial, the verdict was upheld, but, because of the possible bugging, a new trial became possible. For political and evidentiary reasons it never took place.
Due to these legal irregularities, she was never retried and the government ultimately dropped the case in 1967.

National Attention

The Coplon trials commanded nationwide attention. After her arrest but before her trials, Coplon received earnest attention from the media. For example, Gertrude Samuels wrote for the New York Times, questioning the situation:

Why do some people become traitors? What turns some native-born Americans, as well as naturalized citizens, into Benedict Arnolds and Quislings? What motivates them to betray their country and themselves?...

Samuels examines four kinds of traitors: professional, people loyal their birth lands, crackpots, and idealists. In this last group, she named Elizabeth Bentley and Whittaker Chambers. To understand this group, she argues, one must understand their drive for social justice -- reasons "beyond FBI jurisdiction," while "few judges are bothered by motivations."^[5] NYT Book Review editor Sam Tanenhaus wrote in March 2011:

...At the time of her trial, Ms. Coplon drew a great deal of interest, particularly in the lively tabloid press of the day. A 27-year-old cum laude graduate of Barnard, employed in the internal security section of the Justice Department, she seemed the model postwar “government girl,” fetchingly clad in snug sweaters and New Look skirts... [with] sort of attention Lindsay Lohan’s courtroom appearances attract today.^[6]

Coplon's death in February 2011 received wide syndication via Associated Press, mostly in the U.S..^{[4][7][8][9][10][11]}

Personal life

She was the daughter of Samuel and Rebecca Moroh Coplon.^[3] She married one of her attorneys, Albert Socolov, and they remained married until her death. They had four children.^[4]

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Susan Crosland, American journalist, widow of Anthony Crosland died she was , 84.

Susan Barnes Crosland  was an American journalist and novelist long resident in London. She was the widow of the Labour Party politician Anthony Crosland  died she was , 84.

(23 January 1927 – 26 February 2011^[1])

Born Susan Barnes Watson in Baltimore, Maryland, the descendant of passengers on the Mayflower,^[2] she was the daughter of Mark Skinner Watson, a defence correspondent for The Baltimore Sun, later the publication's editor,^[2] and Anne Owens who was also a journalist.^[3] She graduated from Vassar College and taught at the Baltimore Museum of Art.^[1] In 1952 she married Patrick Skene Catling, then working with her father,^[4] and relocated to London in 1956 when Catling was posted to the London office of The Baltimore Sun.
At a party during the year she met Anthony Crosland shortly after The Future of Socialism, his most significant book, had been published. Her first marriage collapsed in 1960, and she and Crosland married in 1964; they kept separate residences at first.^[5] By now she had begun to write for British newspapers, originally as Susan Barnes. Taken on by John Junor of The Sunday Express just prior to her divorce, she freelanced after her second marriage, and specialised in writing features and profile articles. Following a period on the pre-Murdoch The Sun, Crosland worked for The Sunday Times from 1970. Noted for her profiles she insisted on not interviewing the wives of 'great men' feeling that "they wanted to perpetuate the image".^[6] Labour politician Tony Benn though, one of her subjects and a friend of her husband, persuaded Crosland not publish an article dedicated to himself (he had been allowed to vet it) which Benn considered unflattering.^[4] The interview was eventually published in The Spectator during October 1987.^[7]
Anthony Crosland had a fatal stroke in February 1977. His wife had strongly supported him throughout his periods as a Cabinet Minister, culminating in his appointment as Foreign Secretary in 1976, was pressed to stand as the Labour candidate for his Grimsby constituency in the subsequent by-election. She declined, but subsequently wrote a well-received biography of him published in 1982.^[8] One friend she acquired in this period via the biography, Therese Lawson, second wife of the Conservative politician Nigel Lawson, once spoke of the impression Crosland made on her:

Resuming her writing career, a biography of Anthony Blunt fell through after Crosland had already spent a third of the advance. George Weidenfeld, her publisher, suggested a novel instead, the result Ruling Passions appeared in 1989,^[2] the first of several works of fiction ending with The Politician's Wife in 2001. Crosland also assembled two volumes of collected journalism.
By the mid-1980s, Crosland had formed a deep platonic relationship with the conservative journalist Auberon Waugh which lasted until his death in 2001. By then she had begun to suffer from severe arthritis, thought to have had its origins in a riding accident she had suffered at eighteen, and acquired the MRSA bacterium while in hospital having a hip replaced; the infection went undiagnosed for some time.^[10]
Susan Crosland is survived by her first husband and their two daughters.

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Richard F. Daines, American physician, Commissioner of the New York State Department of Health (2007–2010) died he was , 60

Richard Frederick Daines, M.D.  was an American doctor and served as the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Health from 2007 through 2010  died he was , 60. Afterward, he was a visiting scholar at the New York Academy of Medicine, focusing on policies that promote obesity prevention.

(February 17, 1951 – February 26, 2011)


Richard Daines was born in Preston, Idaho and grew up in Logan, Utah. Daines graduated from Utah State University in 1974 and served as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Bolivia from 1970 to 1972. He then attended medical school at Cornell University Medical College and graduated in 1978. He completed his residency in internal medicine at New York Hospital. He was board certified in internal medicine.
He worked as a physician in New York City for over 25 years. At St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx, where he began practicing in 1978, his skills and compassion coupled with his ability to speak fluent Spanish made him a valued member of the staff and a favorite among his patients. In 1994 he became the hospital's Senior Vice President for Professional Affairs and Medical Director.
In 2000, he became Medical Director at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in Manhattan, and served as President and CEO there from 2002 to 2007. He often worked shifts in the emergency department there to observe first hand the care patients received.
As State Health Commissioner, Dr. Daines managed a budget of more than $50 billion and a staff of 6,000. He was an architect of key state policies to increase coverage for uninsured New Yorkers, improve the safety and quality of health care, and achieve a high-performing health care system. Dr. Daines focused national attention on childhood obesity as a public health issue and oversaw implementation of the recommendations of the Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century, also known as the Berger Commission, which restructured institutional health care. He promoted the development of primary care and patient-centered medical homes and hailed the Adirondack Medical Home initiative in the Adirondacks of northern New York as a national model. He established a new office in the State Health Department to focus on the development and implementtation of electronic health records and other health information technology to improve health care delivery in the state.
In 2009, Daines criticized nutritionist and activist Gary Null for his remarks as a keynote speaker at a political rally against mandatory vaccination of health care workers against H1N1 influenza at the New York State Capitol in Albany, New York.^[3] Daines said, "Like any number of things he’s wrong about, he’s wrong about that."^[3]
A former Scoutmaster who was an Eagle Scout, Dr. Daines conducted physicals for scouts and promoted youth health throughout his life. During his tenure as State Health Commissioner, he traveled to all 62 counties of New York State to promote New York's Prevention Agenda toward the Healthiest State and highlight local public health activities, often accompanied by his father, Newell. These activities included dropping rabies vaccine baits from a helicopter over northern New York; hunting disease-carrying mosquitoes in Cicero Swamp near Syracuse; tragging for ticks to highlight the prevention of Lyme Disease; promoting pet rabies clinics; highlighting low-fat, nutritious foods served in restaurants; supporting smoke-free outdoor community areas and parks; highlighting fresh fruits and vegetables available through community gardens and local farms; showcasing community efforts to promote physical activity, and encouraging New Yorkers to drink water and low-fat milk in place of high-calorie sugary beverages to prevent overweight and obesity. He was featured in several YouTube videos promoting obesity prevention.
In a farewell message to employees of the New York State Department of Health in December 2010, Dr. Daines quoted Hippocrates: "Art (of medicine) is long. Life is short, opportunity fleeting, experiment perilous, judgment difficult."
Daines died at age 60 on February 26, 2011 of a sudden cardiovascular event while working at his farm in Dutchess County, New York. He and his wife of 36 years, Linda, also shared an apartment in Manhattan. He was the father of three children, William, Katherine and Andrew.^[4]

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Eugene Fodor, American violinist, died from cirrhosis he was , 60.

Eugene Nicholas Fodor, Jr. was the first American violinist to win the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow died from cirrhosis he was , 60..

(March 5, 1950 – February 26, 2011)

Fodor was born in Denver, Colorado. His first ten years of study were with Harold Wippler. He then studied at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City, Indiana University and the University of Southern California, where his teachers included Ivan Galamian, Josef Gingold and Jascha Heifetz, respectively.
Fodor made his solo debut with the Denver Symphony at the age of ten, playing Max Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 and began touring as a soloist while still a young teenager.
Fodor won numerous national contests before the age of seventeen, including First Prize in both the Merriweather Post Competition in Washington, D.C. and the Young Musicians Foundation Competition in Los Angeles, California.

He went on to win first prize in the International Paganini Competition in Italy in 1972, at the age of 22. It was his win at the Paganini competition that gained him widespread public attention. He achieved the highest prize awarded (second prize, shared with two other violinists) in the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1974 in Moscow, Russia. This award raised his profile further, as an American winning the top Soviet prize during the height of the Cold War. He signed a recording contract with RCA Red Seal and was a frequent guest on The Tonight Show hosted by Johnny Carson. Fodor was also awarded the European Soloist award "Prix Europeen du Soliste" in January 1999.
He appeared on the television show SCTV in November 1981 in a parody of the Joan Crawford movie Humoresque called New York Rhapsody.^[3]
His career declined in the late 1980s after an arrest for drug possession on Martha's Vineyard resulted in negative publicity.^{[citation needed]}
He died from cirrhosis^[4] in Arlington County, Virginia, at the age of 60.

Selected discography

• Bach Violin Concertos
• Nielsen Violin Concerto (2001, Grazioso Records 72601)
• Lalo: Symphony espagnole / Sibelius: Violin Concerto (2000, Grazioso Records 61501)
• Brahms: Complete Sonatas for Violin & Piano (1996, Clarity Records 1014)
• Concertos of Brahms, Sibelius and the first two concertos of Paganini with the Kiev Philharmonic
• Love Fodor Style (2002, Grazioso Records 95143)
• Instrument of the Angels (2001, Grazioso Records 81904, famous gospel pieces)

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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

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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]

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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

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