Death Notices (OT)

bkox 2021-08-29 19:26:44 UTC #569

Jeff05 2021-08-30 01:03:24 UTC #570

bkox 2021-09-03 02:56:06 UTC #571

bkox 2021-09-04 21:08:35 UTC #572

Lucky_Beagle 2021-09-04 21:52:14 UTC #573

Tunch Ilkin Former all Pro and announcer for the Steelers died today....sorry no link

bkox 2021-09-05 01:22:33 UTC #574

Taudawg 2021-09-07 20:12:24 UTC #575

RIP Omar

fish 2021-09-07 20:18:47 UTC #576

Such a great actor. I loved his characters. He was every bit as great portraying Chalky White on Boardwalk Empire as he was Omar on the Wire.

flyers19rw 2021-09-07 22:25:51 UTC #577

Philsmania 2021-09-07 23:24:35 UTC #578

And the older brother of Randall Cunningham.

zambonir 2021-09-08 00:31:35 UTC #579

I didn't realize that!

Of course (if you don't read the story) he did not integrate USC, but rather, was among the black starters who helped put pressure on Alabama at a time when they were one of the last holdouts (even Texas and the rest of the SWC had done it by '69). A lot older than Randall huh? (But still too young to go.)

Philsmania 2021-09-08 13:35:25 UTC #580

Sam was roughly 12.5 years older than Randall. He played his last NFL game in 1982, three years before Randall played his first. While Sam had a very good NFL career, it probably could be said that of the two of them, Sam was the bigger star in college but Randall was the bigger star in the NFL.

I wonder if those Eagles-Patriots Super Bowls in 2004 & 2017 led to some interesting sibling rivalry and banter between the two of them!

zambonir 2021-09-08 17:49:14 UTC #581

A friend of mine from Boston posted a picture of himself with Sam.

bkox 2021-09-08 23:25:15 UTC #582

bkox 2021-09-09 15:21:45 UTC #583

xogfog 2021-09-09 20:59:19 UTC #584

As a musician who used to play shows late most nights, I used to Listen to Big Daddy Graham's overnight show a lot and really enjoyed it. Sad to hear.

bkox 2021-09-13 23:26:52 UTC #585

This is a big one for the Phillies and I debated whether it deserved its own thread:

LoneStarPhan 2021-09-13 23:41:50 UTC #586

The Carpenter name was well know on the Delaware campus when I was there.

I recall the Phillies coming to workout in the Carpenter Field House (not to be confused with any Carpenter buildings there now) after a couple days of rain in the NE back in 1964. The workout was not open but I was able to see the players get off the bus and walk in. My memory is of how small Cookie Rojas looked. I know there were other players who were his height or even shorter on the team, but he stuck in my mind as being small.

The Carpenter family have made many generous contributions to the University of Delaware sports programs.

Philsmania 2021-09-14 15:57:37 UTC #587

To me, it's a huge "what if?" with regards to the Carpenters selling the Phillies in 1981. On the one hand, he fostered a positive and competent winning culture in the organization that was lost when the Giles consortium took over. On the other hand, it's an open question whether he could have sustained that culture (or to what extent) if, as he possibly foresaw, his own pockets weren't deep enough to compete with the newer breed of owners. Today's owners are billionaires, not millionaires.

zambonir 2021-09-14 16:38:38 UTC #588

Yeah, had Carpenter hung around the team probably would have been sold to Comcast, if he'd even made it that long (they bought the other teams in '96). Dunno if Middleton Sr. would have had the interest at the time.

I don't know that Ruly gets entirely off the hook though. Giles was part of his culture/legacy, as was Dallas Green. The genteel and "family" nature of the organization, considered (rightly) a plus by many players and employees but not necessarily for winning, started with him. The accountability of a single owner might have been better but it still might have been Giles' team for many years, just as President only.

Alas, neither his billions nor his de facto decision-making autonomy has done much for Middleton so far.