Deaths in 2024, Sports: From Beckenbauer and OJ Simpson to Rebecca Cheptegei and Aunshuman Gaekwad

The world of sports lost many legends in 2024. Here are a few notable people we lose this past year:

FRANZ BECKENBAUER: Franz Beckenbauer, who won the World Cup both as player and coach and became one of Germany’s most beloved personalities with his easy-going charm, passed away in January.

Famously known by the sobriquet ‘Der Kaiser’, which he earned for his charisma and dominance on the field in his favourite club Bayern Munich, Beckenbauer made a permanent place among immortal heroes in the sport with extraordinary performances for his country and the clubs he represented. This is reflected in his achievements, which have very few equivalents in the sport.

The fact that he is one of the only three men to have won the World Cup both as a player and manager speaks of the immense influence he had in enhancing the glory of the ‘Beautiful Game’. The other two names in this elite club are Brazil’s Mario Zagao and Frenchman Didier Deschamps.

GRAHAM THORPE: Former England cricketer Graham Thorpe took his own life after a struggle with depression and anxiety fuelled by his failing health in the last two years.

A stylish left-handed batsman, Thorpe played 100 Test matches for England, scoring 6,744 runs at an average of 44.66 and hitting 16 centuries.
| Photo Credit:
Mark Metcalfe

The 55-year-old passed away on August 5. Thorpe’s demise was announced by the England and Wales Cricket Board and now his wife has revealed in an interview to former England captain Michael Atherton that he had a long mental and physical battle with himself before he took his own life.

“Despite having a wife and two daughters whom he loved and who loved him, he did not get better,” Thorpe’s wife was quoted as saying by ‘The Times’.

“He was so unwell in recent times and he really did believe that we would be better off without him and we are devastated that he acted on that and took his own life.

OJ SIMPSON: O.J. Simpson, the decorated football superstar and Hollywood actor who was acquitted of charges he killed his former wife and her friend but later found liable in a separate civil trial, has died. He was 76.

O.J. Simpson, a decorated football superstar and Hollywood actor who was acquitted of charges he killed his former wife and her friend but later found liable in a separate civil trial.
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AP

The family announced on Simpson’s official X account (formerly Twitter) that Simpson died Wednesday after battling prostate cancer. Simpson’s attorney confirmed to TMZ that he died in Las Vegas.

Simpson earned fame, fortune and adulation through football and show business, but his legacy was forever changed by the June 1994 knife slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman in Los Angeles.

FRANK DUCKWORTH: Frank Duckworth, one half of the team who pioneered the Duckworth-Lewis method for calculating target scores in limited-overs cricket hit by bad weather, died at the age of 84.

Frank Carter Duckworth MBE is a retired English statistician, and is one of the two statisticians who developed the Duckworth–Lewis method of resetting targets in interrupted one-day cricket matches.
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SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Along with his fellow statistician Tony Lewis, Duckworth devised the formula that was officially adopted by the International Cricket Council in 1999.

The London-based Royal Statistical Society said in a statement: “Frank will be remembered largely for his contributions to the Society as editor of RSS NEWS, and to cricket as the co-inventor of the Duckworth-Lewis method.”

Duckworth introduced a short paper, “A fair result in foul weather” at an RSS conference in 1992.

The paper was directly inspired by the farcical ending to the 1992 World Cup semi-final between England and South Africa in Australia, when a short spell of rain played havoc with calculations and left South Africa targeting an impossible 22 runs off one ball.

Duckworth’s lecture led to contact with Lewis, and the pair worked together on a formula that was first used in the second match of England’s one-day series against Zimbabwe in 1999.

The method was renamed the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method following the retirement of Duckworth and Lewis, after it was slightly modified by Australian statistician Steven Stern.

DATTA GAEKWAD: Former Indian cricket team captain Dattajirao Gaekwad passed away at his residence in Baroda. He was 95.

Dattajirao Krishnarao Gaekwad appeared in 11 Test matches, toured England in 1952 and 1959 and West Indies in 1952-53, and captained the Indian team in the 1959 tour.
| Photo Credit:
Vijay Soneji

Gaekwad played 11 Tests for India, amassing 350 runs at an average of 18.42.

Gaekwad, who made his debut in 1952, went on to skipper the Indian side during the tour of England in 1959. The side lost all five Tests and fared badly even in the first class games, although Gaekwad himself batted courageously scoring 1174 runs (34.52) on the tour.

His highest score in Tests was 52 against West Indies at New Delhi in 1959.

In the domestic circuit, Gaekwad was a star for Baroda in the Ranji Trophy, where he played from 1947 to 1961. He scored 3139 runs (47.56) in total, including 14 centuries. His highest score was 249 not out against Maharashtra in 1959-60.

KELVIN KIPTUM: Marathon world record-holder Kelvin Kiptum and his coach died in a car crash in Kenya late Sunday, a fellow athlete who went to the hospital and saw Kiptum’s body said.

Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya holds the marathon world record.
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AP

Kiptum was 24 and on course to be a superstar of long-distance running.

Kiptum and his Rwandan coach Gervais Hakizimana were killed in the crash at around 11 p.m., said Kenyan runner Milcah Chemos, who was at the hospital where the bodies were taken.

The crash happened on a road between the towns of Eldoret and Kaptagat in western Kenya, she said, in the heart of the high-altitude region that’s renowned as a training base for long distance runners.

Kiptum was the first man to run the marathon in under 2 hours, 1 minute. He set the new world record of 2:00.35 at the Chicago Marathon in October, beating the mark of fellow Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge.

Kiptum’s record was ratified by international track federation World Athletics a week before his passing.

REBECCA CHEPTEGEI: Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei died at a Kenyan hospital where she was being treated after 80% of her body was burned in an attack by her partner. She was 33.

Rebecca Cheptegei represented Uganda in the 2024 edition of the Olympics in Paris.
| Photo Credit:
REUTERS

A spokesperson at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret city, Owen Menach, confirmed Cheptegei’s death. Menach said the long-distance runner died early morning after all her organs failed. She had been fully sedated on admission at the hospital.

Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.

JACQUES FREITAG: South African former high jump world champion Jacques Freitag has been found dead with gunshot wounds having been missing for two weeks.

Jacques Freitag won the Men’s high jump event at the 2003 World Athletics Championships.
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AP

According to Netwerk24, Freitag, 42, was found in the grass near a cemetery in Pretoria West, South Africa.

He was reported missing after he was last seen leaving his mother’s house with an unknown man late on June 17.

Freitag won world championships at youth, junior, and senior levels. He took gold in the high jump at the 2003 World Championships in Paris.

He jumped a personal best 2.38 metres in 2005.

JERRY WEST: Jerry West, who was selected to the Basketball Hall of Fame three times in a storied career as a player and executive and whose silhouette is considered to be the basis of the NBA logo, died this year. He was 86.

Jerry West.
| Photo Credit:
Getty Images

West, nicknamed “Mr. Clutch” for his late-game exploits as a player, went into the Hall of Fame as a player in 1980 and again as a member of the 1960 U.S. Olympic Team in 2010. He will be enshrined for a third time later this year as a contributor.

He was a 14-time All-Star, a 12-time All-NBA selection, part of the 1972 Lakers team that won a championship, an NBA Finals MVP as part of a losing team in 1969 and was selected as part of the NBA’s 75th anniversary team.

West was general manager of eight NBA championship teams with the Los Angeles Lakers, helping build the “Showtime” dynasty. He also worked in the front offices of the Memphis Grizzlies, the Golden State Warriors and the Clippers.

MIKE PROCTER

Former South Africa all-rounder Mike Procter, the country’s first coach of the post-isolation era and a stalwart with English county Gloucestershire, died aged 77.

Mike Proctor took 41 wickets from 7 games for South Africa.
| Photo Credit:
S. Dinakar

“He suffered a complication during surgery and while in ICU went into cardiac arrest. He became unconscious and unfortunately never woke up,” his wife Maryna told South African website  News24.

Procter was a fierce fast bowler and hard-hitting batter who played seven Test matches, his international career stunted by South Africa’s isolation due to apartheid.

But upon the Proteas’ return in 1991, he led the side as coach, taking them to the semifinals of the World Cup in Australia the following year.

He was later also appointed to the International Cricket Council’s panel of match referees and also served as South Africa’s convener of selectors.

Procter played 401 First-Class games, scoring 21,936 runs at an average of 36.01 with 48 hundreds and 109 fifties. He also took 1,417 wickets at an average of 19.53.

JOE KINNEAR

Former Tottenham Hotspur defender and Wimbledon manager Joe Kinnear died aged 77.

Joe Kinnear managed AFC Wimbledon, Nottingham Forest, Newcastle United and the Indian men’s national football team.
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Action Images

The ex-Ireland international, who won 26 caps, had been living with dementia since 2015 and finished his managerial career in 2009 with Newcastle United.

In 10 years at Spurs, Kinnear won the League Cup twice, FA Cup and UEFA Cup before leaving in 1975 for Brighton & Hove Albion. He retired at 30 the following year after a knee injury.

Kinnear had short spells in charge of India and Nepal and then managed Wimbledon from 1992 to 1999 before stints at Luton Town, Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United.

Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou described Kinnear as “one of these figures that will always be remembered at this football club for his achievements”.

AUNSHUMAN GAEKWAD

Former India cricketer Aunshuman Gaekwad died after a long battle with cancer. He was 71.

Anshuman Gaekwad played 40 Tests and 15 .
| Photo Credit:
BHAGYA PRAKASH/The Hindu

Gaekwad played 40 Tests and 15 ODIs for India. He was also the coach of the Indian team that finished runners-up at the 2000 ICC Champions Trophy.

Gaekwad was undergoing treatment for blood cancer at the King’s College Hospital in London.

Gaekwad has also played 205 first-class matches in a career spanning 22 years.

He later took over as coach of the Indian team. His glorious moments came at Sharjah in 1998 and in a Test match at Ferozeshah Kotla when Anil Kumble took all 10 wickets in an innings against Pakistan in 1999.

JOE BRYANT

Former NBA player and WNBA head coach Joe “Jellybean” Bryant, father of the late Kobe Bryant, died at 69. Bryant had suffered a major stroke.

Joe Bryant had spells as a coach in the WNBA and also coached in Thailand and Japan
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AP

A Philadelphia native who starred there collegiately at La Salle, Bryant was a first-round pick (14th overall) by the Golden State Warriors in 1975 and was then sold to the Philadelphia 76ers.

The 6-foot-9 forward averaged 8.7 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 606 games over eight NBA seasons with the Sixers (1975-79), San Diego Clippers (1979-82) and Houston Rockets (1982-83).

Bryant later played professionally in Italy (1983-91) and France (1991) before transitioning to coaching. He was the head coach of the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks from 2005-06 and again in 2011, compiling a record of 40-24 with two playoff appearances. He also coached teams in Japan and Thailand until 2015.

His son, Kobe, became a Hall of Fame player with the Los Angeles Lakers who died tragically in a helicopter crash on January 26, 2020 at the age of 41. Joe Bryant’s granddaughter, Gianna, 13, also died in the accident.

ZIAUR RAHMAN

Bangladesh’s top-ranked chess grandmaster Ziaur Rahman died at the age of 50 after suffering a stroke and collapsing on his board in the middle of a national championship match, an official said.

Ziaur Rahman achieved the highest FIDE ranking by a Bangladeshi chess player
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V. Ganesan

Bangladesh Chess Federation general secretary Shahab Uddin Shamim told AFP that Ziaur collapsed during his 12th round match of the championship against fellow grandmaster Enamul Hossain before he was declared dead at a hospital in the capital Dhaka.

Ziaur is the highest ranked of Bangladesh’s five chess grandmasters.

He won the national championship multiple times and represented Bangladesh in the 44th Chess Olympiad in India in 2022.