Willie Howard Mays Jr. (May 6, 1931 – June 18, 2024)

Willie Mays was a professional baseball center fielder. Regarded
as one of the greatest players ever, Mays ranks second behind
only Babe Ruth on most all-time lists, including those of The
Sporting News and ESPN. Mays played in the National League
between 1951 and 1973 for the New York / San Francisco Giants
and New York Mets.

CINCINNATI (WKRC) — A hall-of-famed, Emmy-winning sports broadcasting icon will be hanging up the microphone in 2025.

Charles Barkley, former basketball figure and TNT sports host,
revealed 2025 will be his last year as a broadcaster. Following
game four of the NBA Finals on Friday, Barkley told reporters
he would be retiring following the 2024-2025 NBA season. He
turned 61 in February.

Henry Louis Aaron (February 5, 1934 – January 22, 2021) 

Aaron played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), from
1954 through 1976. Considered one of the greatest baseball
players in history, he spent 21 seasons with the Milwaukee /
Atlanta Braves in the National League (NL) and two seasons
with the Milwaukee Brewers in the American League (AL).

At the time of his retirement, Aaron held most of the game’s key
career power-hitting records. He broke the long-standing MLB
record for career home runs held by Babe Ruth and remained
the career leader for 33 years, until Barry Bonds surpassed his
famous total of 755 in 2007. He hit 24 or more home runs every
year from 1955 through 1973 and is one of only two players to
hit 30 or more home runs in a season at least fifteen times.

Sanford Koufax (87) nicknamed "the Left Arm of God"
and "Dandy Sandy."

On November 18, 1966, Sandy Koufax, the ace pitcher for the
Los Angeles Dodgers, retired from baseball. He was just 30
years old, and he was retiring after a great season–he’d led
the Dodgers to a National League pennant and won his third
Cy Young award. But he had chronic arthritis in his pitching
arm, and he was afraid that if he kept playing baseball,
eventually he wouldn’t be able to use his left hand at all.
“In those days there was no surgery,” he said much later.
“The wisdom was if you went in there, it would only make
things worse and your career would be over, anyway. Now
you go in, fix it, and you’re OK for next spring.”

Ed Flanagan, a former Detroit Lions offensive lineman and four-
time Pro Bowl selection has died.