JASPER, Tenn. (AP) — A finalist on “American Idol” has died in a vehicle crash in Tennessee.
Willie Spence, 23, died Tuesday after hitting the rear of a tractor-trailer that was stopped on the shoulder of Interstate 24 East near Chattanooga, according to news outlets, which cited a Tennessee Highway Patrol report.
Both drivers were wearing seatbelts, and the truck driver wasn’t injured, the crash report said.
Spence, who was from Georgia, finished in second place on season 19 of “American Idol” last year.
Photos: Notable Deaths in 2022
Queen Elizabeth II
Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch and a rock of stability across much of a turbulent century, died Sept. 8, 2022, after 70 years on the throne. She was 96. A link to the almost-vanished generation that fought World War II, she was the only monarch most Britons have ever known, and her name defines an age: the modern Elizabethan Era. The impact of her loss will be huge and unpredictable, both for the nation and for the monarchy, an institution she helped stabilize and modernize across decades of huge social change and family scandals.
Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John, the Grammy-winning superstar who reigned on pop, country, adult contemporary and dance charts with such hits as “Physical” and “You’re the One That I Want” and won countless hearts as everyone’s favorite Sandy in the blockbuster film version of “Grease,” died Aug. 8, 2022. She was 73. From 1973-83, Newton-John was among the world’s most popular entertainers. She had 14 top 10 singles just in the U.S., won four Grammys, starred with John Travolta in “Grease” and with Gene Kelly in “Xanadu.” The fast-stepping Travolta-Newton-John duet, “You’re the One That I Want,” was one of the era’s biggest songs and has sold more than 15 million copies.
Bill Russell
Bill Russell, the NBA great who anchored a Boston Celtics dynasty that won 11 championships in 13 years — the last two as the first Black head coach in any major U.S. sport — and marched for civil rights with Martin Luther King Jr., died July 31, 2022. He was 88. A Hall of Famer, five-time Most Valuable Player and 12-time All-Star, Russell in 1980 was voted the greatest player in NBA history by basketball writers. He remains the sport’s most prolific winner and an archetype of selflessness who won with defense and rebounding while leaving the scoring to others.
Sidney Poitier
Sidney Poitier, the groundbreaking actor and enduring inspiration who transformed how Black people were portrayed on screen and became the first Black actor to win an Academy Award for best lead performance and the first to be a top box-office draw, died Jan. 6, 2022. He was 94. Poitier won the best actor Oscar in 1964 for “Lilies of the Field.”
Naomi Judd
Naomi Judd, whose family harmonies with daughter Wynonna turned them into the Grammy-winning country stars The Judds, died April 30, 2022 at age 76. The mother-daughter performers scored 14 No. 1 songs in a career that spanned nearly three decades. The red-headed duo combined the traditional Appalachian sounds of bluegrass with polished pop stylings, scoring hit after hit in the 1980s. Wynonna led the duo with her powerful vocals, while Naomi provided harmonies and stylish looks on stage.
James Caan
James Caan, the curly-haired tough guy known to movie fans as the hotheaded Sonny Corleone of “The Godfather” and to television audiences as both the dying football player in the classic weeper “Brian’s Song” and the casino boss in “Las Vegas,” died July 6, 2022. He was 82. After a break from acting in the 1980s, Caan returned to full-fledged stardom opposite Kathy Bates in “Misery” in 1990. He introduced himself to a new generation playing Walter, the workaholic, stone-faced father of Buddy’s Will Ferrell in “Elf.”
Bob Saget
Bob Saget, the actor-comedian known for his role as beloved single dad Danny Tanner on the sitcom “Full House” and as the wisecracking host of “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” died Jan. 9, 2022. He was 65.
Anne Heche
Anne Heche, the Emmy-winning film and television actor whose dramatic Hollywood rise in the 1990s and accomplished career contrasted with personal chapters of turmoil, died of injuries from a fiery car crash. She was 53. By the late 1990s Heche was one of the hottest actors in Hollywood, a constant on magazine covers and in big-budget films. In 1997 alone, she played opposite Johnny Depp as his wife in “Donnie Brasco” and Tommy Lee Jones in “Volcano” and was part of the ensemble cast in the original “I Know What You Did Last Summer.”
Meat Loaf
Meat Loaf, the heavyweight rock superstar loved by millions for his “Bat Out of Hell” album and for such theatrical, dark-hearted anthems as “Paradise By the Dashboard Light,” “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad,” and “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That),” died Jan. 20, 2022. He was 74.
Nichelle Nichols
Nichelle Nichols, who broke barriers for Black women in Hollywood when she played communications officer Lt. Uhura on the original “Star Trek” television series, died July 30, 2022, at the age of 89. Her role in the 1966-69 series as Lt. Uhura earned Nichols a lifelong position of honor with the series’ rabid fans, known as Trekkers and Trekkies. It also earned her accolades for breaking stereotypes that had limited Black women to acting roles as servants and included an interracial onscreen kiss with co-star William Shatner that was unheard of at the time.
Taylor Hawkins
Taylor Hawkins, for 25 years the drummer for Foo Fighters and best friend of frontman Dave Grohl, died during a South American tour with the rock band. He was 50. Hawkins was Alanis Morissette’s touring drummer when he joined Foo Fighters in 1997. He played on the band’s biggest albums including “One by One” and “In Your Honor,” and on hit singles like “Best of You.”
Bernard Shaw
Bernard Shaw, CNN’s chief anchor for two decades and a pioneering Black broadcast journalist best remembered for calmly reporting the beginning of the Gulf War in 1991 as missiles flew around him in Baghdad, died Sept. 7, 2022. He was 82. Shaw was at CNN for 20 years and was known for remaining cool under pressure. That was a hallmark of his Baghdad coverage when the U.S. led its invasion of Iraq in 1991 to liberate Kuwait, with CNN airing stunning footage of airstrikes and anti-aircraft fire in the capital city.
Madeleine Albright
Madeleine Albright, the first female U.S. secretary of state, has died of cancer. She was 84. President Bill Clinton chose Albright as America’s top diplomat in 1996, and she served in that capacity for the last four years of the Clinton administration. She had previously been Clinton’s ambassador to the United Nations.
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev, who set out to revitalize the Soviet Union but ended up unleashing forces that led to the collapse of communism, the breakup of the state and the end of the Cold War, died Aug. 30, 2022. The last Soviet leader was 91. Though in power less than seven years, Gorbachev unleashed a breathtaking series of changes. But they quickly overtook him and resulted in the collapse of the authoritarian Soviet state, the freeing of Eastern European nations from Russian domination and the end of decades of East-West nuclear confrontation.
Ivana Trump
Ivana Trump, a skier-turned-businesswoman who formed half of a publicity power couple in the 1980s as the first wife of former President Donald Trump and mother of his oldest children, died July 14, 2022. She was 73.
Gilbert Gottfried
Gilbert Gottfried, the actor and legendary standup comic known for his raw, scorched voice and crude jokes, died April 12, 2022, at age 67. Gottfried was a fiercely independent and intentionally bizarre comedian’s comedian, as likely to clear a room with anti-comedy as he was to kill with his jokes. Gottfried also did voice work for children’s television and movies, most famously playing the parrot Iago in Disney’s “Aladdin.”
Estelle Harris
Estelle Harris, who hollered her way into TV history as George Costanza’s short-fused mother on “Seinfeld” and voiced Mrs. Potato Head in the “Toy Story” franchise, died April 2, 2022. She was 93. As middle-class matron Estelle Costanza, Harris put a memorable stamp on her recurring role in the smash 1990s sitcom. With her high-pitched voice and humorously overbearing attitude, she was an archetype of maternal indignation.
Liz Sheridan
Liz Sheridan, a veteran stage and screen actress who played Jerry Seinfeld’s mother, Helen, on “Seinfeld,” died April April 15, 2022, at age 93. Though she had dozens of film credits, she was best known as Seinfeld’s doting mother on his titular sitcom, which ran for nine seasons. She also appeared as the snoopy neighbor Mrs. Ochmonek on the alien-led sitcom “ALF.”
Full story: Liz Sheridan, Jerry’s mom on ‘Seinfeld,’ dies at 93
Vin Scully
Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully, whose dulcet tones provided the soundtrack of summer while entertaining and informing Dodgers fans in Brooklyn and Los Angeles for 67 years, died Aug. 2, 2022. He was 94. As the longest tenured broadcaster with a single team in pro sports history, Scully saw it all and called it all. He began in the 1950s era of Pee Wee Reese and Jackie Robinson, on to the 1960s with Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax, into the 1970s with Steve Garvey and Don Sutton, and through the 1980s with Orel Hershiser and Fernando Valenzuela. In the 1990s, it was Mike Piazza and Hideo Nomo, followed by Kershaw, Manny Ramirez and Yasiel Puig in the 21st century.
Len Dawson
Hall of Fame quarterback Len Dawson, whose unmistakable swagger in helping the Kansas City Chiefs to their first Super Bowl title earned him the nickname “Lenny the Cool,” died Aug. 24, 2022. He was 87.
David McCullough
David McCullough, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author whose lovingly crafted narratives on subjects ranging from the Brooklyn Bridge to Presidents John Adams and Harry Truman made him among the most popular and influential historians of his time, died Aug. 7, 2022. He was 89.
Pat Carroll
Pat Carroll, a comedic television mainstay for decades, Emmy-winner for “Caesar’s Hour” and the voice Ursula in “The Little Mermaid,” died July 30, 2022. She was 95. Carroll won an Emmy for her work on the sketch comedy series “Caesar’s Hour” in 1956, was a regular on “Make Room for Daddy” with Danny Thomas, a guest star on “The DuPont Show with June Allyson” and a variety show regular stopping by “The Danny Kaye Show,” “The Red Skelton Show” and “The Carol Burnett Show.” A new generation would come to know and love her voice thanks to Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” which came out in 1989.
Tony Dow
Tony Dow, who as Wally Cleaver on the sitcom “Leave It to Beaver” helped create the popular and lasting image of the American teenager of the 1950s and 60s, died July 27, 2022. He was 77. Dow’s Wally was an often annoyed but essentially loving big brother who was constantly bailing out the title character, Theodore “Beaver” Cleaver, played by Jerry Mathers, on the show that was synonymous with the sometimes hokey, wholesome image of the 1950s American family.
Shinzo Abe
Shinzo Abe, a divisive archconservative who was Japan’s longest-serving prime minister and remained a powerful and influential politician after leaving office, has died after being shot during a campaign speech July 8, 2022. He was 67. Abe, a political blueblood, was perhaps the most polarizing, complex politician in recent Japanese history. At the same time, he revitalized Japan’s economy, led efforts for the nation to take a stronger role in Asia and served as a rare beacon of political stability before stepping down two years ago for health reasons.
Philip Baker Hall
Philip Baker Hall, the prolific character actor of film and theater who starred in Paul Thomas Anderson’s first movies and who memorably hunted down a long-overdue library book in “Seinfeld,” died June 12, 2022. He was 90. In a career spanning half a century, Hall was a ubiquitous hangdog face whose doleful, weary appearance could shroud a booming intensity and humble sensitivity. His range was wide, but Hall, who had a natural gravitas, often played men in suits, trench coats and lab coats.
Ray Liotta
Ray Liotta, the actor best known for playing mobster Henry Hill in “Goodfellas” and baseball player Shoeless Joe Jackson in “Field of Dreams,” died May 25, 2022. He was 67. Liotta’s first big film role was in Jonathan Demme’s “Something Wild” as Melanie Griffith’s character’s hotheaded ex-convict husband Ray. A few years later, he would get the memorable role of the ghost of Shoeless Joe Jackson in “Field of Dreams.” His most iconic role, as real life mobster Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas” came shortly after.
Paul Sorvino
Paul Sorvino, an imposing actor who specialized in playing crooks and cops like Paulie Cicero in “Goodfellas” and the NYPD sergeant Phil Cerreta on “Law & Order,” died July 25, 2022. He was 83. In his over 50 years in the entertainment business, Sorvino was a mainstay in films and television, playing an Italian American communist in Warren Beatty’s “Reds,” Henry Kissinger in Oliver Stone’s “Nixon” and mob boss Eddie Valentine in “The Rocketeer.”
Tony Sirico
Tony Sirico, who played the impeccably groomed mobster Paulie Walnuts in “The Sopranos” and brought his tough-guy swagger to films including “Goodfellas,” died July 8, 2022. He was 79.
Fred Ward
Fred Ward, a veteran actor who brought a gruff tenderness to tough-guy roles in such films as “The Right Stuff,” “The Player” and “Tremors,” died May 15, 2022. He was 79. A former boxer, lumberjack in Alaska and short-order cook who served in the U.S. Air Force, Ward was a San Diego native who was part Cherokee. One early big role was alongside Clint Eastwood in 1979’s “Escape From Alcatraz.”
Sonny Barger
Sonny Barger, the leather-clad fixture of 1960s counterculture and figurehead of the Hells Angels motorcycle club who was at the notorious Rolling Stones concert at Altamont Speedway, died June 29, 2022. He was 83.
Howard Hesseman
Howard Hesseman, best known as the hard-rocking disc jockey Dr. Johnny Fever on the sitcom “WKRP in Cincinnati,” died Jan. 28, 2022. In addition to earning two Emmy nominations for his role on “WKRP,” Hesseman also appeared on “Head of the Class” and “One Day at a Time,” along with guest appearances on “That 70’s Show,” among others. The Oregon native also hosted “Saturday Night Live” several times. — CNN
Larry Storch
Larry Storch, the rubber-faced comic whose long career in theater, movies and television was capped by his “F Troop” role as zany Cpl. Agarn in the 1960s spoof of Western frontier TV shows, died July 8, 2022. Storch was 99.
Emilio Delgado
Emilio Delgado, who spent more than 40 years entertaining generations of children playing the Fix-It Shop owner Luis on “Sesame Street,” died March 10, 2022. He was 81. Delgado had cited the PBS show’s importance as a cultural touchstone in the way people of color were depicted on TV. — CNN
Emilio Delgado, ‘Sesame Street’s’ Luis for more than 40 years, dies at 81
Louie Anderson
Louie Anderson, whose four-decade career as a comedian and actor included his unlikely, Emmy-winning performance as mom to twin adult sons in the TV series “Baskets,” died Jan. 21, 2022. He was 68. In 2016, Anderson won a best supporting actor Emmy for his portrayal of Christine Baskets, mother to twins, in the FX series “Baskets.” He was a familiar face elsewhere on TV, including as host of a revival of the game show “Family Feud” from 1999 to 2002.
Orrin Hatch
Orrin G. Hatch, the longest-serving Republican senator in history who was a fixture in Utah politics for more than four decades, died April 23, 2022, at age 88. A staunch conservative on most economic and social issues, he also teamed with Democrats several times during his long career on issues ranging from stem cell research to rights for people with disabilities to expanding children’s health insurance.
Bob Lanier
Bob Lanier, the left-handed big man who muscled up beside the likes of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as one of the NBA’s top players of the 1970s, died May 10, 2022. He was 73. Lanier played 14 seasons with the Detroit Pistons and Milwaukee Bucks and averaged 20.1 points and 10.1 rebounds for his career. He is third on the Pistons’ career list in both points and rebounds. Detroit drafted Lanier with the No. 1 overall pick in 1970 after he led St. Bonaventure to the Final Four.
Mickey Gilley
Country star Mickey Gilley, whose namesake Texas honky-tonk inspired the 1980 film “Urban Cowboy” and a nationwide wave of Western-themed nightspots, died May 7, 2022. He was 86. Overall, Gilley had 39 Top 10 country hits and 17 No. 1 songs. He received six Academy of Country Music Awards, and also worked on occasion as an actor, with appearances on “Murder She Wrote,” “The Fall Guy,” “Fantasy Island” and “The Dukes of Hazzard.”
Ronnie Spector
Ronnie Spector, the cat-eyed, bee-hived rock ‘n’ roll siren who sang such 1960s hits as “Be My Baby,” “Baby I Love You” and “Walking in the Rain” as the leader of the girl group The Ronettes, died Jan. 12, 2022. She was 78.
Bobby Rydell
Bobby Rydell, a pompadoured heartthrob of early rock ‘n roll who was a star of radio, television and the movie musical “Bye Bye Birdie,” died April 5, 2022, at age 79. Between 1959 and 1964, Rydell had nearly three dozen Top 40 singles including “Wild One,” “Volare,” “Wildwood Days,” “The Cha-Cha-Cha” and “Forget Him.” He had recurring roles on “The Red Skelton Show” and other television programs, and 1963’s “Bye Bye Birdie” was rewritten to give Rydell a major part as the boyfriend of Ann-Margret.
William Hurt
William Hurt, whose laconic charisma and self-assured subtlety as an actor made him one of the 1980s foremost leading men in movies such as “Broadcast News,” “Body Heat” and “The Big Chill,” died March 13, 2022. He was 71. In a long-running career, Hurt was four times nominated for an Academy Award, winning for 1985’s “Kiss of the Spider Woman.” After his breakthrough in 1980’s Paddy Chayefsky-scripted “Altered States” as a psychopathologist studying schizophrenia and experimenting with sensory deprivation, Hurt quickly emerged as a mainstay of the ’80s.
Claes Oldenburg
Pop artist Claes Oldenburg, who turned the mundane into the monumental through his outsized sculptures of a baseball bat, a clothespin and other objects, died July 18, 2022, at age 93.
Tony Siragusa
Tony Siragusa, the charismatic defensive tackle who was part of one of the most celebrated defenses in NFL history with the Baltimore Ravens, died June 22, 2022. He was 55. Siragusa, known as “Goose,” played seven seasons with the Indianapolis Colts and five with the Ravens. Baltimore’s 2000 team won the Super Bowl behind a stout defense that included Siragusa, Ray Lewis and Sam Adams. Siragusa was popular with fans because of his fun-loving attitude, which also helped him transition quickly to broadcasting after his playing career.
Scott Hall
Scott Hall, professional wrestling’s “Bad Guy” who revolutionized the industry as a founding member of the New World Order faction, died March 14, 2022. He was 63. Hall, who also wrestled for WWE as Razor Ramon, was a two-time inductee into the company’s Hall of Fame.
Mike Bossy
Mike Bossy, one of hockey’s most prolific goal-scorers and a star for the New York Islanders during their 1980s Stanley Cup dynasty, died April 14, 2022, after a battle with lung cancer. He was 65. Bossy helped the Islanders win the Stanley Cup four straight years from 1980-83, earning the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 1982. He scored the Cup-winning goal in 1982 and ’83.
Guy Lafleur
Hockey Hall of Famer Guy Lafleur, who helped the Montreal Canadiens win five Stanley Cup titles in the 1970s, died at age 70. One of the greatest players of his generation, Lafleur, nicknamed “The Flower,” registered 518 goals and 728 assists in 14 seasons with Montreal.
André Leon Talley
André Leon Talley, a towering figure who made fashion history as a rare Black editor in an overwhelmingly white industry, died Jan. 18, 2022. He was 73. Talley was the former creative director and editor at large of Vogue magazine. Often dressed in sweeping capes, he was a highly visible regular in the front row of fashion shows in New York and Europe for decades.
Peter Bogdanovich
Peter Bogdanovich, the ascot-wearing cinephile and director of 1970s black-and-white classics like “The Last Picture Show” and “Paper Moon,” died Jan. 6, 2022. He was 82. Bogdanovich was heralded as an auteur from the start, with the chilling lone shooter film “Targets” and soon after “The Last Picture Show,” from 1971, his evocative portrait of a small, dying town that earned eight Oscar nominations and catapulted him to stardom.
Ivan Reitman
Ivan Reitman, the influential filmmaker and producer behind many of the most beloved comedies of the late 20th century, from “Animal House” to “Ghostbusters,” died Feb. 12, 2022. He was 75. Known for bawdy comedies that caught the spirit of their time, Reitman’s big break came with the raucous, college fraternity sendup “National Lampoon’s Animal House,” which he produced. He directed Bill Murray in his first starring role in the summer camp flick “Meatballs,” and then again in 1981’s “Stripes,” but his most significant success came with 1984’s “Ghostbusters.”
Vangelis
Vangelis, the Greek electronic composer who wrote the unforgettable Academy Award-winning score for the film “Chariots of Fire” and music for dozens of other movies, documentaries and TV series, died May 17, 2022, at age 79.
John Clayton
Longtime NFL journalist John Clayton, nicknamed “The Professor,” died March 25, 2022, following a short illness. He was 67. Clayton spent more than two decades covering the Pittsburgh Steelers for the The Pittsburgh Press and the Seattle Seahawks for The News Tribune in Tacoma. Clayton moved to ESPN in 1995, becoming one of the lead NFL writers for the company. Clayton appeared on TV and radio for ESPN and worked at the company for more than 20 years.
Bobbie Nelson
Bobbie Nelson, the older sister of country music legend Willie Nelson and longtime pianist in his band, died March 10, 2022. She was 91. An original member of the Willie Nelson and Family Band, Bobbie Nelson played piano for more than 50 years with her brother.
Sally Kellerman
Sally Kellerman, the Oscar and Emmy nominated actor who played Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan in director Robert Altman’s 1970 film “MASH,” died Feb. 24, 2022, at age 84. Kellerman had a career of more than 60 years in film and television. She played a college professor who was returning student Rodney Dangerfield’s love interest in the 1986 comedy “Back to School.” But she would always be best known for playing Major Houlihan, a straitlaced, by-the-book Army nurse who is tormented by rowdy doctors during the Korean War in the army comedy “MASH.”
Marilyn Bergman
Marilyn Bergman, the Oscar-winning lyricist who teamed with husband Alan Bergman on “The Way We Were,” “How Do You Keep the Music Playing?” and hundreds of other songs, died Jan. 8, 2022. She was 93.
Manfred Thierry Mugler
French fashion designer Manfred Thierry Mugler, whose dramatic designs were worn by celebrities like Madonna, Lady Gaga and Cardi B, died Jan. 23, 2022. He was 73. Mugler, who launched his brand in 1973, became known for his architectural style, defined by broad shoulders and a tiny waist. The use of plastic-like futuristic fabric in his sculpted clothing became a trademark.
Gaspard Ulliel
French actor Gaspard Ulliel, known for appearing in Chanel perfume ads as well as film and television roles, died Jan. 19, 2022, after a skiing accident in the Alps. He was 37. Ulliel portrayed the young Hannibal Lecter in 2007’s “Hannibal Rising” and fashion mogul Yves Saint Laurent in the 2014 biopic “Saint Laurent.” He is also in the Marvel series “Moon Knight.”
Dan Reeves
Dan Reeves, who won a Super Bowl as a player with the Dallas Cowboys but was best known for a long coaching career highlighted by four more appearances in the title game with the Denver Broncos and the Atlanta Falcons, all losses, died Jan. 1, 2022. He was 77.
Don Maynard
Don Maynard, a Hall of Fame receiver who made his biggest impact catching passes from Joe Namath in the wide-open AFL, died Jan. 10, 2022. He was 86. When Maynard retired in 1973, he was pro football’s career receiving leader with 633 catches for 11,834 yards and 88 touchdowns. The Jets retired his No. 13 jersey.
Don Young
Alaska Rep. Don Young, who was the longest-serving Republican in the history of the U.S. House, died March 25, 2022. He was 88. Young, who was first elected to the U.S. House in 1973, was known for his brusque style. In his later years in office, his off-color comments and gaffes sometimes overshadowed his work.
Michael Lang
Michael Lang, a co-creator and promoter of the 1969 Woodstock music festival that served as a touchstone for generations of music fans, died Jan. 8, 2022. He was 77.
Lawrence N. Brooks
Lawrence N. Brooks, the oldest World War II veteran in the U.S. — and believed to be the oldest man in the country — died Jan. 5, 2022, at the age of 112.
Charles McGee
Charles McGee, a Tuskegee Airman who flew 409 fighter combat missions over three wars and later helped to bring attention to the Black pilots who had battled racism at home to fight for freedom abroad, died Jan. 16, 2022. He was 102.
Tom Parker
Tom Parker, a member of British-Irish boy band The Wanted, died March 30, 2022, after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. He was 33. Formed in 2009, The Wanted had a string of hit singles including U.K. No. 1s “All Time Low” and “Glad You Came.”
Shirley Spork
Shirley Spork, one of the 13 founders of the LPGA Tour who learned two weeks ago she would be inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame, died April 12, 2022. at age 94. While she never won on the LPGA Tour — her best finish was runner-up in the 1962 LPGA Championship at Stardust Country Club in Las Vegas — Spork’s impact stretched across seven decades of starting the tour and teaching the game.
Rayfield Wright
Rayfield Wright, the Pro Football Hall of Fame offensive tackle nicknamed “Big Cat” who went to five Super Bowls in his 13 NFL seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, died April 7, 2022. He was 76.
Charley Taylor
Charley Taylor, the Hall of Fame receiver who ended his 13-season career with Washington as the NFL’s career receptions leader, died Feb. 19, 2022. He was 80. Taylor was the 1964 NFL rookie of the year and was selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s All-1960s Team. The eight-time Pro Bowl selection was a first-team all-NFL pick in 1967.
Tommy Davis
Tommy Davis, a two-time National League batting champion who won three World Series titles with the Los Angeles Dodgers, died April 3, 2022. He was 83. Recruited to play for the Dodgers by Jackie Robinson, Davis batted .357 with 17 home runs, 104 RBI and 68 stolen bases in 127 games in that first season with the team. He won consecutive titles in 1962, when he hit .346 and led the NL in hits and RBI, and 1963, when he hit .326.
Bill Fitch
Bill Fitch, who guided the Boston Celtics to one of their championships during a Hall of Fame coaching career spanning three decades, died Feb. 2, 2022. He was 89. A two-time NBA coach of the year, Fitch coached for 25 seasons in the NBA, starting with the expansion Cleveland Cavaliers in 1970. He was Larry Bird’s first pro coach with Boston in 1979, won a title with the Celtics in 1981 and spent time with Houston, New Jersey and the Los Angeles Clippers.
Robert Morse
Robert Morse, who won a Tony Award as a hilariously brash corporate climber in “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” and a second one a generation later as the brilliant, troubled Truman Capote in “Tru,” died April 20, 2022. He was 90.
Dede Robertson
Dede Robertson, the wife of religious broadcaster Pat Robertson and a founding board member of the Christian Broadcasting Network, died April 19, 2022. She was 94.
Robert Krueger
Robert C. Krueger, who followed two U.S. House terms with a brief interim appointment to the Senate before launching a sometimes-hazardous diplomatic career, died April 30, 2022, at age 86.
Johnnie A. Jones Sr.
Johnnie A. Jones Sr., a Louisiana civil rights attorney and World War II veteran who was wounded during the D-Day invasion of Normandy, died April 23, 2022. He was 102 years old.
Gary Brooker
Gary Brooker, the Procol Harum frontman who sang one of the 1960s’ most enduring hits, “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” died Feb. 19, 2022. He was 76. Brooker was singer and keyboard player with the band, which had a huge hit with its first single, “A Whiter Shade of Pale.” With its Baroque-flavored organ solo and mysterious opening line – “We skipped the light fandango, turned cartwheels cross the floor” — the song became one of the signature tunes of the 1967 “Summer of Love.”
Brent Renaud
Brent Renaud, an acclaimed filmmaker who traveled to some of the darkest and most dangerous corners of the world for documentaries that transported audiences to little-known places of suffering, died March 13, 2022, after Russian forces opened fire on his vehicle in Ukraine.
Ronnie Hawkins
Ronnie Hawkins, a brash rockabilly star from Arkansas who became a patron of the Canadian music scene after moving north and recruiting a handful of local musicians later known as the Band, died May 29, 2022. He was 87.
Andy Fletcher
Andy “Fletch” Fletcher, the unassuming, bespectacled, red-headed keyboardist who for more than 40 years added his synth sounds to Depeche Mode hits like “Just Can’t Get Enough” and “Personal Jesus,” died May 26, 2022, at age 60.
Ann Turner Cook
Ann Turner Cook, whose cherubic baby face was known the world over as the original Gerber baby, has died. She was 95. Cook was 5 months old when a neighbor, artist Dorothy Hope Smith, drew a charcoal sketch of her that was later submitted for a contest Gerber was holding for a national marketing campaign for baby food. The image was a hit, so much so that it became the company’s trademark in 1931 and has been used in all packaging and advertising since.
Dwayne Hickman
Dwayne Hickman, the actor and network TV executive who despite numerous achievements throughout his life would always be remembered fondly by a generation of baby boomers for his role as Dobie Gillis, died Jan. 9, 2022. He was 87.
Mark Shields
Political commentator and columnist Mark Shields, who shared his insight into American politics and wit on “PBS NewsHour” for decades, died June 18, 2022. He was 85.
James Rado
James Rado, co-creator of the groundbreaking hippie musical “Hair,” which celebrated protest, pot and free love and paved the way for the sound of rock on Broadway, died June 21, 2022. He was 90. “Hair,” which has a story and lyrics by Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot, was the first rock musical on Broadway, the first Broadway show to feature full nudity and the first to feature a same-sex kiss.
Bruton Smith
O. Bruton Smith, who emerged from North Carolina farm country and parlayed his love of motorsports into a Hall of Fame career as one of the biggest track owners and most successful promoters in the history of auto racing, died June 22, 2022. He was 95.
Marlin Briscoe
Marlin Briscoe, who became the first Black starting quarterback in the American Football League more than 50 years ago, died June 27, 2022. He was 76.
Vernon Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey’s father, Vernon Winfrey, died July 8, 2022, at the age of 89. Vernon served as a member of Nashville’s Metro City Council for 16 years and was a trustee for the Tennessee State University. Oprah spent her early childhood at her father’s hometown of Kosciusko, Mississippi, and in Milwaukee with her mother, Vernita Lee, who died in 2018.
William “Poogie” Hart
William “Poogie” Hart (center), a founder of the Grammy-winning trio the Delfonics who helped write and sang a soft lead tenor on such classic “Sound of Philadelphia” ballads as “La-La (Means I Love You)” and “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time),” died July 14, 2022, at age 77.
David Warner
David Warner, a versatile British actor whose roles ranged from Shakespearean tragedies to sci-fi cult classics, died July 24, 2022. He was 80. Often cast as a villain, Warner had roles in the 1971 psychological thriller “Straw Dogs,” the 1976 horror classic “The Omen,” the 1979 time-travel adventure “Time After Time” — he was Jack the Ripper — and the 1997 blockbuster “Titanic,” where he played the malicious valet Spicer Lovejoy.
Issey Miyake
Issey Miyake, who built one of Japan’s biggest fashion brands and was known for his boldly sculpted pleated pieces as well as former Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ black turtlenecks, died Aug. 5, 2022. He was 84.
Bert Fields
Bert Fields, for decades the go-to lawyer for Hollywood A-listers including Tom Cruise, Michael Jackson, George Lucas and the Beatles, and a character as colorful as many of his clients, died Aug. 7, 2022, at age 93.
Melissa Bank
Melissa Bank, whose 1999 bestseller “The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing” was a series of interconnected stories widely praised for its wit and precise language and embraced by young readers, died Aug. 2, 2022, at age 61.
Albert Woodfox
Albert Woodfox, a former inmate who spent decades in isolation at a Louisiana prison and then became an advocate for prison reforms after he was released, died Aug. 4, 2022, of complications from COVID-19. He was 75.
Barbara Ehrenreich
Barbara Ehrenreich, the author, activist and self-described “myth buster” who in such notable works as “Nickel and Dimed” and “Bait and Switch” challenged conventional thinking about class, religion and the very idea of an American dream, died Sept. 1, 2022, at age 81.
Coolio
Coolio, the rapper who was among hip-hop’s biggest names of the 1990s with hits including “Gangsta’s Paradise” and “Fantastic Voyage,” died Sept. 28, 2022. Coolio won a Grammy for best solo rap performance for “Gangsta’s Paradise,” the 1995 hit from the soundtrack of the Michelle Pfeiffer film “Dangerous Minds” that sampled Stevie Wonder’s 1976 song “Pastime Paradise” and was played constantly on MTV.
Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn, the Kentucky coal miner’s daughter whose frank songs about life and love as a woman in Appalachia pulled her out of poverty and made her a pillar of country music, died Oct. 4, 2022. She was 90. As a songwriter, Lynn crafted a persona of a defiantly tough woman. The Country Music Hall of Famer wrote fearlessly about sex and love, cheating husbands, divorce and birth control and sometimes got in trouble with radio programmers for material from which even rock performers once shied away.
Angela Lansbury
Angela Lansbury, the big-eyed, scene-stealing British actress who kicked up her heels in the Broadway musicals “Mame” and “Gypsy” and solved endless murders as crime novelist Jessica Fletcher in the long-running TV series “Murder, She Wrote,” died Oct. 11, 2022. She was 96. Lansbury won five Tony Awards for her Broadway performances and a lifetime achievement award. She earned Academy Award nominations as supporting actress for two of her first three films, “Gaslight” (1945) and “The Picture of Dorian Gray” (1946), and was nominated again in 1962 for “The Manchurian Candidate” and her deadly portrayal of a Communist agent and the title character’s mother.
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