Mickey Vernon

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Mickey Vernon, a two-time American League batting champion with the Washington Senators and seven-time All-Star first baseman during a 20-year career in the major leagues, has died. He was 90. Vernon died Wednesday at Riddle Memorial Hospital in Media, hospital spokeswoman Jackie Woolfall said Thursday. He had a stroke last week, according to Jim Vankoski, Vernon’s friend of 25 years. Vernon played from 1939-43 and 1946-60 with Washington, Cleveland, the Boston Red Sox, the Milwaukee Braves and Pittsburgh, winning batting titles in 1946 and 1953. He went on to become the first manager of the expansion Senators in 1961, after the original team moved to Minnesota and became the Twins. He was career .286 hitter and finished with 2,495 hits in 2,409 games, including 490 doubles and 120 triples. He had 172 homers and 1,311 RBIs. As a manager, he led the Senators to a 135-227 record. Vernon made his big league debut with the Senators in 1939, and the 21-year-old left-handed first-baseman hit .267 in 79 at-bats. He spent most of the next season in Jersey City and returned to Washington in 1941, when he began establishing himself as one of the league’s solid first basemen. He missed the 1944 and 1945 seasons due to military service in the Navy during World War II. When Vernon returned to baseball in 1946, he had arguably his finest season, winning his first batting title with a .353 average. He had a career-high 207 hits in 587 at-bats and finished with 51 doubles, eight triples, eight home runs and 85 RBIs. He won his second batting title in 1953, batting .337 and edging Cleveland’s Al Rosen by .001. Vernon had 205 hits in 608 at-bats, including 43 doubles, 11 triples, 15 homers and a career-high 115 RBIs, and he finished third in MVP voting behind Rosen and Yogi Berra. He closed out his career with the 1960 World Series champion Pirates, spending most of the season as a coach before being activated late in the season and becoming one of a few players to compete in four decades. After his stint managing the Senators, Vernon became a coach with the Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals, Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees. He also managed at the Triple-A and Double-A levels. Vernon is among 10 players whose careers started before 1943 on a Veterans Committee ballot for induction to the Hall of Fame. Results are to be announced Dec. 8. Born April 22, 1918, in Marcus Hook, Pa., James Barton “Mickey” Vernon attended Villanova University. He returned to area after retiring from baseball and made his home there until his death. His hometown of Marcus Hook dedicated a life-size statue of Vernon in September 2003 on the very sandlot fields he played as a child, one block from his former home. Vernon is survived by his daughter, Gay. Funeral arrangements were pending.

Marian McQuade

OAK HILL, W.Va. (AP) – Marian McQuade, who convinced governors, Congress and then-President Jimmy Carter to set aside a special day to honor grandparents, has died. She was 91. McQuade died Friday morning from heart failure, her granddaughter Erin McQuade Kennedy said. Born in 1917 in Caperton, McQuade started working on senior issues in 1956 when she helped organize an event honoring West Virginia’s octogenarians. She served as vice-chairwoman of the West Virginia Commission on Aging and was appointed to the Nursing Home Licensing Board. McQuade, a mother of 15, grandmother of 43 and great-grandmother to 15, launched her campaign to honor grandparents in 1970. West Virginia was the first state to recognize grandparents in 1973. She petitioned the rest of the nation’s governors and Congress to set aside the day. In 1978, Carter signed legislation proclaiming the first Sunday after Labor Day as Grandparents Day. On the 10th anniversary of Grandparents Day, the Postal Service issued a commemorative envelope bearing McQuade’s likeness. Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press

Paul Newman

WESTPORT, Conn. (AP) – Paul Newman, the Academy-Award winning superstar who personified cool as an activist, race car driver, popcorn impresario and the anti-hero of such films as “Hud,” ”Cool Hand Luke” and “The Color of Money,” has died. He was 83. Newman died Friday after a long battle with cancer at his farmhouse near Westport, publicist Jeff Sanderson said. He was surrounded by his family and close friends. In May, Newman he had dropped plans to direct a fall production of “Of Mice and Men,” citing unspecified health issues. He got his start in theater and on television during the 1950s, and went on to become one of the world’s most enduring and popular film stars, a legend held in awe by his peers. He was nominated for Oscars 10 times, winning one regular award and two honorary ones, and had major roles in more than 50 motion pictures, including “Exodus,” ”Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” ”The Verdict,” ”The Sting” and “Absence of Malice.” Newman worked with some of the greatest directors of the past half century, from Alfred Hitchcock and John Huston to Robert Altman, Martin Scorsese and the Coen brothers. His co-stars included Elizabeth Taylor, Lauren Bacall, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks and, most famously, Robert Redford, his sidekick in “Butch Cassidy” and “The Sting.” He sometimes teamed with his wife and fellow Oscar winner, Joanne Woodward, with whom he had one of Hollywood’s rare long-term marriages. “I have steak at home, why go out for hamburger?” Newman told Playboy magazine when asked if he was tempted to stray. They wed in 1958, around the same time they both appeared in “The Long Hot Summer,” and Newman directed her in several films, including “Rachel, Rachel” and “The Glass Menagerie.”

Thomas Doerflein

BERLIN (AP) – The zookeeper who gained fame for hand-rearing the beloved polar bear Knut was found dead in his Berlin apartment Monday. A spokeswoman for Berlin police said Thomas Doerflein was dead when authorities arrived at the apartment and that they had no information on the cause of death. Doerflein was 44 years old. He gained fame in Germany and beyond as the ever-present caretaker for Knut, a polar bear cub abandoned by his mother in late 2006. Knut became a worldwide sensation when the Berlin Zoo decided to raise him by hand, and Doerflein was there for every stage of the bear’s progress. With his burly build, beard and ponytail, Doerflein was a distinctive figure at the side of the growing bear. He nursed young Knut in his arms behind closed doors and wrestled with him after the bear grew old enough to play. When Knut made his public debut in March 2007, Doerflein was at his side. They started a daily performance for the thousands of visitors who flocked to see the bear at his outdoor enclosure. But the ‘Knut show’ ended in July of that year when the zoo’s director ruled that the bear had grown too large for Doerflein to frolic with it in safety. The boisterous bear now weighs more than 265 pounds (120 kilograms), has his own feature-length film, blog and TV show. He has graced the cover of German Vanity Fair and appeared on a set of stamps. The Berlin Zoo credited Knut with a 27 percent increase in visitors in 2007 and profits of nearly euro6.8 million (US$9.9 million). It has licensing agreements for all kinds of Knut products, including stuffed animals, T-shirts, mugs and DVDs. Last November Doerflein was awarded Berlin’s medal of merit for his service to the city – and to Knut. Doerflein worked at the zoo for more than 25 years. According to the newspaper Die Welt, Doerflein was a Berlin native with two grown children. He lived with his girlfriend and her young son. Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press

Nappy Brown

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Nappy Brown, a gospel-influenced blues singer of such hits such as “It Don’t Hurt No More” and “I Cried Like A Baby,” has died. He was 78. Brown’s label, Blind Pig Records, said the ailing musician died Saturday in Charlotte after a lengthy hospitalization. Brown built his reputation in the mid-1950s. Among his hits, he rolled his L’s in the lyrics to “Don’t Be Angry.” He also climbed the R&B charts with “It Don’t Hurt No More” and “I Cried Like A Baby.” Born Napoleon Brown Culp in 1929 in Charlotte, the musician grew up singing in a church choir with his father. He also sang in a gospel group with his cousins en route to fame. Last year, Brown returned to his musical roots with an album titled “Long Time Coming.”

Norman Witfield

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Norman Whitfield, who co-wrote a string of Motown classics including “War” and “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” has died. He was 67. A spokeswoman at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center says Whitfield died there Tuesday. He suffered from complications of diabetes and had recently emerged from a coma, The Detroit Free Press reported. Whitfield was a longtime Motown producer who during the 1960s and ’70s injected rock and psychedelic touches into the label’s soul music. Many of his biggest hits were co-written with Barrett Strong, with whom he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2004. The two won the Grammy in 1972 for best R&B song for the Temptations’ “Papa Was a Rolling Stone.” Whitfield won another Grammy in 1976 for best original TV or motion picture score for “Car Wash.” Whitfield also worked as a producer for the Temptations and others. Many of Whitfield’s songs from that era, including Edwin Starr’s 1970 “War” and the Temptations’ 1970 “Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today),” have a strong political tone. In a statement, Motown great Smokey Robinson hailed Whitfield as “one of the most prolific songwriters and record producers of our time. He will live forever through his great music.” Among Whitfield’s other songs, according to the Songwriters Hall Web site, are “Beauty Is Only Skin Deep,” “Cloud Nine” and “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me),” all hits for the Temptations; and “Too Busy Thinking About My Baby,” a 1969 hit for Marvin Gaye. Just last week, Gaye’s version of “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” from 1968, was ranked at No. 65 in Billboard magazine’s compilation of the top singles of the past 50 years. It was also a hit for Gladys Knight and the Pips, in 1967. Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press

Richard Wrght

LONDON (AP) – Richard Wright, a founding member of the rock group Pink Floyd, died Monday. He was 65. Pink Floyd’s spokesman Doug Wright, who is not related to the artist, said Wright died after a battle with cancer at his home in Britain. He says the band member’s family did not want to give more details about his death. Wright met Pink Floyd members Roger Waters and Nick Mason in college and joined their early band, Sigma 6. Along with the late Syd Barrett, the four formed Pink Floyd in 1965. The group’s jazz-infused rock and drug-laced multimedia “happenings” made them darlings of the London psychedelic scene, and their 1967 album, “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn,” was a hit. In the early days of Pink Floyd, Wright, along with Barrett, was seen as the group’s dominant musical force. The London-born musician and son of a biochemist wrote songs and sang. The band released a series of commercially and critically successful albums including 1973’s “Dark Side of the Moon,” which has sold more than 40 million copies. Wright wrote “The Great Gig In The Sky” and “Us And Them” for that album, and later worked on the group’s epic compositions such as “Atom Heart Mother,” ”Echoes” and “Shine On You Crazy Diamond.” But tensions grew between Waters, Wright and fellow band member David Gilmour. The tensions came to a head during the making of “The Wall” when Waters insisted Wright be fired. As a result, Wright was relegated to the status of session musician on the tour of “The Wall,” and did not perform on Pink Floyd’s 1983 album “The Final Cut.” Wright formed a new band Zee with Dave Harris, from the band Fashion, and released one album, “Identity,” with Atlantic Records. Waters left Pink Floyd in 1985 and Wright began recording with Mason and Gilmour again, releasing the albums “The Division Bell” and “A Momentary Lapse of Reason” as Pink Floyd. Wright also released the solo albums “Wet Dr e am” (1978) and “Broken China” (1996). In July 2005, Wright, Waters, Mason and Gilmour reunited to perform at the “Live 8″ charity concert in London – the first time in 25 years they had been onstage together. Wright also worked on Gilmour’s solo projects, most recently playing on the 2006 album “On An Island” and the accompanying world tour. Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press

Mila Schoen

ROME (AP) – Mila Schoen, an Italian designer of elegant, impeccably tailored clothes, died early Friday at her villa in northern Italy at the age of 91. Her fashion house in Milan said Schoen died in her sleep at her country home near Alessandria. Schoen began her career in 1958 working in an high-fashion atelier in Milan. Eight years later she opened her own boutique, on Milan’s Via Montenapoleone, one of the city’s most chic shopping streets. Her designs were timeless expressions of quiet elegance, and led to her being dubbed the “Signora of elegance.” Her fashion house described her vision of clothes as one of “luxury without glitter.” Milan’s Palazzo Reale exhibition hall has been planning a retrospective of 50 years of Schoen’s work, which will open soon. Many of society’s well-heeled women, in Italy and abroad, wore her creations, including Jacqueline Kennedy and Marella Agnelli, widow of Fiat auto patriarch Giovanni Agnelli. Schoen’s smart suits and dresses, with careful attention to color and line, were popular choices for cocktail gatherings and garden parties. The designer was born Maria Carmen Nutrizio in a town in Dalmatia, in what later would become mostly part of Croatia, in 1916. In 1992, the Mila Schoen brand became the property of Itochu, a Japanese group which, in 2007, asked Brand Extension Srl to relaunch the company worldwide. Schoen, a widow, is survived by a son, Giorgio, who lives in Milan. Funeral plans were not immediately available

Anita Page

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Anita Page, an MGM actress who appeared in films with Lon Chaney, Joan Crawford and Buster Keaton during the transition from silent movies to talkies, has died. She was 98. Page died in her sleep early Saturday morning at her home in Los Angeles, said actor Randal Malone, her longtime friend and companion. Page’s career, which spanned 84 years, began in 1924 when she started as an extra. Her big break came in 1928 when she won a major role — as the doomed bad girl — in “Our Dancing Daughters,” a film that featured a wild Charleston by Crawford and propelled them both to stardom. It spawned two sequels, “Our Modern Maidens” and “Our Blushing Brides.” Page and Crawford were in all three films. Page’s daughter Linda Sterne said her mother had been good friends with Marion Davies and Jean Harlow, and for about six months in the 1930s lived as a guest in William Hearst’s massive castle on the Southern California coast. “She was the best mother I could have,” Sterne said. “She was wonderful.” In 1928, the New York-born Page starred opposite Chaney in “While the City Sleeps.” The following year, she was co-star of “The Broadway Melody,” the 1929 backstage tale of two sisters who love the same man. The film made history as the first talkie to win the best-picture Oscar and was arguably the first true film musical. In his 1995 book “A Song in the Dark: The Birth of the Musical Film,” author Richard Barrios reserved much of his praise for Bessie Love, the veteran actress who played the other sister. But he called Page “intensely likable — sincere, well-meaning, endearing, in much the same fashion as Ruby Keeler several years later — and, of course, quite beautiful.” Variety wrote in 1929 that Page “is also apt to bowl the trade over with a contribution that’s natural all the way, plus her percentage on appearance. … She can’t dance, (but) the remainder of her performance is easily sufficient to make this impediment distinctly negligible.” Among Page’s other films were two of Keaton’s sound films, “Free and Easy” in 1930, and “Sidewalks of New York” in 1931; “Night Court,” with Walter Huston in 1932; and “The Easiest Way” in 1931, in which Clark Gable had a small role. For a short time Page was married to composer Nacio Herb Brown, who wrote songs for “The Broadway Melody,” but the marriage was annulled within a year, Sterne said. Page stopped acting in 1936 when she fell in love with Herschel House, a Navy aviator. The couple married six weeks later and Page happily adapted to life as an officer’s wife, hosting many parties at their home in Coronado, a city peninsula in the San Diego Bay, Sterne said. The couple had two daughters, Linda and Sandra. After House died in 1991, Page went on to return to films. In 1994, she appeared in the suspense thriller “Sunset After Dark.” Most recently, she had a cameo in the horror film “Frankenstein Rising,” due out later this year.

Don Haskins

EL PASO, Texas (AP) – The glow from Don Haskins’ greatest triumph was mostly a memory when Disney decided to take another look. Then came the movie “Glory Road” and a whole new generation learned what Bob Knight already knew about his old friend’s career — and legacy. “Don got more out of his teams and players than any coach who has ever coached college basketball,” Knight said. Haskins, the Hall of Fame coach credited with helping break color barriers in college sports in 1966 when he used five black starters to win a national basketball title for Texas Western, died Sunday. He was 78. Dr. Dwayne Aboud, Haskins’ physician, told reporters Sunday that Haskins had been suffering from congestive heart failure and died at home about 4:30 p.m. He was surrounded by friends and relatives, Aboud said. “As many of you know, Coach Haskins has had some cardiac problems. He opted not to go back to the hospital but to remain at home,” Aboud said, standing outside the UTEP basketball arena named for Haskins. As word of Haskins’ death spread Sunday afternoon, those who knew him were quick to sing his praises. “The word unique does not begin to describe Don Haskins,” Knight, the winningest men’s coach in the sport’s history, said Sunday. “There is no one who has ever coached that I respected and admired more than Don Haskins. I’ve had no better friend that I enjoyed more than Don Haskins.” “The myth that surrounds Don Haskins in the movie ‘Glory Road’ and what he did for black players is better said that he cared like that for all his players,” Knight added. “To me that tells me more about the man than anything. … There was never anyone like him before and there will never be one like him again.” Haskins, who was white, was an old-time coach who believed in hard work and was known for his gruff demeanor. That attitude was portrayed in the 2006 movie that chronicled Haskins’ improbable rise to national fame in the 1966 championship game against an all-white, heavily favored Kentucky team coached by Adolph Rupp. Nolan Richardson, who coached Arkansas to a national title, played for two years under Haskins. “I think one of the truest legacies that he could ever leave was what happened in 1966. He was never political. Those were the times and the days the black kids didn’t play at other schools, but he started five and was able to win with them without worrying about what color they were,” Richardson said. Haskins retired in 1999 after 38 seasons at the school. He had a 719-353 record and won seven Western Athletic Conference titles. He took UTEP to 14 NCAA tournaments and to the NIT seven times and briefly worked as an adviser with the Chicago Bulls. Haskins, 19th on the Division I men’s victory list, turned down several more lucrative offers, including one with the now-defunct American Basketball Association, to remain at UTEP as one of the lowest paid coaches in the WAC. Former coach Eddie Sutton said Haskins “had a tremendous impact on the college game. Anybody who’s been around college basketball dating back to those days, they’ve seen how it changed after Texas Western won the national championship.” Sutton said he hadn’t talked to Haskins for at least six weeks. “Don had not been in good health and was having a hard time,” Sutton said. “He’ll be dearly missed. He was a great basketball coach.” Haskins, born in Enid, Okla., played for Hall of Fame coach Henry “Hank” Iba at Oklahoma State, back when the school was still Oklahoma A&M. Haskins was later an assistant under Iba for the 1972 U.S. Olympic team in Munich. As a coach, Haskins became a star early in his career by leading his Miners to the 1966 NCAA championship game, then making the controversial decision to start five blacks against Kentucky. The Miners won 72-65, and shortly after that many schools began recruiting black players. “He took a school that had no reason to be a basketball giant and made it into one,” Knight said. Haskins said he wasn’t trying to make a social statement with his lineup; he was simply starting his best players. The move, however, raised the ire of some who sent Haskins hate mail and even death threats during the racially charged era. “When they won the national championship against the University of Kentucky, that changed college basketball,” Sutton said. “At that time, there weren’t many teams in the South or Southwest that had African-Americans playing. There was a change in the recruiting of the black athlete. It really changed after that. They’ve had a great impact on the game.” The coach always was focused on the game of basketball. He had a reputation for working his players hard. “Our practices wore us out so much that we’d have to rest up before the games,” said Harry Flournoy, a starter in the 1966 championship. “If you work hard all the time and if you go after every loose ball, you see things like that (championship) happen.” Haskins helped Nate Archibald, Tim Hardaway and Antonio Davis, among others, make it to the NBA. In November 2000, Haskins was awarded the John Thompson Foundation’s Outstanding Achievement Award during a tournament hosted by Arkansas. “We couldn’t think of anyone that deserves this recognition more than coach Haskins,” Richardson said. “He opened the door for African-American players to play basketball.” Former UTEP and current Kentucky coach Billy Gillespie said every conversation he had with Haskins left an impression. “I looked forward to the phone calls after each and every game. He was watching almost every game of our team,” Gillespie said. “It was just like having another coach on the bench present at every single practice. I took every single thing he said to heart. I knew he didn’t have any agenda, he was just trying to help one of his friends win a game.” Doc Sadler, also a former UTEP coach and now head coach at Nebraska, said Haskins called frequently last season just to discuss strategy and outcome. “If you were one of his guys, you were one of his guys,” Sadler said. “He was bigger than life. The word I was told was that he was the John Wayne of college basketball. He had that much respect.” Haskins was hired in 1961 as a virtual unknown. Ben Collins, the school’s athletic director at the time, said he consulted people who knew more about basketball than he did. And from the beginning, Collins said Sunday, he never had a second thought. “He was a success almost from his first year,” Collins said. “That in itself speaks a lot about his ability as a basketball coach.” Haskins’ health had been an issue for several years, stretching back to his final season at UTEP when he was often forced to remain seated during games. The program that Haskins built struggled after twice being slapped with NCAA sanctions. Serious health concerns continued in his retirement. In the midst of a series of book signings and other appearances Haskins was hospitalized with various woes. In recent weeks his health had declined rapidly, prompting friends and some former players to make special visits to see the ailing coach. “It was a blessing … for us to go by and visit with Coach Haskins,” said Togo Railey, a guard/forward for Haskins’ 1966 team. “He was still just full of life, as sick as he was. We talked about of our old friends. Don, as sick as he was, had a little smirk on his face and was telling jokes and fibbing on one and another. It was just a blessing.” After his retirement, Haskins kept close ties with the Miners. The school’s most recent hire, Tony Barbee, said he even met with Haskins just after accepting the job. “We are losing a national treasure,” Barbee said. “I am very fortunate to have had the opportunity to get to know him over the last two years. The information he shared with me was invaluable to a first-time head coach. He is a Hall of Fame coach and a Hall of Fame person.” UTEP athletic director Bob Stull called Haskins an “icon.” “He has had a huge impact on the city and the University of Texas at El Paso,” Stull said. “He remains one of the most revered and honored coaches in basketball history. His decision to start five black players in the 1966 national championship game … changed college basketball and the sports world. He will always be remembered for that.” Haskins is survived by wife Mary and son Brent, David and Steve. A fourth son, Mark, died in 1994. Brent Haskins said the family would likely schedule a private funeral and burial before a public memorial service at UTEP. “My father was beloved by the city of El Paso and he loved El Paso too,” Brent Haskins said. “It was a mutual relationship.”