Sports Deaths

Rich Vogler, five-time United States Auto Club midget champion, was killed Saturday night when he crashed during a sprint car race at Salem (Ind.) Speedway. Dr. Dan Anderson pronounced Vogler dead at 11:40 p.m. EDT at the Washington County Memorial Hospital in Salem, according to Bill Marvel, vice president of USAC. The crash occurred about 40 minutes earlier. Tony Floyd, an ambulance medic for the hospital, described the 39-year-old Vogler as having a "severe head injury."

The controversy surrounding the safety of the Olympic sliding track escalated even more Thursday when some of the world's best bobsledders found the track difficult to navigate, leading to at least 11 crashes over two days of training. Among those was gold-medal favorite Beat Hefti of Switzerland, the top-ranked two-man driver in the world. He was suffering from a severe headache and still needs medical clearance to participate in Saturday's two-man competition. His coach said he plans to take a practice run on Friday.

Just hours before the caldron was lighted to mark the start of these Winter Olympics, a young athlete's life was snuffed out in a horrific crash on the world's fastest luge track. On a morning training run under the first blue sky in days, Nodar Kumaritashvili, 21, of the Republic of Georgia lost control of his sled at about 80 mph as he came out of the final curve -- nicknamed Thunderbird -- and approached the finish line. He catapulted over the outer lip of the track and slammed into an unpadded roof support post.

There was skidding, sailing, a man flying off the edge of an icy track, his body crumpling on a metal walkway, a lifeless leg dangling in the air. There was a glittering floating grizzly, a snowboarder flying under giant glowing rings, beaming athletes marching under giant wool hats. Death came to the Olympics. Life came to the Olympics . It all happened on the same day Friday, the quadrennial winter celebration sliding out of the starting gate in staggering, breathless uncertainty.

Remembering . . . " Cancer can take away all my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart and it cannot touch my soul. And those three things are going to carry on forever. " --JIM VALVANO In some way, that spirit applies for some of the sports people who died in 1993, either in their prime or still at the height of their influence and popularity: --Davey Allison, 32, NASCAR driver, of injuries sustained in a helicopter crash July 13.

About the Project This is the result of six months of research and reporting by Tribune Auto Race Writer Ed Hinton, with help from staffers at other Tribune papers, among them Darin Esper of the Los Angeles Times. It sheds new light on the decline of traditional fatalism among race drivers and the need for more research and action to prevent the violent deaths the sport has come to accept.

In 1996, the Food and Drug Administration warned against using products containing ephedra -- a message that failed to resonate with much of the public. Then, in 2001, football players Rashidi Wheeler, Korey Stringer, Devaughn Darling and Curt Jones collapsed and died. Ephedra has been under scrutiny ever since. When Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler died Feb.

About the Project This is the result of six months of research and reporting by Tribune Auto Race Writer Ed Hinton, with help from staffers at other Tribune papers, among them Darin Esper of the Los Angeles Times. It sheds new light on the decline of traditional fatalism among race drivers and the need for more research and action to prevent the violent deaths the sport has come to accept.

He was the best of times, he was the worst of times. . . . There were always two of him: The Tooz, a raging, running-on-premium-and-lots-of-it, havoc-wreaking monster; and John Matuszak, a 6-foot-8, 280-pound puppy dog just begging for you to pat him on the head. The people who knew him by day adored him, remember him for his gentleness, his consideration, his unfailing kindness. The people who saw him out on the town on one of those nights didn't soon forget it.

For the second time in two years, tragedy struck the racing family of Arthur Hendrick of Chino. Hendrick's daughter, Kara, 22, was killed in a crash during a U.S. Auto Club midget car race Saturday night at the Cajon Speedway. She was pronounced dead at 11:17 p.m. at Sharp Memorial Hospital in nearby San Diego. An autopsy Sunday found head injuries to be the cause of death.

Just how fast is too fast? Throughout the lead-up to the Winter Games, reporters asked athletes and athletes asked themselves about the risks of sliding on a track labeled the world's fastest. The mile-long concrete chute lined with a veneer of ice is the venue for luge, skeleton and bobsled. It is the longest course in the world, with a vertical drop from start to finish of 45 stories. There are 16 curves with nicknames such as Shiver and Wedge and 50/50--the latter coined by USA 1 bobsled driver Steve Holcomb because there's only a 50% chance of getting through it without crashing.

There were supposed to be eight athletes from the country of Georgia in the 21st Winter Olympics. One is missing. That left the Georgian delegation in Friday's opening ceremony to wear black armbands as they mourned their missing teammate, Nodar Kumaritashvili, 21, who died in a horrifying crash during a luge training run barely eight hours earlier. The athletes followed a flag with a black streamer carried by Alpine skier Iason Abramashvili. The 60,600 people at BC Place stood to applaud their entry in a ceremony that became an often jarring mixture of celebration and grief.

Within minutes, so much was known about the death of luger Nodar Kumaritashvili at the Winter Olympics. The same, sadly, could not be said about his short life. Pictures and video from the crash in training at the Whistler track on Friday morning that killed the young luger from the former Soviet republic of Georgia were instantly multiplying and dominating the Internet throughout the day. Hours later, reporters still were trying to find out the most basic biographical information about the 21-year-old who had points in five World Cup races this season, tied for 44th in the standings.

Just hours before the caldron was lighted to mark the start of these Winter Olympics, a young athlete's life was snuffed out in a horrific crash on the world's fastest luge track. On a morning training run under the first blue sky in days, Nodar Kumaritashvili, 21, of the Republic of Georgia lost control of his sled at about 80 mph as he came out of the final curve -- nicknamed Thunderbird -- and approached the finish line. He catapulted over the outer lip of the track and slammed into an unpadded roof support post.

Notable sports deaths of 2009: Preston Gomez The longtime Angels scouting consultant who had been a third base coach for the Dodgers when they won the 1965 World Series died Jan. 13 at 86 after being seriously injured in a freak accident at a gas station. Ingemar Johansson The Swede stunned the boxing world by knocking out Floyd Patterson in 1959 to win the heavyweight title. He died Jan. 30 at age 76. Jeremy Lusk The star of freestyle motocross died at 24 on Feb. 10 of head injuries after a crash in a competition in Costa Rica.

He may have been only 13, but to his teammates and coaches at Hollywood High School, Spencer Juarez was already a "phenomenal" athlete who fired up everyone with his touchdown catches and impressed even more experienced players. Those teammates were in mourning Sunday, trying to come to terms with the death of the ninth-grade running back who collapsed on the field Friday evening during a freshman-sophomore football game against West Adams Preparatory High. He was taken to Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and pronounced dead about 3 p.m. Saturday.

Notre Dame mourned the deaths of two freshman members of the women's swim team killed in a bus crash early Friday, remembering their lives at a Mass celebrated by the school's president. Killed were Margaret Murphy (Megan) Beeler of nearby Granger and Colleen Hipp of St. Louis, each 19. "The Notre Dame community today is shocked and sorrowful," Father Edward A. Malloy told thousands of students and faculty members who filled the Basilica of the Sacred Heart.

Marred by two deaths, Sunday's Bay to Breakers--featuring more than 100,000 runners--was won by Arturo Barrios of Mexico. Barrios, the defending champion, ran the 7.5-mile course in 34 minutes 57.6 seconds. A 77-year-old man and a man about 30 died, apparently after suffering heart attacks, according to hospital officials. The victims' names were withheld until their relatives are notified. The field stretched about five miles and took 1 hour 10 minutes to pass a given point.

There were two minutes left in Friday night's football game between Garden Grove and host Westminster High School. In Garden Grove's last offensive play -- a long pass -- senior fullback Kevin Telles, 17, charged up from the 30-yard line to block his opponents. Then he abruptly fell, face down and motionless, on the 25-yard line. Several witnesses said he collapsed without sustaining a hit from another player. When he didn't get up, coaches from both teams rushed onto the field with the team physician as Telles began to convulse.

Two more horses broke down and were euthanized over the weekend at Santa Anita, bringing the number of fatalities from racing or training to seven since the meet's traditional Dec. 26 opening. The issue has remained heated with the ongoing controversy over the introduction the last two years of mandated synthetic tracks at Santa Anita, Del Mar and Hollywood Park. Dr.