Every year, the sports world remembers the deaths of current superstar athletes and long-retired legends, each of whom influenced their respective sport in unique ways.
Al Jazeera chronicles the sporting lives of five of the biggest names bowing out in 2024:
Franz Beckenbauer (September 11, 1945 – January 7, 2024)
The great German footballer, who won the World Cup for his country as both a player and coach, has died at the age of 78.
Born in Munich just four months after the Second World War, Beckenbauer is widely considered Germany’s greatest footballer of all time.
On the field, he changed the game in Europe. While still a teenager at FC Bayern Munich, he developed an extremely innovative playing style that is now commonly referred to as “total football”.
At international level, he led West Germany to a memorable home victory in the 1974 World Cup.
Beckenbauer is one of only nine players to have won the FIFA World Cup, European Cup and Ballon d’Or.
As a manager he enjoyed similar success, leading Germany to two consecutive World Cup finals in 1986 and 1990, winning the trophy for his country at the second attempt in Rome.
In his final years, Beckenbauer is fondly remembered as one of the game’s greatest global ambassadors.
Kelvin Kiptum (December 2, 1999 – February 11, 2024)
Kenya’s marathon world record holder has died aged 24.
Kiptum burst onto the marathon scene in October 2023 when he ran a brilliant two hours and 35 seconds in Chicago, beating the previous world record of his compatriot Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya by 34 seconds.
The death of the 24-year-old, who was traveling in western Kenya in February when his car rolled over, sent shockwaves through the athletics world. Kiptum was expected to be one of the track and field superstars of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Kiptum was born in Chepkorio, a village in the Rift Valley, the heartland of Kenyan distance running; By a strange twist of fate, that is also where his tragic death occurred.
Thousands of friends, relatives and fans attended his memorial service. Kenya’s President William Ruto was among those who paid tribute to one of the most gifted running talents of all time.
OJ Simpson (July 9, 1947 – April 10, 2024)
The former Hall of Fame NFL football star and actor turned celebrity murder defendant died at age 76.
Nicknamed “The Juice,” Simpson was one of the best and most popular American athletes of the late 1960s and ’70s.
During nine seasons with the Buffalo Bills and two with the San Francisco 49ers, Simpson developed into one of the greatest ball carriers in NFL history. In 1973, he became the first NFL player to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a season. He retired in 1979.
Simpson parlayed his football stardom into a career as a sportscaster, advertising executive and Hollywood actor in films such as The Naked Gun.
All that changed after his former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman were found fatally injured in a bloody double murder outside their Los Angeles home on June 12, 1994.
Simpson quickly emerged as a suspect. He was ordered to turn himself in to police, but five days after the murders, he fled with a former teammate in his white Ford Bronco – with his passport and a disguise. A slow-speed chase through the Los Angeles area ended at Simpson’s mansion and he was later charged with the murders.
What followed was one of the most infamous trials in the United States of the 20th century and a media frenzy. Prosecutors made a memorable mistake when they instructed Simpson to try on a pair of blood-stained gloves found at the crime scene, believing they would fit perfectly and show he was the killer. In a highly theatrical demonstration, Simpson struggled to put on the gloves, pointing out to the jury that they didn’t fit.
Simpson was later acquitted of the murders on October 3, 1995.
On October 3, 2008 – exactly 13 years after his acquittal in the murder trial – he was convicted by a jury in Las Vegas of criminal charges including kidnapping and armed robbery in connection with an incident at a casino hotel in 2007.
Simpson was released on parole in 2017 and moved into a gated community in Las Vegas. He was granted early release from parole in 2021 at age 74 due to good behavior. He died three years later after a battle with cancer.
Jerry West (May 28, 1930 – June 12, 2024)
The legendary American basketball player and manager died at the age of 86.
It’s not hard to call Jerry West the most important basketball player of all time:
- West, who played in the NBA from 1960 to 1974 and won an NBA title in 1972, was the first person to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a player.
- Designed in 1969, the official NBA logo features his silhouette.
- West reinvented the way the shooting guard position was played; His gorgeous jump shot, stylish moves and flawless footwork had a huge impact on superstar basketball players who followed him to the NBA across the decades, from Michael Jordan to Kobe Bryant.
Similar to Beckenbauer, he experienced a spectacular second wave of success after his playing career ended, winning eight NBA championships as an executive with the team he played for throughout his career, the Los Angeles Lakers.
Never able to let go of the game he loved, West worked as an NBA consultant until his senior year and formed friendly relationships with many of today’s basketball greats.
Willie Mays (May 6, 1931 – June 18, 2024)
The American baseball legend with outstanding all-round skills died at the age of 93.
Mays was a popular African-American professional baseball player and is considered by many to be the greatest all-around player in the history of the game.
Mays, nicknamed the “Say Hey Kid,” was a phenomenal center fielder who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1951 to 1973.
His long playing career spanned the good and bad times in US baseball history. He was born into the Great Depression and endured segregation and racism for most of his career; He was also part of the early player empowerment movement that ultimately led to the granting of free agency to MLB players in 1976, a legacy that continues to this day.
His most notable career achievements included four MLB home run titles, four stolen base titles and one batting title. He became the seventh player to hit 50 home runs in a single MLB season, doing so in 1955 when he played for the New York Giants.
