Farewell

Bob Mathias
75

In the spring of 1948, a 17-year-old Mathias competed in his first decathlon; four months later he took gold in the event at the London Olympics. At the 1952 Games in Helsinki he became the first decathlete to win back-to-back gold medals. The triumphs sandwiched a football career at Stanford that was impressive enough to attract the attention of the Redskins, who drafted him. Mathias passed up the opportunity to play--instead he went to Hollywood and starred in The Bob Mathias Story--but made it to Washington as a California congressman 14 years later.

Susan Butcher
51

After reading about the first Iditarod, Butcher, whose two loves were animals and solitude, moved from Fort Collins, Colo., to Anchorage, in 1975. She won the 1,157-mile dogsled race 13 years later; by '90 she had four victories, more than all but one musher. After her career Butcher, who died of leukemia, lived in an abandoned gold mining camp in Eureka, Alaska, with her husband, two daughters and 150 dogs.

Steve Mizerak
61

A New Jersey middle school teacher and solid family man, the Miz was the rare pool player who didn't hustle--which was a good thing for other players. The peerless shot maker won four U.S. Open pocket billiards championships in the early 1970s. Later in the decade he became as recognizable to casual sports fans as he was in the billiards world when he appeared in a Miller Lite commercial.

Earl Woods
74

Although he broke the color line in the old Big Seven conference as a catcher at Kansas State, Woods didn't turn heads until 40 years later, when he claimed that his son, Tiger, would, like Gandhi, "impact nations." It was brash, and led some to see him as another pushy stage dad. He wasn't. Earl never forced the game on his son, never made him practice. He just recognized greatness, and helped cultivate it.

John Vaught
96

In 1935, after one unsatisfying season as a high school assistant, he was ready to give up coaching. But then his former coach at TCU offered him a job as a North Carolina assistant, and Vaught was back on track to a Hall of Fame career. In 1947 he took over at Ole Miss, where he stayed 24 years. His Rebels won six SEC titles, and the '60 team, with Archie Manning at quarterback, claimed a share of the national title.