From Kobe to Maradona, a year when sports saw staggering losses

Sports in 2020 was in an unending state of mourning. There were so many this year. It was as if every week, sometimes days, another luminary fell, bringing a cascade of condolence and remembrance.

It began New Year’s Day, a harbinger of what the year held, with the deaths of David Stern and Don Larsen.

Not long after that, a harbinger of what the year held, broke the news of the helicopter crash of Kobe Bryant in the fog-shrouded California hills, which reverberated across sports and across continents.

Deep into the year, a bookend to Bryant, Diego Maradona died from a heart attack in Argentina weeks after brain surgery, the waves of grief rippling across soccer.

The losses, of course, came against a backdrop of a pandemic, its number of fatalities rolled out daily on TV screens. Sports took its place in the grim procession, even if COVID-19 was not listed on the death certificate. For fans of a certain age, it was as if the lights dimmed on a generation of players who long illuminated the game.

Bryant was among nine who died that January day, including 13-year-old daughter Gianna. He was 41, less than four years removed from the NBA, and on his way to a youth tournament. Bryant is the game’s fourth-leading scorer. He spent 20 years with the Los Angeles Lakers, 18 as an All-Star, and won five titles. He was a generational player who left an imprint with his swoops and scores, his touch and grit. Purple and gold became colors of mourning. “It doesn’t make no sense,” the Lakers’ LeBron James said. “But the universe just puts things in your life.”

SOCCER’S SOUL LOST: Maradona was the soul of Argentine soccer whose magic extended to Italy, where he bewitched Napoli fans. He carried Argentina to the 1986 World Cup title, his two goals in a quarterfinal against England among soccer’s greatest: the “Hand of God” goal -- he later acknowledged it came with his hand, not head -- and another in which he shredded an entire defense. He died at 60, his health undercut by cocaine and obesity. One commentator in Argentina likened him to the “great masters of music and painting.”

Gone from college basketball was John Thompson, as imposing and important a coach as any.

In basketball, David Stern became NBA commissioner in 1984 and inherited a league in perilous financial shape. He sprung it to life, riding the star power of Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan and reconfiguring the game for the global marketplace. Thompson, a towel draped over his shoulder, guided Georgetown to the 1984 NCAA championship. He was the first Black coach to take the title. Thompson was outspoken and big -- he could look at Patrick Ewing eye to eye -- and fierce in defense of his players.

There was KC Jones, the guard who shut down the best of players and won eight straight titles with the Boston Celtics before coaching them to another two. Jones played on those Bill Russell teams with two Hall of Famers who died in 2020: Thompson and Tom Heinsohn, who would go on to coach and broadcast for the Celtics.

Gone, too, were Wes Unseld, with his whipping outlet passes, star sixth man Cliff Robinson, Harlem Globetrotter dribbling wizard Curly Neal and ex-ABA Commissioner Mike Storen. There was a roster of coaches in Jerry Sloan, Eddie Sutton, Lou Henson, Carl Tacy, Billy Tubbs and Morgan Wootten. The Olympic flame flickered for Rafer Johnson. He won a gold medal at the 1960 Rome Games in the decathlon, an event that commanded far more prestige then than today. Eight years later he helped subdue Robert F. Kennedy’s assassin. Kurt Thomas in 1978 became the first US male gymnast to win a world title but lost an Olympic shot in 1980 because of the boycott.

There were farewells in golf for Mickey Wright, who won 13 majors and gave the early LPGA a big lift; and resplendently dressed Doug Sanders, who won 20 times on the tour but never a major.

LOSSES IN AUTO RACING: In auto racing: Stirling Moss, the adventuresome British Formula One driver; versatile driver John Andretti of the famed racing family; and Vicki Wood, a pioneering NASCAR racer who died at 101.

Also making it to 100 was Robert Ryland, the first Black professional tennis player and later coach to Arthur Ashe and Serena and Venus Williams. In addition, Alex Olmedo, winner in 1959 of the Wimbledon and Australian championships; and five-time Grand Slam doubles champ Dennis Ralston.

In soccer, some World Cup champions: Jack Charlton, with England in 1966; Paolo Rossi with Italy in 1982. Boxing paid tribute to British middleweight champion Alan Minter and Roger Mayweather, a world champ who trained nephew Floyd Mayweather Jr.

In the broadcast studio, there was Phyllis George. She put aside her Miss America tiara to become a sportscaster, opening doors for women with her work on CBS’s “The NFL Today.”