From George Foreman to Sister Jean: Notable sports deaths of 2025

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In 2025, we said goodbye to sports figures who cemented their names in history through titles, comebacks, leadership and legacy. From the NFL, NBA, WNBA, NHL and MLB to soccer’s global stage, the college ranks and Olympic arenas, legends and beloved figures died and left behind the games they helped shape. Boxing, tennis, golf and NASCAR also mourned champions, while the deaths of rising athletes in various sports left a void that will linger for years to come.

MLB

In baseball, Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg, a cornerstone for generations of Chicago Cubs fans, died at 65. One of the era’s premier second basemen, he won seven Silver Sluggers and nine Gold Gloves, and was selected to 10 consecutive All-Star Games from 1984 to 1993. The game also mourned Sandy Alomar Sr., a longtime major-league infielder and the father of Sandy Jr. and Roberto Alomar. His best years came with the California Angels, including an All-Star appearance in 1970, and he was part of the 1976 New York Yankees team that reached the World Series. He died in October at 81.

Octavio Dotel, the first player to suit up for 13 different MLB franchises, was among the 236 people who died in an April roof collapse at the Jet Set club in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He was 51. Davey Johnson (age 82), the manager who led the New York Mets to their last World Series title in 1986, and Dave Parker (age 74), an outfielder and the MVP of the 1979 All-Star Game, also died.

Bob Uecker, the longtime voice of the Milwaukee Brewers, comedic actor known for his roles in “Major League” and “Mr. Belvedere,” and Hall of Fame honoree, died in January at age 90.

NFL

The football world lost Nick Mangold, the former All-Pro center who spent all 11 of his NFL seasons with the New York Jets, at age 41. A three-time All-Pro, he helped lead the Jets to consecutive AFC Championship Games in 2009 and 2010 before retiring in 2016. Jim Irsay, the longtime owner of the Indianapolis Colts, died at age 65. The NFL’s youngest general manager at 24 and youngest owner at 37, Irsay was later inducted into the Colts Ring of Honor and became a prominent advocate for addiction awareness and mental health.

Doug Martin, the former Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back, died at 36. The 31st overall pick in the 2012 draft out of Boise State, Martin spent six seasons in Tampa Bay, later playing for the Oakland Raiders in 2018. He was a two-time Pro Bowler and a first-team All-Pro in 2015. The NFL also mourned Dallas Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland, who died during his second NFL season at age 24. A second-round pick in 2024, Kneeland played in seven games with three starts after earning second-team All-MAC honors at Western Michigan. Steve “Mongo” McMichael, a Pro Football Hall of Famer and Chicago Bears legend, also died in April at 67.

Hall of Famer Kenny Easley, a cornerstone of the Seattle Seahawks’ defense in the 1980s and one of greatest safeties in NFL history, died at age 66. Paul Tagliabue, the NFL commissioner for 17 years during a period of major growth and expansion, died at 84. Under his leadership, the league added four teams and expanded its national footprint. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the Centennial Class of 2020. Bob Trumpy, the former Cincinnati Bengals’ tight end and sports radio pioneer, died at 80. Trumpy played 10 seasons in Cincinnati, earning four Pro Bowl selections and first-team All-Pro honors in 1969.

NBA

Lenny Wilkens, a three-time inductee into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the second-to-last player-coach in NBA history, died at 88. Wilkens made nine All-Star teams in his 15-season playing career and spent 32 seasons as a head coach, leaving a legacy that spanned generations as a leader on the floor and on the sideline.

Elden Campbell, Clemson’s all-time leading scorer, died in December at age 57. Campbell went on to a long NBA career, including a memorable stint with the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1990s. He later won an NBA championship with the Detroit Pistons in 2004. Junior Bridgeman, a standout at the University of Louisville and a Milwaukee Bucks mainstay who remained closely tied to the franchise after his playing days and became a minority owner of the Bucks in 2024, died in March at 71. Oliver Miller, the former NBA center who helped the Phoenix Suns reached the 1993 NBA Finals, died at 54.

Michael Ray Richardson, a four-time NBA All-Star, died in November at age 70. Richardson, who at times in his life preferred to spell his name as “Micheal,” played eight years in the league, including stops with the New York Knicks, Golden State Warriors and New Jersey Nets. Rodney Rogers, a Wake Forest Hall of Famer who spent 12 seasons in the NBA and won the Sixth Man of the Year award in 2000, died in November at 54 years old. And Gus Williams, the beloved Seattle SuperSonics guard who helped led the franchise to its only NBA championship in the Emerald City in 1979, died at age 71.

Women’s basketball

In the worlds of WNBA and women’s college basketball, Joye Lee-McNelis, a standout player and later head coach at Southern Miss, died at 63. She was the fifth woman in school history to score over 1,000 points, and as in 21 seasons as the Lady Eagles’ coach, she guided the team to a record of 339-308 and five WNIT appearances. Tiana Mangakahia, an All-America and All-ACC guard who starred at Syracuse from 2017 to 2021, died at age 30. Former New York Liberty and Washington Mystics coach Richie Adubato died in November at age 87. He also spent four seasons at the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks and had stints as the interim head coach of the Orlando Magic and Detroit Pistons in the NBA. Adubato’s most successful years came with the Liberty from 1999 to 2004, when he led the franchise to WNBA Finals appearances in 1999, 2000 and 2002.

NHL

Hockey lost Mel Bridgman (age 70), a former NHL forward and the first general manager in Ottawa Senators history. Selected No. 1 overall by the Philadelphia Flyers in 1975, Bridgman played 14 seasons with the Flyers, Calgary Flames, New Jersey Devils, Detroit Red Wings and Vancouver Canucks, serving as captain in Philadelphia and New Jersey. Ken Dryden, the Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender at the heart of the Montreal Canadiens’ 1970s dynasty, also died at 78. Despite playing only seven full seasons, he won six Stanley Cups and five Vezina Trophies. Dryden’s 1983 memoir, “The Game,” is considered among the best sports books ever written. Ed Giacomin, a Hall of Fame goalie and enduring New York Rangers figure, died at 86. A five-time All-Star and Vezina Trophy winner, Giacomin’s No. 1 jersey was retired in 1989.

Greg Millen, who spent 14 NHL seasons as a goaltender, died in April at 67. Popular during six seasons with the St. Louis Blues and three with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Millen led the league in saves in back-to-back seasons with the Hartford Whalers from 1982 through 1984. Bernie Parent, the Hall of Fame goalie who backstopped the Philadelphia Flyers to consecutive Stanley Cups in 1974 and 1975, was 80 when he died in April. Parent completed a 13-year career, earned five All-Star selections and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1984. Ray Shero, a Stanley Cup-winning GM, died at age 62. Over three decades in NHL front offices, he built the Penguins’ first championship team of the Sidney Crosby era in 2009. Larry Brooks, the longtime New York Post hockey columnist whose voice was a constant presence around the NHL, died at age 75 in November.

College sports

John Beam, longtime athletic director and former football coach at Laney College in Oakland, Calif., was killed at age 66. Beam, who was featured along with the Laney football program in the Netflix docuseries “Last Chance U,” also helped turn Skyline High’s football team into a Bay Area powerhouse during his 17 seasons as head coach at the school. Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, Loyola Chicago’s beloved chaplain who captured national attention during the Ramblers’ 2018 Final Four run, died at age 106.

Roy Kramer, the former SEC commissioner who transformed the conference into one of the most powerful in college athletics and created the SEC Championship Game in 1992, died just a day before this year’s title game. Kramer became commissioner in 1990 after 12 years as athletic director at Vanderbilt. Former LSU receiver Kyren Lacy, who led the Tigers with nine touchdown catches last season after transferring from Louisiana Lafayette, died in April at age 24. Kevin Mackey, the Cleveland State basketball coach who took the Vikings to the Sweet 16 as a No. 14 seed in 1986, died aged 79.

Bill McCartney, the winningest football coach in Colorado history, died at age 84. He led the Buffaloes to the program’s lone national championship in 1990, as well as nine bowl appearances over 13 seasons in Boulder. Lawrence Moten, Syracuse men’s basketball’s all-time leading scorer and “Poetry in Moten,” was 53 when he died in September. He compiled 2,334 points from 1991 to 1995, leaving a Big East scoring record that stood until 2020; the Orange retired his No. 21 jersey in 2018. Chuck Neinas, a former conference commissioner whose work with the NCAA and U.S. Olympic Committee helped define the administrative landscape of college sports, died at age 93.

Soccer

Denis Law, Manchester United’s first true “King,” died at 84. The sharp spear of a brilliant 1960s side that claimed English and European titles, Law remains the only player from Scotland to ever win the Ballon d’Or. Tragedy struck Portuguese football with the losses of Diogo Jota (age 28) and his younger brother Andre Filipe Teixeira da Silva, who died together in a car crash in northwestern Spain. Jota, a forward and winger, won multiple major trophies with Liverpool, including the 2024-25 Premier League, as well as two UEFA Nations League titles with Portugal (2019 and 2025). Silva, three years his junior, was a regular starter for F.C. Penafiel in Portugal.

Boxing

George Foreman, a 1968 Olympic gold medalist who first won the heavyweight world championship in 1973 and reclaimed the title more than 21 years later in 1994, died at age 76. Foreman, 45 when he won the title the second time, is the oldest world champion in the history of the heavyweight division. He was a longtime boxing analyst for HBO and the lovable pitchman for his eponymous Foreman Grill. British boxing sensation Ricky Hatton, a two-weight world champion who had memorable fights with Floyd Mayweather Jr., Manny Pacquiao and Kostya Tszyu, died in September at age 46.

Golf

Masashi “Jumbo” Ozaki, a World Golf Hall of Famer who won 113 professional tournaments — the most in Japanese golf history — died at age 78. Frank “Fuzzy” Zoeller, the two-time major champion who won the Masters in his first time playing the tournament in 1979, also died at 74.

NASCAR

Greg Biffle, one of the NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers, died in a plane crash along with his wife and two children in Charlotte in December. He was 55. Biffle won 19 Cup Series races across a two-decade career and captured championships in both the Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series. One of the few Pacific Northwest drivers to make a lasting mark in stock car racing, he competed full-time in the Cup Series from 2003 to 2016.

Tennis

Nicola Pietrangeli, the Italian trailblazer who won back-to-back French Open singles titles in 1959 and 1960 and was the first Italian to claim a Grand Slam singles crown, died at 92. He also won doubles and mixed doubles titles at Roland Garros and the Italian Open. Fred Stolle, the Hall of Fame Australian who amassed 19 Grand Slam titles, including two singles championships during a golden era for Australian tennis, died at 86.

Olympics and more sports figures

Dick Button, the legendary figure skater whose Olympic performances and later work as a broadcaster left a deep imprint on the sport, died in January at age 95. Button won a gold medal in men’s singles at the 1948 Games in St. Moritz, Switzerland and again in 1952 in Oslo, Norway.

Tragedy struck American figure skating in January, when several athletes were killed in a plane crash on American Airlines Flight 5342, which collided with an Army helicopter before plunging into the Potomac River. Among the victims were Spencer Lane and Jinna Han, along with Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, 1994 World Champions in pairs who competed in two Olympics. Figure skaters Alexandr Kirsanov, Sean Kay and Angela Yang, all returning from a national development camp in Wichita, Kansas, also died in the crash.

Boris Spassky, the former chess world champion best known for his 1972 loss to Bobby Fischer in the “Match of the Century,” died in Moscow at age 88. Sports commentator and author John Feinstein, who contributed to NPR, ESPN, the Golf Channel and Sirius XM and wrote more than 40 books on a wide range of sports, died at 69.

Hulk Hogan, one of the most recognizable U.S. celebrities of the past half-century and a central figure in professional wrestling’s explosive growth in the 1980s and ’90s, died at age 74.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

NHL, NFL, MLB, College Football, Men's College Basketball, WNBA, Golf, Soccer, Boxing, Women's College Basketball, Olympics, Tennis, NASCAR, NBA

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