A Brief History
On December 28, 1999, Western actor/action hero Clayton Moore died. If you are not familiar with this star of the small and large screen, he played The Lone Ranger from 1949 to 1957 on television and starred in 2 related big screen movies about the same character. Even if you never saw the Clayton Moore versions of the Lone Ranger, you are probably familiar with “The William Tell Overture” by Rossini, the theme music played for Moore’s Lone Ranger character. In the Covid-19 plagued year of 2020, we have lost another host of notable people, both to the pandemic as well as the usual reasons. Today we list some of the most notable of those folks that died in 2020, or some of the more interesting (to the author, if not the reader!). Some of these folks may not be familiar to you, so feel free to look them up and see if they impacted your life in any way. Feel free to add whomever you believe should be noted on such a list in the comments section below. (Yes, this abbreviated list is American-centric, so all you footballers and cricketeers feel free to name your fallen idols.) In this bizarre year of 2020, we also had Murder Hornets, Squirrels with Bubonic Plague, ruined college and high school sports, and a postponed Summer Olympics. Holy Moly! And we are just scratching the surface. Our best wishes to you and yours for a MUCH better 2021.
Sadly, in the year 2020, the world has lost something like 2 million dead and the United States has lost something around 340,000 dead, victims of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. If any of your loved ones were victims, we offer our sincere condolences.
Digging Deeper
World of Sports (Too many to name them all!)
Diego Maradona, Soccer (“Football” to non-Americans)
Kobe Bryant, Wes Unseld, Jerry Sloan, Tommy Heinsohn, Eddie Sutton, Curly Neal, David Stern, KC Jones, Basketball
Rocky Johnson, Mr. Wrestling II, Howard Finkel, and Kamala, Professional Wrestling
Dale Hawerchuk, Hockey
Stirling Moss, Auto Racing
Don Larsen, Tom Seaver, Bob Gibson, Ron Perranoski, Whitey Ford, Phil Niekro, Baseball Pitchers
Lou Brock, Dick Allen, Baseball
Roger Mayweather, Boxing
Shmoo, Surfer
Herb Adderley, Fred Dean, Paul Hornung, Gayle Sayers, Don Shula, Mike Curtis, Tom Dempsey, Willie Wood, Sam Wyche, Kevin Greene, Lloyd Phillips, Football
Rafer Johnson, Olympic Decathlon Champion/Actor
Entertainment (Way too many to name them all!)
Chadwick Boseman, Kelly Preston, Wilfred Brimley, Brian Dennehy, Diana Rigg, Olivia de Haviland, Kirk Douglas, Max von Sydow, Honor Blackman, Orson Bean, Edd Byrnes, Nick Cordero, Rhonda Fleming, Allen Garfield, Ian Holm, Norm Crosby, Naya Rivera, Robert Conrad, Paula Kelly, Dawn Wells, Actor
David Prowse, Darth Vader
Sean Connery, Original James Bond
Regis Philbin, television host
Buck Henry, Film and Television
Fred Silverman, Television
Eddie Van Halen, Spencer Davis, Little Richard, Len Barry, Wayne Fontana, Rock music
Kenny Rogers, Chad Stewart, Singer
Phyllis George, Beauty Queen/Television Hostess
Benjamin Keogh, Grandson of Elvis Presley
John Prine, KT Oslin, Singer/Songwriter
Carl Reiner, Actor/Producer/Director/television maven
Mary Higgins Clark, Novelist
Hugh Downs, Broadcaster
Bonnie Pointer, Millie Small, Helen Reddy, Charlie Pride, Johnny Nash, Singer
Alan Merrill, Singer/Songwriter
Alex Trebek, Host of Jeopardy
Ken Spears, Scooby-Doo creator
James Randi, Magician/Paranormal Skeptic and atheist
Charlie Daniels, Singer/Songwriter
Clive Cussler, John le Carré, Writer
Business/Politics
Luke Letlow, American Congressman-elect (of Covid-19 before he could be sworn in)
Pierre Cardin, fashion icon
Herman Cain, Presidential Candidate/Pizza Magnate
John Lewis, Civil Rights Activist/Politician
Pranab Mukherjee, Indian President
Qaboos bin Said Al Said, Sultan of Oman
David Dinkins, Mayor of New York City
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, US Supreme Court Justice
Brent Scowcroft, General and National Security Advisor
Robert Trump, Brother of President Trump
Annie Glenn, Widow of Astronaut/Senator John Glenn and Advocate for those with Disabilities
Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben, Mrs. Butterworth, Fictional Advertising Characters (due to racial sensitivity, and Mrs. Butterworth is not even a Black character!)
Other
Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, et al, African Americans Killed by Police resulting in civil unrest
Qasem Soleimani, Iranian General and terror leader
Lonnie David Franklin Jr. (aka, Grim Sleeper), Serial Murderer
Dmitry Yazov, Last Marshal of the Soviet Union
Bill Gates, Sr., Father of Bill Gates (Microsoft)
Bennie Adkins, Ronald J. Shurer, War Hero (Medal of Honor)
Leanza Cornett, Miss America 1993
Peter Sutcliffe, British Serial Killer (Yorkshire Ripper)
Samuel Little, American Serial Killer
Joe Clark, Bat Wielding American Principal
Scott Erskine, David Owens Brooks, American Serial Killers
William Terence Montague Clark, RAF Pilot/Veteran of Battle of Britain
Mad Mike Hoare, Infamous British Mercenary
Chuck Yeager, Fighter Pilot Ace and First Man Supersonic
Prom, large weddings, large funerals, graduations, etc.
Question for students (and subscribers): What famous person that died in 2020 do you miss the most? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Brown, John. I Survived 2020 Journal. Independently published, 2020
Staff. Time Magazine ( October 5 / 12 , 2020 ) – The 100 Most Influential people. Time Magazine, 2020
The featured image in this article, a photograph by RobVanDerMeijden, is licensed under the Pixabay License.
