Wranglers
RIP media and boxing legend George Foreman, 76. Born in Texas, he overcame a troubled childhood by taking up the “sweet science.” He won a gold medal in the heavyweight division at the 1968 Summer Olympics. The next year he turned pro and captured the heavyweight title by knocking out the undefeated Joe Frazier. He lost the belt to Muhammad Ali in the Rumble in the Jungle in 1974. He was not granted a rematch and retired in ’77. He made a comeback while in his 40s, taking the title from Michael Moorer. He is the oldest heavyweight champ ever, 45. He retired for good in ’95. Overall as a pro he was 76–5, 68 KOs. He is a member of the World Boxing Hall of Fame and the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He served as a ringside analyst for HBO for twelve years. He became a born again Christian and opened a youth center. He was a spokesman for the George Foreman Grill, which has sold millions of units. He was a sunny presence on talk shows. A father of twelve, he was married five times, the last from ’85 until his death. A great run. Kudos, Sir. Facts from Wiki, photo from amazon.com:
RIP gridiron mainstay Kenneth Sims, 65, who died in his sleep. Born in the Lone Star state, he earned an athletic scholarship to the University of Texas, where he was an All-American defensive tackle his junior and senior year. He won the Lombardi Award as the nation’s best defensive player and also was named the 1981 UPI Lineman of the Year. He is a member of the Longhorn Hall of Honor. New England made him the first overall pick in ’82. A series of injuries and substance abuse derailed his effectiveness. In eight seasons he had 17 sacks and five fumble recoveries. He was a father of two. What might have been. Facts from Wiki, photo from Google Images:
RIP Hollywood veteran Jack Lilley, 91. Born in California, he worked in front of and behind the camera. He served in the Navy during the Korean War. There are 87 titles under his name at IMDb in the category of actor, career spanning 1956–2022. He was in eight episodes of The Magical World of Disney, 32 of Zorro, six of Maverick, nine of Rawhide, twelve of The Virginian, 15 of The High Chaparral, 13 of Bonanza, 27 of Gunsmoke, 37 of Little House on the Prairie, and he made appearances on many other popular prime-time shows. On the big screen he was in Last Train from Gun Hill (1959), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), Lonely Are the Brave (1062), Cat Ballou (1967), Nevada Smith (1966), to name just five. He has 30 credits in Stunts, and 67 in Additional Crew, largely as a wrangler. He owned Movin’ On Livestock, which furnished animals for films and TV series, obviously a vital cog in the Tinseltown machine. Married from 1957 until his beloved’s passing in 2024, he was a father of three. Awesome, Sir. Photo from Google Images:
Excerpt from an article by Landon Mion at foxnews.com: “For years, Florida has been trying to return federal funds to the federal government due to the ideological strings attached by the Biden Administration — but they couldn’t even figure out how to accept it,” DeSantis wrote Friday on X. DOGE took in the $878 million. Kudos all around.
Headline from nypost.com: “Trump says he’ll cover pay of astronauts who received no overtime after being stranded in space for 9 months: ‘Out of my own pocket’.” DT and Musk are such bad guys.
No wind today at the Anti-Inflation Book Shop, so it was a pleasant stay. My thanks to the woman who delivered an amazing cache of CDs, and to Steve, the poet laureate of Sheepshead Bay, who stocked up on music and movies and bought a book by a former professor of his — Selected Later Poems by C. K. Williams; and to the woman who purchased The Power, Book 2 of 6: The Secret by Rhonda Byrne.
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