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Each year, the sports world remembers the passing of current superstar athletes and long-retired legends, each of whom impacted their respective sport in unique ways.
Al Jazeera chronicles the sporting lives of five of the highest-profile names who departed in 2024:
Franz Beckenbauer (September 11, 1945 – January 7, 2024)
The great German footballer who won World Cups for his country as a player and coach has died aged 78.
Born in Munich just four months after World War II, Beckenbauer is widely considered the greatest German footballer of all time.
On the field he transformed the game in Europe. While still a teenager at Bayern Munich, he pioneered a highly innovative style of play that is now known as “total football.”
At international level, he captained West Germany to a memorable home World Cup victory in 1974.
Beckenbauer is one of nine players to have won the FIFA World Cup, the European Cup and the Ballon d’Or.
As a coach, he enjoyed similar success, leading Germany to two consecutive World Cup finals in 1986 and 1990, winning the cup for his nation at the second attempt in Rome.
In his later years, Beckenbauer is fondly remembered as one of the game’s greatest global ambassadors.
Kelvin Kiptum (December 2, 1999 – February 11, 2024)
The Kenyan marathon world record holder has died at the age of 24.
Kiptum burst onto the marathon scene in October 2023 when he ran a blistering two hours and 35 seconds in Chicago, taking 34 seconds off the previous world record held by fellow Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge.
The death of the 24-year-old, who was driving in western Kenya in February when his car overturned, left the athletics world in shock. Kiptum was expected to be one of the track superstars of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Kiptum was born in Chepkorio, a town in the Rift Valley that is the heart of long-distance running in Kenya; In a strange twist of fate, it also happened to be the place where his tragic death occurred.
His funeral was attended by thousands of friends, family and fans. Kenyan President William Ruto was among those who paid tribute to one of the most talented runners of all time.
DO Simpson (July 9, 1947 – April 10, 2024)
The former NFL Hall of Fame actor and football star turned celebrity murder defendant has died at age 76.
Nicknamed “The Juice”, Simpson was one of the best and most popular American athletes of the late 1960s and 1970s.
During nine seasons for the Buffalo Bills and two for the San Francisco 49ers, Simpson became one of the best ball carriers in NFL history. In 1973, he became the first NFL player to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a season. He retired in 1979.
Simpson parlayed his football stardom into a career as a sports commentator, publicist and Hollywood actor in films such as The Naked Gun series.
That all changed after his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman, were found fatally stabbed at the scene of a bloody double murder outside their Los Angeles home on June 12, 1994.
Simpson quickly emerged as a suspect. He was ordered to surrender to police, but five days after the murders, he fled in his white Ford Bronco with a former teammate, carrying his passport and a costume. A low-speed chase through the Los Angeles area ended at Simpson’s mansion and he was later charged with the murders.
What followed was one of the most notorious trials in the United States of the 20th century and a media circus. Prosecutors made a memorable mistake when they ordered Simpson to try on a pair of blood-stained gloves found at the crime scene, confident they would fit perfectly and prove he was the killer. In a very theatrical display, Simpson struggled to put on the gloves and told the jury that they did not fit properly.
Simpson was later acquitted of the murders on October 3, 1995.
On October 3, 2008, exactly 13 years after his acquittal in the murder trial, a Las Vegas jury convicted him of criminal charges including kidnapping and armed robbery related to a 2007 incident at a casino hotel.
Simpson was paroled in 2017 and moved to a gated community in Las Vegas. He was granted early parole in 2021 due to his good behavior at age 74. Three years later, he died after a battle with cancer.
Jerry West (May 28, 1930 – June 12, 2024)
The iconic American basketball player and executive died at the age of 86.
It’s not hard to make the case that Jerry West is the greatest basketball player of all time:
- West, who played in the NBA from 1960 to 1974 and won an NBA title in 1972, was the first person to be enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame as a player.
- The official NBA logo, designed in 1969, bears his silhouette.
- West reinvented how the shooting guard position was played; His perfect jump shot, graceful moves and immaculate footwork greatly influenced the basketball superstars who followed him in the NBA for decades to come, from Michael Jordan to Kobe Bryant.
Like Beckenbauer, he enjoyed a spectacular second wave of success after his playing career ended, winning eight NBA championships as an executive with the team he played for his entire career, the Los Angeles Lakers.
West was never able to let go of the game he loved, working as an NBA consultant until the year he died and forging friendly relationships with many of today’s basketball greats.
Willie Mays (May 6, 1931 – June 18, 2024)
The American baseball legend with sublime all-around skills died at age 93.
Mays was a beloved African-American professional baseball player and is considered by many to be the greatest player in the history of the game.
Nicknamed “The Say Hey Kid,” Mays was a phenomenal center fielder who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1951 to 1973.
His long playing career spanned the good and bad times in American baseball history. He was born during the Great Depression and endured segregation and racism for much of his career; He was also part of the first player empowerment movement that ultimately led to the granting of free agency to MLB players in 1976, a legacy that exists to this day.
His most notable career accomplishments included four MLB home run titles, four stolen base titles, and one batting title. He was the seventh player to hit 50 home runs in a single MLB season, accomplishing the feat while playing for the New York Giants in 1955.
