Each year, the sporting 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 life of five of the highest-profile names who departed in 2024:
Franz Beckenbauer (September 11, 1945 – January 7, 2024)
Germany’s football great who won World Cups for his country as both player and manager, died at 78.
Born in Munich just four months after World War II, Beckenbauer is widely regarded as Germany’s greatest footballer of all time.
On the field, he transformed the game in Europe. While still a teenager with Bayern Munich, he pioneered a highly innovative playing style which is now widely referred to as “total football”.
At the international level, he captained West Germany to a memorable home World Cup win in 1974.
Beckenbauer is one of only nine players to have won the FIFA World Cup, the European Champions Cup, and the Ballon d’Or.
As a manager, he enjoyed similar success, taking Germany to two consecutive World Cup finals in 1986 and 1990, winning the cup for his nation on the second attempt in Rome.
In his latter years, Beckenbauer is fondly remembered as one of the game’s greatest global ambassadors.
Kelvin Kiptum (December 2, 1999 – February 11, 2024)
Kenya’s marathon world record holder died at 24.
Kiptum exploded onto the marathon scene in October 2023 when he ran a scintillating two hours and 35 seconds in Chicago, taking 34 seconds off fellow Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge’s previous world record.
The death of the 24-year-old, who was driving in western Kenya in February when his car rolled over, left the athletics world in shock. Kiptum was expected to be one of the track superstars of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Kiptum was born in Chepkorio, a village in the Rift Valley that is the heartland of Kenyan distance running; in a strange twist of fate, it also happened to be the place where his tragic death occurred.
His funeral service was attended by thousands of friends, relatives and fans. Kenya’s President William Ruto was among those who paid tribute to one of the most gifted running talents of all time.
OJ Simpson (July 9, 1947 – April 10, 2024)
The former Hall of Fame NFL football star and actor turned celebrity murder defendant, died at 76.
Nicknamed “The Juice”, Simpson was one of the best and most popular American athletes of the late 1960s and 70s.
During nine seasons for the Buffalo Bills and two for the San Francisco 49ers, Simpson became one of the greatest 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 sportscaster, advertising pitchman and Hollywood actor in films including The Naked Gun series.
All that changed after his former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman, were found fatally slashed in a bloody double murder scene outside her 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 killings, he fled in his white Ford Bronco with a former teammate – carrying his passport and a disguise. A slow-speed chase through the Los Angeles area ended at Simpson’s mansion and he was later charged with the murders.
What ensued was one of the most notorious trials in the 20th-century US and a media circus. Prosecutors committed a memorable blunder when they directed Simpson to try on a pair of blood-stained gloves found at the murder scene, confident they would fit perfectly and show he was the killer. In a highly theatrical demonstration, Simpson struggled to put on the gloves and indicated to the jury they did not fit.
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 – he was convicted by a Las Vegas jury on criminal charges, including kidnapping and armed robbery related to a 2007 incident at a casino hotel.
Simpson was released on parole in 2017 and moved into a gated community in Las Vegas. He was granted early release from parole in 2021 due to good behaviour 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 86.
It is not difficult to make the case for Jerry West being the most important basketball player ever:
- 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 picture-perfect jump shot, stylish moves and immaculate footwork greatly influenced superstar basketballers who followed him into the NBA for decades to come, from Michael Jordan to Kobe Bryant.
Much 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 could never let go of the game he loved, working as an NBA consultant right up until the year he passed 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 93.
Mays was a beloved African-American professional baseball player and is considered by many to be the greatest all-around player in the history of the game.
Nicknamed “the Say Hey Kid”, Mays was a phenomenal centre fielder who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1951 to 1973.
His long playing career spanned the good and bad times of US baseball history. He was born into the Great Depression and endured segregation and racism for much of his career; he was also part of the early player empowerment movement that eventually led to the granting of free agency for MLB players in 1976, a legacy that exists to this day.
His most notable career achievements 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, achieving the feat while playing for the New York Giants in 1955.
