Famous sports stars who died in 2024: Beckenbauer, OJ, West, Mays, Kiptom | sports news

Every year, the sports world remembers the passing of current superstar athletes and long-retired legends, each of whom impacted their respective sports in unique ways.

Al Jazeera details the sporting lives of five of the most high-profile names heading into 2024:

Franz Beckenbauer (September 11, 1945 – January 7, 2024)

The German football great, who won the World Cup for his country as both a player and manager, has died at the age of 78.

Born in Munich just four months after the Second World War, Beckenbauer is considered Germany’s greatest footballer of all time.

On the field he changed the game in Europe. While at Bayern Munich as a teenager, he pioneered an extremely innovative playing style now widely known as “complete football”.

At international level, he captained West Germany to a memorable home World Cup victory in 1974.

Beckenbauer is one of only nine players to win the FIFA World Cup, the European Champions Cup and the Ballon d’Or.

As a manager, he enjoyed similar success, leading Germany to two consecutive World Cup finals in 1986 and 1990 and winning the cup for his country at the second attempt in Rome.

In his later years, Beckenbauer has been remembered as one of the sport’s greatest global ambassadors.

Kelvin Kiptum (December 2, 1999 – February 11, 2024)

Kenya’s marathon world record holder dies at the age of 24.

Kiptom burst onto the marathon scene in October 2023 when he ran an impressive two hours and 35 seconds in Chicago, knocking 34 seconds off the previous world record held by fellow Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge.

The death of a 24-year-old athlete when his car overturned while he was driving in western Kenya in February shocked the athletics world. Kiptom was expected to be one of the track superstars of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Kiptom was born in Chepkorio, a village in the Rift Valley, the center of Kenyan distance running; In a strange twist of fate, this also happened to be the place where he tragically died.

Thousands of friends, relatives and fans attended his funeral service. Kenyan President William Ruto was among those who paid tribute to one of the greatest racing talents of all time.

OJ Simpson (July 9, 1947 – April 10, 2024)

Former Hall of Fame NFL football star and actor turned celebrity accused of murder has died at the age of 76.

Nicknamed “The Juice”, Simpson was one of the best and most popular American athletes of the 1960s and 70s.

During nine seasons for the Buffalo Bills and two seasons 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 over 2,000 yards in a season. He retired in 1979.

Simpson parlayed his football stardom into work as a sportscaster, advertising pitchman, and Hollywood actor in films including The Naked Gun series.

Everything changed after his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman were murdered outside their Los Angeles home on June 12, 1994, in a bloody double murder.

Simpson soon emerged as a suspect. He was ordered to surrender to police, but five days after the murders, he fled with his former partner in his white Ford Bronco, taking his passport and disguise. A slow chase through the Los Angeles area ended at Simpson’s mansion and he was later charged with the murders.

What happened was one of the most infamous trials in 20th century America and a media circus. Prosecutors made a memorable mistake when they instructed Simpson to try on a pair of bloodstained gloves found at the murder scene, believing they would fit perfectly and show he was the killer. In a highly dramatic performance, Simpson struggled to put on the gloves and indicated to the jury that they did not fit.

Simpson was later acquitted of the murders on October 3, 1995.

On October 3, 2008 – exactly 13 years after he was acquitted 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 to a gated community in Las Vegas. At the age of 74, he was granted early release from parole in 2021 due to good behavior. Three years later, he died after a battle with cancer.

Jerry West (May 28, 1930 – June 12, 2024)

Iconic American basketball player and executive passes away at age 86.

It’s not hard to make a case for Jerry West being the most important 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 inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a player.
• The official NBA logo, designed in 1969, features his silhouette.
• West reinvented how the shooting guard position was played; His picture-perfect jump shot, stylish moves and impeccable footwork greatly influenced superstar basketball players 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 Los Angeles Lakers, the team with which he played his entire career.

West, never able to give up his favorite sport, worked as an NBA consultant for a year and formed friendly relations with many of today’s great basketball players.

Willie Mays (May 6, 1931 – June 18, 2024)

The American baseball legend with excellent all-round skills passed away at the age of 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 center fielder who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1951 to 1973.

His long playing career included the good and bad times of American baseball history. He was born in the Great Depression and endured segregation and racism for most of his career; He was also part of the early player empowerment movement that ultimately led to free agency for MLB players in 1976, which exists to this day.

The most notable accomplishments of his career include four MLB home run titles, four stolen base titles, and one batting title. He was the seventh player to hit 50 home runs in an MLB season, a feat he accomplished while playing for the New York Giants in 1955.