2012 Notable sports deaths

Former Puerto Rican welterweight boxing champion Hector “Macho” Camacho, who had been shot in Puerto Rico a few days prior to his death, passed away just before his mother planned to take him off of life support on Nov. 24.   (Stringer/Reuters)

Former Texas football coach Darrell Royal, who won two national championships with the Longhorns, has died. He was 88.   (Photo by Kirby Lee/WireImage)

Eddie “Walking Man” Yost was legendary for being able to reach base on balls. Yost played 18 seasons, the bulk of them with the Washington Senators, and led the American League in walks for six of them. He was 86 years old at the time of his death.  (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Former Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell died Sept. 6 at 87 years old.  (Brian Bahr/ALLSPORT)

Hall of Fame running back Steve Van Buren, who won two National Football League titles in an eight-year career with the Philadelphia Eagles, died of pneumonia. He was 91.  ( Louisiana State, Collegiate Images/Getty Images)

Former heavyweight boxing champion Michael Dokes died in Akron after a long battle with liver cancer.  (Holly Stein/Allsport)

Kevin Hickey, who lived out a major league storybook dream of pitching for his hometown Chicago White Sox and later served as their batting practice pitcher, died on May 16. Hickey, 56, was found unresponsive in the team hotel in Dallas before the White Sox’s season opener against the Texas Rangers.  (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Orlando Woolridge, who played for the Chicago Bulls for five seasons before moving on to the Nets, Lakers, Nuggets, Pistons, Bucks and 76ers during his 13-season career, died on May 31. He was 52.  (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/Getty Images)

Pat Cummings, a member of the inaugural 1988-89 Miami Heat, died of natural causes at the age of 55.  (Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images)

Vladimir Krutov, 52, two-time Olympic Games winner and repeated world champion, died in a Moscow hospital on June 6 after being rushed to the hospital with an internal hemorrhage.   (Alexander Nemenov/Getty Images)

Carl Beane, the longtime “Voice of Fenway Park,” died from a heart attack while driving and then crashing his car, according to the Boston Red Sox. He was 59.  (Barry Chin/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Piermario Morosini was an Italian soccer player for Livorno. He died from cardiac arrest that occurred during a match against Pescara. He was 25.  (STRINGER Italy/Reuters)

Former San Francisco 49er wide receiver Freddie Solomon passed away at 59 after a nine-month battle with liver and colon cancer.   (Dino Vournas/Reuters)

Legendary former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno died after suffering from lung cancer. He was 85.   (Photo by John McDonnell/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Sarah Burke, Canadian freestyle skier and four-time Winter X Games champion, died on Jan. 19, nine days after crashing at the bottom of a superpipe during a training run in Utah. She was 29.  (Doug Pensinger/Getty)

Gene Bartow, who succeeded John Wooden at UCLA and later began UAB’s athletic program, died on Jan. 3. He was 81.  (Joe Murphy/Getty)