Hall of Fame Quarterback Sid Luckman Dead at 81

Hall of Fame quarterback Sid Luckman, who led the Chicago Bears to four NFL championships in the 1940s, died Sunday at a Florida hospital. He was 81.

In his 12 seasons with the Bears, Luckman became the team’s career leader in touchdowns (137) and yards gained (14,686).

Luckman once said he wanted three sentences on his tombstone: “He had it all. He did it all. He loved it all.”

Luckman died at Aventura Hospital in North Miami Beach, Fla. The cause of death was not given.

Born in New York in 1916, Luckman attended Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn and went to Columbia University, where he earned All-America status as a senior in 1938.

Bears owner George Halas traded two players and a draft choice to the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1939 to acquire the 5-foot-11, 190-pound Luckman. Halas offered Luckman the highest salary ever paid by the team at the time, $5,000 a year.

In 1940, Luckman led the Bears to a 73-0 victory over the Washington Redskins for the NFL championship.

Luckman was named NFL MVP three times and was selected All-Pro seven times.

When he stopped playing football in 1950, Luckman’s salary was $23,000. He helped coach the Bears for 14 years but never accepted a salary.

Luckman is survived by a son and two daughters. His wife, Estelle, died in 1981.

Basketball

The Greek Basketball Federation fears that the NBA’s labor troubles will affect attendance at the world championships to be held July 29-Aug. 9.

“The absence of the Dream Team is a wound to the success of our tournament,” said the federation’s secretary, Petros Kapagerof. “We’re all definitely disappointed.”

With the NBA lockout in place, USA Basketball has removed the NBA players from the roster and will field a team composed of college players, pros from overseas and minor leaguers.

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In WNBA play, Teresa Weatherspoon’s field goal with 41 seconds left in overtime broke the game’s final tie and lifted the New York Liberty to a 62-61 victory over the Washington Mystics at Washington before 15,162. Washington, which lost its seventh in a row and its first-ever overtime, had a chance to tie the score, but reserve forward Leila de Souza Sobral made only one of two free throws with three seconds to play. . . . At Sacramento, Latasha Byears, who finished with 21 points, made a turnaround jump shot with 52 seconds to play, grabbed a rebound in the final seconds and made two free throws to lead the Monarchs to a 70-66 victory over the Utah Starzz before 5,396.

Track and Field

Mark Crear of the United States defeated 1996 Olympic and 1997 World Champion Allen Johnson in the 110-meter hurdles event at the IAAF track meet at Budapest, Turkey.

Crear, a former USC standout in the hurdles, placed second in the Atlanta Olympics behind Johnson. On Sunday, he overtook his rival by clocking 13.28 seconds, 0.03 seconds ahead of Johnson.

Despite the unseasonably cool weather and a small crowd of 3,000, Marion Jones won the women’s 100 meters in 10.85 seconds at the Zipfer Grand Prix IAAF track meet at Linz, Austria.

Motor Sports

Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the DieHard 250 at the Milwaukee Mile, giving him his third NASCAR Busch Series title of the year. Earnhardt, who led 208 of the 250 laps, earned $39,625. Elton Sawyer finished second.

Motorcycle racer Simon Crafar of New Zealand led the British Grand Prix at Donington, England, from start to finish to win his first world championship race. Four-time world champion Michael Doohan was second.

Miscellany

Kevin Ross, a two-time Pro Bowl cornerback for the Kansas City Chiefs, has told the team he plans to retire.

Ross, 36, was the Chiefs’ eighth-round draft pick from Temple in 1984. In his 14-year career, which included two seasons with Atlanta and one with San Diego, he played in 204 NFL games.

He spent most of the 1997 season on the injured reserve list after having knee surgery.

World champion Jamie Koven won the Diamond Sculls race in the Henley Royal Regatta at Henley on Thames, England, defeating defending champion and world bronze medalist Greg Searle of the English club Molesey.

Kent Steffes and Mike Whitmarsh gained their first victory of the season on the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball tour by defeating Eric Fonoimoana and Dain Blanton, 13-8, in the final of the Miller Lite Open at Chicago.