Chick Hearn
He helped make basketball one of my life’s greatest passions.
Basketball will never be the same again.
As a big fan of of auto racing, I thought I had become immune to to the loss of race car drivers. I still remember the days that Davey Allison, Alan Kulwicki, Adam Petty, Greg Moore and Kenny Irwin died. But when Dale Earnhardt was killed, it hit me hard.
As far as Hollywood goes, John Candy was a big loss to me. I enjoyed all of his movies.
Too many to “me too” here…Adams, Gould, SRV, so many many more, etc., but I thought I’d add Jacques Cousteau to the list. I remember sitting at my desk just staring for a couple of minutes.
I also vividly remember my mother bursting into tears when I ran downstairs to tell her Grace Kelly had died.
I want to thank whoever posted that link to the Looney Tunes - I hadn’t seen it before and it choked me right up.
Jimmy Page and Robert Plant are going to be remembered by a full-out blasting of every single album, even Coda.
This was the first one I thought of, mainly because I watched him die and didn’t know it until later. That is what is most disturbing.
Carl Sagan
I can’t agree more with this. The one thing I remember the most strongly after he died was the cover of Life Magazine. It was a picture of Kermit sitting backwards on Henson’s director’s chair, head on hand, looking somber. I bawled in the grocery store.
This thread is really bringing tears to my eyes (and I just popped into the Cafe to see what people were saying about James Coburn).
The one that springs to mind first is John Belushi. I had just seen the movie Continental Divide, and I’d really liked him in that, and then hearing that he died…I remember sobbing uncontrollaby.
Others that this thread made me remember:
River Phoenix, because he was so young, and so talented.
Charles Schulz, because it meant the end for all of the Peanuts characters.
Payne Stewart – that was right at the height of my obsession with the PGA, and he was such a recognizable icon. I ran into the office of a friend to tell him, and then had to leave because I could tell that he didn’t want me to see him crying.
And one more not yet mentioned – Irving Berlin. Of course he had lived an extremely long, full life, but I had gotten so used to him being alive every year. I used to sing his music all day long every year on his birthday, and I guess I just expected him to be around forever.
I’ve been reminded of a lot of sad times by this thread.
The one that had the most immediate impact on me was of Sterling Morrison from the Velvet Underground, because I’d always imagined being able to meet him and chat about his ideas about music. When I heard that someone from the Velvets had died, he wasn’t close to the first person I guessed.
Kurt Cobain was another terrible one - I was too young by only a few months to see Nirvana when they toured Australia, so the lost opportunity was painful, and the feeling wasn’t helped by the smart-arsed comments in the newspapers here about him, and how he didn’t deserve a place in music history as much as other rock and rollers such as Hendrix and Morrison 
Wow, I hadn’t seen that image before. I just googled it. sniff…
After reading more of this thread, I’ll have to include Brandon Lee and Aaliyah and JFK Jr. in my list. Didn’t actually cry, like I did for Diana and Jeff, but the same feeling of snuffed in the bud of a creative life of huge potential affected me with these deaths.
Mark Sandman, of Morphine. Totally unexpected.
Kurt Cobain.
Douglas Adams
Phil Hartman. The way they handled his death on Newsradio was moving.
Princess Diana
Layne Staley - i’m a huge fan, i thought he would somehow get sober…
George Harrison
Jeff Buckley - what a huge loss of talent, just think of what could have been!
Shannon Hoon - it really sucks that he couldnt help himself…
Chick Hearn - a big shocker since i hadnt heard about his injury prior …
Phil Hartman
Elvis Presley - I was 7 and strangely affected by his death, probably because it made my mom cry.
Jon Erik Hexum when I was 14. I watched Voyagers and Cover Up religiously. It was very weird to me that someone famous could die.
And Joey Ramone because I love the Ramones and it hurt to think they really had done their “final tour.”
There was also a sympathy card that Disney made up to send to Jim’s family with Kermit sitting on a log next to Mickey with Mickey’s arm around Kermit, consoling him.
That’s still a sucker punch 12 years later.
Jerry Garcia-I had just started going to Dead shows in 1992. The last show that I had a ticket to (Deer Creek in Indiana, 1995) ended up being cancelled due to too many idiots crashing the gates the previous night. I will never forget getting in my car that day in August 1995, turning on the radio and hearing the last part of the Grateful Dead song “Uncle John’s Band.” Followed by the news that good ol’ Captain Trips had died. Definitely one of the saddest days of my life.
John Lennon-I was born too late to have seen the Beatles or Lennon solo in concert. He had just started making music again when that jackass Chapman killed him.
Allen Ginsberg-Yeah, he was getting pretty old and was not in the best of health at the end of his life, so it was not exactly a shock. Still, he is one of my all time favorite people and the world just ain’t the same without the ol’ beatnik poet.
Ray Nitschke-besides being one of the all time great players in the history of my favorite NFL team (the Packers!!!) he was also by all accounts a very nice guy off the field. I wish I could have met him at a Lambeau Field tailgate just once!
John Denver-like someone else mentioned, I have fond childhood memories of my family listening to his music. There is just something so disarmingly sweet about so many of his songs, something that makes you believe that things like peace and true love are really possible in an often cruel and uncaring world.
Here’s another nod to Jerry Garcia. I have never seen the Dead. It seems like I grew up listening to them, but in 1995 I was just in the process of making them “mine.” Too late. And more nods to Steven Jay Gould and Douglas Adams.
My Pap and I used to watch John Wayne movies on Saturday afternoons. I was very saddened when he died. I was young and had a hard time grasping the concept.
John Bonham
Ian Curtis of Joy Division.
Rereading my post, I feel the burning need for some pronoun clarity. I was saddened and confused by John Wayne’s death. Grandpap’s death came later.
Definately the guy who played Troy Maclure in the simpsons. I’m not sure of his name but he was a bloody grreat guy… Oh I’m going to miss that voice tear
Freddie Prinze, I had the day off from school for some reason & saw the news early in the day. It was really bad because I knew my parents wouldn’t understand, so I had no one to talk to about it.
Roald Dahl, I was even selling books at the time, but didn’t find out for a few weeks. He made me realize books for kids could have real meaning & truth in them.