To The Absent Friends of 2023 - One Final Tribute

The time has come when The Grandstander pays one final tribute to those Absent Friends of 2023.  When I began writing this blog fourteen (!!) years ago, who would have thought that one of the more prominent features of it would be obituaries for those that I called "Absent Friends", a term used by the great sportswriter Red Smith when he would eulogize those who had passed to the great beyond.   To me, an Absent Friend could be somebody famous in the world of entertainment, politics, sports, or pop culture.  It could be someone who may be known to very few people outside of a given local area.  Or, it could be someone that I had never heard of but whose news  obituary caught my eye and I found his or her story to be worthy of recognition.  It can also be a family member or a personal friend.

In 2023, I recognized forty such Absent Friends, which brings to 484 such departures recognized since I have been doing this.  As I review the list, some of them stand out to me:  Pirates hero Dick Groat, Hall of Famers like Jim Brown, Dick Butkus, and Brooks Robinson,  show biz luminaries like Raquel Welch, Burt Bacharach, David Crosby, and Tony Bennett, Pittsburgh sports broadcasting superstar Stan Savran, and personal pal Rich Morgan.

Here is the complete list.  If you want to see what I wrote about them at the time, just type their names in the Search Box at the top of this page and read on.

Lisa Marie Presley

Gina Lollobridgida

Frank Thomas

David Crosby

Billy Packer

Cindy Williams

Bobby Hull

Sidney Thornton

Burt Bacharach

Paul Martha

Raquel Welch

Tim McCarver

Stella Stevens

Bob Richards

Bud Grant

Willis Reed

Mark Russell

Al Jaffee

Dick Groat

Jim Brown

Tina Turner

Joe Kapp

Stan Savran

Cynthia Weil

Tony Bennett

Sheldon Harnick

Peter Nero

William Friedkin

Rich Morgan

Jimmy Buffett

Brooks Robinson

Dick Butkus

Tim Wakefield

Joe Christopher

Tom Walker

Richard Roundtree

Rosalynn Carter

Henry Kissinger

Tommy Smothers

RIP One and All.