Former soccer player, famous nude model and guy who rockrd a 1970's pr0n 'stache like few others, Shep Messing is still alive (and still a terrible announcer). (I cannot post those pictures of Shep from Viva magazine!) He is 76 years old today By the way, I just learned that he was actually cut from the Cosmos for appearing in the magazine. He violated a "morality" clause in his contract. Think of that, a soccer team violating a morality clause! Athletes and pro sports teams have morals?!? Perish the thought!
And, in his autobiography, he claims 63 saves in a match against West Germany in the ‘72 Olympics, a 7-0 loss for the Yanks.
“I enjoyed every minute, even the seven goals,” Messing said. “I actually think it was one of the greatest games I’ve ever played. I made something like 63 saves. “Only when I had it did we advance past midfield – if I could punt it that far. We were just back on our heels defending … we’re 11 college kids! The speed, the physicality, the ball control – they just hammered us. We could have given up 20 goals. That’s how outmatched we were.” https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/oct/06/shep-messing-us-soccer-olympics-1972-tragedy#:~:text=We could have given up,watching how we did it.” Sadly, I cannot find the report of that match to confirm. I guess we will have to take his word for it! 65,000 fans were in attendance. Ottmar Hitzfeld (former Bayern Munich and Swiss National Team coach) scored the third of the seven goals. The US v. Morocco match (0-0 draw) had 4,000 The US were crushed by Malaysia 3-0 in front of 3,000 people. The US ended the tournament with 1 point and a -10 GD
He was quite good in The Crown as Winston Churchill. Even though he is literally a foot taller than Churchill. And American.
Race car team owner (vroom, vroom) and aging Andy Warhol impersonator Bernie Ecclestone is amazingly STILL alive. He is 95 years old today. Also, 1976 Olympic Decathlon Gold Medalist Caitlyn Jenner is 76 years old today. Bill Gates is 70 years old today. Finally, Joy Division and New Order drummer Stephen Morris is 68 years old today. Happy Birthday, Stephen Morris! A slew of actors (Julia Roberts, Jami Gertz, Joaquin Pheonix, Matt Smith-Doctor Who, Gwendoline Christie),and sports figures (Milan Baros, Obafemi Martins, Lucy Bronze) share birthdays today and all are still alive.
Lee Grant is a Halloween birthday and STILL alive at 100 years young (although there is some dispute as what year she was born). Dan Rather is a Halloween birthday and is STILL alive at the ripe old age of 94.
Singer song writer and the less famous and successful half of Simon and Garfunkel, Art Garfunkel, STILL alive and 84 years old today. In Spring, 2023 the theater where my better half works had Art Garfunkel perform. In January, 2025, they also had a Simon and Garfunkel tribute duo play. The tribute band outsold the real guy by a substantial margin. That's rather sad, I think.
By the way, Garfunkel and Oates was a pretty funny show on IFC a while back. If you haven't heard of them, Garfunkel and Oates are a comedy singing duo with Riki Lindhome (performing as Garfunkel) and the great Kate Micucci (performing at Oates). They released a few albums. Some of their songs are funny. The show follows their misadventures as struggling performers. It is pretty low brow humor, but entertaining.
There was a Dennis Leary joke about Oates and the guy from Wham forming a group called, "Yeah, Right."
Oates (Kate Micucci) went to college about ten miles from where I live. She moved to LA in order to pursue show business. Worked okay for her.