Add to ORKGOver the past ten days there has been an avalanche of deaths of major sports figures. The obituary writers have been kept busy and tributes have been coming from all directions in sportsworld. The death of Dean Smith attracted the attention of sports writers and social commentators across the country. A few days later tributes came for Jerry Tarkanian another legendary college basketball coach. The passing of Charlie Sifford, golf’s Jackie Robinson led to reflections on the central place race has played in the world of sport. So too with the death of Ernie Banks came a reminder of the segregated past of baseball and those whose who pioneered in baseball towns and cities across America in the 1950s