The former French Olympic skiing champion and entrepreneur Jean Vuarnet has died at the age of 83, his family has announced.
Vuarnet, who gave his name to a world-famous brand of sunglasses, won gold in the downhill event in the 1960 Winter Olympics in California.
He is credited with inventing an aerodynamic crouch for downhill skiing known as the "egg".
Vuarnet was also the first person to win the event using metal skis.
His aerodynamic ski position has been copied and perfected by generations of skiers, says the BBC's Hugh Schofield in Paris.
At that competition in California, Vuarnet also wore a new type of anti-glare sunglasses provided for the French team.
And for us older types, Vuarnet's were a must-have fashion accessory.
They were everywhere when I was in high school.
Those of us who couldn't afford them wore "Pho-nets."
Re: Worthy of mention, too obscure for own thread
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 9:24 pm
by mister d
Is that a cheaper version covered in Vietnamese soup?
Re: Worthy of mention, too obscure for own thread
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 9:27 pm
by The Sybian
Back in the 80s, I was hooked on Pho-nets.
Re: Worthy of mention, too obscure for own thread
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 9:50 pm
by sancarlos
DiS is right. Vuarnet was de riguere fashion in the early 80s. My friends and I were very anti-prep, anti-frat while we were in college, but damned if we didn't also lust after those preppy Vuarnet sunglasses they wore.
mister d wrote:Is that a cheaper version covered in Vietnamese soup?
The Sybian wrote:Back in the 80s, I was hooked on Pho-nets.
I feel like pointing at both of you like at the end of a dog show and then just leaving you there.
Re: Worthy of mention, too obscure for own thread
Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2017 12:46 pm
by DaveInSeattle
sancarlos wrote:DiS is right. Vuarnet was de riguere fashion in the early 80s. My friends and I were very anti-prep, anti-frat while we were in college, but damned if we didn't also lust after those preppy Vuarnet sunglasses they wore.
I didn't have the classic "Cat-Eye" Vuarnets in college, but I had a pair of these (the Double-Bridge) and loved them.
Broke 'em wiping out on a cat track at Alta on a really cold morning. Was super bummed.
Re: Worthy of mention, too obscure for own thread
Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2017 7:49 pm
by Rex
This one is pretty obscure, but Stephen McDonald, the NYPD officer who was paralyzed by gunshot wounds and went on to lead a pretty inspirational life for three decades, has passed. Not surprised that the Daily News would have a thorough and gushing obit at the ready, this is right up their alley: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ste ... -1.2942612
He was a pretty big media figure in NYC in the 1980's. In fact, I would put him on the Mount Rushmore of curiosities from 1980's New York local news that faded into obscurity:
Officer McDonald
Bernhard Goetz
Robert Chambers
Donald Trump
Re: Worthy of mention, too obscure for own thread
Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2017 4:56 pm
by Steve of phpBB
The female reporter who broke the story that World War II was happening (literally), dead at 105 years old.
Ms. Hollingworth, the undisputed doyenne of war correspondents, who died on Tuesday in Hong Kong at 105, was less than a week into her first job, as a reporter for the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, on that windy day in 1939.
Driving alone on the road from Gleiwitz, then in Germany, to Katowice, in Poland — a distance of less than 20 miles — she watched as the wind lifted a piece of the tarpaulin that had been erected on the German side to screen the valley below from view.
Through the opening, Ms. Hollingworth saw, she later wrote, “large numbers of troops, literally hundreds of tanks, armored cars and field guns” concealed in the valley.
She knew then that Germany was poised for a major military incursion. Hastening back across the border to the Polish side, she telephoned her editor with the news, a world exclusive.
The date was Aug. 28, 1939, and her article, published the next day, would become, as the British paper The Guardian wrote in 2015, “probably the greatest scoop of modern times.”
On Sept. 1, Hitler’s forces invaded Poland, marking the start of World War II.
Re: Worthy of mention, too obscure for own thread
Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2017 4:24 pm
by wlu_lax6
David Modell, son of Art, and former Ravens President. Lung Cancer.
Re: Worthy of mention, too obscure for own thread
Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2017 7:40 pm
by Pruitt
wlu_lax6 wrote:David Modell, son of Art, and former Ravens President. Lung Cancer.
Poor guy.
Fuck his father.
Re: Worthy of mention, too obscure for own thread
Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2017 9:52 pm
by bfj
Pruitt wrote:
wlu_lax6 wrote:David Modell, son of Art, and former Ravens President. Lung Cancer.
Poor guy.
Fuck his father.
Nice man. Had the pleasure of talking to him a few times when I worked on field at Ravens games. He would take the tobacco out of big cigars and use it as dip. Always had a smile and a handshake for everyone.
Re: Worthy of mention, too obscure for own thread
Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2017 11:25 pm
by A_B
bfj wrote:
Pruitt wrote:
wlu_lax6 wrote:David Modell, son of Art, and former Ravens President. Lung Cancer.
Poor guy.
Fuck his father.
Nice man. Had the pleasure of talking to him a few times when I worked on field at Ravens games. He would take the tobacco out of big cigars and use it as dip. Always had a smile and a handshake for everyone.
There's an interesting documentary on Netfix about him
Re: Worthy of mention, too obscure for own thread
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2017 9:12 pm
by Johnny Carwash
Actor Miguel Ferrer. Wow. One of "those guys" you'd just expect to always be around.
Re: Worthy of mention, too obscure for own thread
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2017 9:43 pm
by A_B
Totally a that guy
Re: Worthy of mention, too obscure for own thread
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2017 10:17 pm
by sancarlos
Ferrer was the son of top 1950s singer Rosemary Clooney and actor Jose Ferrer, and first cousin to George Clooney
Re: Worthy of mention, too obscure for own thread
Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2017 12:37 pm
by howard
Ferrer played my favorite character on Twin Peaks, and he is in the new one.
Re: Worthy of mention, too obscure for own thread
Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2017 11:31 am
by wlu_lax6
Earl Foreman. Co-owned/Partial Owner of the Bullets, Eagles, Spectrum, and Flyers (Brother-in-Law was Ed Snider). Played a role in NFL-AFL merger and NBA-ABA mergers. Also owned the Washington Whips (NASL) and was commisioner of the MISL https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/e ... 24940991ee
Re: Worthy of mention, too obscure for own thread
Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2017 11:55 am
by Pruitt
wlu_lax6 wrote:Earl Foreman. Co-owned/Partial Owner of the Bullets, Eagles, Spectrum, and Flyers (Brother-in-Law was Ed Snider). Played a role in NFL-AFL merger and NBA-ABA mergers. Also owned the Washington Whips (NASL) and was commisioner of the MISL https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/e ... 24940991ee
Court records show the late drummer wrestled with financial problems. In 2011, he sold his prized Palm Beach home for $2 million to pay off an $800,000 bank mortgage. Federal records show the IRS hounded Trucks. Last year, the IRS filed two liens against his $500,000 condo. Trucks had to pay additional taxes for 2013 and 2014 with a total over $540,000.
