Scott Oliver Hall (October 20, 1958 – March 14, 2022) was an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his tenures with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under both his real name and ring name, the Diamond Studd, and with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) under the ring name Razor Ramon.

Born in St. Mary's County, Maryland, Hall began his career in 1984. He rose to prominence after signing with the WWF in May 1992, assuming the name Razor Ramon. While within the company, he won the WWF Intercontinental Championship four times. He departed the company in May 1996, and subsequently signed with rival promotion WCW, where he became a founding member of the New World Order (nWo) faction, along with Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash. In the company, he became a two-time WCW United States Heavyweight Champion, a one-time WCW World Television Champion, and a seven-time WCW World Tag Team Champion. He left WCW in February 2000, returning to the WWF (later renamed WWE) for a brief stint in 2002.

He spent the rest of his career wrestling for various promotions, such as Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he held the TNA World Tag Team Championship once, with Kevin Nash and Eric Young. He wrestled his final match in June 2016. Although he never won a world championship in a major promotion, Hall held the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship once for the Puerto Rico-based promotion World Wrestling Council. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as a singles competitor in 2014, and as a member of the nWo in 2020. Hall struggled with alcoholism and substance abuse for much of his career and later life, and died in March 2022, at the age of 63.

Early life
Hall was born in St. Mary's County, Maryland, on October 20, 1958. He grew up as a military brat, attending high school in Munich and moving once every year before he was 15.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1984–1985)
Hall began his career in 1984 in the National Wrestling Alliance's (NWA) Florida territory Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) and soon began a feud with Dusty Rhodes. He and Dan Spivey trained together in Florida (mainly under Rhodes, but also under Mike Rotunda and Barry Windham). When it was time for the two to debut as a tag team, Rhodes sent them to work in Jim Crockett's Charlotte, North Carolina based territory. They debuted as American Starship, Hall under the ring name Starship Coyote and Spivey under the ring name Starship Eagle.

At first, American Starship were booked to wrestle infrequently, so much so that the two were given ground crew jobs for the Charlotte Orioles (which Jim Crockett owned at the time). When they did get in the ring, it was with little success. The highlight of their stay in Crockett's Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling was a losing challenge to Arn and Ole Anderson for the NWA National Tag Team Championship. After leaving Crockett, the duo joined Bob Geigel's NWA Central States territory (based in Kansas City) in 1985.

They received a shot at NWA Central States Tag Team Champions Marty Jannetty and "Bulldog" Bob Brown, but lost the match. Dan Spivey's stay in the Central States territory was brief. He returned to the Carolinas and Crockett, jobbing in the freshly rebranded Jim Crockett Promotions as "American Starship" Eagle. Hall, meanwhile, stayed in Central States.

American Wrestling Association (1985–1989)

Hall joined the American Wrestling Association (AWA) in 1985, where he wrestled as "Magnum" Scott Hall and, later, "Big" Scott Hall. He wrestled as a babyface wrestler. Verne Gagne, the owner and promoter of the AWA, had wanted to push Hall to the same heights as he had Hulk Hogan, following Hogan's departure for Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Gagne had Hall use mannerisms and moves similar to Hogan. Hall also travelled to Japan, where he wrestled several matches for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) between 1987 and 1990.

Hall formed a tag team with his more experienced friend Curt Hennig, whom he later would credit for cultivating his early professional wrestling career. The team defeated Jimmy Garvin and Steve Regal for the AWA World Tag Team Championship on January 18, 1986, in a 58-minute match in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The champions defended against such challengers as Buddy Rose and Doug Somers, Nord the Barbarian and Boris Zhukov, and Bill and Scott Irwin. They lost the belts to Rose and Somers by countout (an unusual and unexplained deviation from the standard rule of pro wrestling) on May 17, after interference by Colonel DeBeers. After losing the title, Hall and Hennig soon parted ways. Hall then received shots at the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, against Stan Hansen and Rick Martel. Although Gagne wanted to put the belt on Hall, Hall hated the cold weather in the territory, recognized the AWA as a "sinking ship", and left for the NWA in 1989.

World Wrestling Federation (1987, 1990)
Hall received a tryout at a house show in August 1987. On January 23, 1990, Hall received another tryout at a WWF Wrestling Challenge taping in Fort Myers, Florida. At the event, Hall was defeated by Paul Roma, but was not signed by the company.

World Championship Wrestling (1989)
Hall was brought into the NWA's World Championship Wrestling (WCW) territory by Jim Ross in 1989, as part of the NWA's initiative to develop new, young stars (also including Brian Pillman and Sid Vicious). He made his debut on the June 3 edition of World Championship Wrestling (the predecessor to WCW Saturday Night) in a vignette that showed Scott "Gator" Hall swimming and playing volleyball at a beach, riding boats, fishing, and scaring alligators. His in-ring debut came on June 16 on a house show in Cleveland, OH, where he teamed with Randy Rose in a losing effort against WCW World Tag-Team Champions The Freebirds. While waiting for his first television match, he continued to wrestle on the road and was winless in tag-team and singles action, facing Norman, The Freebirds, and former tag partner, Dan Spivey. Hall finally gained his first victory on June 29 when he pinned Rip Morgan in Salisbury, MD, and then entered a successful house show series with Bill Irwin.

His television debut finally came on the July 9 edition of World Championship Wrestling where he was pinned by The Great Muta. On the July 9 edition of WCW Pro he faced Terry Funk and was defeated. His PPV debut came at The Great American Bash: The Glory Days, where he participated in a King of the Hill battle royal. He then began jobbing regularly, losing to The Great Muta, Mike Rotunda, Sid Vicious, Ron Simmons, and Butch Reed. His final match came on November 7 when he was defeated by Butch Reed at a house show in Chicago, IL. After this, he went on hiatus.

International promotions (1990–1991)
Shortly afterwards Hall joined New Japan Pro-Wrestling, teaming with Larry Cameron and defeating Hiroshi Hase & Kuniaki Kobayashi March 2, 1990, at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. He wrestled numerous times for the company, facing a diverse group of opponents including Bam Bam Bigelow, Koji Kitao, Nord the Barbarian, and Shinya Hashimoto.

Scott Hall, as Texas Scott, competed for the Catch Wrestling Association (CWA) at the "Catch Cup '90" tournament on December 22, 1990, in Bremen, Germany before 6,000 fans. Hall was defeated by the Soul Taker in the tournament final.

From 1990 to 1991, Hall had a stint in the Puerto Rican promotion World Wrestling Council (WWC). On March 3, he defeated Miguel Pérez, Jr. for the WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Championship. He lost it to Super Medic III on April 20.

Return to WCW (1991–1992)

After wrestling a dark match on April 29, 1991, in Atlanta, GA at a taping of World Championship Wrestling, Hall made his official return to WCW and was renamed "The Diamond Studd", a gimmick similar to Rick Rude's (both were cocky, vain and would invite attractive women from the audience into the ring). He was managed by Diamond Dallas Page, and made his first appearance on May 19 at SuperBrawl 1. In his debut match, he squashed Tommy Rich on the June 14 episode of Clash of the Champions XV: Knocksville USA. He defeated Tom Zenk at The Great American Bash. It was during his time as "The Diamond Studd" that he also began sporting his trademark toothpicks and also debuted his trademark toothpick fling at television cameras; Page has publicly stated that he got the idea for Hall's on-screen toothpick after the two used toothpicks at a restaurant called "The Waffle House" and that he was originally supposed to flick toothpicks at cameras with Hall, but couldn't because one fell out of his mouth before the first toothpick promo. At Clash of the Champions XVI: Fall Brawl on September 2, The Diamond Studd lost to Ron Simmons. At Halloween Havoc 1991, the team of Studd, Abdullah the Butcher, Cactus Jack, and Big Van Vader lost to Sting, El Gigante, and The Steiner Brothers in a "Chamber of Horrors Match". On the November 19 episode of Clash of the Champions XVII, Studd lost to Zenk in a rematch from The Great American Bash.

After an injury sidelined him for Starrcade in December 1991, Studd entered 1992 forming short-lived tag teams with Vinnie Vegas and Scotty Flamingo (as part of The Diamond Mine stable), as well as with members of Paul E. Dangerously's Dangerous Alliance. Studd began a feud with Dustin Rhodes in April 1992 when he interfered in two televised matches Rhodes had with Bobby Eaton. The idea of adding him to the Dangerous Alliance was contemplated, but fell through, and Hall left WCW shortly after a final televised match against Ron Campbell on May 8.

Return to the WWF (1992–1996)

Debut and various feuds (1992–1993)

Hall joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) later that month, as "Razor Ramon", a shady and stylish Cuban American bully from Miami. The character was modeled after the characters Tony Montana and Manny Ribera from the 1983 film Scarface. Ramon's nickname (The Bad Guy) and catchphrase ("Say hello to The Bad Guy") derived from Montana's quotes: "Say hello to my little friend" and "Say goodnight to the bad guy". However, Inside The Ropes journalist Adam Morrison noted in March 2022 that Hall's Razor Ramon character also maintained "cocky and cool" aspects which were similar to his WCW "Diamond Studd" character. Morrison also stated that Hall's Diamond Studd character "laid the very foundations upon which he would create 'The Bad Guy' under Vince McMahon's empire."

He made his first appearance as Razor Ramon in a dark match on a Wrestling Challenge taping against Chris Hahn on May 18, 1992. Later in his career, Hall claimed he pitched the idea of a Scarface-like character during a meeting with Vince McMahon and Pat Patterson, as a joke. Hall quoted lines from the movie with a Cuban accent and gave ideas for vignettes that would recreate several of the movie's scenes, such as driving around South Florida in a convertible with a leopard-skin interior. Although taken right from the movie, Hall claims McMahon and Patterson were nevertheless floored by the ideas and called him a "genius". Hall later learned that McMahon and Patterson had neither seen nor heard of the movie, and believed that Hall was coming up with the ideas himself. Patterson and McMahon came up with the name "Razor", but agreed with Hall's suggestion that it should be a nickname, and that the character should have a proper given name. Hall later asked Tito Santana for a Latino-sounding name that starts with "R". Santana suggested "Ramon", Hall brought it back to McMahon and the name stuck. The Razor Ramon logo and costume were designed by Tom Fleming.

After weeks of introductory vignettes, Razor Ramon made his ring debut on the August 8, 1992, episode of Superstars, defeating local jobber Paul Van Dale (Carmella's father) with his finishing move, The Razor's Edge (previously called "The Diamond Death Drop" in WCW). Early on, Ramon wore large gold chain necklaces to the ring. While handing them to an attendant at ringside he would threaten "Something happens to this, something gonna happen to you", and then flick his toothpick at the hapless attendant.

Razor's first major angle began on the September 14 episode of Prime Time Wrestling, when he interfered in a WWF Championship match between champion Randy Savage and Ric Flair, attacking Savage on the floor and enabling Flair to win the title. As a result, Razor and Savage started a feud, which later involved The Ultimate Warrior, after Warrior saved Savage from a post-match beating by Razor. Razor and Flair were scheduled to face The Ultimate Maniacs (Savage and Warrior) at Survivor Series. Warrior was fired from the WWF prior to the event and replaced by Flair's "executive consultant", Mr. Perfect. Razor and Flair lost to Savage and Perfect via disqualification, for constantly double-teaming them.

WWF Champion Bret Hart was scheduled to defend his title against The Ultimate Warrior at the Royal Rumble, but Razor Ramon replaced Warrior after the latter left the company. During the feud, Razor verbally disrespected Hart and the Hart wrestling family. Razor lost to Hart at the Royal Rumble, submitting to the Sharpshooter. Razor made his WrestleMania debut at WrestleMania IX, pinning former WWF Champion Bob Backlund with a roll-up.

On the May 17 episode of Monday Night Raw he suffered an upset loss to jobber "The Kid" (who consequently became known as "The 1–2–3 Kid"), beginning a feud between the two. It carried into the King of the Ring tournament and triggered a slow fan favorite turn for Razor, as he gained respect for The 1–2–3 Kid and support from the crowd. Ted DiBiase showed no respect for Razor, making fun of him for losing to such a small jobber. Ramon helped The 1–2–3 Kid defeat DiBiase, solidifying his face turn. The feud culminated at SummerSlam, where Ramon defeated DiBiase in DiBiase's final WWF match.

Record-setting Intercontinental Champion (1993–1996)

On the October 4, 1993, episode of Monday Night Raw, a 20-man battle royal was held; the last two participants would face each other the next week for the vacant WWF Intercontinental Championship. Razor and Rick Martel were those final two. The next week on Raw, Razor pinned Martel after a Razor's Edge to win the Intercontinental Championship.

Razor Ramon successfully defended his title against Irwin R. Schyster  at Royal Rumble 1994. He also began a feud with Shawn Michaels over which man had the stronger claim to the Intercontinental Championship. Michaels had been stripped of the title months before due to "inactivity" (he was actually suspended during that time). He returned to television with his own version of the belt, claiming he was still the champion, since he hadn't been beaten for it. The matter was settled when Ramon defeated Michaels in a ladder match at WrestleMania X, becoming the undisputed Intercontinental Champion after retrieving both belts. This match was critically acclaimed, and was voted as the Match of the Year for 1994 by readers of Pro Wrestling Illustrated, and it was also the first WWF match to receive a five star rating from sports journalist Dave Meltzer in his Wrestling Observer Newsletter. On WWE.com, this match is ranked No. 5 of the Top 24 Matches in WrestleMania History.

Razor continued to feud with Michaels and his bodyguard Diesel. On the April 30 episode of Superstars, he lost the Intercontinental Title to Diesel, after interference from Michaels. At SummerSlam, Razor (with Walter Payton in his corner) defeated Diesel to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship for a second time, after Shawn Michaels accidentally hit Diesel with Sweet Chin Music.

At Survivor Series, he captained a team called "The Bad Guys", consisting of himself, The 1–2–3 Kid, Davey Boy Smith, and The Headshrinkers (Fatu and Sione). They faced The Teamsters (Shawn Michaels, Diesel, Owen Hart, Jim Neidhart, and Jeff Jarrett). Ramon ended up the sole survivor of the match. This began a feud with Jeff Jarrett, which led into the next year. At the 1995 Royal Rumble, Razor lost the Intercontinental Championship to Jarrett, in controversial fashion; Jarrett had originally won the match by count-out, but demanded that the match be restarted so he could win the title. It was, and Jarrett pinned Razor with a small package.

Razor faced Jarrett in a rematch for the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania XI, winning by disqualification when Jarrett's assistant The Roadie interfered. Jarrett retained the title, as a title cannot change hands by countout or disqualification. Razor defeated Jarrett and The Roadie at In Your House 1, in a handicap match.

Razor defeated Jarrett in a ladder match at a May 19, 1995 house show to win his third WWF Intercontinental Championship. Razor Ramon was the first man to win the Intercontinental Title three times. On May 22, he re-lost the title to Jarrett. On June 9, Razor suffered a rib injury during a ladder match rematch against Jarrett. Around this time, he had formed a team with Savio Vega, and Vega replaced Razor to defeat Irwin R. Schyster in the Free for All tournament match before the King of the Ring pay-per-view. Razor managed Vega throughout the tournament. He lost to Mabel in the final match. Razor and Vega lost to Men on a Mission (Mabel and Mo) at In Your House 2: The Lumberjacks, and lost a WWF (World) Tag Team Championship match to Owen Hart and Yokozuna on the August 7 episode of Raw.

Razor had an Intercontinental Championship ladder match (a rematch from WrestleMania X) against the new champion Shawn Michaels at SummerSlam, but lost. He then began a feud with Dean Douglas. Razor defeated Douglas at In Your House 4 to win the Intercontinental Championship, after Michaels had just forfeited the title to Douglas. This win made him the first four-time Intercontinental Champion in WWF history.

In early 1996, Razor feuded with newcomer Goldust, leading to an Intercontinental Championship match at the Royal Rumble. Razor lost the title to Goldust after Razor's former partner The 1–2–3 Kid attacked him. Ramon was originally scheduled to face Goldust in a rematch for the title at WrestleMania XII in a Miami Street Fight, but Hall was suspended for six weeks by the WWF due to his drug use. He returned to WWF television at April's In Your House 7, where he lost to Vader.

He became associated with the backstage group known as The Kliq (also consisting of Kevin Nash (Diesel), Paul Levesque (Hunter Hearst Helmsley), Shawn Michaels, and Sean Waltman (The 1–2–3 Kid)). Hall was involved in an incident dubbed the "Curtain Call" at a MSG show. Because Hall and fellow Kliq member Kevin Nash were departing for WCW, the pair (along with Michaels and Levesque) broke kayfabe by celebrating and embracing in the ring together, though the characters they portrayed were supposed to be enemies. According to Hall, he went to WCW not for the money, but because they offered him days off.

Second return to WCW (1996–2000)

New World Order (1996–1998)

Hall's first appearance on the WCW television show after leaving WWF was an unannounced promo on May 27, 1996, appearing from the crowd in street clothes and claimed to be "an outsider". On June 10, he was joined by Kevin Nash. They stated they were undertaking a hostile takeover of WCW, then slammed interviewer Eric Bischoff through the commentator's table. The angle paralleled the real-life competition between WCW and the WWF. At Bash at the Beach, Nash and Hall (now known as The Outsiders) challenged Sting, Lex Luger, and Randy Savage to a six-man tag team match, saying they had a mystery partner. That partner turned out to be Hulk Hogan, and the three formed the New World Order (nWo). The stable stormed WCW, recruiting such stars as Syxx (formerly 1-2-3 Kid) and The Giant.

The Outsiders closed out 1996 with a victory over Sting and Lex Luger at Hog Wild, and a WarGames match win at Fall Brawl. They defeated Harlem Heat at Halloween Havoc for their first WCW World Tag Team Championship. They successfully defended the title against The Nasty Boys and The Faces of Fear in a three-way match at World War 3, and then again defeated The Faces of Fear at Starrcade. They lost the title to The Steiner Brothers at Souled Out, but two days later Eric Bischoff returned the title due to the fact that the referee was not the official referee for the match. The Outsiders held the World Tag Team Championship from February 24, 1997, to October 13, 1997, often facing The Steiner Brothers, Lex Luger and The Giant, and combinations of The Four Horsemen. In May 1997, Hall and Nash teamed with Masahiro Chono to defeat the Steiner Brothers and Keiji Mutoh at New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW)'s Strong Style Evolution in the Osaka Dome.

Since Eric Bischoff (the Executive Vice President of WCW) was a member of the nWo, he used his power to return the title to The Outsiders on a technicality whenever they lost it. The Outsiders would also use the Freebird Rule to defend their title. With Nash and Syxx out with injuries, Hall mostly wrestled singles matches in the last quarter of 1997, and in one of them he submitted to Lex Luger in a grudge match at Halloween Havoc, with Larry Zbyszko as the guest referee. Hall won the 60-man battle royal at World War 3 in November 1997 to earn a shot at the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.

On the January 12, 1998, episode of Nitro, The Outsiders defeated The Steiner Brothers to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship for a fourth time. Hall wrestled Larry Zbyszko at Souled Out and lost by disqualification. The Outsiders lost the title back to The Steiner Brothers on the February 9 episode of Nitro. At SuperBrawl VIII, The Outsiders won the WCW World Tag Team Championship for a fifth time, again by defeating The Steiner Brothers. At Uncensored, Hall got his WCW World Heavyweight Championship shot against Sting, losing the match despite interference on his behalf from Dusty Rhodes. Hall was (legitimately) taken off TV for a short while and forced by WCW to enter rehab, after he and Nash showed up to the March 16, 1998, episode of Nitro heavily intoxicated and under the influence of painkillers. While Hall was absent, the nWo split into two feuding factions. At Slamboree, Hall returned to team with Kevin Nash, for a tag team title defense against Sting and The Giant. Hall turned on Nash, costing them the title, and switched sides to align himself with Hulk Hogan and his splinter faction, nWo Hollywood.

On the July 6 episode of Nitro, Hall was handpicked by Hogan to wrestle United States Heavyweight Champion Bill Goldberg. Hall lost the match, giving Goldberg a shot at Hogan's World Heavyweight Championship later that night (which Goldberg won). Hogan publicly blamed Hall for the loss, and Hall was treated as a "weak link" by the rest of the nWo, especially Scott Steiner. On July 13, Hogan challenged Hall to a match on Nitro, during which Kevin Nash (leader of the nWo "Wolfpac" faction) interfered, but as he was apparently about to Jacknife Powerbomb Hogan and regain Hall as his friend, Hall viciously attacked him, proving his allegiance to Hogan and nWo Hollywood. In the following weeks, Hall mocked Nash, calling himself "Medium Sexy (later "Super Sexy"), the Nash Killer". On the July 20 episode of Nitro, Hall (with The Giant) won the WCW World Tag Team Championship for a sixth time, defeating Sting and Nash after outside interference from Bret Hart (who was feuding with Sting at the time). This reign ended at Halloween Havoc, when Rick Steiner defeated The Giant and Scott Steiner (who replaced Hall) to win the title, even after Rick's partner Buff Bagwell had turned on him. Hall and Nash faced each other on October 25 at Halloween Havoc. After hitting Hall with two Jacknife Powerbombs, Nash left the ring and lost the match by countout, in what was described by the commentators as an act of mercy.

Hall was ejected from nWo Hollywood in late 1998, after Scott Steiner took control of the group in Hogan's absence, and then referred to himself as "The Lone Wolf". On November 30, 1998, Hall needed a tag team partner to face Steiner and Horace Hogan. Initially, Hall said he would do it alone, but Kevin Nash came to the entrance and offered his help. The team (no longer billed as The Outsiders) won the match. At Starrcade, Hall, disguised as a security guard, used a stun gun on WCW World Heavyweight Champion Goldberg during his title defense against Kevin Nash. Not having seen the interference, Nash powerbombed and covered Goldberg to become the WCW World Heavyweight Champion, and break Goldberg's 173 match winning streak.

nWo reunion and championship reigns (1999–2000)
Hall and Nash were allied again and, in January 1999, the two nWo factions rejoined. Hall feuded with Goldberg and faced him in a ladder taser match on January 19 at Souled Out. He lost the match when Goldberg used the taser gun on him.

At SuperBrawl IX, Hall defeated Roddy Piper for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship. Shortly after, he suffered a foot injury which forced him to forfeit the title. Hall was not seen again until October 1999, when he and Kevin Nash began sitting at ringside during WCW television, proclaiming "the band was getting back together."

On the November 8 episode of Nitro, Hall defeated Goldberg, Bret Hart, and Sid Vicious in a Texas tornado ladder match to regain the United States Heavyweight Championship. Two weeks later, at Mayhem, he won the WCW World Television Championship after Rick Steiner forfeited the match due to injury. He successfully defended both titles against Booker T later that night. Eight days later, on Nitro, Hall vacated the Television title by throwing it into a trash can. He was soon stripped of his United States title, after being sidelined with a knee injury.

Hall and Nash teamed up to defeat Bret Hart and Goldberg on the December 13 episode of Nitro, winning the WCW World Tag Team Championship for the sixth time. After the nWo returned in December 1999, Hall joined Nash, Bret Hart, Jeff Jarrett, and Scott Steiner in what was coined "nWo 2000". However, Hall was injured again thereafter and the tag team titles were vacated.

In 2000, Hall feuded with WCW World Heavyweight Champion Sid Vicious and nWo teammate Jeff Jarrett over the world title, but he was pinned by Sid in a three-way match with Jarrett at SuperBrawl on February 20, 2000, in what would be his last match with the company.

Extreme Championship Wrestling and Japan (2000–2001)

After departing WCW in early 2000, Hall was inactive for several months. On November 10, 2000, he made a surprise appearance at an Extreme Championship Wrestling house show in Schenectady, New York, teaming with Jerry Lynn to defeat Justin Credible and Rhino. The following day, in Poughkeepsie, New York, Hall defeated Justin Credible, then lost to Sal E. Graziano.

In March 2001, Hall returned to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where he joined the Team 2000 stable. During his tenure with NJPW, Hall primarily teamed with Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Scott Norton, and his other stablemates in a series of tag team matches and six-man tag team matches. Hall wrestled for NJPW until September 2001, with his final bout being a title match against Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion Keiji Muto.

Second return to WWF/E (2002)

On the January 24, 2002, episode of SmackDown!, WWF co-owner Vince McMahon stated that his company had a "cancer", and that he would inject the WWF with a "lethal dose of poison", so he would no longer have to share ownership of the WWF with Ric Flair. He then revealed the "poison" to be the nWo, who would help McMahon destroy his own company, before it could be ruined by anyone else. Six years after defecting from the promotion, Hall returned to the WWF on February 17 at the No Way Out pay-per-view, and was reunited with Kevin Nash and Hollywood Hogan in a repackaged nWo. Later on the February 25 episode of Raw, the nWo attacked Stone Cold Steve Austin, Hall destroyed a cinder block on Austin's leg. On the March 4 episode of Raw, Hall wrestled his first WWF match since May 1996, defeating Spike Dudley.

At WrestleMania X8, Hall lost to Austin, his first loss at a WrestleMania. Later in the night, after Hollywood Hogan had lost to the Rock, Hogan proceeded to shake the Rock's hand out of respect, thus turning his back on the nWo. Hall and Nash then attempted to attack Hogan and Rock, but were promptly dispatched by the duo. Hall and Nash later recruited X-Pac (formerly Syxx and 1-2-3 Kid) into the nWo on the following episode of SmackDown!. On the March 25 episode of Raw, Hall was drafted to the Raw brand with the rest of the nWo, as a result of the WWF draft lottery. Hall faced Bradshaw in a match at Backlash, which he won with help from X-Pac. On the next night on Raw, Hall and X-Pac took on Austin and Big Show. Late in the match Big Show chokeslammed Austin and joined the nWo.

On May 5, on a flight back from England (following a tour leading to the Insurrextion pay-per-view) to the United States, retroactively dubbed "The Plane Ride From Hell", Hall became intoxicated. Taralyn Cappellano and Heidi Doyle, who served as flight attendants during the flight, accused Hall and several other wrestlers of behaving in a sexually inappropriate manner during the trip. In Hall's case, he was accused of licking Doyle's face, and making sexual remarks to the two women. The case was ultimately settled out of court. The incident would have renewed interest in September 2021 after it was featured in the documentary series Dark Side of the Ring. Hall's last appearance for the company was the following night on Raw, wrestling in a six-man tag match with Big Show and X-Pac against Austin, Bradshaw and Ric Flair, which ended in a no contest. He was released from the promotion the following day due to ongoing issues stemming from his substance abuse.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2002–2005, 2007–2008)

Hall worked for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) briefly in 2002, appearing on their first pay-per-view event. On the July 31 NWA-TNA PPV, Hall lost to Jeff Jarrett in a Stretcher match. On the September 18 NWA-TNA PPV, Hall and Syxx-Pac competed in the Tag Team Gauntlet for the Gold Match but did not win. On the September 25 NWA-TNA PPV, Hall and Syxx-Pac defeated Elix Skipper and Brian Lawler. On October 23 NWA-TNA PPV, Hall defeated Jeff Jarrett. On October 30 NWA-TNA PPV, Hall got a shot at the NWA World Heavyweight Championship but lost to Ron Killings. Hall would leave NWA-TNA after his match with Killings.

In late 2004, Hall returned to TNA, along with Kevin Nash, as TNA prepared for their first monthly pay-per-view, Victory Road. Hall joined Nash and Jeff Jarrett in the stable The Kings of Wrestling. On the November 26 episode of Impact, Hall defeated A.J. Styles. at Turning Point, The Kings of Wrestling lost to Randy Savage, Jeff Hardy, and A.J. Styles. On the December 24 episode of Impact, Hall interrupted a "In The Pit with Piper" and confronted Héctor Garza which led to a match a week later on the December 31 episode of Impact where Hall won the match. Hall lost to Hardy at Final Resolution on January 16, 2005. After this, he took some time off.

On the November 1, 2007, episode of Impact!, Kevin Nash "predicted" Hall would be Sting's mystery partner at Genesis. The next week, Hall made his return, rebuffing the romantic advances of Kurt Angle's wife, Karen, then battling Kurt in his dressing room. He stated he was in TNA solely to confront Nash. Hall asked Nash why he was not there to help him in his troubled past, and Nash responded that it was a result of his own nonstop partying and risk of losing his family. Hall then claimed that all was forgiven and the two embraced in the ring. He also revealed that he was not Sting's mystery partner. On the November 15 episode of Impact!, The reunited Outsiders and Samoa Joe began a feud with The Angle Alliance. On the November 29 episode of Impact, Hall and Nash came out to the stage and clapped for Samoa Joe after his match. They were scheduled to compete together at Turning Point, but Hall no-showed. At Turning Point (2008), Hall and the Insane Clown Posse (ICP) were seen in attendance. This was later revealed to have been scripted to occur, as TNA had asked ICP to attend the event, but were unaware of Hall being their guest.

Return to the WWC (2007)

On July 13, Hall made his return to wrestling for the World Wrestling Council (WWC) as Razor Ramon (though wearing WolfPac themed attire). He wrestled the main event of a WWC Anniversary tour show at the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum in San Juan, against Carlito. He lost after Apollo interfered on Carlito's behalf.

The next night, Hall won his second World Championship, the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship, by defeating Carlito and champion Apollo in a Three-Way Dance main event. On August 4 and September 23, Hall successfully defended the title against Eddie Colón. On October 27, managed by Rico Casanova, he retained the title at WWC's Halloween Wrestling Xtravaganza, defeating Orlando "Fireblaze" Colon. Razor Ramon was scheduled to fight on December 14 in Ponce and December 15 in Caguas but did not show up. Hall began to have emotional problems, and with the drink, eventually he could not compete leaving the strap thus his scheduled opponent Biggie Size proclaimed himself champion.

Juggalo Championship Wrestling (2007–2009)
Hall made his Juggalo Championship Wrestling (JCW) debut on August 12, 2007, at Bloodymania, losing to JCW Heavyweight Champion Corporal Robinson. In this match, Hall took his first ever bump on thumbtacks.

On October 6, 2007, at Evansville Invasion, Corporal Robinson, Hall, and Violent J formed the Juggalo World Order (JWO) stable. At the 2007 Hallowicked After Party, on October 31, Shaggy 2 Dope was introduced as a member of the group. After the main event, special guest referee Nosawa ripped off his referee shirt to reveal that he, too, was a member of the JWO. At Bloodymania II, Hall teamed with Kevin Nash, who proclaimed himself a member of the group. At the 2008 Hallowicked After Party, the JWO inducted its newest member, 2 Tuff Tony.

On November 9, the JWO "invaded" Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's Turning Point PPV, by purchasing front row tickets to the event. They promote their faction by flashing their JWO jerseys, before being removed from the building. The group expressed interest in "invading" WWE's 2009 Royal Rumble, but were unable, due to filming commitments for Big Money Rustlas in Los Angeles. They have also shown interest in "invading" Ring of Honor and Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Return to TNA (2010)

On the January 4, 2010, three-hour Monday night live episode of Impact!, Hall and Waltman returned to TNA. That same night, Hulk Hogan made his TNA debut. Hall, Nash and Waltman quickly reformed their alliance, but Hogan kept himself out of the group, claiming "times have changed". The following week, the revived alliance was named "The Band".

Hall was scheduled to team with Nash at Genesis in a match against Beer Money, Inc., but was replaced by Waltman (as Syxx-Pac). In the end, Hall inadvertently cost his stablemates the match. On the next episode of Impact!, Hogan, displeased with the actions of The Band, had security remove Hall and Waltman from the arena, since they were not under contract with TNA. Despite this, Hall and Syxx-Pac continued returning to Impact! to assault various wrestlers. On the February 4 episode, they turned on Nash and beat him down. On the February 11 episode of Impact! Hall and Waltman attacked Kurt Angle until Hogan made the save. On the February 18 episode of Impact! Hall and Waltman had a brawl with Nash and Eric Young. On the February 25 episode of Impact! Hall and Waltman had a brawl with Nash and Young in the parking lot. On the March 15 episode of Impact! Hall defeated Nash in a 5-Min $25,000 challenge after interference from Waltman. At Destination X, Hall and Syxx-Pac faced Nash and Young in a tag team match, with The Band's TNA future on the line. In the end, Nash turned on Young and helped The Band win, earning them contracts with TNA.

On the March 29 episode of Impact!, The Band lost a six-man tag team steel cage match to Eric Young, Rob Van Dam and Jeff Hardy. On the April 5 episode of Impact!, The Band interfered in a match and attacked both Team 3D and The Motor City Machine Guns. On the April 12 episode of Impact!, The Band (Hall, Nash, Waltman) defeated Team 3-D and Jesse Neal in a Street Fight. At Lockdown, Hall and Nash lost to Team 3D in a Steel Cage match. On the May 3 Impact!, Eric Young turned on Team 3D and joined The Band. On May 4, at the taping of the May 13 episode of Impact!, Hall teamed with Nash, cashed in his "Feast or Fired" contract and defeated Matt Morgan to win the TNA World Tag Team Championship. Nash later declared Young one third of the champions, citing the "Freebird Rule".

At Sacrifice (2010), Hall and Nash defeated Ink Inc. (Jesse Neal and Shannon Moore) to retain the titles. On the June 10 episode of Impact!, The Band defeated Matt Morgan (by himself) to retain their titles and this was Hall's final appearance in TNA. On the June 14 Impact!, The Band was stripped of the Tag Team Championship, due to Hall's real-life legal problems. The next day, it was announced that Hall had been released from TNA after 8 years of working part-time for the company and subsequently retired from professional wrestling.

Late career (2010–2021)

On March 24, 2014, Razor Ramon was announced as the seventh and final inductee into that year's class of the WWE Hall of Fame. He was inducted in New Orleans on April 5, the night before WrestleMania XXX. Shawn Michaels, Triple H, X-Pac and Kevin Nash joined Hall onstage after his speech, reuniting The Kliq. WWE promotional material for the event referred to him solely as Razor Ramon, without footage or mention of his work under his real name. At WrestleMania XXX, Hall, as Razor Ramon, appeared onstage with the other Hall of Fame inductees. Hall appeared on the August 11, 2014, episode of Raw for the first time since 2002 to reunite the New World Order with Nash and Hulk Hogan to celebrate Hogan's birthday.

On the January 19, 2015, episode of Raw, Hall appeared with X-Pac and Nash to reunite the nWo, and along with the APA and The New Age Outlaws they beat down The Ascension, who had been insulting legends from past years.

On May 13, 2015, Global Force Wrestling (GFW) announced Hall as part of their roster. On May 18, 2015, Hall was released from GFW.

At WrestleMania 31 in March 2015, Hall, along with Nash and Hogan, reunited as the nWo to help their old foe Sting in his match against Triple H, who had D-Generation X helping on his behalf. On January 30, 2016, Hall took part in World Association of Wrestling television tapings at Epic Studios in Norwich, England. It was aired on Mustard TV on September 10. In March 2016, Razor Ramon was backstage at WrestleMania 32 celebrating with the new Intercontinental Champion Zack Ryder. The following night on an online Raw Fallout segment, he asked The Miz to give Ryder a rematch for the Intercontinental Championship.

Hall wrestled his last match on June 17, 2016, defeating Chuck Taylor for the DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship at F1RST Wrestling in Des Moines, Iowa. He would lose the title the same day by forfeit after getting tricked into saying "I give up" off a sheet of paper.

On Raw 25 Years on January 22, 2018, Hall (as "Razor Ramon") returned in a segment featuring D-Generation X, The Bálor Club, and The Revival. Hall also returned to WWE for the RAW Reunion show on July 22, 2019. Hall was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame a second time as a member of the New World Order, together with stablemates Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Sean Waltman, as part of the Hall's class of 2020. The induction of the 2020 honorees took place in April 2021 due to the previous year's ceremony being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Legal issues
In 1983, after wrestling a gun away from a man in an altercation outside of a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, Hall was charged with second-degree murder after shooting the man in the head with his own gun. According to Hall, this was done in self-defense. The charges were dropped due to lack of evidence. In a 2011 interview for ESPN, Hall said he was unable to forget the incident.

In 1998, Hall was arrested for groping a 56-year-old woman outside a hotel in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

On October 10, 2008, Hall was arrested during a roast of The Iron Sheik held at a Crowne Plaza hotel in New Jersey. A comedian, Jimmy Graham, had joked about Owen Hart's death by saying, "After The Sheik and Hacksaw Jim Duggan got caught snorting coke in the parking lot, his career fell faster than Owen Hart." An enraged Hall charged at Graham, knocked down a lectern, grabbed the microphone from Graham, and yelled about how the joke was disrespectful to Hart, Graham described the incident on his MySpace page, claiming Hall was drunk at the time of the attack.

Hall was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and resisting a police officer on May 14, 2010. Police were called to the Hitching Post Bar in Chuluota, Florida, after Hall "became aggressive". According to the police report, he had been "drinking heavily". When they arrived, they found him yelling and cursing at independent professional wrestling personalities and bar staff. Hall was told he was not allowed to return to the establishment. In his police statement, Hall described himself as an unemployed professional wrestler, despite having a job with TNA Wrestling, who would release him a month later.

On April 6, 2012, Hall was again arrested in Chuluota, Florida. The arrest was later reported to be for a domestic disturbance involving his girlfriend, Lisa Howell; Hall allegedly choked Howell while he was drunk. He was taken to a hospital to be medically cleared prior to being taken to a drunk tank. Hall denied the choking allegations. The prosecutor dropped the charges, citing insufficient evidence.

Personal life
Hall married Dana Lee Burgio in 1990. They divorced in 1998 due to Hall's drug use. They remarried in 1999 and divorced again in 2001. They had a son named Cody (born 1991), who also became a wrestler, and a daughter named Cassidy (born 1995). Hall married his second wife, Jessica Hart, in 2006. They divorced in 2007.

Hall's problems with drugs and alcohol were made public in the late 1990s and were incorporated into a controversial WCW storyline. While the storyline was playing out, Hall was legitimately arrested for keying a limousine while intoxicated outside of a night club in Orlando, Florida, causing $2,000 in damages.

After his release from TNA in 2010, Hall checked into rehab paid for by WWE. Hall checked out of the rehab facility in early October 2010. Weeks after he checked into rehab, Hall had both a defibrillator and a pacemaker implanted in his chest. He was hospitalized twice in 2010 for double pneumonia. During this time, Hall started having seizures and was soon diagnosed with epilepsy, resulting in him requiring to take eleven different medications on a daily basis to treat his heart and seizure problems. On April 6, 2011, Hall was reportedly taken to the hospital due to a seizure. Hall's representative, Geena Anac, said Hall was in the hospital that night to be treated for extremely low blood pressure, and that Hall visits his doctor on a regular basis for blood work and checkups while recovering from double pneumonia. Three days later, TMZ reported Hall had been taken to a hospital, treated for cardiac issues and remained in the hospital for three days. According to medical reports, Hall was being treated after overdosing on both opioids and benzodiazepines. During an interview which took place on Kayfabe Commentaries journalist Sean Oliver's YouShoot segment in 2009, Hall admitted that he had a history of smoking marijuana as well.

Longtime friend Kevin Nash claimed Hall's substance abuse stemmed from post-traumatic stress disorder when he was forced to use an assailant's gun against him in self defence. In October 2011, ESPN's E:60 featured a documentary detailing Hall's experience with drugs and alcohol. It included interviews with several of Hall's family members including his ex-wife and his son, Cody, as well as several prominent figures and close friends from the wrestling industry such as Hogan, Nash, Waltman, Bischoff, and Stephanie McMahon. In early 2013, former professional wrestler Diamond Dallas Page invited Hall into his home in order for Hall to stay sober and "rebuild his life from the ground up... physically, mentally, professionally, and spiritually". Page also initiated a fundraising drive, which raised nearly $110,000 ($30,000 over their $80,000 goal) to pay for hip replacement surgery and dental work for Hall.

Death
In March 2022, Hall was hospitalised after falling and breaking his hip. He was immobile on the floor for days before being discovered during a wellness check by his friend Diamond Dallas Page, who took him to the hospital. After Hall underwent hip replacement surgery, a blood clot was dislodged, and resulted in Hall having three heart attacks on March 12, 2022, after which he was put on life support at WellStar Kennestone Hospital in Marietta, Georgia. He was taken off life support on March 14, 2022, after his family had travelled to see and be with him at hospital, and with them at his bedside, before he died about 4 or 6 hours later at the age of 63.  WWE announced his death later during that day's Raw episode with a tribute video.

Four days after Hall's death, Waltman revealed to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Hall had relapsed back into alcohol abuse when the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns rendered him unable to have social interactions, and at one point he had dropped weight down to  from his usual . Waltman also revealed that Hall was in particularly bad shape the night before the 2021 Hall of Fame induction ceremony, and even passed out at a bar. Waltman also stated Hall's condition worsened throughout the two years prior to his death and that he had offered to move in with Hall in February 2022 to help with his health issues. Page also returned to help with Hall's alcoholism.

Hall was buried on April 8, 2022, at Trinity Church Cemetery at St. Mary's, Maryland, his hometown, and the service was attended by fellow wrestlers Kevin Nash, Sean Waltman, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and Page.

Other media
During Hall's fourth reign as WWF Intercontinental Champion, he appeared in character as Razor Ramon on The Jerry Springer Show. As part of his appearance, Hall handed the Intercontinental Championship belt, T-shirts, chain necklaces, and tickets to WrestleMania XII to two preteens that had gotten ceremonially—but not legally—married on an episode of the show two years prior. Both of the preteens had AIDS, and one of them was a wrestling fan who liked Ramon. Hall did not work at WrestleMania XII due to his suspension.

On August 24, 2009, Hall began hosting a show on YouTube called Last Call with Scott Hall. Guests included Sid Vicious, Kevin Nash, Ricky Ortiz, Larry Zbyszko, and Sean Waltman.

On August 20, 2013, Hall appeared on HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, along with Diamond Dallas Page and Jake Roberts to talk about how he and Roberts had been recuperating since moving in with Page.

In 2015, Hall was a subject in the film The Resurrection of Jake the Snake, which chronicled his time with DDP and Roberts.

Filmography

Video games

Championships and accomplishments

 American Wrestling Association
 AWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Curt Hennig
 DDT Pro-Wrestling
 Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship (1 time)
 Pro Wrestling Illustrated
 Match of the Year (1994)
 Most Improved Wrestler of the Year (1992)
 Tag Team of the Year (1997)
 Ranked No. 7 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1994
 Ranked No. 72 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003
 Ranked No. 40 and No. 98 of the top 100 tag teams of the PWI Years with Kevin Nash and Curt Hennig, respectively, in 2003
 Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
 TNA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Kevin Nash and Eric Young
 United States Wrestling Association
 USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 World Championship Wrestling
 WCW World Television Championship (1 time)
 WCW United States Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
 WCW World Tag Team Championship (7 times) – with Kevin Nash (6) and The Giant (1)
 World War 3 (1997)
 World Wrestling Council
 WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 World Wrestling Federation/WWE
 WWF Intercontinental Championship (4 times)
 WWE Hall of Fame (2 times)
Class of 2014 – individually
 Class of 2020 – as a member of the New World Order
 Slammy Award (2 times)
 Most Spectacular Match (1994)
 Match of the Year (1996)
 Wrestling Observer Newsletter
 Match of the Year (1994)
 Best Gimmick (1996)
 Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic (1998)

See also
List of premature professional wrestling deaths

Notes

References

External links

1958 births
2022 deaths
20th-century professional wrestlers
21st-century professional wrestlers
Accidental deaths from falls
Accidental deaths in Georgia (U.S. state)
American male professional wrestlers
AWA World Tag Team Champions
Ironman Heavymetalweight Champions
New World Order (professional wrestling) members
NWA/WCW World Television Champions
NWA/WCW/WWE United States Heavyweight Champions
People from St. Mary's County, Maryland
People with epilepsy
People with post-traumatic stress disorder
Professional wrestlers from Maryland
The Kliq members
TNA/Impact World Tag Team Champions
USWA Unified World Heavyweight Champions
WCW World Tag Team Champions
WWC Universal Heavyweight Champions
WWE Hall of Fame inductees
WWF/WWE Intercontinental Champions

Scott Hall


Denzel Edwin Crum (March 2, 1937 – May 9, 2023) was an American men's college basketball coach at the University of Louisville from 1971 to 2001, compiling a  record. He guided the Cardinals to two NCAA championships (1980, 1986) and six Final Fours. Honored in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame since 1994, Crum was one of the major figures in the history of sports in Kentucky and in college basketball.

Crum played college ball for the UCLA Bruins under head coach John Wooden. He was later an assistant under Wooden, and the Bruins won a national championship in each of his three seasons on the staff. As the head coach at Louisville, Crum was widely credited with pioneering the now-common strategy of scheduling tough non-conference match-ups early in the season in order to prepare his teams for March's NCAA tournament, where one defeat ends the season.  Crum's prolific post-season play and calm demeanor earned him the monikers "Mr. March" and his most well-known nickname, "Cool Hand Luke".

Playing career
Denzel Edwin Crum was born in San Fernando, California, in Los Angeles County. After graduating from San Fernando High School in 1955, he played basketball at Los Angeles Pierce College from 1955 to 1957, averaging 27 points per game in his first season. He then transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), to play for the UCLA Bruins.  Playing as a guard at UCLA (1957–1959), Crum averaged seven points per game. He was honored with the Irv Pohlmeyer Memorial Trophy for outstanding first-year varsity player. He also received the Bruin Bench Award for most improved player the following year. The Bruins went 38–14 in his two seasons.

Coaching career
After graduating in 1959, Crum served as the freshman basketball coach at UCLA.  In 1961, he returned to Pierce College as an assistant coach and served as their head coach from 1964 through 1968. Crum was then rehired by UCLA to replace assistant coach Jerry Norman, and became John Wooden's top assistant coach and chief recruiter. Crum took a $3,000 pay cut from UCLA compared to his earnings at Pierce. The Bruins won national titles in each of his three seasons while compiling an 86–4 record. His recruits included Bill Walton, one of the greatest college basketball players ever.

Louisville (1971–2001)
In 1971, Crum was hired as head coach by the University of Louisville, taking over for John Dromo,  but he left UCLA thinking he would return one day to succeed Wooden. Although the Cardinals had substantial national success under former coach Bernard "Peck" Hickman, their last NCAA tournament appearance was in 1968 and Final Four in 1959; they had never won a national championship. In his first season, Crum led Louisville to the Final Four, where they lost to Wooden's UCLA team.

The Cardinals reached the Final Four again in 1975, losing once more to UCLA. Wooden retired following the tournament after winning his 10th national title. Crum declined the opportunity to replace his mentor at UCLA. Two years later, he turned down the job again after Wooden's successor, Gene Bartow, left for UAB. UCLA's salary offer was around half of what Louisville was paying him, and even less when he factored in the higher cost of living in Los Angeles. Crum said life in Louisville was "more relaxed and it's not a hassle to do everything". He led the Cardinals to four more Final Fours in the 1980s (1980, 1982, 1983, and 1986).  Only five other coaches have reached more Final Fours than Crum's six: Wooden, Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, and Tom Izzo.

In 1979–80, national player of the year Darrell Griffith led the Cardinals to a 33–3 record. They defeated Crum's alma mater, UCLA, 59–54, to win the 1980 national championship. That squad was credited with popularizing the High-5. Six years later, Louisville defeated Duke, 72–69, for their second title, led by Pervis Ellison, who became the first freshman to be named the NCAA tournament's most outstanding player. Through his first 15 seasons, Crum won 76% of his games. He received another offer to return to UCLA in 1988, after Walt Hazzard was fired, but he remained at Louisville. In 1993, Crum became the second fastest coach to reach 500 wins.

On his 64th birthday in 2001, Crum announced that he would retire at the end of the season. Though Crum insisted the decision was his, it was widely rumored that Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich drove him out to pursue the newly available Rick Pitino. In the last 15 seasons of his career, Crum's winning percentage fell to 63%, including a 61–61 record in his final four seasons. His only three losing seasons came in his last 11 seasons, including twice in his final four seasons. Nonetheless, he led the Cardinals to four 20-win seasons and eight NCAA tournaments in the 1990s. He retired with a record of 675–295, a 69.6% winning percentage. At the time, his 675 career wins ranked 14th in NCAA history. In 30 seasons, Crum took the Cardinals to 23 NCAA tournaments, the 10th most by a coach, while compiling an overall tournament record of 42–22. The Cardinals won 20 or more games in 21 of his 30 seasons. While in the Metro Conference, they won or shared 12 regular-season titles and won 11 conference tournament championships.

During his tenure, Crum coached 13 players who were later selected in the first round of the NBA draft, including first overall pick Ellison and six others in the top 10: Junior Bridgeman, Darrell Griffith, Rodney McCray, Lancaster Gordon, Felton Spencer, and Samaki Walker.

Other coaching
Crum coached the U.S. World University team to a gold medal in 1977. He led the American's Pan American team to a silver medal in 1987.

Coaching style
Crum had a signature style as a coach.  He usually held a rolled-up program in one hand during games, like Wooden, and would often gesture with it. At Louisville, whose team colors are red and black, Crum sometimes wore a red blazer on the sidelines. He stood composed, eschewing theatrics. "It's hard for players to play under control if you're not. It's hard to think or function when you're screaming", he said.

On the court, Crum's system mirrored Wooden's. Louisville was  famous for running a 2-2-1 zone press that switched at half court to man-to-man defense. He ran a variation of Wooden's trademark high-post offense. Even Crum's guards tended to score on the interior: his 1980 national championship team was known as the "Doctors of Dunk." On defense, his players were expected to be interchangeable, switching on all picks, and fronted the pivot. This defense denied interior passes and encouraged perimeter shots. The year after Crum won his last national championship in 1986, the NCAA introduced the three-point line, revolutionizing the game. With outside shooting newly emphasized, Crum was slow to adjust. He never returned to the Final Four, coming as close as the Elite Eight in 1997.

Throughout his career, Crum was known for superior in-game coaching. His teams tended to score immediately out of timeouts—using plays Crum would draw up in the huddle—and play well in close games.

Radio career
From 2004 to 2014, Crum co-hosted a local radio talk show with former University of Kentucky head coach Joe B. Hall. Both did their portions of the show from different studios, Crum in Louisville and Hall in Lexington. The Joe B. and Denny Show was the top Fox Sports radio show in the state of Kentucky. The show, which aired on WKRD in Louisville and WVLK-FM in Lexington, was carried by 21 stations in all at its peak, and still had 16 stations when it ended on October 30, 2014, after WVLK-FM announced a format change.

Personal life
Crum was married to his third wife Susan Sweeney Crum, then a news anchor and reporter for Louisville television station WDRB, from 2001 until his death.  In 2006, she became an announcer and news anchor at Louisville public radio station WFPL. Crum had three children, Cynthia and Steve from his first marriage, and Scott from his second marriage.  He lived in Jeffersontown, Kentucky, and had a hunting ranch in eastern Idaho.

Crum played professional poker and collected western novels by Louis L'Amour. During his coaching career, he was amongst the founders of the Louisville Eccentric Observer, the city's alternative weekly newspaper.  Crum also bred horses.

While able, Crum appeared at various functions with former Cardinal and pro-basketball player Darrell Griffith.

Crum founded The Denny Crum Scholarship Foundation, Inc., which awards scholarships to individuals who have demonstrated leadership, community service, and academic achievement. Requirements include: application form, high school transcript, 3.0 cumulative GPA, and a community service resume listing detailed volunteer involvement and leadership experience.

Crum had a stroke in 2017 and another in 2019. He died at home on May 9, 2023, aged 86. A celebration of life was held on May 15, 2023, at the KFC Yum! Center.

Honors
In the 1980s, Crum was named National Coach of the Year three times (1980, 1983, 1986).  He was awarded Metro Conference Coach of the year three times (1979, 1980, 1983).  In 1980, he was also named the Sporting News Coach of the Year, the Basketball Weekly Coach of the Year, and the Basketball Weekly Man of the Year.

Crum was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in 1990. In 1994, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame; during the ceremony, he was accompanied to the stage by Wooden.

In 2002, Crum received the Legends of Coaching award given by the John R. Wooden Award Committee.  This award recognizes "a coach's character, success rate on the court, graduating rate of student athletes, [and] his coaching philosophy".

On February 7, 2007, Louisville's home floor at Freedom Hall was officially named "Denny Crum Court." When the Cardinals basketball teams moved to the downtown KFC Yum! Center in 2010, the name "Denny Crum Court" was retained in the new facility.

In 2010 Crum was an inaugural inductee of Pierce College's athletic hall of fame.

Head coaching record

Source:

See also
 List of college men's basketball coaches with 600 wins
 List of NCAA Division I Men's Final Four appearances by coach

References

1937 births
2023 deaths
American men's basketball players
Basketball coaches from California
Basketball players from California
College men's basketball head coaches in the United States
Guards (basketball)
Los Angeles Pierce Brahmas men's basketball players
Louisville Cardinals men's basketball coaches
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees
National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inductees
People from San Fernando, California
Sportspeople from Los Angeles County, California
Sportspeople from Louisville, Kentucky
UCLA Bruins men's basketball coaches
UCLA Bruins men's basketball players

Denny Crum


David Jalbert (born May 5, 1980) is a Canadian folk musician and singer-songwriter. He is from Mascouche, Québec. He plays guitar and sings.

Early life
David Jalbert grew up in Mascouche, more precisely in the Domaine Lac Samson. His father is a guitarist. This influenced his lifestyle. Jalbert became fascinated with music when he was very young. During elementary school, his passion developed gradually. His parents put him in various competitions and he loved this artist lifestyle. When he was a child, he was inspired by The Colocs, C.C.R, The Beatles, Plume Latraverse, Jonh Mellencamp, Beau Dommage and Bob Dylan.

In 1994, Jalbert joined a band of three. The group was called Big Joe, and they played punk rock music. After that, he focused on his studies to finish school and to later be able to get a job. Meanwhile, he continued to write and compose songs.

Music career

Des histoires
In 2000, Jalbert again played music in several competitions. In 2004, he played in the Mascouche competition MusiQualité, where he won two prizes. The first one was public's choice and the second one was jury's choice. Through various competitions, he had professional encounters with Yves Marchand, Charles Dubé and the producer Alain Dupuis. They helped him to prepare his first album called Des histoires. They chose thirteen titles from amongst thirty songs. The album was launched on April 15, 2008. He started playing concerts to promote the album on August 26, 2008, during the FrancoFolies of Montreal. It was followed by a tour through the Québec.

The song "Souvenir d'enfance" was the most successful song from the album. It became popular on the radio, and it was used in a McDonald's advertisement. His creative director, Mathieu Dandurand won the prize for production of the year at the gala of Terre-Neuve. Jalbert was nominated for two categories for French songwriters (he was nominated again in those categories in 2010). His second prize was for the Artiste de la relève. He got the most nomination of any artist in the year. In 2009, he played in the Studio-Théâtre de la Place des arts three times and many other times in the Cabaret juste pour rire.

The song "Raison" was the second most successful from the album. It was more successful with critics than Jalbert thought it would be. "L'aveugle" was the third radio hit. By autumn 2009, there were three music videos, forty shows and more than 15,000 albums were sold.

Le journal
On May 4, 2010, Jalbert released his second studio album Le journal. It contained the hit songs "Voyage", "Le journal", "P'tit homme", "Rendez-vous" and "Y'a pu une once". The song "Voyage" was a commercial success, and was at the top of the charts of major stations in Montreal and Québec. The song "P'tit homme" was written for Jalbert's son Félix. Later in 2010, Jalbert was invited on the TV show Salut Bonjour for a cultural chronic, and he played in the park Philippe-Villeneuve during the National Day festivities. In addition, he won a prize of the Socan for his popular song "Voyage", which was among the list of top ten pop songs most popular in 2010.

For the first time in his career, in 2011, he was nominated for best contemporary folk album at the ADISQ awards, for his album named Le journal. The album was critically acclaimed, and is Jalbert's most commercially successful album to date. With Des histoires and Le journal, Jalbert has sold over 25,000 albums. His tour show for Le journal was sold out. There was a second concert at the Lion d'Or in Montreal.

Y'a pas de bon silence
On September 18, 2012, Jalbert released his third album, Y'a pas de bon silence. This contained the popular song "Hey Jack!", which was song dedicated to his son Jacob. This album was the fourth best selling French album in 2012, with over 2,500 albums sold since its release.

Later in 2012, Jalbert joined a project called Fondation Dédé Fortin. His song "Ma mère disait" was part of the campaign against suicide, which is an initiative of the Quebec Associtation for Suicide Prevention with the support of psychologists of Quebec.

Discography
Des histoires (2008)
 "Souvenirs D'enfance" (Second radio hit heard)
 "Elle rêve d'un homme"
 "Raison" (Third radio hit heard)
 "La pédagogie des amoureux"
 "Shérif du village"
 "Les fantômes" (First radio hit heard)
 "Hier encore"
 "Les vacances"
 "L'étoffe d'un héros"
 "Deux coquerelles"
 "L'aveugle" (Fourth radio hit heard)
 "Référendum"
 "Effervescence"

Le journal (2010)
 "Le journal" (Second radio hit heard)
 "Rendez-vous" (Fourth radio hit heard)
 "Voyage" (First radio hit heard)
 "P'tit homme" (Third radio hit heard)
 "Envoye-donc!"
 "L'abus"
 "Ya pu une once" (Fifth radio hit heard)
 "CPE"
 "En ville"
 "No problemo"
 "Notre histoire"
 "Les vrais chums"
 "L'enfer ou le paradis"
 "Et la neige"

Y'a pas de bon silence (2012)
 "Jour de paye"
 "Né du bon côté"
 "Au bout du chemin"
 "Y'a pas de bon silence"
 "Hey Jack" (First radio hit heard)
 "Des victimes du temps"
 "Ma mère disait" (Second radio hit heard)
 "Les embûches"
 "L'hymne à la Montérégie"
 "Des crampes dans les orteils"
 "Si Dieu"
 "La ruée vers l'or"
 "Petit à petit"
 "Mercredi soir"

Videos
 June 2008: Les fantômes
 November 2008: Souvenirs d'enfance and an advertising with the restaurants McDonald's.
 March 2009: Raison
 October 2010 : Le Journal
 August 2012 : Hey Jack!

Awards and nominations
 2011: Medal of National assembly.
 2011: Price of the Socan for the song Voyage.
 2011: Nomination in the ADISQ for folk album of the year Le journal.
 2010: Nomination in annual gala prices of Canadian folk music – francophone songwriter.
 2008: Nomination in annual gala prices of Canadian folk music- Artiste de la relève.
 2008: Nomination in annual gala prices of Canadian folk music- francophone songwriter.

References

Other websites
 DavidJalbert.ca
 Myspace.com
 Facebook.com
 DavidJalbert.tumblr.com

Living people
1980 births
People from Quebec
Canadian singer-songwriters
Folk musicians

David Jalbert


Jos de Putter (Terneuzen, 1959) is a Dutch film director, film critic and screenwriter who primarily makes Dutch documentary films. He studied political science and literature at the University of Leiden, and was a member of the editorial staff of the film magazine Skrien. He has also worked on a number of Dutch television programs and works as a creative producer for documentary production company Dieptescherpte BV.
As a visual artist de Putter was commissioned to make the installation'Earth' against the back wall inside the new Dutch parliament in 2021.

His documentaries have been shown and awarded at many film festivals. , His debut film, Het is een schone dag geweest (It's been a lovely day'), about the last year of work at his parents' farm was hailed internationally as "documentary in the purest form" and won the City of Utrecht Film Prize at the Dutch Film Festival. This documentary has been included in the Dutch Film Canon (list of 16 best Dutch films ever). He won the prestigious Joris Ivens Prize at the IDFA for Solo, de wet van de favela and 7 internationals festivals with his portrait of a Chechen children's dance troupe: Dans, Grozny dans (2002). The Chicago International Documentary Film Festival, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, The National Arts Museum Washington and the Pacific Film Archive featured a retrospective tribute to De Putter's work in 2005. The Festival dei Popoli in Florence featured a retrospective tribute in 2014.

De Putter 'discovered' the Brazilian footballer Leonardo Vitor Santiago, whom he cast as the star of Solo, de wet van de favela at the age of 11. Twenty years later (2014), the two look back on life and film, de Putter's sequel documentary in Solo; Out of a Dream.

He wrote and directed Beyond the Game., How Many Roads (2005) and See No Evil (2014).
His documentary on Alexander Litvinenko (2017) was sold worldwide.

De Putter made video-installations for various museums, including 'Zeeuwse Klei' and 'Landscapes' for Zeeuws Museum Middelburg (2013 and 2017). This work led to the invitation to create the back wall inside the new Dutch parliament, in 2021.

From 2007-2013 De Putter was editor in chief of renowned VPRO documentary program 'Backlight'.

As of 2013 De Putter is commissioning editor of 'webdocumentaries' for Dutch news site De Correspondent and as of 2018 for Human/NPO. Short docs won the Locarno Filmfestival (2014) and the European Film Award (2016).

References

External links

 Jos de Putter (official website)

1959 births
Living people
Dutch film directors
Dutch screenwriters
Dutch male screenwriters
People from Terneuzen
Dutch documentary filmmakers

Jos de Putter


TV4 (TV fyra) is a Swedish free-to-air television network owned by TV4 AB, a subsidiary of the TV4 Media AB. It started broadcasting by satellite in 1990 and, since 1992, on terrestrial television. In 1994, TV4 became the largest channel and remained so for a number of years. The two channels of Sveriges Television (SVT) lost more and more viewers for a couple of years. After making schedule changes in 2001, SVT1 had practically the same numbers of viewers as TV4. From 2004 to 2019, the TV4 Group was a fully active member of the European Broadcasting Union.

History
In the spring of 1984, Ingemar Leijonborg and Gunnar Bergvall worked out a business plan for a Swedish commercial TV channel. The plan included a financing calculation for such a channel. It turned out that the project was financially justifiable and they resigned from their jobs, Leijonborg from SVT and Bergvall from Bonnier. In the fall of 1985, the investment company Proventus put up SEK 2.5 million as initial project financing. They acquired an office for their newly started company called Nordisk Television AB on Birger Jarlsgatan and a secretary. But a year later, Proventus' interest had cooled and Leijonborg/Bergvall had to find new financiers. In 1987 they brought in new investors, Providentia (the Wallenberg sphere), formerly Föreningsbanken, SPP and the book publisher Natur & Kultur were prepared to invest ten million kroner. A TV school was started to be able to train TV producers and scriptors . People were recruited, mainly from SVT, for example Lars Weiss, Jan Scherman, Bengt Magnusson and Jan Zachrisson.

The goal was to make an innovative and hipper version of SVT with a heavy newsroom and self-produced series and which would simultaneously become Sweden's largest TV channel. When all the plans were to begin to be realized, a property was rented in Storängsbotten , which was converted into a TV station.

On September 15, 1990, broadcasts began over the then Tele-X satellite. The premiere broadcast had technical problems. The first edition of Nyheterna lured viewers away from the channel. The next day Expressen wrote in its front cover "Lägg ned TV4 – om det inte blir bättre!" (Shut down TV4 - if it doesn't get better!) on its promissory note. That slip sat in many employees' rooms in the early days as a spur to improve. The self-produced drama series Destination Nordsjön and Rosenholm received merciless criticism.

In 1991, two of the channel's oldest entertainment programmes premiered: the Swedish version of Jeopardy! and the Saturday night bingo show Bingolotto. Bingolotto in particular became highly popular.

In the fall of 1991, the government was to award a license to an advertising-financed TV channel to broadcast terrestrially. 30 applications were received, of which 20 were filled in on a form that Expressen had published. The two main competitors were TV4 (Nordisk Television) and Rix TV/M3 (Kinnevik). In order to obtain the concession, there were requirements for local distribution of production and for there to be a wide circle of owners. On 11 September 1991, Culture Minister Bengt Göransson announced that M3 would be awarded the concession and that the government would make the formal decision the following day. It was an election campaign and the moderates' party leader Carl Bildt came out and said that a bourgeois government would overturn the decision. Göransson then took back his statement that evening.

Kinnevik then settled with Nordisk Television. In return for withdrawing their application for Rix TV, they were allowed to enter as a 30 percent owner of Nordisk Television. In addition, a company, Airtime, was formed, which would manage the sale of advertising in both TV3 and TV4 and in which Kinnevik owned 55 percent. In this way, Kinnevik was able to gain control over the company that sold 90 percent of the Swedish TV advertising. In July 1993, TV4 terminated the agreement regarding Airtime, and also cut the data connection in a purely physical sense, in order to build up its own sales organization instead. This led to several years of legal battles between Kinnevik and the rest of TV4's owners. The parties settled in autumn 2002 when Kinnevik's owner Jan Stenbeck died.

When Kinnevik became a partner, the founders Leijonborg and Bergvall had to leave the company under sensational circumstances.

Nordisk Television was awarded the license on November 7, 1991. On December 2 , 1991, test broadcasts of TV4 began from Gothenburg (UHF channel 46), Hörby (50), Karlstad (46), Malmö (47), Norrköping (54), Stockholm (42), Sundsvall (50), Uppsala (52), Västerås (51), Örebro (58), Linköping (34), Solna (61), Södertälje/Blombacka (53) and Södertälje/Ragnhildsborg (66).

Terrestrial broadcasts started on 2 March 1992. During that year, Nyhetsmorgon started and marked the introduction of weekday breakfast television in Sweden.

During the 1990s, TV4 would broadcast several popular Friday night entertainment shows such as Fångarna på fortet (Swedish version of Fort Boyard), Kär och galen, Tur i kärlek, På rymmen, Sikta mot stjärnorna  (Soundmix Show), Stadskampen, (Intervilles) and Småstjärnorna (Mini Playback Show).

They have also broadcast several home-grown sitcoms such as Rena Rama Rolf and En fyra för tre as well as the soap opera Tre kronor.

In the early 1990s, the TV4 Group decided to move their 7pm evening news to 7:30pm in order to compete with the most popular news programme, Rapport, which, at that time, was broadcast on SVT2. This failed and the news was subsequently moved to 6:30pm. In 2004, the evening news was moved to 7pm, and the status quo reinstated.

In 2004, TV4 began transitioning to become a digital-only service, starting by shutting down its analogue satellite signal on March 31 2004. On 19 September 2005, TV4 began shutting down analogue terrestrial transmissions, starting at the island of Gotland. The analogue shutoff was completed by October 2007.

Since 2004, TV4 has been broadcasting a Swedish version of the internationally popular Pop Idol format.

In July 2018 it was announced that Bonnier Broadcasting would be acquired by Telia Company for 9.2 billion SEK, thus making Telia the new owner of TV4. The acquisition was completed on 2 December 2019.

Programming
TV4 offers a mix of news, sports, drama series, soaps, entertainment, current affairs programmes, sitcoms, feature films, documentaries and phone-in shows. News is an important part of TV4. It broadcasts the news program TV4Nyheterna at 7pm and 10pm and Nyhetsmorgon (News Morning) in the mornings. On weekend mornings there is children's programming in Swedish before Nyhetsmorgon starts. After 11pm until Nyhetsmorgon, it shows reruns and some Swedish and English television series.

After the Nyhetsmorgon ends on weekdays the Efter tio (After ten) starts followed by English spoken TV series up until the news at 7pm. In the daytime on weekends there are often reruns and sports programs. Then main Swedish and English TV programs are broadcast up to the 10pm news. Friday nights have included family entertainment at 8pm since the early 1990s. Bingolotto occupied Saturday evenings from 1991 to 2004. TV4 then moved Bingolotto to Sundays and started broadcasting feature films instead. With the start of Deal or No Deal in 2006, family entertainment returned to Saturday nights. Later, there are other entertainment shows on Saturday evenings. On Sunday evenings, Swedish-produced television programs are shown until 9pm when they show a movie on Saturday nights. They also show a movie after the entertainment show.

After about 11pm until Nyhetsmorgon starts they show reruns and some Swedish and English television series. The foreign programs are mainly from the UK and USA. All foreign programmes, as well as segments of local programmes with foreign language content (e.g. news interviews), are subtitled into Swedish. TV4 also offers investigative journalism programmes, most notably Kalla fakta ("Cold Facts").

Regional stations
As a part of its public service obligations, TV4 owns and operates a number of regional and local opt-out stations. When the local stations were set up, they were owned by both local investors and the TV4 Group themselves. Since the start of TV4 Uppland in 1996, the number of stations has been sixteen. Although some stations have closed and others have been set up, the total number of stations has stayed unchanged.

The TV4 Group brought out many of the local stations and became the sole owner of fifteen stations in 2001. The only independent station, TV4 Fyrstad, went bankrupt in 2003 and was replaced by TV4 Väst, owned and operated by the TV4 Group. The TV4 Group later merged the stations into five regional companies and in 2004, a single company: TV4 Sverige AB.

, these are the local TV4 stations:

TV4 Värmland (Värmland)
TV4 Väst ("West")
TV4 Göteborg (Gothenburg)
TV4 Halland (Halland)
TV4 Öresund (The Sound)
TV4 Sydost ("Southeast")
TV4 Jönköping (Jönköping)
TV4 Skaraborg (Skaraborg County)
TV4 Öst ("East")
TV4 Stockholm (Stockholm)
TV4 Mälardalen (Mälaren Valley)
TV4 Uppland (Uppland)
TV4 Gävle Dalarna (Gävle and Dalarna)
TV4 Mitt ("Central")
TV4 Västerbotten (West Bothnia)
TV4 Norrbotten (North Bothnia)

After the closedown of the analogue transmitters and the termination of TV4's public service obligations, the pattern of the local stations is due to a major overhaul which will see the number of local stations increase.

TV4 Play and C More
TV4 Play is the brand used for the video on demand service offered by the TV4 Group, more specifically to the streaming services offered on the TV4 Play website, www.tv4play.se. Content on TV4 Play usually comes with advertisements, but users can watch the same content without advertisements on the subscription-based C More platform, which also provides a livestream of TV4 and its sister channels.

Jurisdiction
As TV4 is broadcast from Sweden, it has to follow much tighter advertising rules than its main competitors, Nordic Entertainment Group (TV3) and Discovery Communications Nordic (Kanal 5). Initially this meant that the TV4 Group was not allowed to include advertising breaks, meaning that the advertising had to be put in between the programmes.

Nonetheless, the TV4 Group felt the urge to include advertising breaks. Therefore, it made several Inför programmes. The Inför programmes were short versions of TV4 programmes that were scheduled in the middle of programmes. For example, Fångarna på fortet would be divided into two parts and in between these, Inför Bingolotto would be shown. This allowed TV4 to broadcast advertising in the gaps between Inför Bingolotto and the two halves of Fångarna på fortet.

The Broadcasting Commission repeatedly ruled that the Inför programmes couldn't be considered as real programmes. In 2000 they were replaced by a programme called Dagens namn, in which the current name day was mentioned. This was later on replaced by Om en bok in which famous people presented a book they enjoyed.

This ended in April 2002 when a new Radio and TV Law came into force, allowing the TV4 Group to interrupt its programmes for advertising, but not to the same extent as TV3 and Kanal 5.

The Radio and TV Law also restricted the amount of advertising that can be shown to ten percent of the programming. Since TV4 was the only commercial channel allowed to broadcast terrestrially, it had to pay a special fee to the government, consisting of a fixed fee and a variable element based on the amount of advertising that the TV4 Group sells. The TV4 Group worked to have this fee removed, especially with the launch of digital terrestrial television.

The centre-right Reinfeldt Cabinet intended to relax the advertising rules. TV4 would then broadcast up to twelve minutes of advertising (as opposed to the previous ten minutes in prime time and eight minutes during other time). The amount of advertising overall would also raise from ten percent to fifteen percent, giving TV4 the same rules as the UK-based broadcasters.

Personalities

 Adam Alsing
 Agneta Sjödin
 Bengt Magnusson
 David Hellenius
 Jessica Almenäs
 Linda Isacsson
 Martin Timell
 Peter Eng
 Peter Jihde
 Yvonne Ryding

References

External links

Television channels in Sweden
Television channels and stations established in 1990
TV4 AB
European Broadcasting Union members
1990 establishments in Sweden

TV4 (Swedish TV channel)


Herzberg Castle () is a German schloss in Herzberg am Harz in the district of Göttingen in the state of Lower Saxony. The present-day, quadrangular building has its origins in the 11th century as a medieval castle. After a fire in 1510 it was rebuilt as a schloss and is one of the few in Lower Saxony that was constructed as a timber-framed building. Because it belonged to the House of Welf for 700 years it is also known as the Welf Castle of Herzberg (Welfenschloss Herzberg).

Geography

Herzberg Castle stands on a wooded eminence () immediately above and west of the centre of the town of Herzberg am Harz, which lies on the southwestern edge of the Harz Mountains. A stretch of the River Sieber runs past the castle to the north.

Architecture

The present castle is an enclosed four-winged building with a rectangular courtyard (40 x 58 m) and was rebuilt after a serious fire in November 1510. Since the new castle was completed in 1528 its basements have been made of sandstone. One wing has an upper storey of stone, while the upper floors of the other three wings have been constructed using timber-framing. Its access through a gate tower and adjoining barbican has been retained. The old castle and the inner courtyard of the new one are entered after passing through the two-story gatehouse. The castle tower, known as the Clock Tower (Uhrturm), was built in the eastern corner. Its three upper storeys are made of timber.

History

Originally the schloss was a medieval castle that was based on a hunting lodge built on the spot between 1024 and 1029. The castle was probably built at the behest of King, later Emperor, Lothair III, known as Lothair of Süpplingenburg.

In 1144, Herzberg Castle was given to the von Göttingen family of ministeriales from Bavaria by the House of Welf, who charged them with maintaining the castle and its surroundings. Previously, Count Hermann of Lutterberge had lived here, but he died in 1143 without any heirs who could inherit the fiefdom. The castle was first recorded in 1143 and, in 1158, it finally became a Welf allodial possession as the result of an exchange of property between Frederick Barbarossa and the Welf, Henry the Lion. Henry the Lion gave up estates inherited through his first wife, Clementia of Zähringen in Swabia. Since then the castle has been in Welf hands uninterruptedly for 708 years until the demise of the Kingdom of Hanover in 1866.

Empress Maria of Brabant, widow of Emperor Otto IV, made out a deed at the Hertsberg in 1218, thus the castle was an imperial residence for a short while. In 1279 the castle served as the residence for the widow of Duke Albert the Great. From 1337 to 1714 the castle was a ducal residence almost continuously.

In 1290 the castle became the residence of the Welf line of Brunswick-Grubenhagen, which was formed around this time. From 1486 the dukes of the Principality of Grubenhagen lived here until they died out in 1596. Thereafter the estate was transferred to the Welf line of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

There was a major fire at the castle in 1510. The lord of the castle, Duke Philip I, his wife, Catharine, and their son, Philip, were rescued at the last minute from the rapidly engulfing flames. The duke's shield bearer and the duchess's chambermaid died in the fire.

Duke George of Brunswick and Lüneburg lived in the castle until 1635 with his wife, the Landgravine Anne Eleanor of Hesse-Darmstadt. In 1629, the first Elector of Hanover was born here, Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

In 1714 the schloss was given up as a residence and from 1882 it was the seat of the district court of Herzberg. In 1900 a museum was established in the castle. Although the castle had survived largely undamaged by fire over the centuries, it suffered severe damage at the end of the Second World War, which has since been repaired. On the night of 4 April 1945, there was a mighty explosion at a nearby ammunition dump, where 40,000 kg of explosives and 8,000 mines had been stored. This blew the roof off the castle and, in the wake of the explosion, the museum was destroyed and probably looted. In 1947, further damage was caused when some nearby military bunkers were blown up.

Today the castle houses a small cultural centre with a restaurant, a museum and the great hall, which is used for various cultural events. The museum portrays the history of the forestry industry in the Harz, the castle's history and that of the Welfs. Other exhibition areas present the history of Herzberg arms manufacture as well as the work of Herzberg organ maker Johann Andreas Engelhardt. In part of the permanent exhibition there is a facsimile of the Gospels of Henry the Lion, a masterpiece of Romanesque book illumination of the 12th century containing the four Gospel accounts.

Sources

 Ernst Andreas Friedrich: Wenn Steine reden könnten. Bd 4. Landbuch-Verlag, Hannover 1998,
 Hans Adolf Schultz: Burgen und Schlösser des Braunschweiger Landes, Braunschweig 1980,
 Phillip Julius Rehtmeier: Historische Beschreibung S. 311, Braunschweig 1722
 Jürgen Wilke, Die Geschichte des Wappens der Stadt Herzberg/Harz S. 1-33 + Literaturverzeichnis, Göttingen 1998
 Wolfenbüttel Nds.StA. 1 Urk. 2
 Die Chronik Arnolds von Lübeck. Nach der Ausgabe der Monumenta Germaniae, übersetzt von Dr. J.C.M. Laurent, Berlin 1853

External links

 Museum Schloss Herzberg Castle Museum
 Geological location of the castle and aerial photo
 Architectural details of Herzberg Castle at karstwanderweg.de

12th-century fortifications
Castles in the Harz
Castle
Renaissance architecture in Germany
Museums in Lower Saxony
Lothair III, Holy Roman Emperor

Herzberg Castle


Charles Byron Harmon (April 23, 1924 – March 19, 2019) was an American professional baseball utility player in Major League Baseball (MLB), who played for the Cincinnati Redlegs (1954–1956), St. Louis Cardinals (1956–1957), and Philadelphia Phillies (1957). He batted and threw right-handed.

Early life
The tenth of twelve children, Chuck Harmon was schooled as an athlete at Dunbar Elementary by legendary Franklin Wonder Five basketball player Burl Friddle, Harmon played for the Washington High School Hatchets, who won two consecutive Indiana state basketball championships in 1941 and 1942. His brother Bill also played for the 1941 team.

Harmon served in the Navy during World War II spending all 3 years stateside at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station, playing baseball.

College career
Harmon and longtime teammate and friend Art Grove then reunited with Friddle to play for the University of Toledo, where they helped an all-freshman squad (that included Gary, Indiana's Davage Minor) advance to the championship game of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), losing to St. John's. Grove and Minor went on to play professional basketball. After a three-year stint in the U.S. Navy, Harmon returned to the University of Toledo, where he served as the Rockets' co-captain in both the 1947–48 and 1948–49 seasons. Harmon was also a baseball star for the Rockets. During the summer of 1947, Harmon briefly played professional baseball with the Negro league Indianapolis Clowns, using the alias "Charlie Fine" to preserve his collegiate eligibility.

Professional basketball
For its 1950–51 season, the National Basketball Association (NBA) was integrated. Harmon tried out for the Boston Celtics but was cut along with Isaac "Rabbit" Walthour, another black star, although Chuck Cooper did make the Celtics squad. Harmon finished that season as player-coach of Utica in the American Basketball League, becoming one of, if not the first, African-American to coach an integrated professional basketball team.

Professional baseball
On April 17, 1954, he became the first African American to play for the Cincinnati Reds' franchise, known during the mid-1950s as the Redlegs. Pinch-hitting for pitcher Corky Valentine against Lew Burdette, Harmon flied out in the seventh inning of a 5–1 loss to the Milwaukee Braves at County Stadium. In that game he came to bat after another rookie, Nino Escalera, an Afro-Latin American from Puerto Rico who pinch hit immediately before Harmon to become the first black player to appear for the Cincinnati franchise.

Harmon got his first hit on April 25, 1954. Starting and leading off for the Reds at home in Crosley Field in a 3–2 win over the Chicago Cubs, Harmon singled in the first inning off Howie Pollet. He later doubled and scored on an error, and drew one walk. His final game was the site of his first, Milwaukee's County Stadium on September 15, 1957 where, appearing as a pinch runner for the Philadelphia Phillies, he scored his final run on a double play.

Harmon hit over .300 during five consecutive minor league seasons but never approached such numbers in the majors. He also played for the Cardinals and Phillies.

In between, Harmon played winter ball in Puerto Rico with the Leones de Ponce and Criollos de Caguas clubs in the 1953–54
and 1955–56 seasons, respectively, while appearing with the Puerto Rican champion Caguas in the 1956 Caribbean Series.

In a four-season major league career, Harmon was a .238 hitter with seven home runs and 59 RBI in 289 games played. After his Major League career ended, he played four seasons in the minors, from 1958 to 1961 in AAA leagues for five teams.

Following his playing career, Harmon worked as a scout with the Cleveland Indians and Atlanta Braves in baseball, and the Indiana Pacers in basketball. Later he worked as an administrative assistant for the Hamilton County Court System in Cincinnati, Ohio. He remained active in SWAP (Seniors With A Purpose) and other youth-related services.

Personal life
In 1977, Harmon was inducted as part of the inaugural class of the University of Toledo Athletic Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame in .

In 1997, Golf Manor, Ohio (a suburb of Cincinnati) renamed one of its streets "Chuck Harmon Way" after its longtime resident. In addition, in cooperation with the Cincinnati Reds, a renovated ball field was named in his honor in the multi-use municipal Volunteer Park.

On April 20, 2004 (the 50th anniversary of Harmon's debut as the Cincinnati Reds' first African-American player), the Reds honored him during Chuck Harmon Recognition Night at Great American Ball Park. The pregame ceremonies included the unveiling of a special historic plaque, which now hangs near the entrance of the ballpark.

Harmon was married for 62 years to his wife, Daurel "Pearl" Harmon, who died in November 2009, two days before her 83rd birthday. They had three children.

Harmon died March 19, 2019.

See also
List of Negro league baseball players who played in Major League Baseball
List of first black Major League Baseball players by team and date

References

External links

Chuck Harmon at Baseballbiography.com
Cincinnati Historical Society Library
Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame

1924 births
2019 deaths
African-American baseball players
American men's basketball players
Atlanta Braves scouts
Baseball players from Indiana
Basketball players from Indiana
Burlington Flints players
Charleston Senators players
Cincinnati Redlegs players
Cleveland Indians scouts
Criollos de Caguas players
Gloversville-Johnstown Glovers players
Hawaii Islanders players
Indianapolis Clowns players
Leones de Ponce players
Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente infielders
Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente outfielders
Major League Baseball infielders
Major League Baseball outfielders
Miami Marlins (International League) players
Olean Oilers players
Omaha Cardinals players
People from Washington, Indiana
Philadelphia Phillies players
St. Louis Cardinals players
St. Paul Saints (AA) players
Salt Lake City Bees players
Toledo Rockets baseball players
Toledo Rockets men's basketball players
Tulsa Oilers (baseball) players
Utica Pros players
United States Navy personnel of World War II
20th-century African-American sportspeople
21st-century African-American people

Chuck Harmon


Perbadanan Putrajaya (PPj) or Putrajaya Corporation (PjC) is a local authority that administers the Federal Territory of Putrajaya and is under the Federal Territories Ministry of Malaysia. Founded in 1995, the corporation is responsible for public health and sanitation, waste removal and management, capital planning, environmental protection and building control, social and economic development, and the general maintenance functions of the urban infrastructure of Putrajaya. The main headquarters of the PPj is located at Precinct 3, Persiaran Perdana, Putrajaya.

Putrajaya Corporation is also the operator of Nadi Putra bus services, which operates in the urban areas of Putrajaya, Cyberjaya, Kuala Lumpur and parts of the Southern Klang Valley. Putrajaya is now a metered parking area, and the corporation will issue a summons for illegal parking.

Presidents

Departments
Jabatan Undang-Undang (Legal Department)
Jabatan Audit Dalam (Inner Auditing Department)
Jabatan Perkhidmatan Korporat (Corporate Services Department)
Jabatan Perkhidmatan Bandar (City Service Department)
Jabatan Kewangan (Finance Department)
Jabatan Perancangan Bandar (City Planning Department)
Jabatan Kejuruteraan dan Penyelenggaraan (Engineering and Maintenance Department)
Jabatan Lanskap dan Taman (Park and Landscaping Department)

See also
 Local government in Malaysia
 List of local governments in Malaysia

External links

 Perbadanan Putrajaya (official web site)
 Putrajaya (City of Putrajaya website)

Putrajaya
Putrajaya
1995 establishments in Malaysia
Ministry of Territories (Malaysia)

Putrajaya Corporation