Ollie Matson memorial services set
Bill Cosby tribute on DVD
Memorial services for Ollie Genoa Matson were set for Saturday, March 12, at 11 a.m. at the First Baptist Church of Los Angeles, 760 S. Westmoreland Ave.
Matson, for whom the Los Angeles Rams traded nine players in 1959, played with the team from 1959 to 1962.
He died at 80 on Feb. 19. His remains will be cremated.
Former Rams teammate Deacon Jones will be in attendance along with Stephen A. Perry, the president and executive director of the NFL Hall of Fame.
Bill Cosby has sent a DVD with a tribute.
Matson was the NFL Rookie of the Year in 1952 and All-NFL four times. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1972 and into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1976. In addition, he was MVP of the 1956 Pro-Bowl Game.
Some called the former running back the greatest player they had ever seen.
Matson is survived by three daughters, Lesa Matson, Ruth Matson, and Barbara King; one son, Ollie Matson III; twin sister, Ocie Thompson; eight grandchildren, and two great-grandsons.
Evangelist-prophet-teacher Mary Ellen Strong, a frequent speaker at such well-known ministries as the Abundant Living Family Church in both Rancho Cucamonga and Hesperia, Crenshaw Christian Center in Los Angeles, Word of Faith in Detroit and Nashville, Believers Body Christian Center in Atlanta, and Norvel Hayes Ministries, among others, has died. She was 91.
Memorial services are set for Saturday, Dec. 1, at 11 a.m. at Abundant Living Family Church, 10900 Civic Center Drive, in Rancho Cucamonga. Strong died on Tuesday, Nov. 27 at her home in Rancho Cucamonga.
John McKay Williams, a National Football League offensive lineman from 1968 through 1979, died on July 8, in Minneapolis at age 64. He had recently been the recipient of a kidney transplant.
Born in Jackson, Miss., Williams began his athletic career as a stand-out football star in Toledo, Ohio. He received his bachelor’s in education from the University of Minnesota in 1969.
The body of Lawrence Jarmon, Ph.D., retired dean of student services at West Los Angeles College and former professional football player, was interred Friday at Inglewood Park Cemetery.
Jarman died in Los Angeles on July 15. He was 64.
A Los Angeles native, Jarmon attended Manual Arts High School, Los Angeles Harbor College and California State University, Los Angeles.
Memorial services for Joseph Dyer will be held today at 10 a.m. at the Wilshire United Methodist Church, 4350 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, at the corner of Plymouth and Wilshire boulevards and west of Crenshaw Boulevard.
Dyer, a retired KCBS-TV director of community affairs and much-respected journalist, died of heart failure on Thursday, Feb. 24, at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles. His wife, Doris, and a daughter, Kimberly, were at his bedside. He was 76.
The best football player some say they ever saw—Ollie Matson—will be laid to rest some time in early March. Funeral arrangements for Matson are pending.
Matson’s nephew, Art Thompson III, a sports writer, said his 80-year-old uncle had been bedridden for years due to dementia, possibly caused at least in part to the pummeling he took as a running back over 14 seasons with mediocre teams. Matson died recently of respiratory failure.
