REMEMBERING SAN DIEGANS WHO PASSED THIS YEAR
San Diegans who left us in 2020 included a historic figure from Major League Baseball, cultural icons, scientists who changed the world, a Vietnam POW, and a TV news figure who was so well-known that he was like a friend.
Don Larsen, 90
Jan. 1
The Point Loma High alumnus and New York Yankees pitcher is immortalized in baseball history for his perfect game in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers. It remains the only no-hitter in World Series history.
Larsen was born Aug. 7, 1929, in Michigan City, Ind. His family moved to San Diego in the mid-1940s. At Point Loma High, he played basketball and baseball. He signed out of high school in 1947 with the St. Louis Browns for a $500 bonus and $150 a month. In 1964, Larsen was inducted into the San Diego Hall of Champions Breitbard Hall of Fame. He made several trips to San Diego over the years, often in conjunction with the annual Hall of Champions celebration.
Dr. David Chadwick, 93
Jan. 19
He was working at a hospital in Los Angeles in 1960 when an 18-month-old girl came in with several fractures that her
mother attributed to accidents. Chadwick thought otherwise. He wanted to report the mother, but there was no mechanism for doing so.
That changed, and Chadwick had a lot to do with it. Moving to San Diego, he became an international — and sometimes controversial — pioneer in identifying, treating and preventing child abuse. He helped write one of the nation’s first mandatory abuse-reporting laws, set up a specialized medical center in San Diego that now bears his name and organized
an inf luential annual conference that draws hundreds of physicians, nurses and social workers.
Michael C. Johnson, 67
Feb. 11
The architect famous for his work shaping downtown San Diego’s skyline was co-founder of Carrier Johnson + Culture, an award-winning, local architectural firm with global reach. Carrier Johnson has ties to some of the region’s most recognizable projects and has played a formative role in the transformation of East Village.
For 34 years, Johnson was the driving force behind significant projects such as the design of San Diego’s downtown courthouse and Park 12, the high-rise apartment complex overlooking Petco Park.
Mary Kathryn ‘Mickey’ Wright, 85
Feb. 17
Many regarded the San Diego native as the greatest women’s golfer in history. She became consumed by the sport at 11 years old after seeing an exhibition between Byron Nelson and Leo Diegel at the San Diego Country Club in Chula Vista.
Wright won 82 tournaments on the LPGA Tour in a show of dominance on the women’s side that was comparable to what Tiger Woods has done on the men’s tour. Golf legends Ben Hogan and Nelson judged Wright’s swing the best they had ever seen — man or woman.
She was a Hoover High School graduate who honed her game at the La Jolla Country Club and Stardust Country Club (now Riverwalk Golf Club) in Mission Valley.
Julie Goldberg, a San Diego Country Club member and former chairman of the Women’s Golf Association said of Wright: “When she was hitting the driver people would come up behind her and start to applaud.”
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