Andy Bathgate (1932--2016)

Andy Bathgate, the iconic Rangers right wing and NHL Hall of Famer who received cover billing as a HOCKEY HERO in the Jan. 12, 1959, issue of SI (above) before going on to score a career-high 40 goals and win the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player that season, died last Friday of complications from Alzheimer's and Parkinson's in Brampton, Ont. He was 83. Bathgate, who played for the Rangers from 1952 to '64, once held the franchise record for goals, with 272, and was named to the All-NHL squad four times. After being traded, he helped the Maple Leafs win a Stanley Cup in '64 and amassed 349 goals and 624 assists in his 17-year NHL career. Painfully modest in his '59 cover-story interview, Bathgate told SI, "I've got a lot to learn before I can call myself a really good hockey player."

PHOTO

JOHN G. ZIMMERMAN FOR SPORTS ILLUSTRATED (BATHGATE)