John Tate 1998 Deaths

John Tate

former WBA heavyweight champion and U.S. Olympian; won title in a decision over Gerrie Coetzee in South Africa in 1979; lost the belt five months later to Mike Weaver; won bronze at the 1976 Olympics; his career record was 34-3 with 23 knockouts; admitted to a cocaine habit during the 1980s and served time in prison for petty theft and assault before resorting to panhandling on the streets of Knoxville, Tenn.; of injuries sustained when he crashed his pickup truck into a utility pole