Obituaries in the News

-- Buddy Dial

HOUSTON (AP) _ Buddy Dial, a star receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers who also played for the Dallas Cowboys, has died. He was 71.

Dial, who had been hospitalized recently for treatment of cancer and pneumonia, died Friday in a Houston hospital. The Steelers confirmed his death.

Dial played in the NFL for eight years _ with the Steelers from 1959-63 and the Cowboys from 1964-66. He still holds the second-highest per catch average in NFL history at 20.8 yards. In 1963, he caught 60 passes for 1,295 yards and nine touchdowns.

Dial was born in Ponca City, Okla., and played at Rice. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1992 and the National High School Hall of Fame in 2002.

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Gary Gygax

MILWAUKEE (AP) _ Gary Gygax, who co-created the fantasy game Dungeons & Dragons and is widely seen as the father of the role-playing games, died Tuesday morning at his home in Lake Geneva. He was 69.

He had been suffering from health problems for several years, including an abdominal aneurysm, said his wife, Gail Gygax.

Gygax and Dave Arneson developed Dungeons & Dragons in 1974 using medieval characters and mythical creatures. The game known for its oddly shaped dice became a hit, particularly among teenage boys, and eventually was turned into video games, books and movies.

Dungeons & Dragons players create fictional characters and carry out their adventures with the help of complicated rules. The quintessential geek pastime, it spawned a wealth of copycat games and later inspired a whole genre of computer games that's still growing in popularity.

Gygax also was a prolific writer and wrote dozens of fantasy books, including the Greyhawk series of adventure novels.