Thurman Lee Munson (June 7, 1947 – August 2, 1979) was an American catcher in Major League Baseball who played with the New York Yankees from 1969 to 1979. Munson was killed at age 32 while trying to land his personal airplane.
Born in Akron, Ohio to Darrell Vernon Munson and Ruth Myrna Smylie, Thurman grew up in nearby Canton. He graduated from Lehman High School in Canton, where his standout performances in football, basketball, as well as base...
more
Thurman Lee Munson (June 7, 1947 – August 2, 1979) was an American catcher in Major League Baseball who played with the New York Yankees from 1969 to 1979. Munson was killed at age 32 while trying to land his personal airplane.
Born in Akron, Ohio to Darrell Vernon Munson and Ruth Myrna Smylie, Thurman grew up in nearby Canton. He graduated from Lehman High School in Canton, where his standout performances in football, basketball, as well as baseball attracted scholarship offers from various colleges. Munson opted to attend nearby Kent State University on scholarship, where he was a teammate of pitcher and broadcaster Steve Stone. At Kent, Munson joined the Delta Upsilon fraternity. In September 1968, he married Diane Dominick at St. John's Parish, Canton.
In the summer of 1967, Munson joined the Cape Cod Baseball League, where he led the Chatham A's to their first league title. In the process Munson hit a prodigious .420. In recognition of this achievement and his subsequent MLB...
less
