LSU Athletic Hall of Famer Alvin Dark passed away Thursday at 92 years old at his home in Easley, South Carolina.
“He just simply died of old age,” his son, Gene, told the San Francisco Chronicle. “He did not suffer. He did not linger. He died in his sleep.”
The Comanche, Oklahoma, native played for both the football and baseball teams in the early 1940s before transferring to Southwestern Louisiana Institute, which is now known as the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He earned All-Southeastern Conference honors as a running back at LSU.
Dark maintained his success at SLI until the Philadelphia Eagles selected him in the 1945 NFL Draft. However, Dark pursued a baseball career after serving in Asia during World War II.
Starting with the Boston Braves in 1946, Dark played for six different professional clubs over a 14-year career. He collected three National League All-Star selections with the New York Giants, and he was their team captain and shortstop during their run to the 1954 World Series championship.
Dark became manager of the San Francisco Giants, which relocated from New York in 1958, following his retirement in 1960. He coached the Giants to the 1962 World Series, but San Francisco lost a seven-game series to the New York Yankees.
He left the Giants in 1964 and went on to coach the Kansas City Athletics, the Cleveland Indians, the Oakland Athletics and the San Diego Padres. Dark guided Oakland to the 1974 World Series crown after beating the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games.
Dark finished with a 994-954 coaching record and became the third manager to win pennants with both American League and National League teams.
In 1981, Dark became a member of the LSU Athletic Hall of Fame.
You can reach Marcus Rodrigue on Twitter @rodrigue_TDR.