Penny Marshall wasn’t just a Hollywood star; she was a 'Legend of Sports’

Penny Marshall’s storied Hollywood career spanned sitcoms and movies. She produced and directed for both the silver screen and small screen. Some of her films — “A League of Their Own” and “Cinderella Man” — helped define an era of sports at the movies. Tom Hanks’s “No crying in baseball” monologue has been recited countless times in major league broadcast booths and Little League dugouts. And her sports memorabilia collection is legendary.

Marshall died Tuesday of complications from diabetes, a family spokeswoman said. She was 75. And with her passing, Hollywood lost one of its biggest sports fans.

She had season tickets for both the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers. She worked on a documentary about Dennis Rodman, who became one of her close friends. She once told the Chicago Tribune about owning Christy Mathewson’s chess table and a phone that would play Michael Jordan’s United Center introduction, and about how she would keep Robert Horry’s son on her lap during Lakers games. The NBA, in particular, wasn’t a idle pastime for Marshall; it was part of her life.

“Last season almost killed me because of the lockout,” she told ESPN in 2012, after the league’s labor-stoppage-shortened season. “There were games every night when they came back.”

[Penny Marshall, sitcom star and hitmaking director of ‘A League of Their Own,’ dies at 75]

The Clippers said in a tweet they were “deeply saddened” by the death of “a passionate member of Clipper Nation.” The Dodgers also mourned her passing. “Thank you for all support to me and my family, we will miss you,” wrote Sacramento Kings General Manager Vlade Divac, a former Lakers star. “A great NBA fan,” wrote Doug Christie, another retired player. “One of the biggest NBA fans you could ever wish to meet,” wrote Marc Stein of the New York Times.

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