"Don’t forget to park the van, don’t forget to do the workouts," a 75-year-old Saluki Athletics Hall of Famer would tell his wife.
These were the thoughts of Bill Cornell, who ran track at SIU more than 50 years ago, as he suffered from dementia. He died late Sunday, and his dementia was a side effect of Parkinson’s disease — which he had since 1989, according to his wife, Rose Cornell. He passed at the couple's home in The Villages, Fla.
Even with a deteriorating mind, Bill, an SIU Hall of Fame track and field athlete and coach, never forgot the sport Rose called his first love.