One of humanity's most inhumane scourges, cancer, has been at it recently, taking the lives of three people of whom I thought a lot.

Only one of those friends was an athlete, but two did have the common denominator of a love for horses.

The third was a classmate and neighbor who grew up four houses north of me, Janet (Phelps) Corn. A non-athlete though she was, the last time I talked to Janet was a few summers back at a Nevada Griffons baseball game while she was in town for a visit. A nicer human being there never was.

Nevadan Warren Gast always loved horses but was not the athlete of the family. Warren's next younger brother Howard played a great deal of both baseball and football while Warren was happy just talking about his dad's baseball prowess. Many people around these parts can still remember how good a baseball player Bob Gast was when young. Another younger, Donnie, probably summed up Warren's life best of all when we talked briefly prior to his funeral. "He was one of a kind," Donnie said.

The recent death of Jerrel Wilson came as a true shock. He is another member of that once great Chiefs team to pass into eternity.

I don't know how many Nevadans knew Jerrel Wilson, but there were a few. He was a rodeo man and competed in the Nevada Jaycee Rodeo more than once. I suppose that's how I really got to know him. It was back in the era when Willie Mitchell, Jan Stenerud and Wendell Hayes also had to spend two weeks of their summer at Camp Clark as members of the National Guard, known in those days as the Vietnam alternative.

Jerrel was totally friendly and we got to know one another pretty well. I used to attend all the Chiefs games in the late 1960s and always talked to Wilson in the clubhouse after games and I recall how surprised he was when I turned up at a Chiefs-Falcons game in Atlanta when I lived there in 1970.

Wilson, a Chief from 1963-1977, is one of the game's all-time great punters, and is a member of the Chiefs Hall of Fame. He was a member of that great 1963 draft, a fact possibly not known to young fans. This was during the NFL-AFL drafting war when it was difficult to sign your choices. Here is what the Chiefs got out of the Class of '63: Their first choice was obtained from Oakland in a trade. With it they drafted DT Buck Buchanan of Grambling. Their second first round pick was G Ed Budde from Michigan State. They lost their choices in the next four rounds before getting LB Bobby Bell of Minnesota in the seventh round. P Wilson was an 11th round selection from Southern Mississippi. Imagine, two NFL Hall of Famers in one draft.

The only draft comparable to this was in 1961 when they landed: C E.J. Holub of Texas Tech, T Jim Tyrer of Ohio State, DE Jerry Mays from Southern Methodist, TE Fred Arbanas of Michigan State and RB Curtis McClinton of Kansas.

Look at those names and you realize that in addition to Wilson, Buchanan, Tyrer and Mays are also gone. All except Tyrer, a regrettable suicide, died from cancer.

The nicest thing Wilson ever did for me, or my family I guess, came in 1971. He knew that my mother was an ardent Chiefs fan and after one game he reached into his locker and produced a box. "Here," he said, "is a birthday present for your mom." It was a football autographed by the entire team, which includes five Hall of Famers. The only Hall of Famer whose name is missing is that of Hank Stram. I still have that ball at home in the den and my mother, another cancer victim, cherished it all her life.

When Wilson died, Len Dawson mentioned that the NFL has been remiss in naming punters to the Hall of Fame. Back in the halcyon days of the Chiefs, "Thunderfoot" Wilson and Ray Guy of Oakland were the best. Neither has gained admission.

Dawson mentioned that Wilson was a sometimes running back who had difficulty following blockers. I wonder if he was talking about the time the Chiefs were hard up for backs and used Wilson when near their own end zone. In those days, the goal posts were in front of the end zone and Wilson ran smack into the upright for a safety. He never enjoyed talking about it, even though the Chiefs did win the game.

When I pause and consider the state of my own health in recent years I come to the realization that when you die you are released from the burden of mourning the loss of friends and loved ones. I suppose that's the easy way out.