Former President Jimmy Carter died Sunday afternoon at the age of 100.
The Carter Center confirmed that Carter died peacefully and surrounded by his family at his home in Plains, Georgia. At 100, Carter was the longest-living president in U.S. history.
A lifelong Atlanta Braves fan, he was the first president to welcome a Super Bowl champion to the White House (the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1980, who visited alongside the World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates).
Carter also was president in 1980 when he announced that the United States would boycott the Olympic Summer Games in Moscow to protest the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. More than 60 nations ultimately boycotted the Games, including West Germany, Japan and China. Writing in his 2010 book, “White House Diary,” Carter observed that in hindsight, with respect to the U.S. team, “one of my most difficult decisions was supporting the boycott of the Summer Olympics.”
In his presidential memoir, “Keeping Faith,” Carter also discussed the choice not to send a U.S. team to Moscow. The boycott of the Moscow Olympics led to a retaliatory Soviet-led boycott of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics that included more than a dozen countries.
“For the Soviet Union, the Moscow Olympics was much more than a sporting event,” Carter wrote. “They saw it as a triumph for communism and a vivid demonstration to other nations of the world that the Soviets represented the true spirit of the ancient Olympics.”
After the boycott was formalized with a vote by the U.S. Olympic Committee, Carter invited the entire American team to the White House, where each athlete got a brief handshake, posed for a picture with the president, and received the Congressional Gold Medal.
A moment of silence was held Sunday night before the Atlanta Falcons’ game at the Washington Commanders in honor of Carter.
Falcons owner Arthur Blank said he was “deeply saddened by the loss of [his] dear friend and role model, President Jimmy Carter” in a statement earlier Sunday.
“He was a great American, a proud Georgian and an inspirational global humanitarian,” Blank said.
Carter (born James Earl Carter Jr.) served one term as U.S. president, from 1977 to 1981. He lived longer after leaving office than any other previous U.S. president, and his legacy is noted by his post-presidency work.
He founded The Carter Center in 1982, a nonprofit, nonpartisan center focused on issues of public policy. Through the center, he worked as an advocate for democracy, human rights, disease prevention and conflict resolution and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. Carter also partnered with Habitat for Humanity for more than 30 years.
Carter, who returned to his home state of Georgia after leaving the presidency, attended numerous Braves games, including the final game at Turner Field in October 2016, and was caught on the kiss cam with his longtime wife, Rosalynn, on more than one occasion.
“President Carter was a testament to the best America, and Georgia, can produce,” the Braves said in a statement. “He served both his country and home state with honor his entire life. While the world knew him as a remarkable humanitarian and peacemaker, we knew him as a dedicated Braves fan and we will miss having him in the stands cheering on his Braves.”
Among his other sports-related activities, Carter was a member of the cross country team during his time at the Naval Academy and was also a tennis, track and basketball player in high school. He was also an avid softball player.
Carter grew up in Plains, Georgia, and served in the Navy for seven years before returning to his home state to take over his family’s peanut farm. Carter was a Georgia senator and governor in the 1960s and ’70s before being elected president. He was diagnosed with cancer in August 2015 but announced in early 2016 that he no longer needed treatment.
Carter entered hospice care in February 2023; the Carter Center said that in the wake of a series of short hospital stays he “decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention.”
Carter married his wife, Rosalynn, in 1946. She died on Nov. 19, 2023, at the age of 96. They are survived by their three sons and a daughter, as well as several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
TORONTO — A three-goal second period broke open a tight game, quieted a raucous crowd at Scotiabank Arena, and powered the Florida Panthers past the Toronto Maple Leafs6-1 in Game 7 of this Eastern Conference semifinal series on Sunday night.
Though it wasn’t the typical marquee names you see on the Florida scoresheet, Seth Jones, Anton Lundell and Jonah Gadjovich combined for those tallies, giving the Stanley Cup-champion Panthers a 3-0 lead headed into the third period. It was plenty of room for Florida to shut the door in the third period and seal a berth in the Eastern Conference finals for the third consecutive season. Florida will take on the Carolina Hurricanes in Round 3 beginning Tuesday.
The Maple Leafs, 2-0 winners in Game 6 Friday night in Sunrise, Florida, could not find enough time and space to operate in the Panthers’ zone. With 10 minutes left in regulation, Toronto had just 14 shots on net, with its season on the line, as boos rained down from the capacity crowd.
Eetu Luostarinen and Sam Reinhart chipped in with third-period goals for Florida, giving the champions a 5-1 lead after Toronto’s Max Domi scored at 2:07 of the final frame to briefly give the home team hope. Florida’s Brad Marchand added an empty-net goal to conclude the scoring.
“We’re excited about the opportunity,” Marchand said during the game broadcast on SportsNet. “We’re having fun, enjoying the moment, that’s all you can do. You don’t get a second chance at these opportunities. You just have to embrace and enjoy it.”
Goaltender Joseph Woll, who authored the shutout in Sunrise on Friday, struggled at home, looking out of position on several Florida goals. Anthony Stolarz, Toronto’s regular starter who had been sidelined since Game 1 with an undisclosed injury, was active and on the bench as Toronto’s backup for Game 7, but he was not called upon.
Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky was much sharper on the other end of the ice, allowing only Domi’s goal off a wrist shot on a clean entry into the zone. Bobrovsky, who has started every postseason game for the Panthers this season, was playing in his first Game 7 since he led the Panthers to the Stanley Cup last June with a victory over the Edmonton Oilers in the series’ last game.
Jones, in his first season with Florida and seeking his first shot at the Stanley Cup, opened the scoring with his third goal of the postseason.
“I’m just happy with the situation I’m in,” Jones said on TNT’s postgame show. “Hopefully, my game can grow, and I’m just trying to bring what I can to the table with this team. I’m playing with a lot of great players, and these guys know what it takes to win.”
The game was delayed in the second period, just before Florida’s goal-scoring spree, after referee Chris Rooney, widely considered to be one of the top officials in the NHL, was bloodied and had to leave. The longtime referee was hit by an inadvertent stick to the face.
The play happened 13 seconds into the second period, when Florida’s Niko Mikkola was jousting for the puck and his stick went into Rooney’s face. Rooney skated off with some assistance and with a towel covering much of his face as he was brought to the locker room area for further evaluation and treatment.
The NHL has stand-by officials at playoff games, and Garrett Rank took over as one of the two referees following Rooney’s injury, joining a crew that also included referee Jean Hebert and linespersons Devin Berg and Jonny Murray.
TORONTO — Referee Chris Rooney, widely considered to be one of the top officials in the NHL, was bloodied and had to leave Game 7 of the Florida Panthers–Toronto Maple Leafs playoff matchup Sunday night after taking an inadvertent stick above one of his eyes.
The play happened 13 seconds into the second period of the Panthers’ 6-1 win when Florida’s Niko Mikkola was jousting for the puck and his stick hit Rooney’s face.
The game was stopped for several minutes and a stretcher was brought onto the ice, but Rooney skated off with some assistance and with a towel covering much of his face as he was brought to the locker room area for further evaluation and treatment.
Rooney got stitches and was ruled out for the remainder of the game.
The NHL has standby officials at playoff games, and Garrett Rank took over as one of the two referees following Rooney’s injury, joining a crew that also included referee Jean Hebert and linesmen Devin Berg and Jonny Murray.
