Hulk Hogan, the wrestling legend who propelled the sport from a popular pastime to a ubiquitous pop culture phenomenon on a wave of “Hulkamania” before becoming a right-wing hero, has died at the age of 71.

Darren Prince, Hogan’s longtime agent, confirmed the wrestler’s death to Rolling Stone. Hogan died Thursday in Clearwater, Florida after paramedics responded to a “cardiac arrest” call at the wrestler’s home, CNN reports. Hogan was transported to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead. In recent weeks, though, he was reportedly on his “deathbed” following surgery earlier this month, though those close to him dispelled those rumors.

“WWE is saddened to learn WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan has passed away,” the company said in a statement. “One of pop culture’s most recognizable figures, Hogan helped WWE achieve global recognition in the 1980s. WWE extends its condolences to Hogan’s family, friends, and fans.”

The Georgia-born wrestler born Terry Bollea began wrestling professionally in the mid-1970s in Florida wrestling circuits under monikers like the Super Destroyer and Terry Boulder. In 1979, Bollea was introduced to then-World Wrestling Federation (WWF) owner Vince McMahon, who brought on Bollea and helped coin the name “Hulk Hogan,” named in part for to his hulking 6’7″ physique and its similarity to the “Incredible” comic book hero.

In the early 1980s, Hogan — then a villainous character —split his time between the WWF (where his battles with Andre the Giant helped boost the company’s popularity) and the New Japan Pro-Wrestling, competing for championships in both leagues. Following a two-year stint in the American Wrestling Association, Hogan rejoined the WWF, and “Hulkamania” was born.

The bandana-wearing, shirt-ripping Hogan soon became the WWF’s marquee star, renewing his rivalry with Andre the Giant, facing off against the likes of “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and “Macho Man” Randy Savage, and headlining the company’s first-ever WrestleMania.

It’s hard to overstate the impact and popularity Hogan had on both the sport and popular culture writ large, becoming a hero to millions of fans, especially children. At his peak, Hulk could be seen on Saturday morning cartoons, in music, in commercials, and on workout tapes. Oversaturation didn’t exist, as “Say your prayers and eat your vitamins” became a national catchphrase.

Hogan’s success in the ring led to opportunities on the big screen, including roles in films like Rocky III (as a wrestler named Thunderlips) and a memorable cameo in Gremlins 2: The New Batch. As leading man, Hogan starred in the 1989 wrestling drama No Holds Barred, the 1991 sci-fi action film Suburban Commando, and the family comedy Mr. Nanny.

Over the next two decades, Hogan bounced around the now-WWE and World Championship Wrestling, where he adopted a heel persona dubbed “Hollywood Hogan.” An inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame, Hogan remained in the wrestling orbit until his death, while also spinning off into music, merchandising, and reality television.

“I am absolutely shocked to hear about the passing of my close friend Hulk Hogan,” Ric Flair, who wrestled alongside and against Hogan, wrote on social media Thursday. “Hulk has been by my side since we started in the wrestling business. An incredible athlete, talent, friend, and father! Our friendship has meant the world to me. He was always there for me even when I didn’t ask for him to be. He was one of the first to visit me when I was in the hospital with a 2% chance of living, and he prayed by my bedside…Hulkster, no one will ever compare to you! Rest in peace my friend!”

In the 2010s, Hogan found himself in the thick of a completely different, but no less sensational fight: A legal battle with the website Gawker, which had published part of a sex tape featuring Hogan and Heather Clem, the wife of Florida shock jock, and former Hogan pal, Bubba the Love Sponge. The encounter itself took place in 2006, and in 2011, Hogan discussed the tryst — which he said had taken place with Bubba’s knowledge and encouragement — on The Howard Stern Show.

Bubba had also recorded the encounter, burning the video to a DVD, writing “Hogan” on it, and reportedly stashing it in his desk. While no one was supposed to see the video, it eventually leaked, and in October 2012, Gawker published a one-minute-and-41 second excerpt from the 30-minute video. The accompanying post, written by A.J. Daulerio, was part commentary on internet-era celebrity voyeurism, part perfunctory play-by-play.

Hogan sued Gawker in Florida for invasion of privacy, infringement of personality rights, and intentional infliction of emotional address. While Gawker tried to argue it was protected by the First Amendment, and that Hogan himself had made his sex life a public matter by discussing the encounter with Clem on Howard Stern, the jury ultimately sided with the wrestler.

Hogan was initially awarded a staggering $140 million in punitive and compensatory damages. And while Gawker appealed, in 2016 the case was eventually settled for $31 million, with Gawker agreeing to remove the post. By that point, however, Gawker had filed for bankruptcy and sold itself to Univision.

It had also emerged in early 2016 that both Hogan’s legal battle and others against Gawker were being financed by the right-wing tech billionaire Peter Thiel. Thiel had told The New York Times that the site — and in particular its Silicon Valley-focused blog, Valleywag — had “ruined people’s lives for no reason.” (Valleywag had outed Thiel as gay in the mid-2000s.)

In the midst of the appeals process in the Gawker case, Hogan faced another major controversy in 2015 after another tape leaked, this one containing a racist diatribe that included complaints about his daughter dating a Black man and liberal use of the n-word. (The recording was reportedly taken from court-sealed tapes in the Gawker case.) Hogan apologized, but the WWE had already decided to terminate his contract and effectively wipe him from the sport, removing references to him from their website, pulling merchandise, and even yanking him from the WWE Hall of Fame.

But the punishment didn’t last long. In 2018, Hogan made his on-screen WWE return and was also reinstated into the Hall of Fame. He continued to make appearances on WWE programming through the 2020s, with his final spot taking place earlier this year when Raw made its Netflix debut.

During this final act of his career, Hogan also became more involved in conservative politics. He endorsed Donald Trump for president on numerous occasions, even telling TMZ in 2016 that he wanted to be Trump’s “running mate.” In 2024, Hogan even spoke at the Republican National Convention, where he called Trump “my hero” while doing his signature shirt rip.

By JILL LAWLESS and KWIYEON HA, Associated Press

TURNBERRY, Scotland — TURNBERRY, Scotland (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump ’s trip to Scotland this week will be a homecoming of sorts, but he’s likely to get a mixed reception.

Trump has had a long and at times rocky relationship with the country where his mother grew up in a humble house on a windswept isle.

He will be met by both political leaders and protesters during the visit, which begins Friday and takes in his two Scottish golf resorts. It comes two months before King Charles III is due to welcome him on a formal state visit to the U.K.

“I’m not proud that he (has) Scottish heritage,” said Patricia Sloan, who says she stopped visiting the Turnberry resort on Scotland’s west coast after Trump bought it in 2014. “All countries have good and bad that come out of them, and if he’s going to kind of wave the flag of having Scottish heritage, that’s the bad part, I think.”

Trump’s mother was born Mary Anne MacLeod in 1912 near the town of Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis, one of the Outer Hebrides off Scotland’s northwest coast.

“My mother was born in Scotland — Stornoway, which is serious Scotland,” Trump said in 2017.

She was raised in a large Scots Gaelic-speaking family and left for New York in 1930, one of thousands of people from the islands to emigrate in the hardscrabble years after World War I.

MacLeod married the president’s father, Fred C. Trump, the son of German immigrants, in New York in 1936. She died in August 2000 at the age of 88.

Trump still has relatives on Lewis and visited in 2008, spending a few minutes in the plain gray house where his mother grew up.

Trump’s ties and troubles in Scotland are intertwined with golf.

He first proposed building a course on a wild and beautiful stretch of the North Sea coast north of Aberdeen in 2006.

The Trump International Scotland development was backed by the Scottish government. But it was fiercely opposed by some local residents and conservationists, who said the stretch of coastal sand dunes was home to some of the country’s rarest wildlife, including skylarks, kittiwakes, badgers and otters.

Local fisherman Michael Forbes became an international cause celebre after he refused the Trump Organization’s offer of 350,000 pounds ($690,000 at the time) to sell his family’s rundown farm in the center of the estate. Forbes still lives on his property, which Trump once called “a slum and a pigsty.”

“If it weren’t for my mother, would I have walked away from this site? I think probably I would have, yes,” Trump said in 2008 during the planning battle over the course. “Possibly, had my mother not been born in Scotland, I probably wouldn’t have started it.”

The golf course was eventually approved and opened in 2012. Some of the grander aspects of the planned development, including 500 houses and a 450-room hotel, have not been realized, and the site has never made a profit.

A second 18-hole course at the resort is scheduled to open this summer. It’s named the MacLeod Course in honor of Trump’s mother.

There has been less controversy about Turnberry on the other side of Scotland, a long-established course that Trump bought in 2014.

“He did bring employment to the area,” said local resident Louise Robertson. “I know that in terms of the hotel and the lighthouse, he spent a lot of money restoring it, so again, that was welcomed by the local people. But other than that, I can’t really say positive things about it.”

Trump has pushed for the British Open to be held at the course for the first time since 2009.

Turnberry is one of 10 courses on the rotation to host the Open. But organizers say there are logistical issues about “road, rail and accommodation infrastructure” that must be resolved before it can return.

Trump has had a rollercoaster relationship with Scottish and U.K. politicians.

More than a decade ago, the Scottish government enlisted Trump as an unpaid business adviser with the GlobalScot network, a group of business leaders, entrepreneurs and executives with a connection to Scotland. It dumped him in 2015 after he called for Muslims to be banned from the U.S. The remarks also prompted Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen to revoke an honorary doctorate in business administration it had awarded Trump in 2010.

This week Trump will meet left-leaning Scottish First Minister John Swinney, an erstwhile Trump critic who endorsed Kamala Harris before last year’s election — a move branded an “insult” by a spokesperson for Trump’s Scottish businesses.

Swinney said it’s “in Scotland’s interest” for him to meet the president.

Some Scots disagree, and a major police operation is being mounted during the visit in anticipation of protests. The Stop Trump Scotland group has encouraged demonstrators to come to Aberdeen and “show Trump exactly what we think of him in Scotland.”

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is also expected to travel to Scotland for talks with Trump. The British leader has forged a warm relationship with Trump, who said this month “I really like the prime minister a lot, even though he’s a liberal.” They are likely to talk trade, as Starmer seeks to nail down an exemption for U.K. steel from Trump’s tariffs.

There is no word on whether Trump and Starmer — not a golfer — will play a round at one of the courses.

___

Lawless reported from London

BYU basketball added a piece to its a roster for the upcoming season as Austrian guard Aleksej Kostic signed with BYU.

A 6-foot-4 guard, Kostic comes to BYU with international experience and a reputation as a high-level shooter. One international scout described Kostic as a “sharpshooter’” who can also handle the ball, “but mainly he can really shoot it.” Two sources told me that he is expected to be a freshman this coming season.

Below is how Kevin Young described Kostic in the official release.

“He brings valuable experience having represented his country on the national team level. He is a high-level shooter who can play multiple positions and gives us another ball handler and play maker. We look forward to helping him take his game to another level.”

Aleksej turns 20 in October and most recently played in the Austrian Basketball Superliga. He caught the radar of international scouts at the FIBA U18 championships two years ago when he averaged 19 points on shot 39% from three on 7 attempts per game.

Alexsej can handle the ball, but I envision him more as a two guard for BYU. He does a lot of his damage off the dribble and can score off pull ups and in the PNR. Minutes may be tough for him to come by this season in the backcourt, but he brings depth as an additional ball handler and shooter and also has the experience and shooting skillset to make an impact as he gets further into his BYU career.

I should have more soon from my conversation with Kostic about why he chose BYU.

You can watch highlights of him below.

RHINE-RUHR, Germany (SMU) – SMU men’s swimmer Kristaps Mikelsons and All-American diver Luke Sitz wrapped up their campaigns at the FISU World University Games in Rhine-Ruhr, Germany, on Wednesday. Sitz secured two medals for Team UniUSA. 

The sophomore earned a bronze medal in the men’s 3-meter springboard, with a score of 429.75 on July 18. Breaking a 28-year drought, Sitz’s podium finish was the first medal for Team UniUSA on 3-meter springboard since 1997.  

On Wednesday, Sitz picked up another piece of hardware, claiming a silver medal on the men’s synchronized 3-meter springboard. The U.S. pair of Sitz and Indiana University’s Joshua David Sollenberger earned a 380.34 total.  

In his final event, Sitz fell just short of medaling in the mixed team (3-meter/10-meter), placing fourth with a 393.50. 

Representing Latvia, Mikelsons also competed in Rhine-Ruhr. Mikelsons participated in four individual events: 100m breast, 200m IM, 200m breast and 50m breast.  

In the 100m breast, Mikelsons posted a time of 1:02.16. After advancing to the 200m IM semifinals, he registered a time of 2:02.43 to place 15th overall. 

The junior touched the wall at 2:16.58 in the 200m breast, leading his heat. Finally, in the 50m breast, Mikelsons recorded a 28.73. 

Mikelsons also took part in two relays, finishing in 3:29.62 in the men’s 4x100m free relay and 4:04.29 in the mixed 4x100m medley relay. 

The conditions were perfect for a big offensive performance Wednesday at Wrigley Field. The heat, paired with a breeze blowing out, could carry would-be long flyouts over the fence.

“It was a day where you were rewarded for putting the ball in the air,” manager Craig Counsell said after the Cubs’ 8-4 loss to the Royals. “And they did that part of the game certainly better than us.”

Standing in the Cubs’ way was Royals starter Seth Lugo.

It was the kind of pre-trade-deadline matchup that perfectly underlined the push-and-pull of this time of year.

The Cubs’ biggest need, with about a week before the July 31 deadline, is starting pitching. Lugo, who held the Cubs to four hits and two runs in six innings, will be highly sought after by contending teams if the Royals make him available. But their trade-deadline direction is unclear.

As of Wednesday afternoon, nine non-division-leading American League teams were within 4½ games of a wild-card spot, including the Royals (50-53). And while the -National League isn’t quite as tightly packed, it still has bubble teams such as the Cardinals. All that uncertainty of direction has pushed back deadline action.

As soon as one of those gray-area teams loses a few games, its head of baseball operations is sure to hear from organizations looking to pick off its players.

“We’ve all been there,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said Friday. “As an example, in ’23, I was really open with everyone: ‘Don’t feel bad. Yes, this is a little bit day-to-day here. We lose two games in a row, we may be selling, and if we win two games in a row, we might be buying.’ Teams are pretty open about that.”

The Royals inched the opposite way at Wrigley Field this week, taking two of three from the Cubs.

On the other side, the Cubs’ loss, paired with a win by the Brewers (61-41) against the Mariners, knocked the Cubs (60-42) out of a tie for the best record in the majors — and the NL Central.

Pitching opposite Lugo, the Cubs had Colin Rea, who has been a regular starter most of the year because of a wave of injuries.

Between Justin Steele’s season-ending elbow injury, Shota Imanaga’s seven-week stay on the injured list for a strained hamstring and Jameson Taillon’s calf strain at the beginning of the month, the Cubs have been without two top starters simultaneously for essentially all but the first six weeks of the season.

Rea, despite allowing six runs (five earned) in five innings against the Royals, has been key in stabilizing the rotation. But the Cubs have used bullpen days to fill the final spot in their rotation this month, further emphasizing their need for starting pitching at the deadline.

Even after surrendering a trio of two-run homers, Rea’s ERA was at a respectable 4.06.

“It’s tough to blame the pitcher,” Counsell said, noting the error that put a runner on base for the first homer and the role the hitter-friendly conditions might have played in the others.

The Cubs’ offense didn’t flash its power until Lugo was gone. Instead, it took advantage of a leadoff walk in the second inning and a leadoff hit-by-pitch in the third.

“He’s got a very expansive pitch mix, and you never really feel like you can sit on anything,” Counsell said. “He pitched well.”

Against the Royals’ bullpen, Cubs rookie Matt Shaw hit a solo homer to extend his post-All-Star-break hot streak, and Pete Crow-Armstrong launched his 27th homer of the season to retake sole ownership of the team lead.