ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, October 14, 1996 TAG: 9610150079
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
SOURCE: FROM ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORTS
Rene Lacoste, the French tennis champion of the 1920s who transformed his nickname - ``Le Crocodile'' - into a status symbol on polo shirts around the world, has died. He was 92.
His daughter, Catherine Lacoste, said Sunday her father died in his sleep Saturday in a hospital in his hometown of St. Jean de Luz on the Atlantic coast, four days after surgery on a broken leg. Lacoste had been suffering from prostate cancer.
Lacoste was the world's No. 1-ranked player in 1926 and 1927 and won seven major singles titles in his career: Wimbledon twice, the U.S. Open twice and the French Open three times.
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