Around the world, Roger E. Mosley was known as helicopter pilot Theodore “TC” Calvin from the 1980s TV series “Magnum, PI”, but in the Los Angeles area, he was also known as something else. Was: A high school track and field coach who nurtured talent and changed the lives of student athletes over three decades.
Mosley died Sunday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after his daughter, Cha-A Mosley, was injured in a car accident in Linwood on Thursday, he told the Los Angeles Times. He was 83 years old.
After the accident, which left him paralyzed from the shoulders, Mosley was taken to St. Francis Medical Center in Linwood and then transferred to Cedars-Sinai. he was dead First reported by Rich Gonzalez From PrepCalTrack, which covers high school track and field in California.
“My dad was always a man of the community,” Cha-e Mosley told The Times on Sunday. “Even after being famous and having this successful career in Hollywood, he continued to work with youth – most recently as a track coach in Monrovia (Unified School District).”
“He personally coached me. I was his first hurdler he trained for the 400m hurdles, and he made me a champion. Under his coaching, I learned what it meant to win. … He Made sure I had a work ethic, and it gave me a strong moral direction to stand on my own feet and get a good education and all the tools I needed to be successful in life.”
Mosley appeared as an ex-Marine TC in over 150 episodes of the popular crime drama “Magnum, PI”, which aired on CBS for eight seasons, ending in 1988. He recently guest-starred in a few episodes of “Magnum”. PI” reboots as John Bucci, a wisecracking barber and Vietnam War veteran.
Before his “Magnum, PI” fame, Mosley starred in dozens of movies and TV series, including “Sanford & Son,” “The Love Boat” and “Roots: The Next Generation.” In 1973, she starred in the prison thriller “Terminal Island” alongside her future “Magnum, PI” cast-mate Tom Selleck. The following year, he shared the screen with John Wayne in the police drama “McQ”.
He played Huddy Ledbetter, aka Lead Bailey, in Gordon Parks’ 1976 biopic about a blues musician, as well as professional boxer Sonny Liston in the 1977 Muhammad Ali biopic “The Greatest”.
After “Magnum, PI”, Mosley made his TV debut with recurring roles in the 1990s sitcoms “You Take the Kids” and “Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper”, as well as in other shows including the Showtime series “Rude Awakening”. continued to start. On the big screen, some of Mosley’s later credits include the 1996 romantic comedy-thriller “A Thin Line Between Love and Hate” and the 1998 crime drama “Letters from a Killer”.
His final role was Grandpa Faison in the 2010 comedy series “FCU: Fact Checkers Unit”. In a full-circle moment after a nearly decade-long acting hiatus, Mosley returned to the small screen one last time for the new “Magnum P.I.”, starring Jay Hernandez and Stephen Hill as T.C. did.
“Rest in Power to the King, Father, Husband, Friend, Trailblazer, Black Power-Man, Coach, Gentleman, Powerhouse Talent, and Mentor Roger E. Mosley,” Hill wrote on Instagram on Sunday.
“We are all honored by your example of life.”
Mosley grew up in the Imperial Court Housing Project in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. Beyond his on-screen career, Mosley went on to become a prominent and influential figure on the high school track and field scene in LA and trained in many other sports, including swimming and basketball.
“He was always imparting wisdom,” said Mike Knowles, who met Mosley while training Cha-A Mosley at John Muir High School in Pasadena, before he and Mosley became longtime friends and coaching partners. .
“If you asked him anything, you would have got a full answer, not just a part-answer. … He was an encyclopedia of knowledge on various things.”
Knowles said that Mosley was a perfectionist who repeatedly declined offers to coach track and field at the college level because he preferred to discover and champion young local talent.
“He was a tough coach,” Knowles said. “But all of his athletes respected him. … he may not have always liked his coaching methods, but everyone he ever coached, who went to college or the pros… came back and Thanked him for being tough on him. And teaching him what life would be like. And that’s basically what he did to all of us.
“He didn’t have to do it. He had the money. He had the fame. He didn’t have to go back to the community and invest his time out there. But he did.”
Mosley is survived by his daughter and his wife, Antoinette “Tony” Mosley.
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