The legendary cricket umpire Rudi Koertzen including three people died in a car crash on Tuesday morning in an area called Riversdale in South Africa.
His son, Rudi Koertzen Jr told Algoa FM News that his father died on impact.
“He went on a golf tournament with some of his friend, and they were expected to come back on Monday, but it seems they decided to play another round of golf", Koertzen Jr said.
Koertzen became an umpire in 1981 and officiated his first international fixture in 1992, when India toured South Africa. At 43, he stood in his first Test in Port Elizabeth. It was the first series in which television replays were used to judge run-outs.
In 1997, he was appointed as a full-time International Cricket Council (ICC) umpire. In 2002, he became a member of the elite panel and eventually became the second umpire in history, after Steve Bucknor, to officiate in more than 200 ODIs and 100 Tests.
In 1999, he was at the centre of controversy when he refused a bribe to fix the outcome of a match between the West Indies and India. Then in 2000, he stood in the Test match between South Africa and England, where South African captain Hansie Cronje had been approached by a bookmaker.
In the 2003 and 2007 World Cup finals, he was the third-umpire. In 2010, Koertzen retired from international umpiring after the Test match between Australia and Pakistan.
The South African players have decided to wear black armbands during their match against England Lions on Tuesday in honour of Koertzen.
A notable figure in the game with his unique slow-motion style of adjudicating a batter out, Koertzen officiated in 127 Tests, 108 of which he stood as one of the two on-field umpires. He is one of only three umpires to have stood in over 100 Test matches. He also officiated in 250 ODIs, 19 T20Is and 1 WT20I in a career spanning 18 years.
