Possible Clues:

• Down-on-one's-luck sort
• Runner-up? Nearer being a non-starter
• Nearer, but missing first place -- becoming this?
• Once deprived of love, slacker's a failure
• Deadbeat, e.g
• Any of three semifinalists, eventually
• Early Beck smash
• Second or third person?
• What a two-fingered "L" represents
• Runner-up in close race?