Country Music Hall of Fame member also co-wrote hits like Randy Travis’ “Forever and Ever, Amen” and Keith Whitley’s “When You Say Nothing at All” Don Schlitz , a hit songwriter whose solo composition “The Gambler” became a crossover smash for Kenny Rogers in 1978, died Thursday. He was 73. No cause was given, but a statement announcing his death said that he died at a hospital in Nashville following a sudden illness. “The Gambler,” the first song Schlitz ever had recorded by an artist, told the story of an encounter with an old cardsharp on a “train bound for nowhere.” While the lyrics were rich in card-playing imagery, the song was a parable on navigating life. “You got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em,” Schlitz wrote in the chorus. “Know when to walk away, know when to run.” Schlitz wrote “The Gambler” in 1976 when he was just 23, after three years of dead ends in Nashville.…