Red Barber (1908 - 1992)

Red Barber had been hired by Larry MacPhail, then president of the Reds. When MacPhail moved on to become president of the Dodgers for the 1939 season, he took the play-by-play man along. In Brooklyn, Barber became an institution, widely admired for his folksy style. He was also appreciated by people concerned about Brooklyn’s reputation […]

Peter “Pistol Pete” Maravich (1947 - 1988)

The Atlanta Hawks selected Pete Maravich with the third pick in the first round of the 1970 NBA draft, where he played for coach Richie Guerin. He was not a natural fit in Atlanta, as the Hawks already boasted a top-notch scorer at the guard position in Lou Hudson. In fact, Pistol Pete’s flamboyant style […]

Phil Rizzuto (1917 - 2007)

Phil Rizzuto was signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent in 1937. His nickname, at times attributed to Yankees broadcaster Mel Allen, was actually bestowed on Rizzuto (according to him) by minor league teammate Billy Hitchcock because of the way Rizzuto ran the bases. After being named the Minor League Player of […]

Ward Lambert (1888 - 1958)

Ward Lambert was born in Deadwood, South Dakota. In 1890, Lambert and his family moved to Crawfordsville, Indiana. He played basketball and baseball at Crawfordsville High School and Wabash College, both under coach Ralph Jones, who himself went on to coach Purdue. Despite his height (5’6″), Lambert led Wabash in scoring his sophomore year—leading to […]

Charles Comiskey (1859 - 1931)

Charles Comiskey started his playing career as a pitcher, and moved to first base after developing arm trouble. He entered the American Association in 1882 with the St. Louis Brown Stockings. He managed the team during parts of its first seasons and took over full-time in 1885, leading the Browns to four consecutive American Association […]

Gene Brabender (1941 - 1996)

Gene Brabender (August 16, 1941 – December 27, 1996), nicknamed “Lurch”, was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. He was signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers as an amateur free agent before the 1961 season. He pitched for the Baltimore Orioles (1966–1968), Seattle Pilots (1969), and the Milwaukee Brewers (1970). During a 5-year baseball career, […]

Alexander Joy Cartwright, Jr (1820 - 1892)

Alexander Cartwright led the establishment of the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club (after the Knickerbocker Fire Engine Company) in 1842. The Knickerbockers played a brand of bat-and-ball game often called “town ball” or “round ball,” but in New York more usually “base ball,” somewhat similar to but not identical to the English sport of rounders, on […]

Warren Giles (1896 - 1979)

Warren Giles was elected president of the Moline, Illinois, Plowboys baseball club in the Class B Three-I League at age 23 in 1919, beginning his 50-year career in baseball. He then joined the St. Louis Cardinals’ organization and rose to prominence as the president and business manager of their top-level farm teams, the Syracuse Stars (1926–27) […]

Rose Gacioch (1915 - 2004)

A native of Wheeling, West Virginia, Rose Gacioch was orphaned at the age of 16. She lied about her age, saying that she was 18 in order to take a job in a corrugating plant in her homeland. She also joined the Little Cardinals, a semi-professional baseball team in town, being the only girl on […]

Gary Bradds (1942 - 1983)

Gary Bradds was selected by the Baltimore Bullets in the 1st round (3rd pick overall) of the 1964 NBA Draft. Bradds played in the North American Basketball League for Benton Harbor in 1965-66 and was Second Team NABL. He played for Columbus in 1966-67 and was named First Team NABL. He played for the Bullets (1964–66) in […]

Abe Saperstein (1902 - 1966)

Abe Saperstein (July 4, 1902 – March 15, 1966) was an owner and coach of the Savoy Big Five, which later became the Harlem Globetrotters. He was born in London, England, to a Jewish family. Saperstein was the commissioner of the American Basketball League, which he founded in 1961 after repeatedly being denied an NBA expansion […]

John Sieba Roosma (1900 - 1983)

John Roosma (September 3, 1900 – November 13, 1983) was an amateur basketball great during the 1920s. He played for the United States Military Academy for five years, graduating in 1926. The Passaic, New Jersey native was a prolific scorer and became the first college player to total 1,000 points for his career. As a member […]

Flo Hyman (1954 - 1986)

Flo Hyman was the second of eight children. As a child, Hyman was abused by her parents and self-conscious about her rapid growth. She made it a habit to try to hide her size. She hunched when she sat and slouched when she walked. But her mother persuaded her to be proud of it and […]

Colleen Hutchins (1926 - 2010)

Colleen Hutchins (May 23, 1926 – March 24, 2010) was Miss America 1952.  She was crowned as Brigham Young University Homecoming Queen in 1947. In September 1951. The first Miss Utah to wear the crown, she took top honors for 1952. Raised in Salt Lake City, she attended Brigham Young University where she was the 1947 […]

Paul Siple (1908 - 1968)

Paul Siple was born in Montpelier, Ohio on December 18, 1908 to Clyde Lavonius Siple and Fannie Hope Allman. His family moved to Erie, Pennsylvania, where he graduated from Central High School in 1926. He became an Eagle Scout in 1923 with 59 merit badges. After an extensive nationwide search in 1928, he was the […]

Harry August Jansen (1883 - 1955)

Harry August Jansen was born on October 3, 1883 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Jansen came to St. Paul, Minnesota at the age of 6 with his family. At the age of 16 Jansen made his stage debut under Charles Wagner. He then set off on a world tour for 5 years as the Great Jansen. In 1922, magician […]

Darryl Dawkins (1957 - 2015)

DARRYL DAWKINS Hoping to follow in Malone’s footsteps, the 18-year-old Darryl Dawkins renounced his college eligibility and applied for the 1975 NBA draft as a hardship candidate. The Philadelphia 76ers made him the fifth overall pick, behind David Thompson, David Meyers, Marvin Webster, and Alvan Adams. According to the New York Daily News, when Dawkins […]

Gary Collins (1938 - 2012)

Gary Collins made a career in television, co-starring, with Jack Warden and Mark Slade, in the 1965 series The Wackiest Ship in the Army. He co-starred, with Dale Robertson and Robert Random, in the 1966-68 series The Iron Horse. He starred in the 1972 television series Sixth Sense, in syndication part of Rod Serling’s Night […]

John Colicos (1928 - 2000)

John Colicos was born in Montreal, Quebec, to a Greek father and a Canadian mother. In 1957 he appeared in Mary Stuart at the Phoenix Theatre in New York City and in 1963 he appeared in Troilus and Cressida at the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. His other New York theatre credits are King Lear […]

Lew Cody (1884 - 1934)

Lew Cody (February 22, 1884 – May 31, 1934) was an American stage and film actor whose career spanned the silent film and early sound film age. He gained notoriety in the late 1910s for playing “male vamps” in films such as Don’t Change Your Husband. Lew Cody was born Louis Joseph Côté to Joseph Côté […]

Steve Cochran (1917 - 1965)

From 1949–52 Steve Cochran worked for Warner Brothers in mostly supporting roles (often playing boxers and gangsters), and before that he was under contract to Samuel Goldwyn. He appeared in many films, including The Chase (1946), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Copacabana (1947), A Song Is Born (1948), Highway 301 (1950), The Damned […]

Lee Cobb (1911 - 1976)

Lee Cobb performed summer stock with the Group Theatre (New York) in 1936, when they summered at Pine Brook Country Club in Nichols, Connecticut. During World War II Cobb served in the First Motion Picture Unit of the United States Army Air Forces. Cobb entered films in the 1930s, successfully playing middle-aged and even older men […]

Del Close (1934 - 1999)

Del Close was born on March 9, 1934 in Manhattan, Kansas, the son of an inattentive alcoholic father. He ran away from home at the age of 17 to work in a traveling side show, but returned to attend Kansas State University. At age 19 he performed in summer stock with the Belfry Players at […]

Colin Clive (1900 - 1937)

Colin Clive was born in Saint-Malo, France, to an English colonel, Colin Philip Greig, and his wife, Caroline Margaret Lugard Clive. He attended Stonyhurst College and subsequently Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, where an injured knee disqualified him from military service and contributed to his becoming a stage actor. Clive created the role of Steve Baker, the […]

Stanley Clements (1926 - 1981)

Stanley Clements was born Stanislaw Klimowicz in Long Island, New York. Young Stan realized that he wanted a show-business career while he was in grammar school, and when he graduated from college, he toured in vaudeville for two years. He then joined the touring company of the Major Bowes Amateur Hour. In 1941, he was […]

Steve Clark (1960 - 1991)

Before joining Def Leppard in 1978, Steve Clark played cover songs with his small band, Electric Chicken, in Sheffield. Around that time, he met Pete Willis (Def Leppard’s original guitarist and founder). Clark asked for a spot in the band and joined Def Leppard in January 1978. According to Joe Elliott in Behind the Music, […]

Fred Clark (1914 - 1968)

Born in Lincoln, California, Fred Clark made his film debut in 1947 in The Unsuspected. His 20-year film career included nearly seventy films and numerous television appearances. As a supporting player, with his gruff voice, intimidating build, bald head and small moustache beneath an often scowling visage, he was often cast as a testy film […]

Buddy Clark (1912 - 1949)

Buddy Clark was born Samuel Goldberg to Jewish parents in Dorchester, Massachusetts. He made his Big Band singing debut in 1932 as a tenor, with Gus Arnheim’s orchestra, but was not successful. Singing baritone, he gained wider notice in 1934, with Benny Goodman on the Let’s Dance radio program. In 1936 he began performing on […]

Berton Churchill (1876 - 1940)

Born in Toronto, Ontario, as a young man interested in the theater, Berton Churchill appeared in stock companies as early as 1903 and later headed to New York City, where he worked as a newspaper pressman, eventually becoming a foreman and leader of his union. He began an acting career that saw him perform in 30 […]

Merle Haggard (1937 - 2016)

Merle Haggard Merle Haggard’s parents, Flossie Mae (Harp) and James Francis Haggard, moved to California from their home in Checotah, Oklahoma, during the Great Depression, after their barn burned in 1934. They settled with their children, Lowell and Lillian, in an apartment in Bakersfield, while James started working for the Santa Fe Railroad. A woman […]