Joe McKnight (1988 - 2016)

Joe McKnight was drafted by the New York Jets in the fourth round (112th overall) of the 2010 NFL Draft. To select McKnight, the Jets traded up twelve spots in the fourth round with the Carolina Panthers. In return, the Jets sent their fourth (124th overall) and sixth (198th overall) round selections to Carolina. McKnight […]

Alan Thicke (1947 - 2016)

Alan Thicke was born Alan Willis Jeffrey on March 1, 1947 in Kirkland Lake, Ontario, the son of Shirley “Joan” Isobel Marie (née Greer), a nurse, and William Jeffrey, a stockbroker. They divorced in 1953. His mother remarried to Brian Thicke, a physician, and they moved to Elliot Lake. He graduated from Elliot Lake Secondary […]

Rudolf Dassler (1898 - 1974)

Adolf Dassler, Rudolf’s younger brother, started to produce sports shoes in his mother’s kitchen after his return from World War I. His father, Christoph, who worked in a shoe factory, and the brothers Zehlein, who produced the handmade spikes for track shoes in their blacksmith’s shop, supported Adolf in starting his own business. In 1924, […]

Adolf Dassler (1900 - 1978)

Born in the Franconian town of Herzogenaurach and trained as a cobbler, Adolf Dassler started to produce his first sports shoes in his mother’s laundry room after his return from the First World War. His father, Christoph, who worked in a shoe factory, and the Zehlein brothers, who produced the spikes for track shoes in […]

Pavel Lednyov (1943 - 2010)

Pavel Serafimovich Lednyov (Russian: Павел Серафимович Леднëв; 25 March 1943 Nizhny Novgorod, Nizhny, Russia – 23 November 2010 Moscow, Russia) was a Soviet modern pentathlete and Olympic Champion. He won a total of seven Olympic medals in modern pentathlon, more than any other player to date. He won four individual World Championships, and two gold […]

Frederick Lorz (1884 - 1914)

Born in New York City, Frederick Lorz was reported to have done all his training at night due to his profession as a bricklayer. An announcement in the August 6, 1904 issue of The New York Times indicated that the Metropolitan Association of the Amateur Athletic Union would hold a “special seven-mile race” at Celtic Park […]

Dora Ratjen (1918 - 2008)

A file containing the findings of an investigation conducted in 1938 and 1939 into Ratjen’s life was made public by Der Spiegel in 2009. Dora Ratjen was born in Erichshof, near Bremen, into a family described as “simple folk”. The father, Heinrich Ratjen, stated in 1938: “When the child was born the midwife called over to […]

Helen Stephens (1918 - 1994)

Helen Stephens, nicknamed the “Fulton Flash” after her birthplace, Fulton, Missouri, was a strong athlete in sprint events—she never lost a race in her entire career—and also in weight events such as the shot put and discus thro. She won national titles in both categories. When she was 18, Stephens participated in the 1936 Summer Olympics. […]

Elizabeth Murphy (1894 - 1964)

By the age of 17, Elizabeth Murphy was playing professionally and demanding to be paid when she played. She first signed with the Providence Independents and then  in 1918 she signed with Ed Carr’s Traveling All-Stars, a semi-professional team out of Boston. Carr’s was a barnstorming team which traveled throughout Canada and New England playing […]

Bob Feller (1918 - 2010)

Robert William Andrew Feller (November 3, 1918 – December 15, 2010), nicknamed “The Heater from Van Meter”, “Bullet Bob”, and “Rapid Robert”, was an American baseball pitcher who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cleveland Indians. Feller pitched from 1936 to 1941 and from 1945 to 1956, interrupted only by a […]

Walter Johnson (1887 - 1946)

Walter Perry Johnson (November 6, 1887 – December 10, 1946), nicknamed “Barney” and “The Big Train”, was a Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He played his entire 21-year baseball career for the Washington Senators (1907–1927). He later served as manager of the Senators from 1929 through 1932 and for the Cleveland Indians from 1933 through […]

Josh Gibson (1911 - 1947)

The Negro leagues generally found it more profitable to schedule relatively few league games and allow the teams to earn extra money through barnstorming against semi-professional and other non-league teams. Thus, it is important to distinguish between records against all competition and records in league games only. For example, against all levels of competition Josh […]

Buck O’Neil (1911 - 2006)

Born in rural Carrabelle, Florida, Buck O’Neil was initially denied the opportunity to attend high school due to racial segregation; at the time, Florida had only four high schools specifically for African Americans. However, after working a summer in a celery field with his father, O’Neil left home to live with relatives and attend Edward […]

Satchel Paige (1906 - 1982)

Leroy Robert “Satchel” Paige (July 7, 1906 – June 8, 1982) was an American Negro league baseball and Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher who became a legend in his own lifetime by being known as perhaps the best pitcher in baseball history, by his longevity in the game, and by attracting record crowds wherever he […]

Gabby Hartnett (1900 - 1972)

Charles Leo “Gabby” Hartnett (December 20, 1900 – December 20, 1972) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played almost his entire career in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Chicago Cubs from 1922 to 1940. He spent the final season of his career as a player-coach for the New York […]

Carl Hubbell (1903 - 1988)

Carl Hubbell was born in Carthage, Missouri and raised in Meeker, Oklahoma. He was originally signed by the Detroit Tigers and was invited to spring training in 1926. However, pitching coach George McBride and player-manager Ty Cobb weren’t impressed with him. Additionally, they were concerned about his reliance on a screwball, a pitch that some […]

Nap Lajoie (1874 - 1959)

Napoléon “Nap” Lajoie (/ˈlæʒəweɪ/; September 5, 1874 – February 7, 1959), also known as Larry Lajoie and nicknamed “The Frenchman”, was an American professional baseball second baseman and player-manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, Philadelphia Athletics (twice), and Cleveland Naps between 1896 and 1916. He managed the Naps from […]

Rogers Hornsby (1896 - 1963)

Rogers Hornsby, Sr. (April 27, 1896 – January 5, 1963), nicknamed “The Rajah”, was an American baseball infielder, manager, and coach who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the St. Louis Cardinals (1915–1926, 1933), New York Giants (1927), Boston Braves (1928), Chicago Cubs (1929–1932), and St. Louis Browns (1933–1937). Hornsby […]

Stan Musial (1920 - 2013)

Stanley Frank “Stan” Musial (/ˈmjuːziəl/ or /ˈmjuːʒəl/; born Stanisław Franciszek Musiał; November 21, 1920 – January 19, 2013), nicknamed “Stan the Man”, was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) outfielder and first baseman. He spent 22 seasons playing for the St. Louis Cardinals, from 1941 to 1944 and 1946 to 1963. Widely considered to be […]

Ted Williams (1918 - 2002)

Theodore Samuel Williams (August 30, 1918 – July 5, 2002) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 19-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career as a left fielder for the Boston Red Sox from 1939–1942 and 1946–1960. Nicknamed “The Kid”, “The Splendid Splinter”, “Teddy Ballgame”, “The Thumper” and “The Greatest Hitter […]

Tom Tresh (1938 - 2008)

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Tom Tresh graduated from Allen Park High School. He then attended Central Michigan University. While Tresh played a majority of his games in the outfield, he opened the 1962 season for the Yankees at shortstop, filling in for Tony Kubek who was performing military service. Not until Derek Jeter in 1996 […]

Yogi Berra (1925 - 2015)

Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra (May 12, 1925 – September 22, 2015) was an American professional baseball catcher, manager, and coach who played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) (1946–63, 1965) (all but the last for the New York Yankees). He was an 18-time All-Star and 10-time World Series champion as a player. Berra had […]

Kurt Vonnegut (1922 - 2007)

Kurt Vonnegut (/ˈvɒnᵻɡət/; November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American writer. In a career spanning over 50 years, Vonnegut published 14 novels, three short story collections, five plays, and five works of non-fiction. He is most famous for his darkly satirical, best-selling novel Slaughterhouse-Five (1969). Born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, Vonnegut attended […]

Frances Cress Welsing (1935 - 2016)

Frances Cress Welsing (born Frances Luella Cress; March 18, 1935 – January 2, 2016) was an American Afrocentrist psychiatrist. Her 1970 essay, The Cress Theory of Color-Confrontation and Racism (White Supremacy), offered her interpretation on the origins of what she described as white supremacy culture. She was the author of The Isis Papers: The Keys to […]

John Henrik Clarke (1915 - 1998)

By the 1920s, the Great Migration and demographic changes had led to a concentration of African Americans living in Harlem. A synergy developed among the artists, writers and musicians and many figured in the Harlem Renaissance. They began to develop supporting structures of study groups and informal workshops to develop newcomers and young people. Arriving in […]

Larry Jennings (1933 - 1997)

In 1964, Karrell Fox told Larry Jennings about the Magic Castle. Knowing that Dai Vernon now lived in Hollywood, Jennings quit his job as a combustion engineer. He and Nina moved to California and lived at 2005 Ivar Street, Apt. 7. In Hollywood, Larry got a job working for Leo Behnke’s father in the plumbing […]

Jan Němec (1936 - 2016)

Němec’s career as a filmmaker started in the late 1950s when he attended FAMU, the most prestigious institution for film training in Czechoslovakia. At that time, Czechoslovakia was a communist state subservient to the USSR, and artistic and public expression was subject to censorship and government review. However, thanks largely to the failure of purely […]

Jaromil Jireš (1935 - 2001)

Jaromil Jireš (10 December 1935 – 24 October 2001) was a director associated with the Czechoslovak New Wave movement. During the 1960s, Jireš was often in conflict with censors, limiting his output. His 1963 film The Cry was entered into the 1964 Cannes Film Festival. It is often described as the first film of the Czechoslovak […]

Evald Schorm (1931 - 1988)

Evald Schorm was born into a peasant family, and spent his childhood at the family farm in Elbančice near Mladá Vožice. After communists confiscated the family property, he was expelled from school and moved to Zličín near Prague, together with his parents. Schorm had to become a construction worker, but in 1956 he was finally […]

Věra Chytilová (1929 - 2014)

Věra Chytilová was born in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia on 2 February 1929. She had a strict Catholic upbringing, which would later come to influence many of the moral questions presented in her films. While attending college, Chytilová initially studied philosophy and architecture, but abandoned these fields. She then worked as a draftsman, fashion model and as a […]