Sandy Saddler (1926 - 2001)

Sandy Saddler Boxing greats such as Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns, Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney remain inexorably linked by the memory of their epic encounters. Sandy Saddler, the former world featherweight champion who has died aged 75, will be remembered for his foul-filled series of fights with his […]

Billy Conn (1917 - 1993)

Billy Conn The Conn-Louis fight in 1941 became a part of boxing lore. Conn, who had a reputation for brashness, was leading Louis by a wide margin when he made the mistake that was to haunt him for the rest of his life. He tried to slug it out with the champion. Louis knocked him […]

Barney Ross (1909 - 1967)

Barney Ross Dov-Ber (or Beryl) Rosofsky was born in New York City to Isidore “Itchik” Rosofsky and Sarah Epstein Rosofsky. His father was a Talmudic scholar who had emigrated to America from his native Brest-Litovsk after barely surviving a pogrom. The family then moved from New York to Chicago. Isidore became a rabbi and owner […]

Joe Gans (1874 - 1910)

Joe Gans Gans started boxing professionally about 1891 in Baltimore. He shocked the boxing world with his “scientific” approach to fighting. Finding an opponents strengths and weaknesses, then competing with a game-plan was Gan’s specialty. Known as a true student of the sport. In 1900, Gans quit with an eye cut in the twelfth round […]

Jimmy Wilde (1892 - 1969)

Jimmy Wilde Born William James Wilde, Jimmy Wilde worked in the coal mines as a boy and started boxing at the age of sixteen in fairground booths where crowds were amazed by his toughness and ability to knock down much bigger opponents. Indeed throughout his career his opponents were usually larger and heavier than him. […]

Max Schmeling (1905 - 2005)

Max Schmeling Max Schmeling, the German heavyweight boxing champion who was miscast as a symbol of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime in his 1938 bout with Joe Louis, died in his native Germany. He was 99. Schmeling, who became the first fighter to beat Louis in their 1936 meeting, died on Wednesday in the German town […]

Benny Leonard (1896 - 1947)

Benny Leonard He was the Lightweight Boxing Champion of the World from 1917 to 1925. Considered one of the greatest lightweight boxers in the history of the sport, he was feted as possessing superb boxing skills as well as potent punching power. He fought over two hundred times and suffered only four knockouts; three early […]

Harry Greb (1894 - 1926)

Harry Greb Harry Greb had excellent stamina and constantly threw punches from all directions, which is how he got the nickname “The Human Windmill.” Greb was also considered a dirty fighter, using elbows, thumbs and his head as often as his fists.   Greb engaged in 299 bouts Greb outfought some the best fighters of […]

Ezzard Charles (1921 - 1975)

Ezzard Charles Boxer Ezzard Charles was born in Lawrenceville, Georgia. When he was a child, his family moved to Cincinnati, where he became interested in boxing. By the time he was sixteen, he had taught himself the rudiments of boxing so well that he won fortytwo amateur fights in a row—including two Golden Gloves and […]

Gene Tunney (1897 - 1978)

Gene Tunney Gene Tunney, byname of James Joseph Tunney, also called The Fighting Marine   (born May 25, 1898, New York, New York, U.S.—died November 7, 1978, Greenwich, Connecticut), American boxer who defeated Jack Dempsey in 1926 to become the world heavyweight boxing champion.Tunney began boxing while working as a clerk for the Ocean Steamship Company in New York City […]

Carlos Monzón (1942 - 1995)

Carlos Monzón Argentina’s Carlos Monzon was one, if not the, greatest middleweight boxing champions in fistic history. Born in poverty, he was discovered in the famed Luna Park Gym by trainer Amilicar Brussa, who molded the “skinniest” 6 feet 2 incher in the world into a lethal fighting machine. Monzon developed a plodding style of […]

Sonny Liston (1932 - 1970)

Sonny Liston Sonny Liston was born in 1932 to an immense family of 25 brothers and sisters. In his youth he was arrested for Armed Robbery and learned how to box in prison. He was paroled in 1952 and had a short amateur career winning the St. Louis, Midwest, National, and International Golden Gloves titles. […]

Alexis Argüello (1952 - 2009)

Alexis Argüello found dead July 1, 2009, Managua), Nicaraguan professional boxer who was world featherweight, junior lightweight, and lightweight champion between 1974 and 1982. Arguello, who became a professional fighter in 1968, fought only in his homeland until 1974, when he went to Panama to seek the World Boxing Association’s featherweight title. Arguello lost this match in […]

Henry Armstrong (1912 - 1988)

Henry Armstrong Born Henry Jackson, Jr., on December 12, 1912, in Columbus, Mississippi, Armstrong was the eleventh of the family’s 15 children. His father, Henry Jackson, Sr., was a sharecropper and a butcher. His mother, America Jackson was an Iroquois Indian. When Armstrong was four years old, his father moved the family to St. Louis, […]

Willie Pep (1922 - 2006)

Willie Pep American professional boxer, world featherweight (126 pounds) champion during the 1940s. Pep specialized in finesse rather than slugging prowess and competed successfully in the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s. His rivalry with American Sandy Saddler is considered one of the greatest of 20th-century American pugilism. Pep began his professional boxing career in 1940. He […]

Jack Dempsey (1895 - 1983)

Jack Dempsey Heavyweight Champion of the World from 1919 to 1926. The legendary Dempsey was born in Manassa, Colorado, one of 11 children. At 16 he left home and traveled on freight trains and fought to earn money. Then Dempsey met manager Jack ‘Doc’ Kearns and started knocking out legitimate contenders like Fireman Jim Flynn, […]

Jess Willard (1881 - 1968)

Jess Willard On April 5, 1915, in Havana, Cuba, a Kansas farmer named Jess Willard became heavyweight champion of the world by defeating Jack Johnson. Willard, born in Pottawatomie County, began his professional career in 1911 at Sapulpa, Oklahoma, where he lost on a foul. Six weeks later he won over the same fighter at […]

Don Drysdale (1936 - 1993)

Don Drysdale During Drysdale’s 14-year baseball career, the fierce 6-foot-6 right-hander, nicknamed “Big D,” compiled a 209-166 record with a career earned-run average of 2.95. He pitched in five World Series and eight Major League All-Star games. Drysdale’s broadcasting partners, Vin Scully and Ross Porter, were told of Drysdale’s death shortly before Saturday night’s game […]

Dennis Cole (1940 - 2009)

Dennis Cole A performer of mainly television, he is best known for his role as ‘Detective Jim Briggs’ in the police drama “Felony Squad” (1966 to 1969). With his athletic build, the Detroit native was able to find work as a model and later as a Hollywood stuntman, which led to bit acting parts. His […]

David Nelson (1936 - 2011)

David Nelson David Nelson, the elder son of Ozzie and Harriet Nelson and the last surviving member of the family that became an American institution in the 1950s and ’60s as the stars of the classic TV sitcom “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet,” died Tuesday. He was 74. Nelson died at his Century City […]

Claire Whitney (1890 - 1969)

Claire Whitney Claire Whitney was born in New York City on May 6, 1890. Her acting career first started out on the stage, but as time wore on, it was evident that films were taking the place of plays, at least for a while. Her first film was The Star of India (1913) when she […]

Buster Keaton (1895 - 1966)

Buster Keaton Legendary motion picture comic actor, writer, producer, and director of the 1910s thru 1960s. Born on October 4, 1895, in Piqua, Kansas, as Joseph Francis Keaton. The oldest son of Joseph and Myra Keaton, who were stage comedians. Buster joined his family’s act at a very young age. It soon developed into a […]

Divya Bharti (1974 - 1993)

Divya Bharti was born on 25 February 1974, in Mumbai, India, as the child of Om Prakash Bharti, an insurance officer, and his second wife, Meeta Bharti. She had a younger brother named Kunal and two half siblings who were the result of her father’s first marriage. She spoke Hindi, English and Marathi fluently. In […]

Burt Mustin (1884 - 1977)

Burt Mustin Life literally began at 60 for American actor Burt Mustin, who didn’t enter show business until that age and didn’t make his film debut until Detective Story (1951), at which time he was 68. After a decade of uncredited movie roles as hillbilly patriarchs and Town’s Oldest Citizens, Mustin began getting name recognition […]

George William, Elector of Brandenburg (1595 - 1640)

Born in Cölln on the Spree, George William was the son of John Sigismund, Margrave of Brandenburg and Anna of Prussia. His maternal grandfather was Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia.  In 1616 George William married Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate. Their only son Frederick William later became known as the “Great Elector”. Of his two […]

William Crookes (1832 - 1919)

Crookes made a career of being a meteorologist and lecturer at multiple places. Crookes worked in chemistry and physics. His experiments were notable for the originality of their design. He executed them skillfully. His interests, ranging over pure and applied science, economic and practical problems, and psychiatric research, made him a well-known personality. He received […]

Felix Adler (1851 - 1933)

Felix Adler was born in Alzey, Grand Duchy of Hesse, Germany, the son of a rabbi, Samuel Adler, a leading figure in European Reform Judaism. The family immigrated to the United States from Germany when Felix was six years old so that his father could accept the appointment as head rabbi at Temple Emanu-El in […]

Bonnie Lee Bakley (1956 - 2001)

Bonnie Lee Bakley Born in Morristown, New Jersey to Edward and Marjorie Bakley. She was raised by and lived with her grandmother. Bonny dropped out of high school and decided to go to New York City to pursue a career in modeling and acting at the Barbizon School of Modeling. She was unsuccessful, however, in […]

Bette Davis (1908 - 1989)

Bette Davis At age ten her parents divorced and she was raised by her mother after a move to New York City. She began her career on Broadway. Bette Davis appeared in over 100 films receiving two Oscars, 10 nominations and three Emmy awards. A few of her major motion pictures: “Dangerous (Oscar winner) Jezebel […]

Art Linkletter (1912 - 2010)

Art Linkletter He hosted two of the longest-running programs in broadcast history and was a presence in American media for more than six decades. “Art Linkletter’s House Party,” a variety show, debuted on radio in 1944 and was seen on CBS television from 1952 to 1969, and “People Are Funny”, which he helmed on radio […]