Bessie Smith (1894 - 1937)

Bessie Smith Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s. She is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era and, along with Louis Armstrong, a major influence on other jazz vocalists. On September 26, 1937, Smith was critically injured in a car accident while traveling along […]

Salvador Sánchez (1959 - 1982)

Salvador Sánchez Mexican boxer born in the town of Santiago Tianguistenco, Estado de México. Sanchez was the World Boxing Council featherweight champion from 1980 to 1982. Many of his contemporaries as well as boxing writers believe that, had it not been for his premature death, Sanchez could have gone on to become the greatest Featherweight […]

Dottie Rambo (1934 - 2008)

Dottie Rambo Throughout her career, beginning with the 1960s “Gospel Singing Jubilee”, Rambo appeared on numerous television programs on virtually every Christian network as well as the TNN, PAX, and GMT Women’s Entertainment channels. She had her own series, “Dottie Rambo Magazine” in the 1980s on TBN which was the No. 1 rated program on […]

Lisa Lopes (1971 - 2002)

Lisa Lopes On April 25, 2002, in La Ceiba, Honduras, while driving a rented Mitsubishi Pajero around a bend in the road, Lopes swerved to the right slightly then again to the left as she tried to avoid a collision with another vehicle that was in her lane ahead of her (it is not clear […]

Sam Kinison (1953 - 1992)

Sam Kinison Kinison acquired much of his material from his difficult first two marriages, to Patricia Adkins (1975-1980) and Terry Marze (1981-1989). Kinison began a relationship with dancer Malika Souiri towards the end of his marriage with Marze. In 1990, Souiri alleged she was raped by a man Kinison hired as a bodyguard that same […]

Johnny Horton (1925 - 1960)

Johnny Horton Although he is better-remembered for his historical songs, Johnny Horton was one of the best and most popular honky tonk singers of the late ’50s. Horton managed to infuse honky tonk with an urgent rockabilly underpinning. His career may have been cut short by a fatal car crash in 1960, but his music […]

Richie Evans (1941 - 1985)

Richie Evans An American racing driver who won nine NASCAR National Modified Championships, including eight in a row from 1978 to 1985. The International Motorsports Hall of Fame lists this achievement as “one of the supreme accomplishments in motorsports”. Evans won virtually every major race for asphalt modifieds, most of them more than once, including […]

Clifford Allison (1964 - 1992)

Clifford Allison Was an American stock car racing driver. Son of NASCAR champion Bobby Allison, he was a member of the “Alabama Gang“. He was killed in a crash during practice for a NASCAR Busch Series race at Michigan International Speedway in 1992. Son of the legendary Bobby Allison, nephew of Donnie and brother to […]

Ennis Cosby (1969 - 1997)

Cosby was born in Los Angeles, the third of five children (and the only son) of Bill and Camille Cosby. On his 1969 television special, Bill Cosby had joked to his then-pregnant wife that the baby “had better be a boy, you hear, Camille?” The character of Theo Huxtable, portrayed by Malcolm Jamal Warner on […]

Rebecca Schaeffer (1967 - 1989)

Schaeffer was born in Eugene, Oregon, the only child of Danna (née Wilner), a writer and instructor at Portland Community College, and Dr. Benson Schaeffer, a child psychologist. She was raised in Portland where she attended Lincoln High School. She initially had aspirations to become a rabbi but began modeling during her junior year in […]

Sal Mineo (1939 - 1976)

Mineo was born in the Bronx, the son of coffin makers Josephine (née Alvisi) and Salvatore Mineo, Sr. He was of Sicilian descent; his father was born in Italy and his mother, of Italian origin, was born in the United States. His mother enrolled him in dancing and acting school at an early age. He […]

Carl Switzer (1927 - 1959)

Switzer was born in Paris, Illinois, the second son and last of the four children of George Frederick Switzer and his wife Gladys C. Shanks, both of German ancestry. He was named Carl after a member of the Switzer family and Dean after many relatives on his grandmother’s side. He and his brother, Harold, became […]

Neil Bonnett (1946 - 1994)

Neil Bonnett A NASCAR driver who compiled 18 victories and 20 poles over his 18-year career. The Alabama native currently ranks 35th in all-time NASCAR Cup victories. He appeared in the 1983 film Stroker Ace and the 1990 film Days of Thunder. He was a color commentator in the years up until his death. Neil […]

Fireball Roberts (1929 - 1964)

Fireball Roberts On May 24, 1964, at the World 600 in Charlotte, Roberts had qualified in the eleventh position and started in the middle of the pack. On lap seven, Ned Jarrett and Junior Johnson collided and spun out and Roberts crashed trying to avoid them. Roberts’ Ford slammed backward into the inside retaining wall, […]

Dale Earnhardt (1951 - 2001)

Dale Earnhardt Race Car Driver. Born in Kannapolis, North Carolina, to Ralph Lee and Martha Coleman Earnhardt, who was then one of the best short-track drivers in North Carolina. Known to the world as Dale, he would not be persuaded to give up his dream of racing, dropping out of school to race. In May […]

Adam Petty (1980 - 2000)

Adam Petty On May 12, 2000, Petty was practicing for the Busch series Busch 200 race at the New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire. While entering turn three, Petty’s throttle stuck wide open, causing the car to hit the outside wall virtually head on. Petty was killed instantly due to a basilar skull […]

Davey Allison (1961 - 1993)

Davey Allison Though 1992 had been a heartbreaking year for Davey Allison and the Robert Yates Racing team in more ways than one, they had to be encouraged by their run for the championship. But 1993 opened on a sour note with Allison finishing 28th at Daytona. That finish was followed by a 16th at […]

Davey Moore (1959 - 1970)

Davey Moore One of Moore’s early wins was in June 1981 over Kevin Rooney, who would later train Mike Tyson. Moore entered the fight with a 6-0 record, while Rooney was 15-0. Moore won by a TKO in the seventh round of an eight round fight. After winning eight professional fights, five by knockout, the […]

Davey Moore (1933 - 1963)

Davey Moore  Davey Moore, the 29-year-old coloured boxer who lost his featherweight championship on Thursday in the city where he won it, lost his life today in White Memorial Hospital, Los Angeles. Governor Brown of California renewed his pledge today to seek a referendum in the State Legislature to ban all boxing in California. In […]

John Tate (1955 - 1998)

John Tate Born in Marion, Arkansas. John lost in the finals of the 1975 National Golden Gloves to Emory Chapman. He lost in the quarterfinals the next year in a split decision to Michael Dokes. He would return to win against Dokes in the Olympic Trials by decision, and beat 1976 National AAU Champion Marvin […]

Scott LeDoux (1949 - 2011)

Scott LeDoux Scott LeDoux, the boxer known as the Fighting Frenchman, a contender for the heavyweight title in the mid-1970s and early ’80s, died Thursday at his home in Coon Rapids, Minn. He was 62. The cause was Lou Gehrig’s disease, his wife, Carol, said. At 6 feet 1 inch and weighing about 225 pounds, […]

Rocky Marciano (1923 - 1969)

Rocky Marciano Rocky Marciano was born Rocco Francis Marchegiano, on September 1, 1923, in Brockton, Massachusetts. During his career, Marciano held the heavyweight boxing title for four years in the 1950s, and he is the only boxing champion to ever retire undefeated. His father, Pierino, worked at a shoe factory. His mother’s name was Pasqualena, […]

Nelson Larkin (1970 - 2013)

Nelson Larkin Nelson Augustus Larkin, age 70, passed away peacefully to be with the Lord.He is preceded in death by his mother, Ruth Hall Larkin and father, Lemuel Augustus Larkin.Nelson was born in Huntland, TN. He worked at Redstone Arsenal where he met his wife. They moved to Nashville, TN in 1972, where he began […]

Mae West (1893 - 1980)

Mae West Legendary Entertainer, Actress. She made her theatrical debut at age 7 for an Elks-sponsored amateur talent contest on the stage of a local vaudeville theater; the award she received for her effort, a gold medal, set the tone for a lifetime of winning appearances. Soon she would achieve professional status performing roles as […]

Jackie Robinson (1919 - 1972)

Jackie Robinson American baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when the Brooklyn Dodgers started him at first base on April 15, 1947. As the first major league team to play a black man since the 1880s, […]

Lou Gehrig (1903 - 1941)

Lou Gehrig Legendary Baseball Player. Despite his numerous baseball athletic records, he is best remembered for his farewell speech of July 4, 1939 in Yankee Stadium, in which he said goodbye to his fans. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939, shortly after his retirement, and he was the first baseball […]

Babe Ruth (1895 - 1948)

Babe Ruth An American baseball outfielder and pitcher who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1914 to 1935. Nicknamed “The Bambino” and” The Sultan of Swat”, he began his career as a stellar left-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, but achieved his greatest fame as a slugging outfielder for the New York […]

Jerry Falwell (1933 - 2007)

Jerry Falwell Religious leader, political activist and television evangelist Jerry Falwell was born on August 11, 1933, in Lynchburg, Virginia. Reverend Jerry Falwell was a leading force behind in the political rise of the religious right in the 1980s and the founder of the Moral Majority, a fundamentalist Christian political organization. Raised listening to the […]

Saint Gianna Beretta Molla (1922 - 1962)

Gianna Beretta Molla was born in Magenta in Italy. She was the tenth of thirteen children in her family, only nine of whom survived to adulthood. When she was three, her family moved to Bergamo, and she grew up in the Lombardy region of Italy.  In 1942, Gianna began her study of medicine in Milan. […]

Saint George Preca (1880 - 1962)

Preca first came to the attention of the Ordinary Congregation of the Cardinals and Bishops of the Congregation for Causes of Saints, which examined the scientifically unexplainable healing of Charles Zammit Endrich in 1964. Zammit Endrich had suffered from a detached retina of the left eye. The healing was declared as miraculous, and was attributed […]