Bruce Alford, Sr (1922 - 2010)

Professional Football Player, Official. For six seasons (1946 to 1951), he played at the right-end and defensive back positions in the All-America Football Conference and National Football League with the New York Yankees and New York Yanks. Born Herbert Bruce Alford, he was raised in Waco, Texas where he attended high school and played collegiate […]

Elijah Alfred Alexander, III (1970 - 2010)

Professional Football Player. For nine seasons (1992 to 1998, 2000 to 2001), he played at the left-linebacker and right-linebacker positions in the National Football League with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Denver Broncos, Indianapolis Colts and Oakland Raiders. Born Elijah Alfred Alexander, III, he attended Dunbar High School in Fort Worth, Texas and played collegiate football […]

Grover Cleveland “Pete” Alexander (1887 - 1950)

Hall of Fame Major League Baseball Player. He played Major League Baseball for 20 seasons (1911 to 1930) with the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals. Considered one of the greatest pitchers to ever play the game, he broke in with the Phillies in 1911, and immediately established himself as a premier player, […]

Elijah Alfred Alexander, II (1970 - 2010)

Professional Football Player. For nine seasons (1992 to 1998, 2000 to 2001), he played at the left-linebacker and right-linebacker positions in the National Football League with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Denver Broncos, Indianapolis Colts and Oakland Raiders. Born Elijah Alfred Alexander, III, he attended Dunbar High School in Fort Worth, Texas and played collegiate football […]

Vasily Alekseyev (1942 - 2011)

At the age of 18, Vasily Alekseyev began practicing weightlifting at Trud Voluntary Sports Society, trained by his coach Rudolf Plyukfelder until 1968, when he began to train solo. He was not a naturally large man like other super heavyweights but was encouraged to gain strength by adding weight. In January 1970 Alekseyev set his […]

Victor E. Aldridge (1893 - 1973)

Major League Baseball Player. He played Major League baseball as a pitcher for nine seasons (1917 to 1918, 1922 to 1928) with the Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates, and New York Giants. He helped the 1925 Pirates clinch the National League pennant, and started Games 2, 5 and 7 in the subsequent World Series against the […]

Pedro Alcazar (1975 - 2002)

Professional Boxer. He was a super flyweight boxer whose professional fighting record was 25 Wins and 1 loss, with 14 of those wins coming by way of knockout. In a June 22, 2002 boxing match with Mexican fighter Fernando Montiel in Las Vegas, Nevada, he fought into the 6th round, when he was declared the […]

Dick Alban (1929 - 2016)

Dick Alban was born in Hanover, Pennsylvania, and attended La Porte High School in La Porte, Indiana, where he graduated in 1948. While in La Porte, Alban was named to the United Press International All-State football team in 1946 and 1947. For his accomplishments, Alban was later inducted to the Indiana Football Hall of Fame […]

Virgil “Honey Bear” Akins (1928 - 2011)

Professional Boxer. He was the former World Welterweight Champion (1958). The St. Louis native began his professional career in 1948 initially as a lightweight, and earned his first title fight (a bout for the Massachusetts version of the World Welterweight Title) in 1957 against Tony DeMarco. Akins would defeat DeMarco with a 14th-round knockout and […]

Mel Agee (1968 - 2008)

Melvin “Mel” Agee (November 22, 1968 – June 15, 2008) was a professional American football defensive lineman who played in the National Football League, NFL Europe, and the Arena Football League. In his 10-year professional career he played for the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts (1991–1992) and Atlanta Falcons (1993–1995); NFL Europe’s Frankfurt Galaxy (1998); and the […]

Fred L. “Freddie” Agabashian (1913 - 1989)

Auto Race Car Driver. He was an 11-time veteran of the Indianapolis 500 who is best remembered as the winner of the pole position for the 1952 Classic driving the Cummins Diesel Special. After retiring from competition, he assisted Sid Collins as a color commentator for the race for many years. (bio by: Warrick L. […]

Eddy Addy (1970 - 1910)

Major League Baseball Player. Born in Rochester, New York, he was nicked named ‘The Magnet’ and made his debut as a right fielder for the Rockford Forest Citys on May 6, 1871. For five seasons, he played for the Rockford Forest Citys in 1871, Philadelphia Whites and Boston Red Stockings in 1873, 1875, Hartford Dark […]

Spencer Dewey Adams (1898 - 1970)

Major League Baseball Player. He played Major League baseball as an infielder for four seasons (1923, 1935 to 1927), each one with a different team (Pittsburgh Pirates in 1923, Washington Senators in 1925, New York Yankees in 1926, and St. Louis Browns in 1927). Although his brief Major League career totaled only 180 games and […]

Scott Alexander Adams (1966 - 2013)

Professional Football Player. For six seasons (1992 to 1997), he played at the guard and tackle positions in the National Football League with the Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints, Chicago Bears, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons. He attended Columbia High School in Florida and played collegiate football at the University of Georgia. He distinguished […]

Sam Adams, Sr (1948 - 2015)

Professional Football Player. Adams, born Samuel Edward Adams, played offensive guard in the National Football League for the New England Patriots from 1972 to 1980 and for the New Orleans Saints in 1981. He played for Prairie View A&M before being selected by the Los Angeles Rams in the 1971 Supplemental Draft and then joining […]

Julius Adams (1948 - 2016)

Professional Football Player. He was a star defensive lineman for the National Football League’s New England Patriots from 1971 to 1987. He was a four year starter at Texas Southern University and was tabbed All-conference in 1968 and 1970 before being drafted in the 2nd round of the 1971 NFL draft by the Patriots.  He […]

Earl John Adams (1894 - 1989)

Major League Baseball Player. Nicknamed “Sparky”, he played Major League baseball as an infielder for 13 seasons (1922 to 1934) for the Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds. He first spent time with the Cubs as a utility infielder until a trade allowed him to become a full fledged starter. […]

Ace Townsend Adams (1912 - 2006)

Major League Baseball Player. He played in the Major Leagues for six seasons (1941 to 1946) as a pitcher for the New York Giants. A relief specialist, he led the National Leagues in Saves in 1944 and 1945, and in Games Pitched in 1942, 1943 and 1944, and was named to the 1943 National League […]

William Henry Abstein (1883 - 1940)

Major League Baseball Player. Known as “Big Bill,” he played Major League baseball as first baseman for three seasons (1906, 1909 to 1910) for the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Browns. A career minor leaguer who never could permanently break into the Major League (he was considered a top first baseman when he played for […]

Charles S. “Charlie” Abbey (1866 - 1926)

Major League Baseball Player. He made his debut as an outfielder for the National League Washington Senators on August 16, 1893, and was the first person from Nebraska to play in the Major Leagues. He played his whole five year career, 1893 to 1897, with the Washington Senators, ending with a  .281 batting average, 492 […]

Dorothy Stang (1931 - 2005)

Dorothy Stang, born in Dayton, Ohio, US, but a naturalized Brazilian citizen, worked as an advocate for the rural poor beginning in the early 1970s, helping peasants make a living by farming small plots and extracting forest products without deforestation. She also sought to protect peasants from criminal gangs working on behalf of ranchers who […]

John Clay Walker (1948 - 1985)

John Clay Walker (October 5, 1948 – January 30, 1985) was an American journalist and aspiring novelist who was abducted, tortured and murdered in Mexico by members of the Guadalajara Cartel under orders of their leader Rafael Caro Quintero. Caro Quintero suspected Walker of working as an undercover U.S. Drug Enforcement Agent (DEA) while he […]

Ingrid Washinawatok (1957 - 1999)

Ingrid Washinawatok was the Chair of the NGO Committee on the United Nations International Decade of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, a delegate to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, an NGO representative in consultative status to the UN for the International Indian Treaty Council, and a member of the UN Working Group on Indigenous […]

Richard Welch (1929 - 1975)

Richard Welch, who was born in Hartford, Connecticut, was recruited to the CIA in 1951 upon graduation from Harvard, where he studied classics. His first assignment as a case officer was in Athens working as a civilian employee of the U.S. Department of the Army (1952–59). From 1960-64, he served in Cyprus, and then in […]

Joan Winters (1909 - 1933)

Joan Winters appeared on Broadway in 1930 as Sue in the drama Bad Girl. She left for Europe on April 13, 1932 and planned to return to New York City in time to celebrate her birthday on December 8, 1933. According to a UPI wire report from November 4, 1933, Winters’s corpse was discovered together with […]

Freddie Woodruff (1947 - 1993)

Freddie Woodruff (September 14, 1947 — August 8, 1993) was a regional affairs officer at the U.S. Embassy in Tbilsi, Georgia. Earlier in his career he had been posted under diplomatic cover to Berlin, the consulate in Leningrad and in the early 1980s to Ankara followed by a stint in Ethiopia 1987. Woodruff has been widely […]

Roger Youderian (1924 - 1956)

Roger Youderian was born in Sumatra, Montana, of Armenian descent. He contracted polio at the age of nine, crippling him slightly. He overcame the effects of the disease during high school, making it possible for him to play basketball. After graduating from Fergus High School in Lewistown, Montana in 1941, he attended Montana State College […]

Jaime Zapata (1978 - 2011)

Jaime Zapata was born in Brownsville, Texas, United States, a border city directly north across Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico. He was one of five brothers, all in the field of criminal justice. Zapata attended Homer Hanna High School, and later graduated from the University of Texas at Brownsville in 2005, where he attained a degree in […]

Richard Fagan (1947 - 2016)

Richard Fagan learned basic guitar skills as a young child and began to refine those skills and singing do-wop in Philadelphia as a teenager. According to Richard’s account, he encountered two other people singing in the Junior High lunch room, suggested some changes while joining along and immediately had new friends and singing companions. After […]

Alan Vega (1938 - 2016)

Alan Vega was raised in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. Until the announcement of the 70th birthday release of his recordings in 2008, Vega was widely thought to have been ten years younger; the 2005 book Suicide: No Compromise lists 1948 as his birth year and quotes a 1998 interview in which Vega talks about watching Elvis Presley on […]