Athletes

Arthur Ashe was born in Richmond, Virginia. His mother died when he was seven and he and his brother were then raised by their father. He grew up next to Brookfield Playground, Richmond's largest blacks-only playground, which had a tennis court. A year after the death of his mother, he began playing tennis.

In his first ever tennis tournament, Ashe reached the junior national finals. He then moved to St. Louis, Missouri to receive additional training and in 1960 and 1961, he won two junior national titles. Ashe was offered a scholarship to play tennis at UCLA. The year he entered college, Ashe was the first black player ever selected for the United States Davis Cup team. In 1965, he won the NCAA singles title and helped UCLA win a national team championship. In 1968, Ashe won the United States Amateur Championships and the first ever US Open. He became the only tennis player in history to win both the amateur and open national championships in the same year.

He turned professional in 1970 and became the top money winner in the world. In 1972, he was denied a visa to play in the South African Open. Ashe went to the press to publicize the apartheid policies of that country and called for South Africa to be expelled from the professional tennis circuit. Because of his outspoken criticism of the South African government, he was finally granted a visa to travel to South Africa in 1973. At the South African Open, he became the first African-American to reach the finals and he was a doubles winner at the tournament. Black South Africans called him "Sipho," meaning "a gift from God" in Zulu.

In 1975, Ashe enjoyed his most successful year. He became the first and only African-American player to win the men's singles title at Wimbledon by defeating the heavily favored Jimmy Connors. He became ranked number one in the world and named the Association of Tennis Professionals Player-of-the-Year. He continued his success in tennis until 1979 when he had a heart attack. After heart surgery, he announced his retirement.

Ashe continued to be active in tennis after his retirement as a player. He was named captain of the US Davis Cup team that won victories in 1981 and 1982. He continued his protests against apartheid in South Africa. He founded inner city tennis programs across the United States. He was writing articles, giving speeches and promoting sports foundations for minority athletes. He became national chairman for the American Heart Association and the only nonmedical member of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Advisory Council. He was elected to the US Professional Tennis Association Hall of Fame. Ashe won an Emmy Award for writing a television version of his book about his life. Ashe even took time to become a broadcaster and sports columnist.

In 1988, Ashe underwent brain surgery. It was during his surgery that it was discovered he had contracted AIDS. Doctors traced the infection back to a blood transfusion from his second heart surgery in 1983. He immediately became a spokesman about AIDS awareness. He established AIDS foundations and promoted AIDS research up until his death in 1993.

Arthur Ashe became one of the greatest athletes in American history. His hard work and efforts placed him at the top of the tennis world. His efforts after his professional athletic career helped to promote minorities, athletics, education, and health awareness. Arthur Ashe was a great American.

Jim Brown was born on St. Simons Island, Georgia. While he was two weeks old, his father abandoned his family. His mother soon left him for New York City and he was raised by his great-grandmother. When he was eight, Jim was sent to live in New York City with his mother. He played football at the mostly-white Manhasset High School where he was a star running back. Because of his efforts in high school, he was awarded a scholarship to Syracuse University. In college, Brown excelled on the football field as well as the basketball court. He played lacrosse and ran track as well. Brown won national honors in football.

In 1957, Brown was the sixth overall draft pick for the Cleveland Browns in the National Football League. Instantly, he became a success capturing the league's Rookie of the Year Award. Brown lead the league seven of the next eight seasons in rushing. In 1964, the Browns won the NFL championship with Brown rushing for 114 yards in the game. He stunned the sports world in 1966, however, by announcing his retirement. In 1971, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Being only 30 years old, Brown decided to go into acting and supporting African-American causes. He appeared in more than 30 movies and made several television appearances. He created the Negro Industrial Economic Union and the Amer-I-Can program. He was very critical of modern black athletes for not being better role models.

Jim Brown is considered by some the greatest football player that ever played the game. His abilities on the field made him a legend in the sporting world. His activities off the field helped solidify him as a productive citizen in society and a black role model on film. Jim Brown is a great American.

Alice Coachman was born in Albany, Georgia in 1923. She one of 10 children in her family. At an early age, Coachman proved to be a natural athlete, but was denied many opportunities due to the Jim Crow laws of the south. To practice for track & field, Coachman had to build her own hurdles and run on dirt roads during training. At the age of 16 and still in high school, Coachman was offered a scholarship to attend the high school program at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.

When she arrived at Tuskegee, Coachman majored in dressmaking. She played on the basketball team and ran track & field. She won four national championships in sprints and high jump while in the high school program. In addition, she helped the women’s basketball team win three conference championships. Upon completing her degree at Tuskegee, she enrolled at Albany State College in Georgia. She completed her bachelor’s degree in Home Economics in 1949 and became a teacher and track coach.

Coachman became known as one of the best female track & field athletes in the nation. However, due to World War II, Coachman was unable to compete in the Olympics because it was cancelled in 1940 and in 1944. At the age of 24, she had her first opportunity at the 1948 London Olympics. On August 7, Coachman and Dorothy Tyler of Great Britain both high jumped 1.68 meters, setting the Olympic women’s record for the time. However, Coachman beat out Tyler on misses to become the first-ever black woman from any nation to win the Olympic gold medal.

Upon returning to the United States, Coachman became a celebrity. She met with President Harry S Truman and former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. In 1952, she became the first African-American woman to endorse an international product, Coca-Cola. She died in 2014 in her hometown of Albany. In 1979, she was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. During the 1996 Olympics, she was honored as one of the 100 greatest Olympians of all time. She is a member of the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame and the US Olympic Hall of Fame. According to one sportswriter of her time, had she been allowed to compete in the two cancelled Olympics Games, she would have gone down in history as the greatest female athlete of all time. Her contributions to sports and education have made Coachman a Great American.

William DeHart Hubbard, known by his middle name “DeHart,” was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1903. In high school, Hubbard was an exceptional athlete and students. His athletic accomplishments caught the eye of a West Virginia businessman, Lon Barringer, an alum of the University of Michigan. Barringer was determined to bring Hubbard to the University of Michigan and was able to convince the university’s athletic director, Fielding H. Yost, to change his stance on excluding black athletes at the university. Barringer was successful in changing Yost’s mind and helped Hubbard procure a $3000 scholarship.

Hubbard began his track career for Michigan by tying the 50-yard dash indoor record and breaking the long jump record in his freshman year. Unfortunately, freshmen were barred from varsity meets, so Hubbard competed at the national AAU meet in New Jersey. In his sophomore season, Hubbard became one of the fastest sprinters in the Big Ten Conference and by his junior year, won both the 100-yard dash and the long jump. His efforts earned him a spot on the United State Olympic Team for the 1924 Paris Olympics.

In the Olympics, Hubbard competed in the long jump. He had made the finals after his first three preliminary jumps. In the finals, he was allowed three more jumps. While behind in the standings on his final jump, Hubbard surpassed all competitors with a jump of 24’5” and became the first African-American to win an individual gold medal in the Olympics.

When Hubbard returned to Michigan, he continued to excel. In 1925, he led the Wolverines to Big Ten titles in both indoor and outdoor track. He tied the world record in the 100-yard dash with a time of 9.6 seconds. At the NCAA Championships in Chicago, he broke the world record in the long jump with a distance of 25’10 3/4". At the conclusion of his senior year, Hubbard graduated with academic honors and was a three-time NCAA Champion and a seven-time Big Ten Conference Champion.

Hubbard moved back to Cincinnati and took a job as a supervisor of the Department of Colored Work for Cincinnati’s Public Recreation Commission. Later, he moved to Cleveland and worked for the Federal Public Housing Authority. Hubbard passed away in 1976, but left his mark on history. He was inducted into the National Track Hall of Fame and the University of Michigan of Hall of Fame. In 2010, the university started the William DeHart Hubbard Memorial Scholarship. His amazing accomplishments in sports made Hubbard a Great American.

Jack Johnson was born in Galveston, Texas to former slaves. After only a few years of education, Johnson dropped out of school to work as a dock worker in Galveston. As a teenager, he began boxing in Negro matches in order to entertain white people. He entered professional boxing to become the World Colored Heavyweight Champion in 1903. His nickname was the "Galveston Giant."

In 1908, he travelled to Australia and defeated Canadian Tommy Burns to become the first ever African-American World Heavyweight Champion. After Johnson's victory, there was a call by many whites in America for a "Great White Hope" to take the title from him. For the next two years, Johnson fought several men that were promoted as a "Great White Hope." In 1910, the former undefeated heavyweight champion James Jeffries came out of retirement to challenge Johnson. The fight was billed as the "Fight of the Century." It took place on July 4, 1910 in Reno, Nevada. Jeffries corner threw in the towel in the 15th round. The critics of the abilities of Johnson were silenced.

The fight sparked race riots across the nation. Blacks across the nation celebrated the victory while southern whites burned houses, beat up and lynched blacks. The film of the fight was turned into a documentary that was widely released across the United States. It was America's number one film for five years until the release of "The Birth of a Nation." Johnson would eventually lose his title in Havana, Cuba in 1915 to white-boxer Jess Willard.

Johnson had controversy in his life due to his relationships with white women. In 1912, he was arrested for violating the Mann Act He was sentenced to prison for one year, but skipped bail and left the country. For the next seven years, he lived in Europe, Mexico and South America. He finally surrendered to Federal agents in 1920 and served his sentence in Leavenworth, Kansas. As recent as 2009, there have been calls for a presidential pardon for his "crime."

Jack Johnson is considered one of the greatest boxers in history. He was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1954. The film of his "Fight of the Century" is listed on the US National Film Registry of great historical films. He became a symbol of hope to African-Americans during the Jim Crow period. Jack Johnson was a great American.

Meadow Lemon III was born in Wilmington, North Carolina in 1932. When he was 11 years old, Lemon saw his first newsreel of the Harlem Globetrotters. It was from that point in his life that he aspired to become a member of the team. He rigged a makeshift backyard basketball hoop with an onion sack and coat hanger. He used a carnation milk can to shoot with. When he reached high school, he practiced in excess of eight hours a day. Lemon made it a point to abstain from alcohol, drugs or cigarettes in order to become a great athlete. In 1952, he graduated from the Williston Industrial School, the first accredited high school for black students in North Carolina.

Lemon had plans to attend Florida A&M University in Tallahassee when he was contacted by the Globetrotters. However, before he could even try out for the team or go to college, he was drafted into the US Army. After serving two years in West Germany and Austria, Lemon returned to United States and applied to be a part of the Globetrotters. He earned a spot on the team in 1954 and changed his first name to “Meadowlark.”

For the next 26 years, Lemon averaged 350 games a year. When Lemon joined, the Globetrotters were known more for their comedy routine. He soon became the team’s star. He specialized in the long-distance hook shot as well as his ball-handling skills. He quickly became known as the “Clown Prince” of the team, leading the team not only in play, but in comic entertainment. He would threaten referees with buckets filled with confetti instead of water. He dribbled above his head, mimicked baseball players on the court, tormented the opposing team, and brought spectators into the action. He let the Globetrotters to every state in the United States as well as games throughout the world. He played for the Pope in Rome, Nikita Khrushchev in the Soviet Union, and dirt courts in African villages. There were television appearances on sitcoms as well as a Saturday Morning Cartoon made about the Globetrotters.

In 1979, Lemon left the team due to a salary dispute. Between 1980 and 1983, he played for his own team, the Meadowlark Lemon’s Bucketeers. In 1984, he started the Shooting Stars and played for them for the next four seasons. In 1988, he started the Meadowlark Lemon Harlem All Stars. Lemon continued to play basketball well into his 70s. While playing basketball, he received a Doctor of Divinity from Vision International University and became an ordained minister. He started Meadowlark Lemon Ministries in Scottsdale, Arizona. In 1994, he rejoined the Globetrotters for 50 games to finish his basketball career.

Meadowlark Lemon died in 2015. It is believed that he played in over 16,000 games in his career. In the 1970s and 1980s, he was considered one of the most recognized faces in the United States. He was a world ambassador not only for basketball, but for good will. Hall of Fame player Julius Erving said that Meadowlark Lemon was the greatest basketball player that ever played. In 2001, he received the International Clown Hall of Fame Lifetime of Laughter Award. In 2003, Lemon was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. His contributions to the sport of basketball and entertainment made Lemon a Great American.

William H. Lewis was born in Berkley, Virginia in 1868. His father was a minister and moved the family to Portsmouth, Virginia to preach. Young William was very bright and at the age of 15, he enrolled in Virginia’s all-black college, the Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute, known today as Virginia State University. While enrolled, Lewis caught the eye of the university president, John Mercer Langston. Langston noticed that he had exceptional talents and was able to get Lewis transferred to Amherst College in Massachusetts.

While at Amherst, Lewis was required to take up a physical activity. He chose football. He was allowed to play on the team and Amherst college became the first integrated football team in history. Lewis became a standout player. He was picked as the team captain in his senior year. Not only was he an exceptional player, he was a standout academically. He won several awards in debate and oratory. After Amherst, he transferred to Harvard University to study law. The eligibility rules of the time allowed Lewis to play another two years of football for Harvard.

Even though he was only 175lbs, he played the center position and was considered the best to have played the position up to that time. He was named to the All-American Team in 1892 and 1893, the first African-American to earn the honor. After finishing law school, he became a defensive coach for Harvard for the next 12 years. During his coaching tenure, Harvard posted a 114-15-5 record. He wrote one of the first books on the game, called “A Primer of College Football.” Walter Camp, considered the Father of American Football, asked Lewis to contribute a chapter on defense to his annual football publication. All of his coaching efforts were done up to 1901 without compensation.

Lewis’ expertise in football had caught the eye of Theodore Roosevelt. Lewis and Roosevelt had many talks about the condition of African-Americans in the nation as well as football strategies. After Roosevelt took office, Lewis was appointed assistant US Attorney for Boston, the first African-American to hold the office. Lewis continued to coach football and practice law until 1907 when he was promoted to be in charge of immigration and naturalization for New England. When William Howard Taft became president, he was promoted to Assistant Attorney General of the United States.

Lewis continued his legal career in Boston. He became a civil rights leader who called for equal treatment of blacks in America. He helped to rewrite the rules of football to make the game safer. Many of his rule changes still exist today. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2009. His life and contributions to law and the sport of football made William H. Lewis a great American.

Earl Lloyd was born in Alexandria, Virginia in 1928. He grew to be 6’5” and was a high school standout in basketball. Lloyd was all-state in basketball twice in his high school career and graduated in 1946. He was recruited to play under scholarship at West Virginia State College.

While playing for the Yellow Jackets, Lloyd was nicknamed “Moon Fixer” because of his defensive abilities and his height. He helped lead his team to two conference championships and was named All-Conference for three seasons. He earned All-American honors twice. In 1948, West Virginia State was the only undefeated team in the United States.

After his college career, he was recruited to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Lloyd was one of three black players to enter the league that season. He played for the Washington Capitols. On October 31, 1950, the Capitols were visiting the Rochester Royals in the first game of the season. When he took the court, he became the first-ever African-American to play in the NBA, one day before Chuck Cooper’s debut for the Boston Celtics. Lloyd scored six points in the losing effort. He played in only six more games before the team folded in early January of 1951. Soon after, he was drafted into the US Army and served time fighting in the Korean War. When he returned to the United States, he began playing basketball again after being picked up by the Syracuse Nationals.

Lloyd earned the nickname “Big Cat” while playing in the NBA. He played for a total of eight seasons and 560 games, averaging eight points a game. Although he suffered through much discrimination while playing basketball, but persevered. When his career ended, he began coaching and scouting for the NBA. In 1970, he became the first full-time black head coach in the league with the Detroit Pistons. After leaving the NBA, he went on to become a school administrator. In 2003, he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Cooper died in 2015, but his legacy continues. His contribution to the game of basketball and the integration of sports made him a Great American.

Edwin Moses was born in Dayton, Ohio. He excelled in high school in academics and received an academic scholarship to Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. He majored in physics and industrial engineering. He ran hurdles on the track & field team, but because Morehouse did not have a track facility, he was forced to practice at a local high school.

Moses devised a mathematical equation of 13 steps between each hurdle in the 400m hurdles to improve performances and consistency. As a result, Moses entered the Olympic trials and set an American record of 48.30 seconds and making the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Canada. At the Games, he won a gold medal in the 400m hurdles setting an Olympic and world record of 47.63 seconds.

In 1977, Moses lost a race to West Germany's Harald Schmid. By the next week, he beat Schmid by 15 meters and Moses did not lose another race for the next nine years, nine months and nine days. By the time Moses was defeated again in 1987, he had won 122 consecutive races, set two world records, won three World Cup titles, a World Championship gold and another Olympic gold medal in Los Angeles. The only gap in this streak came from the American boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow.

Off the track, Moses has had other accomplishments. He was an engineer for General Dynamics. He help rewrite and reform International and Olympic eligibility rules. He has helped develop anti-drug policies for sports. He went back to college and received an MBA from Pepperdine University. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Massachusetts Boston. He was elected to the Executive Committee of the US Olympic Committee and has been inducted into the US Track & Field Hall of Fame. Today, he is a financial consultant in a New York-based investment bank.

Edwin Moses is one of the greatest track athletes in history. His application of science to hurdling revolutionized the event. His efforts off the track toward maintaining the integrity of sport has been to the benefit of all athletes. His life and accomplishments make him a great American.

John Jordan "Buck" O'Neil was born in Carrabelle, Florida. His father was a local baseball player and introduced his son to the game of baseball. In 1937, Buck tried out for the Memphis Red Sox of the Negro American League because he was denied the opportunity to play in the all-white Major Leagues. In 1938, he joined the Kansas City Monarchs.

While playing for the Kansas City Monarchs, he had a career batting average of .288. He played in four East-West All-Star Games and played in two Negro League World Series games. His career in baseball was briefly interrupted between 1943-1945 when he served in the Navy during World War II. In 1948, he was named player-manager for the Kansas City baseball team.

With the decline of the Negro Leagues, O'Neil resigned as manager and began scouting for the Chicago Cubs. In 1962, he became the first-ever black coach and is credited with signing future Hall of Fame players Lou Brock and Ernie Banks. In 1988, he left the Cubs to become a scout for the Kansas City Royals and was named "Midwest Scout of the Year."

In 1990, O'Neil co-founded the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri and served as Board Chairman for 16 years. He appeared before the US Senate and helped gain the museum a National Designation for Congress as "America's National Negro Leagues Museum." He also served as a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame Veterans Committee until 2001, helping recognize several Negro League players in the Hall of Fame.

In 1994, a television documentary by Ken Burns about Baseball aired with O'Neil as a prominent narrator in the series. This gained O'Neil a national stage. She began speaking across the nation about baseball and the Negro Leagues.

In 2006, seventeen Negro League veterans were honor by Cooperstown, but Buck O'Neil was excluded. Many people throughout the nation were outraged by the exclusion, however, in a selfless act, O'Neil traveled to Cooperstown to speak on behalf of the new inductees. Many consider his speech to be the most selfless act in American sports history. O'Neil passed away two months later. President George W. Bush presented his family with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.

Buck O'Neil is considered by many to be the greatest ambassador of baseball in American history. He was a player, manager, scout, mentor and storyteller of what he believed to be America's greatest game. He was instrumental in preserving the history of the Negro Leagues for generations to come. His selflessness and dedication to promoting the game made him, truly, a great American.

Jesse Owens was born in Oakville, Alabama in 1913. He was the youngest of ten children. When he was nine years old, his family became part of the Great Migration when they moved to Cleveland, Ohio. He attended East Technical High School and became a nationally recognized sprinter. He broke state records in the 100 and 200 yard dashes. He tied the world record in the 100 yard dash and the long jump. He became a national high school champion in 1933. He was admitted to the Ohio State University as an athlete, although he was not offered a scholarship due to his race.

Owens was given the nickname "The Buckeye Bullet" while at Ohio State. He won eight individual NCAA championships. On May 25, 1935 at the Big Ten Track & Field Championships, Owens set three world records and tied a fourth in the span of 45 minutes. Many have said that his performance that day was the single greatest sports feat in modern history. That same year, Owens competed in not only the NCAA Championships, but the AAU Championships and Olympic Trials . He won all 42 events that he was a competitor in and earned a spot on the US Olympic Team.

In 1936, Jesse Owens travelled to Berlin, Germany for the Eleventh Olympiad. Adolph Hitler was showcasing the "Aryan racial superiority" of white athletes at the games. In three days of competition, Owens won four gold medals in the 100m dash, 200m dash, long jump and 4x100m relay. Hitler was furious with the victories while German athletes embraced him and spectators chanted his name. Hitler stormed out of the stadium before Owens won the 100m dash, but later was forced to shake Owens' hand.

When Owens returned to the United States, he was honored with a ticker-tape parade in New York City. However, he was forced to ride the freight elevator in the hotel where the reception was held in his honor. Owens felt snubbed in the United States when President Franklin Roosevelt refused to meet with him or even send him a telegram. It was not until 1955 when President Dwight Eisenhower honored Owens by naming him "Ambassador of Sports."

In 1976, Jesse Owens was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter. In 1984, a television film called "The Jesse Owens Story" aired nationally and won an Emmy Award. Schools, buildings, streets and public areas have been named in his honor throughout the nation. His accomplishments in the face of Nazi Fascism abroad and segregation at home make his achievements even that more amazing. Jesse Owens will always be remembered as a great American.

Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige was born in 1906 in Mobile, Alabama. His family name was "Page," but the family changed the spelling to "Paige." Paige got the nickname "Satchel" when he would carry bags at a train station for money. Paige began playing baseball and variations of the sport at a very early age. At the age of 12, he was arrested for shoplifting and sent the the Industrial School for Negro Children. There, Paige received pitching lessons from baseball coach Edward Byrd. Paige became an excellent player while in reform school.

In 1923, Paige was released from the school and began playing semi-professionally. He became a standout player and was discovered by Alex Herman, the manager for the Chattanooga White Sox, part of the Negro minor leagues. He became a sensation and within a year, his contract was sold to the Birmingham Black Barons of the major Negro National League.

Paige start in the Negro Leagues was awkward. He was wild and not very consistent. But Paige improved. He began playing for teams all over the country as well as in Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Mexico. He once started a club called the "Satchel Paige All-Stars" and would play exhibition games against some major league white players. Joe DiMaggio once faced Satchel Paige in an exhibition game and called him, "the best and fastest pitcher I've ever faced." St. Louis Cardinal Dizzy Dean faced Paige in a series of six exhibition games. St. Louis lost four of the six games.

Paige played on so many teams that statistics are hard to find. Many believe that Paige struck out 176 batters in 1929, an all-time single-season record in the Negro Leagues. It is believed that Paige started 29 games in one month while playing in Bismarck, North Dakota. It is claimed that Paige won 104 out of 105 games that he pitched in during the 1934 season. Despite the lack of statistical records from this period in Paige's career, the one common fact is that everyone feared him when he pitched.

In 1940, Satchel Paige arrived in Kansas City, Missouri and was promoted to the Kansas City Monarchs baseball team. It would be the beginning of an eight year career pitching for the Monarchs. In his first game, he struck out 10 in a five-inning darkness-shortened game. He drew big crowds so much so that the Monarch began to lease Paige out to other teams so they could increase their ticket sales. Within a couple of seasons, Paige was earning around $40,000 a year, as much as Yankee player Joe DiMaggio, the top-paid white player in the major leagues. Paige led the Monarchs to a Negro Leagues World Series Championship in 1942. He also played in numerous all-star games.

On July 9, 1948, Satchel Paige became the oldest rookie to ever debut in the major leagues when he was signed by the Cleveland Indians. He went 6-1 with one save and a 2.48 ERA. He made one appearance in the 1948 World Series. After the 1949 season, he was released by the Indians. He began barnstorming again for various teams before being picked up by the St. Louis Browns. He was so effective in 1952 that he made the all-star team, the first black pitcher to earn such an honor.

Paige ended his major league career in 1953 with the Browns. However, in 1965, Kansas City Athletics owner Charlie O. Finley signed Paige to pitch in one game at the age of 59, making him the oldest major league player in history. He threw three scoreless innings. In 1971, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. In 1981, a television movie was made about his life. Many historians believe that Satchel Paige was the greatest pitcher in baseball history. His contributions to the sport and his ability to help break the color-barrier made Satchel Paige a great American.

Moses Powell was born in 1941 in Norfolk, Virginia. As a child, his family moved to New York City. At an early age, Powell began training as a boxer, showing great skill at an early age. At the age of 13, Powell met martial arts instructor Florendo Visitacion, also known as “Professor Vee,” and began training in the martial arts. He became one of Visitacion’s best students, picking up the Vee-Jitsu Ryu/Vee-Jitsu Te system. He became so proficient in the style that as a green belt, Powell began instructing Third and Fourth Degree Black Belts.

By the age of 18, Powell became a Sensei and developed his own style of martial arts known as “Sanuces Ryu,” a form of jiu jitsu. This style was a combination of jiu jitsu, karate, boxing and stick fighting. It was designed as self-defense method with a focus on combat against multiple opponents. In 1965, he showcased his abilities at the 1965 World Fair in New York City.

In 1969, Powell was featured in a documentary called “SANUKUS,” which featured his style of fighting. By the early 1970s, he began travelling to Jamaica, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and Panama in order to introduce his fighting style. In 1971, he also became the first martial artist to perform before the United Nations. He travelled to western Africa to do community work and training. The Republic of Benin awarded him the International Benin Award for his community efforts. In 1973, General Manuel Noriega asked Powell to be in charge of the Panamanian military hand-to-hand combat training.

In 1974, Powell performed at Madison Square Garden for the Aaron Banks Oriental World of Self-Defense demonstration. There, he performed his world famous “one-finger rollout.” The following year, Powell was featured in another documentary, “The Warrior Within,” as well as the movie “Gordon’s War.” It was at this time that Master Moses Powell created his Sanuces schools in New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. He then moved to Florida and established schools in Fort Lauderdale.

Powell continued his work through the 1980s to the 2000s instructing elite law enforcement units throughout the world. He helped to train members of the Drug Enforcement Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and United States Secret Service. Powell also became involved in working with actors such as Wesley Snipes with martial arts moves in cinema and also helped in creating moves for video game characters. Powell died in 2005, but his pioneering legacy lives on. In 1977, he was inducted into the World Martial Arts Hall of Fame. He was one of the first African-American martial artists to be featured on the cover of “Official Karate Magazine.” His pioneering work made Powell a Great American.

Jackie Robinson was born into a family of sharecroppers in Cairo, Georgia in 1919. His father left home in 1920, and his mother and siblings moved to Pasadena, California. He grew up in poverty but excelled in athletics. He attended John Muir High School and played four sports. He was named the most valuable player in his region in 1938. Jackie was inspired to pursue athletics became of his brother, Matthew, who won a silver medal in the 200 meter dash in the Berlin Olympics of 1936 behind Jesse Owens.

Robinson attended UCLA and became the first student in the history of the university to win varsity letters in four sports. However, he was unable to finish college due to finances. He dropped out of college in 1941 and moved to Honolulu, Hawaii to play semi-professional baseball. This was cut short by Pearl Harbor. He served in the US Army during World War II, but was arrested and court-martialed for refusing to move to the back of a segregated bus during training. He was found innocent and he left the Army on an honorable discharge.

After serving in the Army, Robinson signed a contract to play for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro Leagues. He was scouted by the Brooklyn Dodgers and he signed to play with Brooklyn's farm team, the Montreal Royals. On April 15, 1946, Robinson was called up from the minor leagues to play for Brooklyn. He became the first African-American player in the all-white Major Leagues. Some teams threatened to strike if Robinson played in a game against them. National League President Ford Frick threatened any player who striked would be suspended. He suffered racial slurs, rough play and fan scorn. This abuse brought his team closer together as they supported him. In his first season, he won the Rookie of the Year Award and helped the Dodgers win the National League pennant.

In 1949, Robinson lead the league in stolen bases and batting average. At the end of the season, he was declared the league's Most Valuable Player. He also became the first African-American to play in the All-Star game. He became the highest-paid player in Dodger history. Robinson's success opened the door for other Negro League greats such as Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Satchel Paige to play in the Major Leagues. In 1955, he led the Dodgers to beat the New York Yankees in the 1955 World Series.

Robinson fought for civil rights while playing baseball. In 1949, he testified on the subject of discrimination before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He publicly called the New York Yankees organization "racist" for not hiring a black player. He became vice president of the Chock Full O' Nuts coffee company, the first black person to serve as an executive of a major corporation. Robinson helped establish the Freedom National Bank. He served on the board of the NAACP and became the first African-American inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. He played himself in the 1950 movie, "The Jackie Robinson Story." He also participated in the March on Washington in 1963 with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today, the Number "42" is retired from Major League Baseball in honor of Jackie Robinson. He bravely broke the color barrier of baseball which paved the way for many African-Americans to have opportunities in sports. His story is legendary and he is considered today one of America's greatest.

Wilma Rudolph was born the fifth of nineteen children in St. Bethlehem, Tennessee in 1940. She was born premature and only weighed four and one half pounds. At the age of four, she had contracted polio and lost the use of her left leg. The children in the household were taught to give her massage therapy by local doctors and she soon regained the use of her limb.

At the age of twelve, she stunned her doctors by removing her leg braces and began walking on her own. As a sophomore in high school, she set the state female basketball record in scoring with 803 points in a single season. She also began running track and caught the eye of Ed Temple, the head coach at Tennessee State University. She began training at the university during summer breaks.

At the age of sixteen, while still in high school, she qualified for the Olympics in Melbourne, Australia and won a bronze medal in the 4x100m relay. In 1960, she again qualified for the Olympics in Rome, Italy. She won the 100m dash by three yards and tied a world record. She set a new Olympic record in the 200m dash. She also anchored the gold medal-winning 4x100 meter relay. With this, she became the first woman ever to win three gold medals in the Olympics. The French nicknamed her "La Gazelle." Soon after the 1960 Olympics, she retired from running and finished her college work. She became a school teacher and athletic coach as well as the mother of four children.

Wilma is a great inspiration to women and African-Americans to this day. In 1977, a television movie about her life was made which introduced her to a new generation of athletes. She lectured worldwide and was an ambassador to the European celebration of the dismantling of the Berlin Wall.

She founded the Wilma Rudolph Foundation to help promote amateur athletics. She is a member of the United States Olympic Hall of Fame and National Track and Field Hall of Fame. Her legacy lives with us today and her story is truly an American triumph.

William Felton "Bill" Russell was born in West Monroe, Louisiana in 1934. During World War II, the Russell family moved to Oakland, California to find work. His mother died suddenly when he was 12 years old. Russell was a very athletic child, but he did not understand the game of basketball and was cut from his junior high school team. He barely made the basketball team in high school and by his junior and senior years, he began to excel. One of his high school teammates was baseball legend Frank Robinson.

Russell was ignored by college recruiters until the coach from the University of San Francisco saw him play. The head coach thought that Russell could be molded into a great basketball player and took a chance on him. San Francisco became the first team in college history to start three African-American players. Despite racist jeers and taunts by other players and fans throughout the country, Russell led his team to 55 consecutive victories and two NCAA Championships in 1955 and 1956. He was also a standout in track and field and considered one of the best high jumpers in the world.

Russell was drafted in 1956 by the Boston Celtics. Before he began his NBA career, he was the captain of the US National Basketball team at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. He led the United States to defeat the Soviet Union to win the gold medal. After the Olympics, Russell became a major component of the great Celtic team. He was voted the NBA's Most Valuable Player in 1958. Russell went on to lead his Boston Celtics to 11 NBA finals, winning 10 of them. When Celtic coach Red Auerbach retired, Bill Russell took over as player-coach, becoming the first African-American coach of a professional sports team in American history.

Bill Russell was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1975. He continued a career in basketball as the president of Basketball operations for the Sacramento Kings in the 1980s. Russell has spoken many times after his basketball career about civil rights in America. In 2010, Russell received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama. Russell's contribution to athletics have made him a great American.

Bonnie St. John was born in Detroit, Michigan and raised in San Diego, California. She suffered from pre-femoral focal disorder and had her right leg amputated below the knee when she was five years old. Despite this setback, she excelled academically. She also became an exceptional skier.

In 1984, she represented the United States at the Winter Paralympics in Austria. There, she won bronze medals in slalom and giant slalom. She also won a silver medal for overall performance. St. John became the first African-American to win medals in the Paralympics.

In 1986, she graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University and won the Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford in England. She earned her Masters of Letters in economics in 1990 and was selected by President Clinton to be the director for the National Economic Council. During that time, she published seven books about family, religion, and women’s rights. She was honored by President George W. Bush in 2007 and was selected by NBC as “One of the five most inspiring women in America.”

Today, St. John travels the world leading seminars, donating to various groups, and helping with various groups such as schools, the homeless, community groups, and other organizations. She was selected by President Barack Obama to represent the United States’ official delegation at the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver. Her achievements in athletics, women’s causes and the needy have made her a Great American.

Wendell Oliver Scott was born in Danville, Virginia in 1921. Most African-Americans in his community worked either in the cotton mills or tobacco plants, but young Scott began learning auto mechanics at an early age. Scott also enjoyed racing with bicycles and roller skates. After dropping out of high school, Scott became a taxi driver. After marrying Mary Coles, he served in the US Army in Europe during World War II.

After returning from Europe, he ran an auto repair shop and building fast cars to outrun the police while running moonshine. On weekends, Scott would watch stock car races in Danville. When the officials of the local racing circuit heard about Scott’s moonshine runs, they decided to recruit him as a promotional gimmick. When he tried to enter his car into a NASCAR-sanctioned race, he was denied entry because he was black. Despite this setback, Scott was able to race in non-sanctioned races. During many of the races, spectators shouted racial slurs at him and white drivers would deliberately hit him with their cars.

As the years went by, Scott became respected as a driver and mechanic by his fellow racers. Scott was seen as a quiet, hard-working racer who was not out to prove a point that he was black, but that he loved to race. By 1961, he made his first start in NASCAR’s premier series in South Carolina. On December 1, 1963, Scott won a race in Jacksonville, Florida becoming the first African-American to win a premier series event. Regrettably, he was barred from celebrating his trophy in victory lane due to the fact that he was black.

Over the next 13 seasons, Scott would make 495 starts, ranking 37th on the all-time list. During that time, he posted 147 top-10 finishes. He became one of the most respected racers of the NASCAR Circuit, completing 102,435 laps and made over $226,000 in winnings during that time. Unfortunately, he was forced to retire in 1973 after a racing accident at Talladega.

In 1977, the film “Greased Lightning,” starring Richard Pryor, was filmed based on Scott’s life. Scott was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame and the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Several books have been written about his life and accomplishments. Scott passed away in 1990 from spinal cancer, but left a lasting impression on the world of car racing. Scott’s accomplishments in the South during the Age of Segregation made him a truly Great American.

Charlie Sifford was born in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1922. From an early age, Sifford worked as a caddy to help support his family. While caddying, he learned the sport of golf and began playing with the help of white golfer Clayton Heafner. By the age of 13, he could shoot for par on most courses that he attempted. He realized that this was the career that he wanted to pursue. However, an incident on the golf course with a white man in Charlotte forced Charlie and his family to flee and move to Philadelphia.

Sifford began playing in the Negro circuit. He became so impressive of a player that he became a golf coach and professional to big band leader and singer Billy Eckstine. Sifford became one of the top black golfers in the nation during the 1950s, capturing six Negro National Open titles in the 1950s. Many other prominent black professional athletes began to encourage him, including Sugar Ray Robinson, Joe Louis, Jackie Robinson and Don Newcombe.

During the Civil Rights Movement, the PGA came under increasing pressure to remove its “Caucasian Only” clause from it rules. In 1948, Bill Spider and Teddy Rhodes qualified for a PGA-sponsored open in California, but were blocked from entry. In 1952, Sifford used an invitation intended for boxing great Joe Louis to enter the Phoenix Open. In 1957, Sifford won the Long Beach Open, which was not a sanctioned PGA event but full of some of the best PGA golfers in the country.

In 1960, the State of California threatened legal action for not allowing blacks to play in PGA events in their state. The PGA had no choice but to allow Sifford into tournaments. By 1961, the PGA officially removed its “Caucasians Only” clause from their rules and Sifford official became a rookie of the PGA at the age of 38. Throughout the 1960s, Sifford was taunted and abused by onlookers. He was barred from many hotels, particularly in the south. Jackie Robinson gave him words of encouragement throughout the decade. In 1967, Sifford had his first PGA win at the Greater Hartford Open Invitational. In 1969, he had his second at the Los Angeles Open.

In all, Sifford competed in 422 PGA tournaments. In 1975, he won the Senior Championship and became the first African-American golfer to play the Masters. In 1992, Sifford wrote a book about his life called “Just Let Me Play.” In 2004, he was the first black golfer inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. In 2006, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of St. Andrew’s in Scotland. In 2014, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. His contribution to changing the sport of golf made him a great American.

Marcenia Lyle Stone (a.k.a. Toni Stone) was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1921. She began playing baseball at the age of ten in the Catholic Midget League. Soon, she advanced to the Girls’ Highlex Softball Club in Saint Paul. She showed great athleticism and by the age of 15, she began playing men’s semipro baseball with the St. Paul Giants.

In 1946, Stone moved to San Francisco and began playing for the Wall Post American Legion team. She did so well that she began playing for the San Francisco Sea Lions, a semipro men’s team. In 1949, she moved to New Orleans to play with the New Orleans Creoles. Stone barnstormed across the country playing in many towns against both black and white teams. In 1953, she signed a contract to play with the Indianapolis Clowns in the Negro American League. She became the first woman in the history of the Negro Leagues to play.

In July of 1953, Stone was featured in Ebony Magazine. She was considered a very attractive lady who proved herself to be a scrappy infielder. Many believed that she was signed to merely be an attraction to sell tickets. She surprised everyone by working hard and becoming a successful second base player, replacing Hank Aaron who played the position a year earlier. She faced much abuse not only from the men but from whites who had prejudice against black baseball players. After the 1953 season, her contract was sold to the Kansas City Monarchs. After a year in Kansas City, she retired from baseball.

Stone spent the rest of her life as a nurse in California. In 1985, she was inducted into the Women’s Sports Foundation Hall of Fame. In 1993, she was inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame. She passed away in 1996 at the age of 75. Stone broke both many barriers when she became a professional baseball player. Her groundbreaking play in baseball made her a Great American.

John Baxter Taylor, Jr. was born in Washington, DC in 1882. As a child, Taylor's family moved to Philadelphia and he attended Central High School. There, he became the captain of the track and field team. After graduation, he attended Brown Preparatory School. While at Brown, Taylor's track team never lost a race. His team went on to win the one-mile relay at the Penn Relays.

In 1903, Taylor enrolled in the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He spent two years in the school before transferring to the School of Veterinary Medicine in 1905. He graduated from the program in 1908. While he was in school, he was a member of Penn's track and field team. Taylor's stride in the quarter mile was 8'6", the longest of any known runner of the time. He established the best college time in the world by running 440 yards in 48.6 seconds. He also was an excellent 600 yard runner and was the indoor champion in 1907.

In 1908, Taylor was chosen to represent the United States in the 1908 Summer Olympics in London. Taylor ran the 400 meter dash, but the British officials declared his semifinal victory a foul and called the race. The American team was so upset at the call that they refused to rerun the race. However, Taylor did have success in the 4x400 meter relay. Running on the third leg, Taylor helped the United States earn a gold medal in the event. Their time of 3:27.2 was a new world record. His split in the race was the fastest of any runner at 49.8 seconds. With this, Taylor became the first African-American to win a gold medal in the Olympics.

Tragically, less than five months after the Olympics, Taylor died in New York City at the age of 29 of Typhoid fever. The New York Times hailed him in the obituary as the "world's greatest negro runner." Despite his short life, Taylor paved the way for future black athletes by becoming a world champion. For this, John Taylor is considered a great American.

Emlen Tunnell was born in Garrett Hill, Pennsylvania, outside of Philadelphia. At Radnor High School, Tunnell was an exceptional athlete in many different sports. He earned the chance to play football for the University of Toledo after high school, but was involved in an accident that broke his neck. Instead, he joined the basketball team and helped Toledo reach the NIT Finals in 1943.

Tunnell wanted to serve his country in World War II. However, his college injury was so severe that when he went to enlist in the military for World War II, he was rejected. Instead, Tunnell was able to join the US Coast Guard, where he served for two years. While in service, he was decorated with saving the lives of his shipmates on more than one occasion.

After service, Tunnell decided to play semi-professional baseball. While playing baseball, he was talked into attending the University of Iowa to resume his collegiate football career. He played with distinction until an eye injury made him miss the entire 1947 season. While he was home in Pennsylvania, he received a questionnaire about football from the New York Giants professional football team. Tunnell hitchhiked to New York City and met with owner Tim Mara. Tunnell became the first African-American to sign with and play for the Giants.

Tunnell played for the New York Giants for 11 years and became the cornerstone of their “umbrella” defense. He was chosen to play in the Pro Bowl nine times. He was a punt returner and a safety. He played a record 143 consecutive games with the Giants and lead the league in punt returns two seasons. He helped the Giants to the 1958 NFL Championship Game against the Baltimore Colts, dubbed “The Greatest Game Ever Played.” When the Giants’ assistant coach Vince Lombardi left to be the head coach in Green Bay, Tunnell followed and played there for three years.

At the time of his retirement from football, he held the league record with 79 interceptions and 262 punt returns for 2,217 yards. He became the first African-American to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967. He became the first African-American pro scout and the first African-American assistant coach in the NFL. Unfortunately, he died of a heart attack at the age of 50 in 1975. However, his contributions to football, his country, and breaking the color barrier made him a great American.

Ora Washington was born in 1898 in Caroline County, Virginia. Her family moved to the Germantown section of Philadelphia when she was a teenager. After high school, her sister died which left Ora very depressed. An instructor at the Germantown YWCA suggested that she might want to come engage in physical activity to help her cope with the loss. She chose tennis. Without ever playing in organized sports in her life, Ora was the national champion after her first year in the sport.

She had a very unorthodox style of play as a tennis player. She was extremely powerful and quick. Her overhead serve was very hard for other women to return. She was the American Tennis Association’s champion from 1929 to 1936. She would often go years undefeated. In the 1940s, she also added twelve doubles and three mixed doubles championships. However, Ora was denied the greatest tennis match of all time. The greatest white woman tennis player of the time, Helen Wills Moody, the winner of Wimbledon and Forest Hills, refused to play Ora. Ora’s national fame as a tennis player became such that the Roosevelt Administration built hundreds of urban tennis courts throughout the nation as a part of its work programs of the Depression.

While at the height of her tennis career, Ora took up playing basketball. She played for the Philadelphia Tribunes women’s team. She travelled throughout the country playing black high schools and college teams. The Tribunes were considered the best women’s basketball team of its era and only lost a handful of games, all to men’s teams. Ora was even allowed to play pickup games with men.

Ora played baseball and took part in swimming competitions throughout the country. She was considered the greatest black female athlete in America. In the late 1940s, she took the money that she earned from her sports and bought an apartment building in Philadelphia. She lived the rest of her life from the earnings from the apartment as well as a housekeeper. In 1976, she was inducted into the Black Athletes Hall of Fame and in 2009 she was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. Her skills as an athlete in the time of segregation made her a great American.