Sports

Monday, February 25, 2008

Black History's Forgotten Sportin' Life Players

Beyond Jackie Robinson, Tiger Woods, Wilma Rudolph, and other famous sports legends, black history honor rolls are filled with many other competitive athletes who made their mark.

Here are 5 sports originals who richly deserve a second look, although they may not be the best known.

  1. Alice Coachman - Represented the women’s track team at Tuskegee Institute.  Alice was the only woman on the 1948 U.S. Olympic team to win a gold medal in track and field (high jump).

  2. Dan Bankhead - The first African American pitcher in Major League Baseball (August 1947 for the Brooklyn Dodgers).

  3. Fritz Pollard - First black All-American (1916).  This football legend played for Brown University between 1915 - 1916.  He played in the first Rose Bowl game (January 1, 1916 - Brown vs. Washington State).

  4. Marshall W. “Major” Taylor - A cyclist who won the World Cycle Racing Championship in 1899.  Taylor won the U.S. trophy in 1900.  He was called the fastest bike rider in the world.

  5. Pele’ - Born Edson Arantes De Nascimento in Tres Coracoes, Brazil, “The Black Pearl” became the most famous soccer player in the world.  At 17, he led the Brazilian team to their first World Cup in Sweden (1958).

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Posted by Hugh Smith on 02/25 at 12:02 AM
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Monday, February 04, 2008

5 African Americans who Changed the World

Here are 5 outstanding African Americans who made contributions during the 20th century to change our world.  These 5 black history people usually rise to the top in the spotlight during black history month.


1) Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.


Martin Luther King Jr. is the father of the modern civil rights movement.  He was born Michael Luther King, January 15, 1929, in Atlanta Georgia.

Dr. King earned his Ph.D. from Boston University in 1955 (a Doctorate in Theology).

He married Coretta Scott King in 1953.  The young 26 year-old Martin organized the Montgomery bus boycott with the Reverend Ralph David Abernathy and the NAACP in 1955 after Rosa Parks refused to surrender her bus seat to whites.

King became the first leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957.  By 1961, he was supporting freedom rides to integrate Southern lunch counters and rest rooms.

His famous “I Have a Dream Speech” was delivered on the Washington D.C. mall in 1963.  King won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.  He was assassinated in 1968 as he was preparing to lead a labor protest march on behalf of sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee.


2) Rosa Parks


The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1956 that segregation on common carrier buses was illegal.  The decision was reached primarily because of the Montgomery bus boycott that lasted one year.

Rosa Parks, an African American seamstress, refused to surrender her seat to a white passenger (December 1, 1955).  Arrested for her act, Parks eventually found justice in the courts.

In 1999, President Bill Clinton presented her with the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor for a U.S. civilian.


3) Thurgood Marshall


Thurgood Marshall, (1908-1993), was born in Baltimore, Maryland.  “Mr. Civil Rights,” changed history in 1954 when he successfully argued Brown vs. the Board of Education before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Brown case outlawed segregation in schools.

Marshall was educated at Lincoln University and Howard Law School.  He began practicing law in 1933, became assistant special counsel for the NAACP in 1936, then chief counsel in 1938.

He was the first director/chief counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (1940-1961).

In 1961, President John Kennedy appointed him Second Circuit United States Court of Appeals judge.  By 1965 he was appointed solicitor general in the Department of Justice.

Marshall was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Lyndon Johnson in 1967 becoming the first African American on the court.

Thurgood Marshall is considered the most prominent civil rights lawyer of the 20th Century.


4) Jackie Robinson


U.S. Army Lieutenant and former UCLA football great Jackie Robinson (1919-1972), entered major league baseball in 1945 by signing a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers’ farm team, the Montreal Royals.

Robinson, the first ever black player at the start of the 1947 season, was one of three African Americans on the roster of a major league baseball franchise by the end of 1947 (joined by Larry Doby of the Cleveland Indians, and Henry Thompson of the St. Louis Browns).


5) Muhammad Ali


Muhammad Ali, born Cassius Clay on January 17, 1942, won an Olympic gold medal in Rome as a light heavy weight in 1960.

He defeated Sonny Liston in 1964 to win the heavy weight championship for the first time.  Ali won the crown again in 1974 by beating George Foreman.

"The Greatest” became the first in boxing history to win the heavy-weight title three times when he took out Leon Spinks in 1978.

Ali refused to be drafted into the U.S. Army (he was a conscientious objector on religious and moral grounds).  He was stripped of his first title in 1967.

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Posted by Hugh Smith on 02/04 at 12:02 AM
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Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Henry Aaron the Trailblazer for Survivor Barry Bonds

Two different eras, two different people, and one amazing record that continues to astonish the sports world.

Hank Aaron’s America of the 1950’s, 1960’s, and 1970’s was a different world from today’s social environment in and outside of baseball.

Aaron’s achievement was clearly associated with not only sports greatness, but with civil rights advancement and black history, reflective of mid and late 20th Century cultural changes in America.

It’s clear that the Aaron milestone, more than Barry Bonds’ achievement (noted below), was a crowning confirmation of the capabilities of African Americans (in a society of doubters) during the age of Ali, R&B, and Roots.

Let’s look back on the Aaron legacy.

Henry Aaron is the only corporate executive in the world that can brag about hitting 755 lifetime home runs as a player in United States Major League Baseball.

Hammerin’ Hank passed Babe Ruth’s record on April 8th, 1974 when he hit home run number 715.

Aaron became a professional player in 1952 for the Indianapolis Clowns, a black barnstorming team.  The National League Milwaukee Braves purchased his contract for $2,500 and assigned him to their Eau Claire Wisconsin farm team the same year.

Hank Aaron was promoted to Jacksonville in the Sally League in 1953 finally breaking in at the major league level in 1954, never to look back.

On August 1, 1982, Aaron was inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.  He’s now the second greatest home run hitter of all time (Barry Bonds passed him with 756 on August 7, 2007).

In life after baseball, Henry Aaron has been a success in the business world as a corporate Vice President of Community Relations for Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.

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Posted by Hugh Smith on 08/08 at 07:00 AM
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Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Paul Robeson: Portraits of the Artist

In an age of specialization, Paul Robeson was known as a true “Renaissance Man."

He spoke or read over 20 languages, including Russian and Chinese.

Robeson may have been the most internationally famous African American in the 1930’s.  He carved out a lasting legacy as a world class artist, activist, singer, actor, lawyer, and athlete.

A Phi Beta Kappa Rutgers University graduate and a Columbia Law School graduate, Robeson was the first African American “All American."

He shifted his focus from the arts to social causes in the mid 1930’s when he became involved in the labor movement.  A 1934 visit to the Soviet Union was the first of his many international trips.

Paul Robeson was denied a passport by the U.S. Government between 1950 - 1958 because of his growing outspoken sympathetic views towards communism.

Mr. Robeson was an extraordinary talent and humanist.

Robeson’s legendary performances include roles as Shakespeare’s Othello, and Eugene O’Neill’s Emperor Jones.

He also left a lasting impression in the stage version of Porgy and Bess.  In Hollywood, he starred in Showboat, and King Solomon’s Mines.

There’s a new 2007 DVD box set, Paul Robeson: Portraits of the Artist, featuring highlights of his amazing film career.

The box set also contains an incredible compilation of all things Robeson, including the audio of a 1958 radio interview he granted to Pacifica.

Paul Robeson: Portraits of the Artist is an outstanding DVD box set appropriate for an intimate introduction to a man who is a unique personality among black history people.

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Posted by Hugh Smith on 04/18 at 07:15 PM
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Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Muhammad Ali Lands Living Legend Honor from Africa

Muhammad Ali has been honored as a “Living Legend” by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the Ghanaian based African Communications Agency (ACA).

"The Greatest” is a 2007 inductee into the ECOWAS Hall of Fame.

Ali’s African connection dates back to 1974, when he faced George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire for the “Rumble in the Jungle."

Mr. Ali accepted his award by telephone from the United States during an elegant awards banquet held at the Nicon Hilton Hotel in Abuja, Nigeria.

Dr. Erieka Bennett, Vice Chairman of the ACA and founder of the Diaspora African Forum proclaimed “we are honored to celebrate the life of Muhammad Ali."

Accepting the award, a grateful Ali declared “this tribute is especially meaningful to me as we celebrate Black History Month here in America."

Past ECOWAS Living Legend Award recipients include:

  • Nelson Mandela (former South African President)
  • Kofi Anan (former United Nations Secretary General)
  • Dudley Thompson (former Jamaican Ambassador to Nigeria)
  • Ruth Sando Perry, (former President of Liberia)
  • Professor Wole Soyinka, (Nigeria)
  • Dr. Babacar Ndiaye (former President, African Development Bank)
  • Dr Bamanga Tukur (former Nigerian Minister of Industry)

Muhammad Ali, born Cassius Clay on January 17, 1942, won an Olympic gold medal in Rome as a light heavy weight in 1960.

He defeated Sonny Liston in 1964 to win the heavy weight championship for the first time.  Ali won the crown again in 1974 by beating George Foreman.

"The Greatest” became the first person in boxing history to win the heavy weight title three times when he took out Leon Spinks in 1978.

Ali refused to be drafted into the U.S. Army (he was a conscientious objector on religious and moral grounds).  He was stripped of his first title in 1967.

The official Muhammad Ali website has much more for you to enjoy!

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Posted by Hugh Smith on 03/28 at 09:15 AM
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Thursday, February 15, 2007

Black History People Visionaries and Pioneers

  • "What did Barbara Jordan do for us?”
  • "I need a report on Diana Ross”
  • “Something on Frederick Douglass”
  • “Do you have information on Malcolm X?”

These are four actual questions from among the many we received in the past week!  Yes, it is hard to find reliable information about African American visionaries and pioneers.

Here are 26 twentieth century personalities responsible for moving the American Dream forward you need to know about (in random order):

  1. Langston Hughes
  2. Marian Anderson
  3. Thomas Bradley
  4. Dr. Ralph J. Bunche
  5. Coretta Scott King
  6. Frederick Douglass
  7. Dr. Charles Drew
  8. Sammy Davis Jr.
  9. Shirley Chisholm
  10. Jesse Owens
  11. James Meredith
  12. Ella Fitzgerald
  13. William H. Hastie
  14. Richard Wright
  15. Malcolm X
  16. Diana Ross
  17. Charles H. Houston
  18. A. Philip Randolph
  19. Andrew Young
  20. Barbara Jordan
  21. Ronald Dellums
  22. Bo Diddley
  23. Rosa Parks
  24. Duke Ellington
  25. Lena Horne
  26. Joe Louis

    If you’d like to learn more about these achievers, (and you’ve signed up for our free black history biographies via email...and have confirmed your subscription), then you’ll be among the first to be able to benefit from an exciting new project profiling these African American legends coming soon.

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    Posted by Hugh Smith on 02/15 at 08:45 AM
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    Thursday, February 01, 2007

    Joe Louis Boxing Gloves K.O. Smithsonian

    On Wednesday, January 31, 2007, Joe Louis‘ famous boxing gloves were donated to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, DC.

    Listen to the BlackHistoryPeople.com production of Joe Louis’ historic second fight with Max Schmeling.

    A Windsor, Ontario Canada collector donated the gloves (worn in the first Louis - Schmeling encounter, which Louis lost).

    The family making the donation had the gloves in their possession for over 70 years!

    The Smithsonian already had the towel tossed in the ring to end the June 1938 rematch, along with other related items.

    As a special Black History Month treat, listen to our special production featuring my narration and hear how Joe Louis made boxing history.

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    Posted by Hugh Smith on 02/01 at 08:45 PM
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    Saturday, October 07, 2006

    Baseball Ambassador Buck O'Neil (1911-2006)

    John “Buck” O’Neil, who recently passed away at 94, was the first black major league baseball coach.

    The Chicago Cubs hired the former Negro League first baseman and manager in 1962.

    In recent years, O’Neil promoted the game, did many interviews, and appeared on radio and television programs, including Ken Burns’ PBS documentary, “Baseball."

    Buck proudly reviews his career in his autobiography, “I was Right on Time."

    Here are some Buck O’Neil highlights...

    • 1942 & 1943: Negro League All Star
    • 1945: Lead the Negro league with a .353 batting average
    • Between 1938 - 1955, he managed the Miami Giants, the Shreveport Acme Giants, the Memphis Red Sox, and the Kansas City Monarchs
    • Played baseball in both Cuba and Mexico

    O’Neil was one of many Negro League players on the 2006 special election ballot to possibly enter the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.

    Although he didn’t make it, here’s a very good candidate profile of Buck O’Neil by Raymond Doswell from the ballot.

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    Posted by Hugh Smith on 10/07 at 10:58 AM
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    Thursday, September 21, 2006

    Black History Swimmer Floats to the Top

    Almost 20 years have passed since Los Angeles Dodgers Vice President Al Campanis got fired for saying on national television (Ted Koppel’s Nightline in 1987) that blacks were not good swimmers because they lacked buoyancy.

    Cullen Jones was only three years old when Campanis made that statement.

    Twenty-two year old Jones has just received a seven year $2 million dollar endorsement deal from Nike, putting him in Tiger Woods and Serena Williams territory.

    Jones is the first African American to hold a swimming world record.  He recently accomplished the feat in the 50-meter freestyle.

    Look for Jones in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.  He wants to duplicate the efforts of 2000 gold medal winning sprinter Anthony Ervin.

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    Posted by Hugh Smith on 09/21 at 06:49 PM
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    Thursday, August 17, 2006

    Charles Sifford Links Black History to a Tee

    Golf Digest has profiled an amazing trailblazer, Charles Sifford, the first African American man to play on the Professional Golfers Association Tour (PGA).

    Forty years ago, for his own security, police escorted Sifford when he walked the fairways at professional tournaments.

    When he played in the 1961 Greater Greensboro Open, he was introduced on the tee as “Charlie Sifford ... the first black man to ever play golf in the South in a white tournament.” The nickname “Charlie” stuck, however Sifford counters, “My name is Charles Sifford."

    Despite dealing with death threats, discrimination, and verbal abuse from fans and peers, he won two PGA Tour events as well as the 1975 Senior PGA Championship.

    In 2005 at age 82, Sifford was honored as the first African American man inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

    Among black history people, and golfers of every ethnicity, Charles Sifford made a name for himself through his talent and determination.

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    Posted by Hugh Smith on 08/17 at 07:00 PM
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    Tuesday, August 08, 2006

    Jesse Owens Historic Sprint for Gold

    Seventy years ago on August 9, 1936, Jesse Owens made history in Berlin, Germany.

    A member of the U.S. Olympic team, Owens became the first American to win four gold medals.

    The outstanding track and field star excelled in the:

    • 100 meter dash
    • 200 meter sprint
    • 400 meter race
    • Broad jump
    • Relay team

    From Oakville, Arkansas, Owens grew up in Cleveland, Ohio.  He was a stand-out on Ohio State’s track team.

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    Posted by Hugh Smith on 08/08 at 08:29 PM
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    Thursday, July 13, 2006

    Baseball's King of the Long Ball

    With Tuesday’s 2006 baseball All-Star Game behind us, and rampant speculation swirling about Barry Bonds‘ quest to catch Henry Aaron, we take a quick look at the career of the all time home run king, Hammerin’ Hank.

    He passed Babe Ruth’s record on April 8th, 1974 when he hit home run number 715 as an Atlanta Brave.

    Aaron became a professional player in 1952 for the Indianapolis Clowns, a black barnstorming team, and famous sports name in African American history.

    The National League Milwaukee Braves purchased his contract for $2,500 later that year and assigned him to their Eau Claire, Wisconsin farm team.

    Hank Aaron was promoted to Jacksonville in the Sally League in 1953 finally breaking in at the major league level in 1954, never to look back.  On August 1, 1982, the greatest home run hitter of all time with 755 “round trippers” was inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

    With baseball behind him, Hank has been a success in the business world too as an entrepreneur, and as a corporate Vice President of Community Relations for Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.

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    Posted by Hugh Smith on 07/13 at 12:02 PM
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    Thursday, May 11, 2006

    Floyd Patterson's Knock Out Punch

    If you can’t name the current heavyweight boxing champion, you are not alone.

    The golden era of Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, George Forman, Sugar Ray Leonard, Joe Frazier, and Mike Tyson has long faded away.  These greats were the center of their universe, the newsmakers of their time, the kings of the squared circle.

    Old school boxing legends were worshiped in the popular culture: stars of the tabloids, heroes on the front pages, sports gods on the back pages.

    Though the glory days of boxing are gone, there are many other champions who gave the fight game lots of personality.  Floyd Patterson is one of them.

    Born in the Big Apple, young Floyd battled his way from the tough mean streets of Brooklyn, New York, to his ultimate destiny - the boxing hall of fame…

    • 1952: Olympic middleweight champion
    • 1956: heavyweight champion at age 21 – defeats Archie Moore
    • 1959: loses the heavyweight title to Ingemar Johansson
    • 1960: reclaims the heavyweight title – beats Johannsson

    Alzheimer’s disease and prostate cancer ended Floyd Patterson’s life at the age of 71 in May, 2006.  He’ll always be remembered for his courage as a great champion, who survived a career that spanned great fame, and humbling misfortune.

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    Posted by Hugh Smith on 05/11 at 08:44 PM
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    Friday, May 05, 2006

    Isaac Murphy - Kentucky Derby Legend

    Saturday, May 6, is the first leg of horse racing’s triple crown - The Kentucky Derby.

    The Derby, The Preakness, and the Belmont Stakes are the three biggest races of the year.

    A true pioneer, Isaac Murphy was the first jockey to win three Kentucky Derbies (1884, 1890, 1891).  An African American with an outstanding horse racing record of 628 wins in 1412 races.

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    Posted by Hugh Smith on 05/05 at 10:05 AM
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    Wednesday, March 22, 2006

    Number 42 is gone but the Legacy of Jackie Robinson Lives

    Jackie Robinson was the first black 20th Century major league baseball player.  He signed a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers minor league Montreal Royals in 1945, before joining the big club in 1947.  Here are some of Jackie’s career highlights:


    • First Major League Rookie of the Year, 1947.
    • National League’s Most Valuable Player, 1949.
    • National League batting champion with a .342 average in 1949.
    • Stolen base leader in 1947 and 1949.
    • Six-time National League All-Star, 1949 - 1954.

    Jackie Robinson’s playing career ended in 1956.  He was voted into baseball’s Hall of Fame in 1962, and was out of the game by 1964.

    When baseball celebrated the 50th anniversary of Robinson’s breakthrough in 1997, his number was retired by every major league team.  Since 2004, every April 15th is celebrated in baseball as Jackie Robinson Day to acknowledge his social legacy to America and the world.

    The Jackie Robinson Foundation provides four-year college scholarships to minority students who have a demonstrated record of academic distinction, leadership capacity, and financial need.

    The foundation is currently supporting 266 Jackie Robinson Foundation Scholars attending 93 colleges and universities in 33 different American states and the District of Columbia.

    March 31, 2006, is this year’s application deadline for students to take advantage of the Jackie Robinson Foundation scholarship.



    Posted by Hugh Smith on 03/22 at 06:48 PM
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