1972- Norwegian alpine skier Kjetil Andre Aamodt of Norway, nicknamed "Baby Shark," won two gold medals in Alpine skiing at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. These were his second and third Olympic gold medals, and they brought his Olympic medal total to seven—more than any other Alpine skier in history. Aamodt has won top honors at both the Olympics and i…
1934- American baseball player The baseball legend Hank Aaron holds the major league record for the most career home runs (755) and made his way into the record books with 12 other career firsts, including most games, at-bats, total bases, and runs batted in (RBI). "Hammerin' Hank" made history on April 8, 1974, when he surpassed Babe Ruth's home run record of 714; he w…
1967- American baseball player With 95-mph fastballs, Jim Abbott would be considered a gifted pitcher by any standard. What made Abbott stand out during his amateur and professional career was the challenge he overcame to deliver his strikeouts. Abbott was born with a deformed right arm, and played baseball virtually one-handed. A product of Flint, Michigan, Abbott was brought up by his father, Mi…
1947- American basketball player More than a decade after his retirement, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at 7-feet-2-inches tall remains one of the tallest men ever to play professional basketball. Despite his 267-pound frame, he was never awkward and was known in fact for his grace and flexibility—a rare talent among very large men. Powerful yet smooth in his playing style, he left his mark on the ga…
1970- American tennis player In the 1980s America's tennis fans took to heart a new kind of player, one without the disciplined control of a Boris Becker or the tantrums of a John McEnroe. "To see him is to think of MTV," wrote a Sports Illustrated reporter when Agassi burst onto the scene in 1987. "The kid … has a teenager hipster's style and swagger.…
1966- American football player Star quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys for more than a decade, Troy Aikman led "America's team" to three Super Bowl victories before the toll of multiple injuries finally took him out of the game. In April 2001, rather than risk a potentially disabling injury, Aikman at the age of thirty-four left professional football to launch a new career as a…
1966- American soccer player Michelle Akers led the United States to an Olympic gold medal and two World Cup championships in women's soccer, and has drawn acclaim for her successful battle against chronic fatigue immune dysfunction syndrome. "If I hadn't had the illness, I would've thought soccer, trophies, World Cups and scoring goals would've been the best thi…
1941- American sportscaster Marv Albert was well respected in the sports realm until the skeletons in his closet came tumbling out in 1997. Since then it has been a long road for him to pick himself up and dust himself off. Albert is slowly working his way back into the world of sportscasting, but he will never be like he was before his fall from glory. He was known for his passion for sports and …
1935- American figure skater A pioneer on and off the ice, Tenley Albright was the first American woman to win a gold medal in ladies singles figure skating at the Olympics and the first American woman to win a world championship. Albright's strengths were her figures, and graceful free skates. She was as technically proficient as women figure skaters were in her day, and her success marked…
1887-1950 American baseball player Grover Cleveland Alexander serves as an icon for his generation of professional baseball players. While perhaps not the model or disciplined athlete—in fact, by most accounts, he was far from that—Alexander was a product of the times in which he lived. His adult years spanned two World Wars, the first, in which he served as an army sergeant in Franc…
1942- American boxer His nickname, "The Greatest," almost says it all. The fact that it was self-anointed says the rest. Today, Muhammad Ali is the universally admired three-time heavyweight champion, lauded by boxing fans and civil rights leaders, both in America and throughout the world. He is remembered respectfully as the man of principle who threw away his Olympic medal in disgu…
1960- American football player Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Allen came to be admired for his intelligence and quiet determination as much as for his skill in gaining yardage. An all-around athlete with a winning smile and boyish charm, Allen's appearance concealed a mature team player. As a senior at the University of Southern California (USC), he was a first-round draft pick, taken by the …
1961-1993 American race car driver Davey Allison was a champion stock-car driver, with major race wins; he captured the Daytona 500, stock-car racing's most important event, in 1992. His winnings on the Winston Cup circuit, the major league of the sport, totaled $6.7 million. Allison came from a family of race car drivers that included his father, Bobby, his uncle, Donnie, and his younger b…
1968- American baseball player Roberto Alomar, arguably the best second baseman in the major leagues, has rarely been given the same sort of recognition that other superstar players, like first baseman Mark McGwire or center fielder Ken Griffey, Jr., have received. Alomar, one of only four players ever to have both ten career Golden Glove awards and a lifetime batting average of over%. 300, curren…
1935- Dominican baseball player Felipe Alou is the second Dominican in the history of major league baseball to become a major league player. His career as a player spanned 17 years starting in 1958, and afterwards he switched to managing and managed a total of 1,635 minor league games, as well as many games in the Latin American leagues during the off-seasons. He also spent brief periods as a majo…
1934- American baseball manager George "Sparky" Anderson became a big league manager at the age of thirty-five and left the game with 2,228 victories after twenty-six years running the Cincinnati Reds and the Detroit Tigers. Although there are only two managers in baseball that have won more games, Connie Mack and John McGraw, Anderson is the last person to take credit for his succes…
1940- American race car driver Mario Andretti Mario Andretti was named Driver of the Century for his distinguished racing career that spanned five decades. Andretti earned his reputation with Championship cars. He won a total of 52 Championship car races, including the prestigious Indianapolis 500 in 1969. He is also the all time leader of Championship car pole position wins with 67 and the…
1938-2001 American bowler Utterly without personal flash or pyrotechnics, Earl Anthony became the overwhelmingly dominant professional bowler of the twentieth century. Sporting a crewcut and horn-rimmed glasses in an age of permed hair and gold chains, Anthony was "Square Earl" to some. But the near-mechanical consistency of his form and the deadly accuracy of his shots earned him a …
1934- Venezuelan baseball player Most will agree that in the game of baseball, power is king. However, one individual who did not fit this mold, yet achieved star status, is Luis Aparicio. "Little Looie" set an example of skill, strength, and dexterity that seized the spotlight usually afforded to power hitters. While home runs were not his specialty, Aparicio's physical prowe…
1971- American cyclist Cancer was arguably the best thing that ever happened to Lance Armstrong. The world champion cyclist's career can be divided into two distinct periods: pre- and post-cancer. In the first, he was a brash young rider who won by sheer force and drive, but who did so arrogantly and without respect for his sport. After beating the odds and surviving testicular cancer, Arms…
1943-1993 American tennis player Arthur Ashe's 1993 memoir, aptly titled Days of Grace, is a reflection on his brief but rich life as a champion tennis player, a father, an African-American man, and a compassionate and courageous human being. As the first African American to win a major men's tennis title and to be ranked number one internationally, Ashe used his position and reputat…
1957- American track and field athlete Recognized as one of track and field history's most accomplished sprinters, Evelyn Ashford is the only woman in U.S. track history to win four Olympic gold medals—one in the 100-meter sprint and three as part of Evelyn Ashford 4 × 100-meter relay teams. Two years after giving birth to her daughter, she won a silver medal for the 10…
1917- American basketball coach As a coach and executive, Arnold "Red" Auerbach has directed the Boston Celtics to sixteen National Basketball Association (NBA) championships, the third most in North American professional team sports. Auerbach, inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, coached the Celtics to nine titles, including eight straight from 1959-66, and oversaw seven other…
1956- French yacht racer During a decade of competitive marathon sailing, Isabelle Autissier demonstrated nearly supernatural sailing prowess and unmitigated bad luck. She is the first woman to sail around the world alone and she piloted a yacht from New York to San Francisco by way of Cape Horn in world-record time. She also capsized and barely eluded death—twice—in violent, remote …
1967- Canadian sprinter Canadian sprinter Donovan Bailey set the world record in a 100-meter race in 1996, earning the distinction of "world's fastest man." At his peak during the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, the Jamaican-born Bailey ran a record-setting, gold-medal-winning time of 9.84 seconds. With three teammates, he also captured the gold in the 4×100-meter…
1948-2001 Canadian hockey player Hockey player Ace Bailey played for five seasons with the Boston Bruins in the National Hockey League (NHL), then played in Detroit, St. Louis, Washington, and Edmonton before becoming a scout for Edmonton and then director of pro scouting for the Los Angeles Kings. As a Bruin, he was on the teams that won the Stanley Cup in 1970 and 1972. According to Matt McHale …
1931- American baseball player Hall of Famer Ernie Banks was the greatest and most popular player in the history of the Chicago Cubs, a man so closely associated with the franchise both during and after his playing days that he was known as Mr. Cub. Over the course of 19 seasons, he played 2528 games in which he got 2583 hits, 512 home runs, and 1636 runs batted in. He turned in such an awesome pe…
1929- English track and field athlete In 1954, Roger Bannister became the first person to run a mile in under four minutes. A noted British runner, he won the British mile championships in 1951, 1953, and 1954, and also won the Empire championship in 1954. In addition, he won the European 1,500 meter championship in 1954. Roger Bannister The Four-Minute Mile, Lyons and Burford, 1955. …
1963- American basketball player During a sixteen-year career in the National Basketball Association (NBA), forward Charles Barkley proved himself to be one of best basketball players of all Charles Barkley time, as well as one of the more controversial. An excellent rebounder despite his generous girth and unexceptional height, he was dubbed "The Round Mound of Rebound" while…
1944- American basketball player Rick Barry, at six-foot-seven-inches, was one of the most entertaining and talented forwards to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA) during the 1970s. Averaging 24.8 points per game over the course of his fourteen seasons of play, Barry was famous for his deadly accurate underhanded free throws (.900). He was Rick Barry equally famous among othe…
1966- American jockey American Donna Barton, considered among the most successful female jockeys of all time, is one of only a handful of female jockeys to ride in a Breeders' Cup event. Barton took on her first job as a jockey as a way to earn enough money to attend college. Second only to top-ranked Judy Krone in wins among female jockeys, she had won $4.6 million in purse earnings by 199…
1914- American football player Sammy Baugh The first superstar passer in college football, Sammy Baugh held every National Football League (NFL) passing record and was chosen for the charter classes of both the college (1951) and professional (1963) football halls of fame. Many of his records stood for fifty years and others will never be broken. The college All-American became a six-time N…
1960- American wrestler Amateur freestyle wrestler Bruce Baumgartner won the U.S. national championship seventeen times in as many years. An eight-time Midlands Champion, he medalled at four Olympic Games, from 1984-96, earning gold medals in two. After winning the World Cup Championship in 1997 for the eighth time, he retired from competition. In 2002 Baumgartner was named to the National Wrestli…
1934- American basketball player He never played a championship team or won a scoring title; he played well before the made-for-video era and disdained self-promotion. But teammates, opponents and longtime observers of the game eagerly proclaim forward Elgin Baylor as one of pro basketball's greats. Baylor was an All-NBA First Team choice 10 times in his career, and he participated in 11 Al…
1981- American swimmer Amanda Beard, the youngest swimmer on the 1996 U.S. Olympic team, became a national hero when she captured one gold and two silver medals at the Summer Games in Atlanta. Fans adored the spunky 14-year-old from California, who clutched a lucky teddy bear on the medal stand, and who swam to greatness with a youthful innocence. Although her swimming career slumped just followin…
1945- German soccer player Franz Beckenbauer is the only person who has won soccer's World Cup as team captain and as coach. Beckenbauer captained the former West Germany to the championship in 1974, and coached it to the top in 1990. Beckenbauer, who also played for the New York Cosmos when soccer interest in the United States began to rise in the mid-to-late seventies, is now president of…
1967- German tennis player In 1985, Boris Becker became the youngest player to win the men's singles championship at Wimbledon. He Boris Becker was also the first German to do so, and the first unranked player. In truth, Becker was used to being the youngest. He had started playing when he was only eight years old, and by age 11 he was playing in adult divisions. Still, it was a gran…
1975- British soccer player David Beckham is more than one of England's best soccer player. He is a celebrity, treated as near-royalty, hounded by the press who dwell on his every move. During his career as a member of the Manchester United, and also playing for the England in the World Cup, Beckham has been both villain and hero. Lauded, vilified, bemoaned, worshipped, and ridiculed–…
1969- Canadian biathlete Although men have competed in the biathlon at the Olympics for many years, women did not compete until the early 1990s. Canadian Myriam Bedard won some of the first Olympic medals given in the biathlon, which is a combination of cross-country skiing and marksmanship with a .22-calibre rifle that is measured by time and accuracy. (Missed targets add time to the score or len…
1965- Canadian hockey player Ed Belfour has earned a reputation throughout his career for his hot temper. His ability to be rattled at the drop of a hat was common knowledge and was used against him by opposing teams. Although he has recently subdued his temperament, many people still believe he has many demons to overcome. He is not just a goalie with a temper though. There is much more to the ma…
1895-1959 American football commissioner Although he never played football professionally, DeBenneville "Bert" Bell brought the game to unprecedented heights of popularity with his revolutionary ideas and hardball style of business. An unsuccessful coach, Bell shined as the National Football League's second commissioner in the 1950s. During his 13-year reign, he created the am…
1903-1991 American baseball player Negro league baseball lore is full of colorful tales, several of which revolve around the exploits of speedster James "Cool Papa" Bell. Teammate Satchel Paige once claimed that Bell was so fast that he could switch the light in their hotel room and jump into bed before the light went out. Rumor also had it that Bell had once been called out because …
1966- American baseball player Albert Belle, known for his outstanding power as a hitter, is also one of baseball's most enigmatic characters. S.L. Price, writing in Sports Illustrated, Albert Belle called Belle "the game's most dependable and unpredictable talent." While Belle's talent is undeniable—his career batting average is .295—he is k…
1947- American baseball player The name Johnny Bench is synonymous with baseball catcher. When Bench came on the Major League Baseball scene in 1968 with the Cincinnati Reds, he became Johnny Bench the first catcher ever to win the National League Rookie of the Year award by showing fans what a good catcher can be both behind the plate and at bat. With his keen eyesight, strong throwing arm…
1957- American marathon runner Distance runner Joan Benoit Samuelson broke the female course record for the Boston Marathon in 1979, then went on to set a record for both the historic New England race and the world in 1983 by running the 26.2-mile marathon distance in a record two hours 22 minutes, 43 seconds. Samuelson's other achievements, including winning the gold medal as part of the U…
