1968- American soccer player Brandi Chastain became one of the most recognizable figures in American sports when she scored the winning goal at the Women's World Cup soccer tournament final against China on July 10, 1999. In the excitement following her game-winning kick, Chastain whipped off her jersey, exposing her sports bra (which functions as a bra, but looks more like a suit top). The…
1962- American hockey player Chris Chelios Chris Chelios is one of the best, most seasoned defensemen in the National Hockey League (NHL). He has played in the NHL since 1984, winning three Norris Trophies and two Stanley Cups during that time. Although earlier in his career Chelios was known for his violent style of play and short temper, as he has gotten older he has become a more restrai…
1976- Korean speed skater As short track speed skating is one of the most popular sports in Korea, it's no wonder South Korea's Lee-Kyung Chun was one of the greatest women's short track speed skaters. Her gold medal in the women's 1,000 meter event at Lillehammer, Norway in 1994 was just the beginning of a sports career highlighted by world records and Olympic records.…
1983- American snowboarder American snowboarder Kelly Clark "had such an awesome run," on February 10, 2002, her Olympic teammate Shannon Dunn-Downing told the Washington Post. "She just kept going big. She did a super-nice McTwist … at the end, she just busted out a seven." Translation: Clark won the gold medal in the women's halfpipe competition in the 2…
1962- American baseball player His native talents alone would have been enough to make Roger Clemens one of baseball's greats. His six foot four, two hundred and twenty-pound frame is capable of hurling a baseball at speeds approaching one hundred miles per hour. His split-finger fastball—only eight miles per hour—dives away as it reaches the plate, confounding the baseball&#x…
1934-1972 American baseball player Hall of Fame baseball player Roberto Clemente was the first great Hispanic star in major league baseball. Playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates, he had a lifetime average of .317 and 240 home runs; had four seasons Roberto Clemente with 200 or more hits; and won twelve Gold Gloves in eighteen seasons. He also won the National League Most Valuable Player award…
1923- American track and field athlete Alice Coachman became the first black woman of any nationality to win a gold medal at the Olympics with her victory was in the high jump at the 1948 Summer Games in London. Coachman broke jump records at her high school and college, then became the U.S. national high jump champion before competing in the Olympics. She is also the first African-American woman …
1886-1961 American baseball player Ty Cobb is arguably the greatest baseball player who ever put on spikes. During his 24-year career, he established records in virtually every area of the offensive game. His .367 lifetime average stands as the best in baseball history, a virtually unattainable goal for hitters. He is also number one among all-time runs scored leaders, number two in hits and tripl…
1967- American basketball player Derrick Coleman represents the kind of elite athlete that achieves such success and notoriety so early in his career that he develops a seriously skewed view of his own importance in the world, and even in his sport. The undeniably talented power forward has a record marred by questionable choices that have affected him both on and off the court. Coleman has worn o…
1961- Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci made her mark on the gymnastics scene and on the world with her breathtaking performances at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada. At the age of 14 Comaneci became the first gymnast to earn a perfect ten score in Olympic competition. In two Olympic appearances Comaneci earned five gold, three silver, and one bronze medal. After she retired from the sport…
1958- American gymnast Bart Conner was the first U.S. male gymnast to receive a gold medal in international competition. He is credited with helping to bring the American men's gymnastics team to a first place finish at the 1984 Olympics and is remembered as the only American male gymnast to win a gold medal at every level of competition. Address: c/o IMG Speakers New York, 825 7th Avenue, …
1934-1969 American tennis player Maureen "Little Mo" Connolly's career ended prematurely with a freakish accident, and cancer cut short her life. But Connolly, who won all nine of her Grand Slam women's tennis events, still played long enough to make an indelible mark on the game. "Whenever a great player comes long you have to ask, 'Could she have beaten …
1952- American tennis player Jimmy Connors, has been one of the most recognizable American tennis players for four decades. The left-handed player was known for his two-handed backhand and powerful return-of-serve which helped him win eight Grand Slam championships. In particular, Connors won the U.S. Open championship five times and he is the only player to win this tournament on three different …
1941- American basketball coach Jody Conradt Jody Conradt, the powerhouse women's basketball coach at the University of Texas-Austin (UT), has won more college women's basketball games than any other coach in history. At a last count just shy of 800 wins, she also holds the record for coaching 1,000 games—the first female coach to do so. She's a five-time Southwe…
1963- American basketball player After being a standout player in college and in European basketball leagues, Cynthia Cooper finally achieved her dream of being able to play professional basketball in the United States when the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) debuted in 1997. She was the star of the Houston Comets for the next four years, leading them to four straight WNBA ch…
1866-1933 American boxer Heavyweight champion boxer "Gentleman" Jim Corbett forever changed his sport's image as a brawling ground for hooligans, and legitimized it as a professional sport. Before Corbett won his championship bout in 1892, boxing was perceived as mainly a test of raw power. Corbett brought strategy to the game, beating his heavier, stronger opponent, John L. S…
1918-1995 American sportscaster Sportscasting had never before known the likes of Howard Cosell, nor is it likely to see another like him again. He became an enormous figure despite the fact that he was verbose, egotistical, decidedly untelegenic, outspoken about controversial issues, and oblivious to the feelings of others. These negative attributes were almost equally balanced by his intelligenc…
1952- American sportscaster Bob Costas Bob Costas has turned the broadcasting world upside down with his impeccable style. He is known for his ability to memorize trivial facts and insert them with precision timing when broadcasting. Costas is also known for his ability to hold his own when situations occur on a live broadcast. The thing he is most known for, however, is his love of basebal…
1970- American tennis player Jim Courier, arguably the world's best men's tennis player for one all-too-brief period in the early 1990s, has always managed to keep things in perspective. Although he has not been the toast of the tennis world since the beginning of the first Clinton administration, Courier, who won both the French Open and Australian Open twice, has found a comfortabl…
1942- Australian tennis player Australian Margaret Smith Court was a dominant woman's tennis player in the 1960s and early 1970s. Over the course of her career, she won a total of sixty-two Grand Slam women's singles events, more than anyone in the history of women's tennis, and seventy-nine total singles titles. The first Australian to win Wimbledon, Court won the second Gran…
1928- American basketball player Bob Cousy Bob Cousy was one of greatest passers and playmakers in NBA history. A showman with flair and an entertainer as much as he was a basketball player, Cousy was a renegade in an era of rather conventional league play. He helped to build one of the revolutionary teams in the history of professional basketball. His contribution is as great as—if …
1964- American surfer Tom Curren was the American surfing icon of the 1980s. As the first American to find success on the Australian-dominated Association of Surfing Professionals tour, he gave hope to hundreds of young would-be competitors across the country. Between his fame, his success, and his clean-living Christian lifestyle, Curren was a role model for thousands of young surfers. …
1930- American basketball coach Charles J. "Chuck" Daly is the only coach in the Basketball Hall of Fame to win both an Olympic gold medal and a National Basketball Association (NBA) championship. Lauded as a player's coach, Daly worked his way up from college player to high school coach to college coach, then moved on to coach NBA teams. He is perhaps best known for his work …
1966- American golfer John Daly has won two major golf tournaments, one of them against unspeakable odds. He has also self-destructed through substance abuse, only to repeatedly bounce back. People admire his personal tenacity as much as his towering tee shots; many fans see Daly as one of them. "They've stuck by him through two PGA Tour suspensions, two trips to alcohol rehab center…
1976- American tennis player Lindsay Davenport has won three Grand Slam women's tennis tournaments—all but the French Open. Davenport, who rose to a No. 1 ranking with little of the fanfare of some of her peers, looked to return to top form after missing much of 2002 to knee surgery. Playing in her first big test of 2003, Davenport reached the fourth round of the Australian Open. She…
1929- American football executive As owner of the National Football League's (NFL) Oakland Raiders, Al Davis has been both vilified and admired by his colleagues. Davis has created a team in his own image, both arrogant and mysterious, determined and successful. His unorthodox approach to the game on the field, and the equally interesting one played in the league's back rooms, has wo…
1972- American football player Terrell Davis's exuberant seven year NFL career was marked by record-breaking accomplishments and debilitating migraines and injuries. Davis's speed and tenacity helped John Elway and the Denver Broncos win two consecutive Super Bowl titles, first in 1998, then again in 1999. Among his many feats are an amazing 2,008 rushing yard season in 1998 and a Su…
1976- American gymnast Dominique Dawes changed U.S. amateur sports forever by becoming the first African American to represent the United States in Olympic gymnastics. Her lifetime achievements are impressive, including a clean sweep at the 1994 U.S. National Championships and three appearances in the Olympic Games (1992, 1996, and 2000). Her reputation has been defined by powerful and risky perfo…
1910-1974 American baseball player During the 1930s, baseball fans flocked to stadiums across the United States to get a peek of Dizzy Dean, the anchor of the St. Louis Cardinals' pitching staff. Dean was a dominant pitcher, to be sure—with his intimidating fastball, Dean hurled his way to four consecutive strikeout titles (1932-1935) and had four seasons with 20 or more wins. Over h…
1958- American track and field athlete Mary Decker is remembered by many for what she did not do, rather than what she did. Although Decker, who started her impressive career as a pre-teen, is one of the world's fastest middle-distance runners ever, bad circumstances interfered in Decker's attempts to win an Olympic gold medal. Throughout her long running career, Decker pushed her bo…
1975- American motocross racer Brian Deegan is a champion freestyle motocross (FMX) rider, the gold medal winner of his event at the 2002 Winter X Games. A medalist in each X Games from 1999 to 2002, Deegan is a member of the Metal Mulisha, a team of riders that includes Deegan, Mike Jones and Tommy Clowers. These riders take even extreme games to the extreme, dressing in black leather with spikes…
1952- American athletic administrator In 1986 Anita DeFrantz became the first American woman and first African American to serve on the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Her inclusion was considered groundbreaking in an institution that has been dominated by white men and non-athletes. DeFrantz was a former rower, who first became involved in organized sports when she was in college. She comp…
1973- American boxer Called the "Golden Boy" since he became the only American boxer to win a gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Oscar De La Hoya has always had a simple plan in the ring: "You should hit but not get hit," as he once explained it to a Sports Illustrated reporter. The plan seems to be working. By the time of the Olympics, De La Hoya's amate…
1895-1983 American boxer William "Jack" Harrison Dempsey ushered in the age of big-time sports. His rise from hobo to heavyweight champion to Hollywood celebrity not only gave boxing the stamp of legitimacy, but became the prototype for every superstar athlete that followed. His popularity during and after his boxing career overshadowed all of his contemporaries, including Babe Ruth.…
1966- American track and field athlete Gail Devers will go down as one of the fastest female combination sprinters and hurdlers in history, as well as one of the greatest track and field athletes. While her awards and accomplishments, including setting several American and world records in various indoor and outdoor events, are impressive, they are only half the story. Devers's triumph over…
1960- American football player During his professional football career, running back Eric Dickerson more often resembled a thoroughbred than a human being. Game after game, Dickerson electrified fans as he tucked the football under his arm, then sprinted down the field with all the beauty and grace of a well-groomed racehorse. Dickerson also possessed an uncanny ability to read the defense and kne…
1914-1999 American baseball player One of the greatest of all baseball players, Joe DiMaggio played the game with grace (one of his nicknames was the Yankee Clipper), power (the other nickname was Joltin' Joe), and an all-around level of skill that few others have approached. His talent, combined with his desire to win and his team's sustained success, led to him become an icon of po…
1970- German biathlete Germany's Uschi Disl has won more Olympic medals in the biathlon than any other competitor, male or female, in the sport. A curious blend of cross-country skiing and sharp shooting, the biathlon presents unique challenges for its devotees; many, like Disl, serve in the military or as border guards in their home countries, where biathletes are able to train as part of …
1939- American football coach Football coach Mike Ditka, known as "Iron Mike" and "Da Coach," was a star tight end for the Chicago Bears from 1961 through 1966, before finishing his playing career with the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys. After retiring from play in 1972, he became an assistant coach of the Dallas Cowboys. He then worked as head coach of the Bear…
1924-2003 American baseball player Larry Doby is the invisible man in the struggle to bring black players into major league baseball. For most of his career Doby lived in the long shadow cast by Jackie Robinson, the first African-American to play major league baseball. Doby, who joined the Cleveland Indians just eleven weeks after Robinson made his debut with Brooklyn was the second black player t…
1975- American swimmer Tom Dolan is a swimmer who has overcome serious breathing problems to become a national and world champion. Although he was diagnosed with exercise-induced asthma at age fourteen, Dolan continues to swim competitively. In 1994 he became a national collegiate champion at the University of Michigan. In 1996 and 2000 he won Olympic gold medals for the 400-meter individual medle…
1954- American football player At just five-feet-ten-inches and 188 pounds dripping wet, Tony Dorsett didn't appear cut out to be a good running back. However, he spent four spectacular years at the University of Pittsburgh and twelve seasons Tony Dorsett in the National Football League (NFL) proving that he wasn't only good, he was great. Combining lightning speed with agilit…
1956- American baseball player Fate has been both kind and cruel to baseball's Dave Dravecky. First he was gifted with a talent for pitching that led him to the major leagues and two All-Star games. Then that same gift was cruelly taken away as cancer destroyed Dravecky's left arm—his throwing arm. But Dravecky, whose Christian faith led him through the hard times, has devoted…
1947- Canadian hockey player While many consider Ken Dryden to be one of the best goalies who ever played in the National Hockey League (NHL), he was considered odd, even for a goalie (who in hockey circles are often regarded as eccentric individuals), in part because of his intellectual, non-hockey pursuits. While he won five Stanley Cups in the 1970s with the Montreal Canadiens, he also took a y…
1976- American basketball player Combining skills as a passer, rebounder, shooter, scorer, dribbler, and defender, Tim Duncan is one of the best all-round players in the NBA. Winner of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Most Valuable Player honors in 2002, Duncan is no stranger to awards; his resume has a long list of well-earned basketball achievements. Yet despite all the accolad…
