Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. was born on July 10, 1943, in Richmond, Virginia. Ashe was the first and only African American man ranked as the world’s #1 tennis player, with over 800 career wins, including three Grand Slam singles titles.
Wilma Glodean Rudolph was born on June 23, 1940, in Saint Bethlehem, Tennessee. Dubbed “The Fastest Woman in History,” she became the first female athlete to win three gold medals in a single Olympic Games.
Lorenzo Pietro “Yogi” Berra was born on May 12, 1925, in St. Louis, Missouri. He is widely considered to be one of baseball’s greatest catchers and best clutch hitters of all time.
Edward Trowbridge Collins was born on May 2, 1887, in Millerton, New York. Playing 25 seasons in the major leagues, he played in six World Series, still holds several records, and is considered one of the best second basemen in the sport’s history.
Robert Moses “Lefty” Grove was born on March 6, 1900, in Lonaconing, Maryland. Considered one of the greatest pitchers in history, he was a six-time All-Star, American League MVP, nine-time ERA leader, four-time wins leader, and two-time Triple Crown winner.
On February 22, 1980, the US men’s hockey team scored an unexpected victory over a more experienced Soviet team at the Winter Olympics. The victory was one of the most memorable moments of those games and in all of sports history.
The 1984 Winter Olympic Games opened in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia (now Bosnia), on February 8, 1984. These were the first Winter Games – and the second Olympics – held in a Communist state.
Olympic tennis star Hazel Virginia Hotchkiss Wightman was born on December 20, 1886, in Healdsburg, California. She won two Olympic gold medals, in addition to many US titles and has been called the “Queen Mother of American Tennis.”
Lawrence Eugene Doby was born on December 13, 1923, in Camden, South Carolina. Doby was the second black player in Major League Baseball, the first in the American League, and the first to make it directly to the majors.