Noel Langley (1911 - 1980)

Born on Christmas Day in Durban, South Africa, Noel Langley was the son of Durban High School headmaster Aubrey Samuel Langley and Dora Agnes Allison. Noel Langley attended his father’s school (Durban High School- KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa) until 1930. Noel’s relationship with his headmaster father was a strained one as he did meet his father’s […]

Roger Edens (1905 - 1970)

Roger Edens was born in Hillsboro, Texas. His parents were of Scots-Irish ancestry. He worked as a piano accompanist for ballroom dancers before going to work as a musical conductor on Broadway. He went to Hollywood in 1932 along with his protege Ethel Merman, writing and arranging her material for her films at Paramount. In […]

Hank Jones (1918 - 2010)

Born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, Henry “Hank” Jones moved to Pontiac, Michigan, where his father, Henry Jones Sr. a Baptist deacon and lumber inspector, bought a three-story brick home. One of seven children, Jones was raised in a musical family. His mother Olivia Jones sang; his two older sisters studied piano; and his two younger brothers—Thad, […]

Joe Henderson (1937 - 2001)

Joe Henderson spent two years (1960–62) in the U.S. Army: first in Fort Benning, where he even competed in the army talent show and won first place, then in Fort Belvoir, where he was chosen for a world tour, with a show to entertain soldiers. While in Paris, he met Kenny Drew and Kenny Clarke. […]

Bob Cranshaw (1932 - 2016)

Some of Cranshaw’s best-known performances include Lee Morgan’s The Sidewinder and Grant Green’s Idle Moments. Bob Cranshaw also served as the sole session bassist to Sesame Street and The Electric Company songwriter and composer Joe Raposo, and played bass guitar on all songs, tracks, buttons and cues recorded by the Children’s Television Workshop during Raposo’s […]

Charles Lamont (1895 - 1993)

Charles Lamont (May 5, 1895 – September 12, 1993) was a prolific filmmaker, directing over 200 titles and producing and writing many others. A California native, Lamont was born in San Francisco and died in Los Angeles. Some of Lamont’s earliest directorial jobs were silent short-subject comedies for Educational Pictures. One of the studio’s popular series […]

Eddie Fisher (1928 - 2010)

By 1946, Eddie Fisher was crooning with the bands of Buddy Morrow and Charlie Ventura. He was heard in 1949 by Eddie Cantor at Grossinger’s Catskill Resort Hotel in the Borscht Belt. Cantor’s so-called discovery of Fisher was later described as a totally contrived, “manipulated’ arrangement by Milton Blackstone, Grossinger’s publicity director. After performing on […]

Leonard Cohen (1934 - 2016)

Leonard Cohen Legendary singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen died after falling in his home, his manager has now revealed, but can falls signal poor health in older adults? Cohen’s death was first reported last week, but on Wednesday (Nov. 16), Cohen’s manager Robert Kory released a statement with more details, saying the songwriter fell in the middle […]

George Michael (1963 - 2016)

George Michael Pop superstar George Michael’s death at the age of 53 from suspected heart failure is being treated by police as “unexplained but not suspicious”. The singer died peacefully at home, his family said on Sunday night. “It is with great sadness that we can confirm our beloved son, brother and friend George passed away […]

Zsa Zsa Gabor (1917 - 2016)

Zsa Zsa Gabor Zsa Zsa Gabor, whose 60-year career of playing herself helped paved the way for today’s celebrity-obsessed culture, has died. She was 99. Publicist Ed Lozzi confirmed to Variety that Gabor died Sunday in her Bel Air mansion. She had been on life support for the last five years, and according to TMZ, […]

Don Calfa (1939 - 2016)

Don Calfa was born on December 3, 1939 in Brooklyn, New York, and was raised in Ozone Park, Queens and later West Hempstead, Long Island. According to his official biography, Calfa was originally interested in pursuing a career in the fine arts, but diverted his interest to acting after seeing Rebel Without a Cause. He […]

Sammy Lee (1920 - 2016)

Sammy Lee was born in Fresno, California to parents of Korean descent who owned what he described as “a little chop suey restaurant”. His father, who was fluent in English and Korean and who tutored in French, graduated with a degree in civil engineering from Occidental College, but was unable to find work due to […]

Elisabeth Carron (1922 - 2016)

Elisabeth Carron (born Elisabetta Caradonna; February 12, 1922 – December 1, 2016), was an American operatic soprano from Newark, New Jersey, who had an active international career from the 1940s through the 1980s. In 1954 she portrayed the Young Woman in the world premiere of Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Saint of Bleecker Street. From 1988 […]

Joe McKnight (1988 - 2016)

Joe McKnight was drafted by the New York Jets in the fourth round (112th overall) of the 2010 NFL Draft. To select McKnight, the Jets traded up twelve spots in the fourth round with the Carolina Panthers. In return, the Jets sent their fourth (124th overall) and sixth (198th overall) round selections to Carolina. McKnight […]

Alan Thicke (1947 - 2016)

Alan Thicke was born Alan Willis Jeffrey on March 1, 1947 in Kirkland Lake, Ontario, the son of Shirley “Joan” Isobel Marie (née Greer), a nurse, and William Jeffrey, a stockbroker. They divorced in 1953. His mother remarried to Brian Thicke, a physician, and they moved to Elliot Lake. He graduated from Elliot Lake Secondary […]

Rudolf Dassler (1898 - 1974)

Adolf Dassler, Rudolf’s younger brother, started to produce sports shoes in his mother’s kitchen after his return from World War I. His father, Christoph, who worked in a shoe factory, and the brothers Zehlein, who produced the handmade spikes for track shoes in their blacksmith’s shop, supported Adolf in starting his own business. In 1924, […]

Adolf Dassler (1900 - 1978)

Born in the Franconian town of Herzogenaurach and trained as a cobbler, Adolf Dassler started to produce his first sports shoes in his mother’s laundry room after his return from the First World War. His father, Christoph, who worked in a shoe factory, and the Zehlein brothers, who produced the spikes for track shoes in […]

Pavel Lednyov (1943 - 2010)

Pavel Serafimovich Lednyov (Russian: Павел Серафимович Леднëв; 25 March 1943 Nizhny Novgorod, Nizhny, Russia – 23 November 2010 Moscow, Russia) was a Soviet modern pentathlete and Olympic Champion. He won a total of seven Olympic medals in modern pentathlon, more than any other player to date. He won four individual World Championships, and two gold […]

Frederick Lorz (1884 - 1914)

Born in New York City, Frederick Lorz was reported to have done all his training at night due to his profession as a bricklayer. An announcement in the August 6, 1904 issue of The New York Times indicated that the Metropolitan Association of the Amateur Athletic Union would hold a “special seven-mile race” at Celtic Park […]

Dora Ratjen (1918 - 2008)

A file containing the findings of an investigation conducted in 1938 and 1939 into Ratjen’s life was made public by Der Spiegel in 2009. Dora Ratjen was born in Erichshof, near Bremen, into a family described as “simple folk”. The father, Heinrich Ratjen, stated in 1938: “When the child was born the midwife called over to […]

Helen Stephens (1918 - 1994)

Helen Stephens, nicknamed the “Fulton Flash” after her birthplace, Fulton, Missouri, was a strong athlete in sprint events—she never lost a race in her entire career—and also in weight events such as the shot put and discus thro. She won national titles in both categories. When she was 18, Stephens participated in the 1936 Summer Olympics. […]

Elizabeth Murphy (1894 - 1964)

By the age of 17, Elizabeth Murphy was playing professionally and demanding to be paid when she played. She first signed with the Providence Independents and then  in 1918 she signed with Ed Carr’s Traveling All-Stars, a semi-professional team out of Boston. Carr’s was a barnstorming team which traveled throughout Canada and New England playing […]

Bob Feller (1918 - 2010)

Robert William Andrew Feller (November 3, 1918 – December 15, 2010), nicknamed “The Heater from Van Meter”, “Bullet Bob”, and “Rapid Robert”, was an American baseball pitcher who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cleveland Indians. Feller pitched from 1936 to 1941 and from 1945 to 1956, interrupted only by a […]

Walter Johnson (1887 - 1946)

Walter Perry Johnson (November 6, 1887 – December 10, 1946), nicknamed “Barney” and “The Big Train”, was a Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He played his entire 21-year baseball career for the Washington Senators (1907–1927). He later served as manager of the Senators from 1929 through 1932 and for the Cleveland Indians from 1933 through […]

Josh Gibson (1911 - 1947)

The Negro leagues generally found it more profitable to schedule relatively few league games and allow the teams to earn extra money through barnstorming against semi-professional and other non-league teams. Thus, it is important to distinguish between records against all competition and records in league games only. For example, against all levels of competition Josh […]

Buck O’Neil (1911 - 2006)

Born in rural Carrabelle, Florida, Buck O’Neil was initially denied the opportunity to attend high school due to racial segregation; at the time, Florida had only four high schools specifically for African Americans. However, after working a summer in a celery field with his father, O’Neil left home to live with relatives and attend Edward […]

Satchel Paige (1906 - 1982)

Leroy Robert “Satchel” Paige (July 7, 1906 – June 8, 1982) was an American Negro league baseball and Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher who became a legend in his own lifetime by being known as perhaps the best pitcher in baseball history, by his longevity in the game, and by attracting record crowds wherever he […]

Gabby Hartnett (1900 - 1972)

Charles Leo “Gabby” Hartnett (December 20, 1900 – December 20, 1972) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played almost his entire career in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Chicago Cubs from 1922 to 1940. He spent the final season of his career as a player-coach for the New York […]

Carl Hubbell (1903 - 1988)

Carl Hubbell was born in Carthage, Missouri and raised in Meeker, Oklahoma. He was originally signed by the Detroit Tigers and was invited to spring training in 1926. However, pitching coach George McBride and player-manager Ty Cobb weren’t impressed with him. Additionally, they were concerned about his reliance on a screwball, a pitch that some […]

Nap Lajoie (1874 - 1959)

Napoléon “Nap” Lajoie (/ˈlæʒəweɪ/; September 5, 1874 – February 7, 1959), also known as Larry Lajoie and nicknamed “The Frenchman”, was an American professional baseball second baseman and player-manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, Philadelphia Athletics (twice), and Cleveland Naps between 1896 and 1916. He managed the Naps from […]