1925 births

Jim_Aton

James G. Aton (1925 – September 16, 2008), best known as Jim Aton or Jimmy Aton, was an American jazz bassist, pianist, vocalist and composer. He worked with numerous notable artists including Billie Holiday, Anita O'Day and Bill Evans. He appeared in films such as Bop Girl Goes Calypso (1957) with the Bobby Troup Trio, Roustabout (1964) with Elvis Presley and Barbara Stanwyck, and in They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969) with Jane Fonda.

Harold_Fischer

Colonel Harold Edward Fischer Jr. (May 8, 1925 – April 30, 2009) was a United States Air Force fighter pilot and flying ace of the Korean War. He accrued 11 victories in the war. He is also one of the two flying aces to be Prisoners of War during the war. He was released in 1955 and continued to serve in the USAF until 1978.

Margherita_Roberti

Margherita Roberti (1925 – January 23, 2021) was an American operatic soprano who had an active international career that spanned from 1948 to 1988. Although she performed throughout the world, Roberti achieved her greatest success and popularity in Italy. A dramatic soprano, Roberti drew particular acclaim for her portrayals of Verdi heroines. Among her signature roles are Amelia in Un ballo in maschera, Elisabetta in Don Carlos, Elena in I vespri siciliani, Odabella in Attila, and the title role in Luisa Miller. In 1970 she was awarded Order of knight by the Italian government president Giuseppe Saragat
(Commendatore della repubblica italiana).

Straight_Clark

Louis Straight Clark (February 10, 1925 – February 10, 1995) was an American tennis player in the mid-20th century. Clark was once ranked world No. 4 in men's singles. He was ranked the No. 5 American player by the USTA for 1953.He was born in Des Moines, Iowa. He played college tennis at the University of Southern California.
A member of the US Davis Cup team, he was 5–0 in matches in 1953 and 1954 (and the latter year, a member of the winning team).
Clark won five tournaments in the 1951 season, including the singles title in Monte Carlo in 1951 after a five-set win in the final against compatriot Fred Kovaleski. That same year he defeated Whitney Reed to reach the final of the Pennsylvania State tennis championship, only to fall to future Hall of Famer Vic Seixas. In 1952 he won the Western India Tennis Championships in Bombay against Władysław Skonecki.In 1954, he won the singles title at the tournament in Cincinnati Masters, defeating Sammy Giammalva, Sr., in the final in three straight sets.
He reached the final at the Newport Casino Invitational in 1954, only to lose to Ham Richardson in five sets, in a match that lasted more than four hours.
When he teamed with fellow American Hal Burrows, the pair became one of the top doubles teams of their time. They reached the finals of the U.S. Clay Court Championship, and the semifinals of the U.S. Nationals, upsetting the team of future International Hall of Famers Ken Rosewall and Lew Hoad in the quarterfinals. Clark and Burrows also reached the quarterfinals at the French National Championships, Rome and Wimbledon.

Pierre_Nihant

Pierre Nihant (5 April 1925 – 12 January 1993) was a Belgian cyclist. He was born in Trembleur (part of Blegny), in the Province of Liège. He won a silver medal in the 1000m time trial at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London.

Spook_Jacobs

Forrest Vandergrift Jacobs (November 4, 1925 – February 18, 2011) was a second baseman in Major League Baseball who played from 1954 through 1956 for the Philadelphia / Kansas City Athletics (1954–56), and Pittsburgh Pirates (1956). Listed at 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m), 155 lb, he batted and threw right-handed. His teammates affectionately called him Spook, a moniker that he used throughout his life.

Bobby_Balcena

Robert Rudolph Balcena (August 1, 1925 – January 5, 1990) was an American professional baseball player. He played as an outfielder in Major League Baseball for the Cincinnati Redlegs during the 1956 season. He had two at-bats and scored two runs as a pinch runner.
Listed at 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m), 160 pounds (73 kg), Balcena batted right-handed and threw left-handed. He was born in San Pedro, California.
Prior to playing professional baseball, Balcena served in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II with the United States Navy.Balcena became the first player of Asian American and Filipino ancestry to appear in a major league game. He had a long distinguished Triple-A career with the Seattle Rainiers as a center fielder in the 1950s; one paper described him as a "popular miniature dynamo of almost infallible perpetual motion" after his Rainier team won the 1955 Pacific Coast League title.He also played from 1952 through 1962 in the Minor Leagues, including stints with the Leones del Caracas and the Industriales de Valencia in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League.
He batted .284 with 134 home run and 441 runs batted in in 1948 minor league games. In a VPBL two-season career, he posted a .306 average with five homers and 44 RBI in 87 games.
After his baseball career ended, he worked as a longshoreman in Seattle where he had played parts of four seasons in the minor leagues.Despite being the first Filipino-American to play in the major leagues, Balcena kept company with Slavs during his life. His union president told the Los Angeles Times that he was an "honorary Slav. He always r[a]n around with the San Pedro Slavs. He speaks Slav. He sings Slav." Outside of his professional career, he also played baseball with an amateur team of Yugoslav Americans.Balcena died in his hometown of San Pedro, California at the age of 64.