Ralph George Neppel (October 31, 1923 – January 27, 1987) was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in World War II shortly before the Battle of the Bulge.
John Stephen Spray (December 16, 1940 – May 15, 2020) was an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour in the 1960s and 1970s.
Spray was born in Des Moines, Iowa and reared in Indianola, Iowa. His first big win as an amateur came in the 1958 Iowa Junior Amateur; the next year he gained national fame by winning the Western Junior. Spray attended the University of Iowa initially, but transferred to Eastern New Mexico University where he spent most of his college career. He won the NAIA Championship in 1962 and 1963 while at Eastern New Mexico.
Spray turned professional in 1964 and began play on the PGA Tour in 1965. The highlight of Spray's career came in 1969 with a win at the San Francisco Open Invitational, the last PGA Tour event held at San Francisco's storied Harding Park. His best finish in a major championship was a T-5 at the 1968 U.S. Open. Spray was hampered by injuries during the last years of his PGA career including tendinitis in his left thumb that forced him to change his grip and back surgery that caused him to miss almost all of 1974.After leaving the PGA Tour, Spray began working as the head pro at St. Louis Country Club in 1976 – a position he held for more than 30 years. In 1984, he was honored as the Gateway Section PGA Player of the Year, and was inducted into the Iowa Golf Hall of Fame in May 2009.Spray died in Chesterfield, Missouri on May 15, 2020.
John “LJ” Strenio, born on February 8, 1989, in Burlington, Vermont, is a professional freestyle skier who is featured in numerous feature-length films and competes professionally around the world.
Sergio Barreda Costa (30 April 1951 – 25 April 2002), known as Gordo Barreda, was a Peruvian surfer and surfboard shaper. He was a four-time Peruvian national champion (1968, 1969, 1970 and 1974), competed internationally, and was one of Peru's first shapers.
Barreda spent his whole life in the Miraflores District of Lima, learning to surf at Club Makaha. His mother Sonia supported his surfing from an early age. A story is told of the school director telling her that Sergio, aged 13, was being distracted and he had to study or surf, not both, and she replied "Sergio will surf."
As a shaper he made boards under the "GB" logo. His surf shop, which started in the garage of his home and with the help of his wife Eva, was the first in the country. He also put together a team of young surfers who competed under his GB logo, a number of whom followed in his footsteps to be Peruvian national champions.In 1979 he discovered the now well-known break of Cabo Blanco in northern Peru.
In 2002 he suffered a heart attack surfing Cerro Azul, and had surgery for it a few days later in Miraflores, but died of a further post-operative heart attack, aged 50. His ashes were spread at sea.
A 2.2 meter statue was unveiled in his honor at Makaha beach in 2020.
Phelipe Andrews Melo Rodrigues (born 10 August 1990) is a paralympic swimmer from Brazil competing mainly in category S10 events. He was born with a club foot and had two surgeries when he was just four weeks old. After his second surgery when his foot was in the right position he had an infection which made his leg blow the knee and specially his tendon to stop growing, disabling his right foot movements. He started swimming when he was 8 months as physiotherapy. He also tried many different sports but his passion since childhood was swimming.
