20th-century African-American sportspeople

Eddie Locke Jr. (January 13, 1923 – March 2, 1992) was an American Negro league outfielder between 1943 and 1950.
A native of Gatesville, Texas, Locke made his Negro leagues debut in 1943 with the Cincinnati Clowns and the Kansas City Monarchs. He went on to play several seasons with the Monarchs, and also played for the New York Black Yankees. Locke played minor league baseball in the 1950s, including stints with the Springfield Giants and Vancouver Capilanos, and three seasons with the Amarillo Gold Sox. He died in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1992 at age 69.

John "Big" Chisum (April 5, 1915 – August 5, 1982), also listed as John Chism, was an American baseball third baseman in the Negro leagues. He played with the St. Louis Stars in 1937.
His brother, Eli, also played in the Negro leagues. and his statistics are combined with John's in some sources.

Horace Edwin Jarnigan (August 23, 1909 – November 1977) was an American Negro league outfielder in the 1930s.
A native of Knoxville, Tennessee, Jarnigan played for the Homestead Grays in 1934. In five recorded games, he posted two hits in 13 plate appearances. Jarnigan died in New Kensington, Pennsylvania in 1977 at age 68.

Emmett Littleton Ashford (November 23, 1914 – March 1, 1980), nicknamed Ash, was the first African American umpire in Major League Baseball, working in the American League from 1966 to 1970.

Claude Patterson (born July 8, 1941) is an American retired professional wrestler, ring name Thunderbolt Patterson. He began his career in 1964 and wrestled primarily in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. During the early 1970s, he was blacklisted by the National Wrestling Alliance for repeated appearances with independent promotions, complaints of institutional racism and attempts to form a wrestlers' labor union.

James Emerson Delaney (August 12, 1924 – June 25, 1947), known professionally as Jimmy Doyle, was a welterweight boxer who died later in the hospital after a boxing match with Sugar Ray Robinson.

John Henry Lewis (May 1, 1914 – April 18, 1974) was a hall of fame American boxer who held the World Light Heavyweight Boxing Title from 1935 to 1938. The Ring boxing magazine named Lewis the 16th greatest light heavyweight of all time. His trainer was Larry Amadee, and his managers included Ernie Lira, Larry White, Frank Schuler and Gus Greenlee.

John E. Wilson (1927 – January 11, 2019), popularly known as Jumpin' Johnny Wilson, was an American basketball and baseball player. He gained his nickname for being the only player on his high school team able to dunk the basketball.

Myrtis Dightman (born 1935) is an American former professional rodeo cowboy who specialized in bull riding. He is a ProRodeo Hall of Fame inductee. Known as the "Jackie Robinson of Rodeo", Dightman was the first African-American to compete at the National Finals Rodeo.

Frank Williams Jr. (May 29, 1932 – July 13, 2006) was a gridiron football player who played for the BC Lions and Los Angeles Rams. His parents were Frank Williams and Elya M. Glenn of Texarkana, TX. He was one of four children. The nurses wrote his name incorrectly on the certificate, which read, Frank 'Jr.' Williams. He actually didn't have a middle name, he was a junior, named after his father, Frank Williams. He went by Frank James Williams or Frank J. Williams. He played college football at Pepperdine University. He was drafted to the Lions right out of Pepperdine.
Williams served as a sergeant in the United States Army during the Korean War. He had 6 children; which included Shelia Williams, Casandra Williams, and Michelle Williams. He died July 13, 2006, and is buried in Kent, King County, WA at Tahoma National Cemetery.