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.
Elmo Henderson (born April 8, 1935) is an American former boxer from Texas. Despite his dubious claim of a 1972 win against Muhammad Ali in an exhibition match in San Antonio, Texas, he did not become particularly well known in the boxing community; John Spong of the Texas Monthly said that the match was the "shot not heard round the world". However, people who attended the exhibition say Elmo Henderson did not defeat Ali, and newspaper reports after the exhibition made no mention of Ali losing. After the match, Henderson became a part of George Foreman's Rumble in the Jungle event in Zaire and won a libel suit against Norman Mailer and Playboy. As of 2003, Henderson was a homeless man in Austin, Texas. As of 2015, Henderson lives in a care home in Northern California.
Believed to have died, was still bragging about beating Ali to anyone who would listen to him while in the hospital towards the end of his life.
Ronald Lawrence Woods (born February 1, 1943) is an American former professional baseball player who appeared in all or part of six seasons in Major League Baseball from 1969 to 1974, primarily as an outfielder, for the Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees and Montreal Expos. He also played two seasons in Japan for the Chunichi Dragons in 1975–1976. Born in Hamilton, Ohio, Woods threw and batted right-handed, stood 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) tall and weighed 168 pounds (76 kg).
Woods graduated from Compton High School in Southern California, and entered pro baseball in the Pittsburgh Pirates' organization in June 1961. However, after five years in the Pittsburgh farm system, he had risen only as high as the Double-A level. Early in 1966, the Detroit Tigers acquired his contract. After a strong 1968 season with the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens, Woods made the 1969 roster of the defending World Series champion Tigers out of spring training. He appeared in 17 early-season games for Detroit, largely as a pinch hitter, pinch runner and defensive replacement, before being traded June 14 to the New York Yankees for veteran outfielder Tom Tresh.
Although he struggled offensively, Woods was able to solidify his hold on a major league job with the Yankees, appearing in 192 games (starting 147) from June 1969 to June 1971. On June 25 of the latter year, the Yankees sent Woods to the Montreal Expos for former New York Mets outfielder Ron Swoboda. Despite a brief detour to Triple-A Winnipeg in 1971, Woods spent the next 31⁄2 years on the Expo roster, appearing in 373 games and batting a cumulative .245. In 1973, he was Montreal's most-used center fielder, starting 72 games and platooning with left-handed hitters Boots Day and Jim Lyttle, as the Expos, a fifth-year expansion team, battled for the National League East Division title before falling short by 31⁄2 games.
That off-season, however, the Expos traded for veteran center fielder Willie Davis of the Los Angeles Dodgers, relegating Woods to part-time status in 1974. He started 21 games all season, batted .205 in 127 at bats, and departed for the Chunichi Dragons of Nippon Professional Baseball. He played the 1975 and 1976 seasons in Japan, appearing in 192 total games and hitting .263 with 160 hits and 19 home runs.
Doing Woods' six seasons in the major leagues, Woods batted .233. His 290 hits in 1,247 at bats included 34 doubles, 12 triples, and 26 career home runs. He compiled 130 RBIs, and 27 stolen bases.
Edward James Milner Jr. (May 21, 1955 – November 2, 2015) was an American professional baseball player. He played all or parts of nine seasons in Major League Baseball for the Cincinnati Reds (1980–86, 1988) and San Francisco Giants (1987), primarily as a center fielder. Milner batted and threw left-handed.
Anthony Scott (born September 18, 1951) is a former American professional baseball center fielder and coach.
Hubert Thomas Spencer (born February 28, 1951) is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder. He played during one season at the major league level for the Chicago White Sox. After his playing career, he began a career managing in the minor leagues. He managed three teams to their league championships: the Asheville Tourists (1984), Geneva Cubs (1987), and Charlotte Knights (1997).
Archie Haggie Harris Jr. (July 3, 1918 – October 29, 1965) was an American world-record-setting discus thrower and football player.
Raised in Ocean City, New Jersey, Harris graduated in 1937 from Ocean City High School.As an Indiana University student-athlete, Harris won the 1940 NCAA Track and Field Championships, defending his title 1941 with the world record of 53.26 m. In 1941 he also became US champion. At, Indiana, Harris also played football, lettering on the Indiana Hoosiers football team in 1938, and 1939, and 1940. He was a second-team selection on the 1940 All-Big Ten Conference football team as an end.During World War II Harris joined the United States Army Air Forces, reaching the rank of second lieutenant and serving as a bomber pilot in the 332d Fighter Group, known as the Tuskegee Airmen. An African American, he was unable to find a job as a commercial pilot after the war. He became physical education teacher at the YMCA in Harlem.In 2001 he was inducted into the Indiana University Athletics Hall of Fame.Harris died on October 29, 1965, at Veterans Administration Hospital in New York City.