Curated category
20th-century American sportsmen
- Clyde DrexlerClyde Austin Drexler was born on the 22nd of June 1962 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He grew up in the South Park area of Houston, Texas.
- Kobe BryantKobe Bean Bryant scored 81 points on the 22nd of January, 2006, the second-highest total in a single NBA game in the history of the sport.
- Elvin HayesElvin Ernest Hayes scored 39 points and held Lew Alcindor to just 15 in front of 52,693 fans at the Houston Astrodome on the 20th of January, 1968.
- Jerry WestJerry West died in Los Angeles on the 12th of June, 2024, at the age of 86. That same night, before game 3 of the NBA Finals between the Celtics and the…
- Karl MaloneKarl Anthony Malone grew up on a farm in Summerfield, Louisiana, the youngest of nine children raised by a single mother named Shirley.
- Tim DuncanTim Duncan was born on the 25th of April 1976, on the island of Saint Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and he nearly never played basketball at all.
- Larry BirdLarry Bird walked into the locker room at the inaugural Three-Point Shootout during the 1986 NBA All-Star Weekend and asked who was going to finish second.
- Patrick EwingPatrick Aloysius Ewing Sr. was born on the 5th of August, 1962, in Kingston, Jamaica, one day before his home country declared independence.
- Tom BradyTom Brady arrived at the New England Patriots' old Foxboro Stadium as a sixth-round draft pick, carrying a pizza box and wearing the look of someone who had…
- Hakeem OlajuwonHakeem Abdul Olajuwon did not pick up a basketball until the age of 15. He was a soccer goalkeeper in Lagos, Nigeria, a city he would later describe as "very…
- Isiah ThomasIsiah Lord Thomas III grew up on the West Side of Chicago, the youngest of nine children, in a household that would eventually be without his father.
- Bill RussellBill Russell won eleven NBA championships in thirteen seasons, a record in North American professional sports that no team has matched since.
- Chuck Cooper (basketball)Chuck Cooper stepped onto an NBA court for the first time on the 1st of November, 1950, against the Fort Wayne Pistons. That night, three men crossed a line…
- Chuck DalyChuck Daly was born on the 20th of July, 1930, in Kane, Pennsylvania, a small town in the Allegheny Mountains. He would go on to become one of the most…
- Charles BarkleyCharles Wade Barkley was born on the 20th of February 1963 in Leeds, Alabama, a small town 17 miles east of Birmingham. He was the first Black baby born at…
- Scottie PippenScottie Maurice Pippen Sr. was born on the 25th of September 1965, in Hamburg, Arkansas, to Ethel and Preston Pippen. His father worked at a paper mill while…
- Magic JohnsonMagic Johnson stood at the free throw line on the 7th of November 1991 and told the world he had HIV. He was 32 years old, five-time NBA champion, and…
- Chris BoshChristopher Wesson Bosh was born on the 24th of March 1984 in Dallas, Texas. He grew up in Hutchins, a suburb where his father played pick-up games at a…
- Dave CowensDave Cowens stood six feet nine inches tall, which made him one of the shortest centers in the NBA during the 1970s. In an era when rivals like Kareem…
- Norm DruckerNorm Drucker entered the world on the 4th of July 1920 in New York City. He grew up in Brooklyn and learned basketball from the first generation of…
- John StocktonJohn Stockton walked off the court for the last time on the 2nd of May 2003, not at a press conference surrounded by cameras and microphones, but through a…
- Paul TagliabuePaul Tagliabue was born on the 24th of November, 1940, in Jersey City, New Jersey, the third of four sons. He died on the 9th of November, 2025, at his home…
- Landon DonovanLandon Donovan scored the only goal of the match in the dying seconds against Algeria at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, off a rebound from a Clint Dempsey attempt…
- Bob CousyBob Cousy fell out of a tree as a teenager in Queens, New York, broke his right hand, and spent months forced to use his left.
- George GervinGeorge Gervin scored 63 points in a single regular-season game while protecting a scoring title by the slimmest margin in NBA history: seven-hundredths of a…
- Chauncey BillupsChauncey Ray Billups was born on the 25th of September, 1976 in Denver, Colorado. He grew up in a city that would later become his professional home base for…
- Dolph SchayesAdolph Schayes arrived in the world on the 19th of May 1928, within the Bronx borough of New York City. His parents were Romanian-Jewish immigrants who…
- Walt FrazierWalt Frazier posted 36 points, 19 assists, and six steals in the seventh game of the 1970 NBA Finals, while his teammate Willis Reed limped through just two…
- Lou FerrignoLou Ferrigno grew up in Brooklyn knowing he was different before he had words for why. By the time doctors diagnosed his hearing loss at age three, he had…
- Kareem Abdul-JabbarOn the road against Utah on the 5th of April 1984, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar caught a pass from Magic Johnson and rose into his skyhook from 15 feet.
- Phil JacksonPhil Jackson holds eleven NBA championships as a head coach, a record no other coach in league history has matched. Born on the 17th of September, 1945, in…
- Rick BarryRick Barry holds a record that no other basketball player in history can claim. He is the only person ever to lead the NCAA, the ABA, and the NBA in scoring…
- Artis GilmoreArtis Gilmore stood 7 feet 2 inches tall and played 670 consecutive professional basketball games without missing a single one.
- Christian LaettnerChristian Donald Laettner was born on the 17th of August 1969 in Angola, New York. This small town sits near Buffalo and Niagara Falls.
- Ossie SchectmanOssie Schectman scored the first basket in what would become the NBA, and he did it on the 1st of November, 1946, in Toronto.
- George HalasGeorge Halas was born on the 2nd of February 1895 in Chicago, Illinois. He grew up in a home filled with Czech-Bohemian immigrants from Pilsen…
- George MikanGeorge Mikan stood six feet ten inches tall, weighed 245 pounds, and wore thick round spectacles , and he single-handedly forced professional basketball to…
- Gregg PopovichGregg Popovich was born on the 28th of January 1949 in East Chicago, Indiana, the son of a Serbian father and a Croatian mother.
- Pete MaravichPete Maravich died on the 5th of January 1988, midway through a pickup basketball game at a church gym in Pasadena, California. He was 40 years old.
- Red AuerbachRed Auerbach lit a cigar on the bench while the game was still being played. It was his signal to the opposing team, to the crowd, to anyone watching: this…
- Wat MisakaWat Misaka stood five feet seven inches tall and played point guard, and in 1947 he walked onto an NBA floor before any other non-white player had ever done…
- Andrei KirilenkoAndrei Kirilenko was born in the Soviet city of Izhevsk on the 18th of February 1981. The same place that manufactured the AK-47 rifle would later give him…
- Charley RosenCharley Rosen grew up in The Bronx with a body built for basketball and a mind built for argument. By the time he died in Kingston, New York, on the 13th of…
- Damon JonesDamon Jones once told anyone who would listen that he was "the best shooter in the world." Not one of the best. Not among the best. The best.
- Earl LloydEarl Francis Lloyd stepped onto a basketball court on the night of the 31st of October 1950, and changed American sports history.
- Harold Hunter (basketball)Harold Hunter Sr. entered the world on the 30th of April 1926 in Kansas City, Kansas. He walked through the doors of Sumner High School and graduated there…
- Julius ErvingJulius Winfield Erving II was born on the 22nd of February, 1950, in East Meadow, Long Island, and by the time he retired in 1987, he had scored more than…