Curated playlist
African-American sports executives and administrators
- LeBron JamesLeBron James led Cleveland back from a 3-1 Finals deficit, a first in NBA history. It ended a 52-year title wait.
- Jay-ZNo major label would sign Jay-Z, so he sold burned CDs out of his car.
- Will SmithWill Smith turned down the lead role in The Matrix to make Wild Wild West. He later called that choice a mistake.
- Isiah ThomasIsiah Thomas scored 25 points in one Finals quarter on a badly sprained ankle. It was a 1988 NBA Finals record.
- Bill RussellBill Russell won eleven NBA championships in thirteen seasons. No team has matched that record since.
- Michael JordanMichael Jordan was cut from his high school varsity team as a sophomore for being too short.
- Magic JohnsonMagic Johnson told the world he had HIV from the free throw line in 1991. He was 32 and a five-time NBA champion.
- Usher (musician)Usher, the American singer, songwriter, dancer and actor, drew 123 million viewers within the United States to his Super Bowl LVIII halftime show in 2024. Very few performers ever stand in front of a crowd that size. Fewer still get there…
- Jada Pinkett SmithJada Koren Pinkett Smith was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on the 18th of September 1971, and her first name came from a television set. Her mother chose it in honor of Jada Rowland, a soap opera actress she loved. That baby, named for a…
- Don KingDon King, the American boxing promoter born on the 20th of August 1931, once received a blunt verdict on his career from a man he had promoted. Mike Tyson said of him: "He did more bad to black fighters than any white promoter ever in the…