The Basketball Association of America (BAA) was founded in 1946, by owners
of the major ice hockey arenas in the Northeastern and Midwestern United
States and Canada. The league adopted the name National Basketball
Association (NBA) in 1949 after merging with the rival National Basketball
League (NBL). The NBA was born with ten teams from the BAA and seven
teams from the NBL.

1949

Tony Bennett (Anthony Dominick Benedetto) has won 17 Grammy Awards
(including a Lifetime Achievement Award, presented in 2001) and two Emmy
Awards, and has been named an NEA Jazz Master and a Kennedy Center
Honoree. Bennett has sold over 50 million records worldwide.

 
Bob Richards

Dr. Bob Richards was a two time Olympic gold medalist for pole vaulting in 
1952 and again in 1956, the first athlete to appear on “Wheaties, Breakfast
of Champions” cereal boxes, and was a sportscaster for NBC Television. He
was Ordained in 1946 as a minister in the Church of the Brethren, and elected
to the United States National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1975 and the U.S.
Olympic Hall of Fame in 1983.

Bob Richards as the first Wheaties spokesman

Bob Richards’ 1969 appearance on a Wheaties box, and the Olympian
today. He turned 86 on Feb. 20th.

African American track star Jesse Owens participated in the 1936 Summer
Olympics in Berlin, Germany, where he achieved international fame by
winning four gold medals. The first medal was for the 100m sprint on
August 3rd, defeating Ralph Metcalfe.

               
                    James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (1913-1980)