On August 21, 1950, officials of the United States Lawn
Tennis Association accepted Althea Gibson into their
annual championship at Forest Hills, New York, making
her the first African American player to compete in a U.S.
national tennis competition.

Althea Neale Gibson
(August 25, 1927 – September 28, 2003

Gibson survived a heart attack in 2003, but died on
September 28 that year from complications following
respiratory and bladder infections. Her body was
interred in the Rosedale Cemetery, Orange, New
Jersey, near her first husband, Will.

Statue of Gibson by Thomas Jay Warren in Newark, New
Jersey, near the courts (in background) on which she ran
clinics for young players in her later years.

On July 6, 1957, Althea Gibson claimed the women’s singles
tennis title at Wimbledon and became the first African
American to win a championship at London’s All England
Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.

Althea Neale Gibson
(August 25, 1927 – September 28, 2003)

Gibson survived a heart attack, but died
shortly after from complications following
respiratory and bladder infections.

Willie Howard Mays Jr. (May 6, 1931 – June 18, 2024)

Willie Mays was a professional baseball center fielder. Regarded
as one of the greatest players ever, Mays ranks second behind
only Babe Ruth on most all-time lists, including those of The
Sporting News and ESPN. Mays played in the National League
between 1951 and 1973 for the New York / San Francisco Giants
and New York Mets.

Two-time Olympic gold medalist and Pro Football Hall of Fame
member James Francis "Jim" Thorpe came into this world on
this day in history, May 28, 1888.

Born in a one-room cabin in the geographical area that is now
Oklahoma, Thorpe was raised by Hiram and Charlotte Vieux
Thorpe on the Sac and Fox reservation, according to the
Oklahoma Historical Society.

Thorpe was given the Native American name "Wa-tho-huck,"
meaning "Bright Path" in Sac and Fox language. 

      James Francis Thorpe (1888 – 1953)

ROSS SIMPSON

Merle Haggard received many honors and awards for
his music, including a Kennedy Center Honor (2010);
a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (2006); a BMI
Icon Award (2006) and induction into the Nashville
Songwriters Hall of Fame (1977), Country Music Hall
of Fame (1994) and Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame
(1997). He died on April 6, 2016—his 79th birthday—
at his ranch in Shasta County, California, having
recently suffered from double pneumonia.