November 24, 1943 David Bing, hall of fame basketball player and Mayor of the City of Detroit, was born in Washington, D.C. Bing attended Syracuse University where he led the basketball team in scoring each of the years he played and in 1966 was named an All-American. Bing earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in [...]
Tag Archives | Rookie of the Year
August 6th in African American History – David Maurice “The Admiral” Robinson
August 6, 1965 David Maurice “The Admiral” Robinson, hall of fame basketball player, was born in Key West, Florida. Robinson played college basketball for the United States Naval Academy where he was an All-American in 1986 and 1987 and won the Naismith and Wooden Awards as the College Basketball Player of the Year in 1987. [...]
May 6th in African American History – William Howard “Willie” Mays
May 6, 1931 William Howard “Willie” Mays, hall of fame baseball player and “The Say Hey Kid,” was born in Westfield, Alabama. Mays began his professional baseball career in 1947 in the Negro Baseball Leagues. In 1950, Mays was signed by the New York Giants and he began his major league career in 1951. Mays [...]
April 22nd in African American History – Spencer Haywood
April 22, 1949 Spencer Haywood, retired basketball player, was born in Silver City, Mississippi. Haywood moved to Detroit, Michigan and in 1967 led Pershing High School to the Michigan State Basketball Championship. In 1968, Haywood was the leading scorer on the United States’ Gold Medal winning Olympic team in Mexico City. Later that year, he [...]
April 16th in African American History – Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar)
April 16, 1947 Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), hall of fame basketball player, coach, actor and author, was born in New York City. Abdul-Jabbar began his record breaking basketball accomplishments in high school when he led Power Memorial Academy to three straight New York City Catholic championships. Abdul-Jabbar played college basketball at the University of [...]
April 6th in African American History – Maurice Stokes
April 6, 1970 Maurice Stokes, hall of fame basketball player, died. Stokes was born June 17, 1933 in Rankin, Pennsylvania. He played basketball for Saint Francis University and graduated in 1955. He was named the Most Valuable Player of the 1955 National Invitational Basketball Tournament. In the 1955 NBA Draft, he was selected by the [...]
November 16th in African American History – Dwight Eugene Gooden
November 16, 1964 Dwight Eugene Gooden, former Major League baseball player, was born in Tampa, Florida. Gooden made his major league debut in April, 1984 with the New York Mets and that year was selected the National League Rookie of the Year. In 1985, he had one of the most dominating single seasons in base [...]