Almost 30 years ago, Debi Thomas was a decorated ice skater who won a bronze medal in the 1986 Olympic Games to become the first African-American to medal in a Winter Olympics. Afterwards, she went to Stanford and ultimately became an orthopedic surgeon. Today, the 48-year-old doctor is living in a trailer park with an […]
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Muhammad Ali won another round of love and appreciation for his achievements as a fighter in and out of the ring. The latest celebration of the three-time world heavyweight champion and self-proclaimed “Greatest Of All Time” featured former champions and Larry Holmes and George Foreman, two notable erstwhile opponents who gladly […]
The 1904 Summer Olympics, held in St. Louis, Mo., were poorly organized yet featured a number of historic firsts. George Coleman Poage, a track athlete from the University of Wisconsin, would become the first African-American to compete in the Games and the first to win a medal. Poage, born November 8, 1880 in Hannibal, Mo., […]
Olympic Gold Medalist Gabby Douglas was on the verge of losing her family home until her mother was able to drop thousands of dollars in back mortgage payments, saving the home from being sold in a foreclosure auction. Natalie Hawkins, Gabby’s mom, filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy back in 2012. According to the bankruptcy petition, […]
LONDON (AP) — The entire U.S. men’s sprint relay team was stripped of its silver medal from the 2012 London Olympics on Wednesday as a result of Tyson Gay’s doping case. The International Olympic Committee notified the U.S. Olympic Committee by letter that the 4×100 relay team has been disqualified and all the medals withdrawn. […]
Black swimmers Simone Manuel, Lia Neal,(pictured, bottom middle) and Natalie Hinds achieved history recently by sweeping the NCAA Women’s Division I Championship. Manuel and Neal, both students at Stanford University, and the University of Florida’s Hinds, are the latest in a long line of history-making Black swimmers. The International Swimming Hall Of Fame has compiled […]
Madeline Manning-Mims made waves as a standout Track and Field athlete at Tennessee State University and at the three Summer Olympic games. However, her post Olympic career as a sports chaplain has combined her love of God and sports while empowering athletes on their walks of faith. Manning-Mims was born January 11, 1948 and […]
Olympic high jumper and track and field legend Charles Austin celebrates a birthday today. Austin is the current American and Olympic record holder in the high jump category and a two-time world champion. Born in 1967 in Bay City, Texas, Austin was raised in the town of Van Vleck as the youngest of 10 […]
Alice Coachman, the first African-American woman to win Olympic gold, has died. She was 90. The Albany, Ga. native made her historic mark at the 1948 London Olympics in the high jump category. Coachman was the only American woman to win a gold medal at the London games. Coachman was born November 9, 1923, the […]
Front and center at the winter Olympic games in Sochi, Russia are five black athletes who could, individually, make more Olympic black history. Beginning with speed skater Shani Davis, who already made history by becoming the first Black male athlete to win a Winter Games Olympic individual sport medal in 2006. Davis could become the […]
Powerful women are nothing new. But they’re not always the ones that are out front. In Lifetime’s The Gabby Douglas Story airing on Saturday February 1 at 8 p.m., Douglas is the focus. But her mother, Natalie Hawkins, played by Regina King, deserves her own accolades. The divorced mother of four supported her daughter’s dreams […]
