Sports Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. July 10, 1943 to February 6, 1993 |
Singles Tennis Champion | Ranked Number One in the World: 1968 and 1975 | US Open: 1968 | Wimbeldon: 1975 | Australian Open: 1970 | WCT Finals: 1975 | US Clay Court Championship: 1963 | US Hard Court Championship: 1963 | Member US Davis Cup Team: 1963, 1965-1970, 1975, 1977, 1978 | Captain US Davis Cup Team: 1981-1985 |
PICTURES: L: Grave monument. R: Arthur Ashe’s grave and the grave of his mother, Mattie C. Ashe. Video: African American Trailblazers. ArthurAshe.org
INTERRED: Woodlawn (Woodland) Cemetery, 2300 Magnolia Road, Richmond, VA 23223. Phone: 804-643-4702. Contact person Mr. Entzminger.
SUBMITTED: May 17, 2008. Pictures taken May 1, 2008.
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Leonard K. Bias
November 18, 1963 to June 19, 1986 |
Considered by many to be the best basketball player to ever come out of Maryland University. Some compared him to Michael Jordan. On June 17, 1986, the Boston Celtics chose him in the first round of the NBA draft. He was the second overall player picked. Two days later he died of a cocaine overdose. Basketball Honors | Consensus Second Team All American 1985 | Consensus Second Team All American 1986 | ACC Player of the year 1984-85 | ACC Player of the year 1985-86 | Second Player Picked (Boston Celtics) in the First Round of the 1986 NBA Draft |
PICTURES: Left: Grave marker of Len Bias. Right: Grave marker of his brother James Bias. Video: North Carolina at Maryland 1984,, Michael Jordan vs. Len Bias
INTERRED: Lincoln Memorial Cemetery, 4001 Suitland Road, Suitland, Maryland 20746. Phone: 301-568-8410. SUBMITTED: October 18, 2009. Pictures taken February 15, 2009.
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Joseph Gans
November 11, 1874 to August 10, 1910 |
Joseph Gans, the first African American World Boxing Champion. In 1902 he defeated Frank Erne in a lightweight title rematch in 1902. Inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. He reigned as champion from 1902 to 1908. | Total fights: 201 | Wins: 162 | Wins by KO: 106 | Losses: 10 | Draws: 17 | No Contests: 12 |
PICTURES: Top: Joe Gans. Bottom L: Cemetery headstone. Bottom R: Close up of cemetery headstone. Video: Joseph Gans versus Kid Hamer.
INTERRED: Mt. Auburn Cemetery, 2630 Waterview Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland 21230. Phone: 410-547-0337.
SUBMITTED: September 9, 2008. Pictures taken September 7, 2008.
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Joshua "Josh" Gibson December 21, 1911 to January 20, 1947 |
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Considered one of the greatest home run hitters in Negro League and Major League Baseball, Josh Gibson was credited with 962 home runs in his seventeen year career from 1929 to 1946. He played with: - Homestead Grays from 1929 to 1931 and 1937 to 1940 - Pittsburgh Crawfords from 1932 to 1936 - Ciudad Trujillo in the Dominican - Mexican League - Cuban Winter League Gibson stood 6’ 1’’ and at the peak of his career weighed 210 pounds. He bat and threw right handed, played catcher and when needed first and third base. Josh was a powerful hitter with strong forearms that smacked balls over the outfield walls. It was not uncommon for him to hit homeruns more than 500 feet. He is reported to have hit the longest homerun in Yankee Stadium, 580 feet, several feet more than the longest home hit by Babe Ruth. He lead the Negro League in home runs for ten consecutive years and in 1931 was reported to have hit 75 homeruns. One of the folkloric stories told about Josh was that in a game in Pittsburgh he hit a homerun so far that it soared over the fence and out of site. The next day in Philadelphia, a ball fell from the sky into an outfielder’s glove at which time the umpire yelled out to Josh, “You’re out, yesterday in Pittsburgh!” Josh completed five years of elementary school when his father found employment in North Pittsburgh as a laborer with Carnegie-Illinois Steel. The eldest of three children Josh and his family moved north. Once in Pittsburgh, he enrolled in Allegheny Prevocational School to study being an electrician. In the ninth grade while learning to be an apprentice in an air brake factory, he dropped out of school. In 1927, he began playing for a Pittsburgh minor team, the Pleasant Valley Red Sox. He later joined the Pittsburgh Crawfords. Josh Gibson died of a stroke in 1947, just three months before Jackie Robinson became the first black to play in modern Major League Baseball. Some say that he died of a broken heart, having never had the opportunity to play in the major league. In 1972, Josh became the second player from Negro League Baseball to be inducted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame. The first was Satchel Paige. A Personal Note: In researching the history of Josh Gibson, I had the great fortune of meeting and being assisted by Mark Davis, Family Service Counselor at Allegheny Cemetery, 4734 Butler Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15201, (412)-622-2000 Ext.151. Mark helped me locate Josh Gibson's grave and several others in a very large cemetery. His help made my research that mush easier. Percy White, Historian
PICTURES: Top L: Josh Gibson Top R: Sign pointing to grave. Bottom: Grave marker
INTERRED: Allegheny Cemetery, 4734 Butler Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15201, (412)-622-2000 SUBMITTED: June 26, 2009. Pictures, accept for black and white, taken June 19, 2010.
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Joseph Louis Barrow (Joe Louis, The Brown Bomber) May 13, 1914 to April 12, 1981 |
Joe Louis Heavyweight Boxing Champion from 1937 to 1949. He had 25 successful title defenses and participated in a record 27 championship fights. He was also the first African American to play in a PGA sanctioned tournament at the 1952 San Diego Open.
PICTURES: Top: Joe Louis vs Max Schmeling 1936. Bottom L: Front of headstone. Bottom R: Back of headstone. Video: The rematch Joe Louis versus Max Schmeling June 22, 1938.
INTERRED: Arlington Cemetery, Arlington, VA. SUBMITTED: August 27, 2008. Pictures taken August 17, 2008.
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Joseph "Smokey Joe" Williams April 6, 1886 to February 25, 1951 |
Joseph “Smokey Joe” Williams stood 6’ feet 4” inches tall and weighed 200 pounds. He threw with such power and control that he was nicknamed “Cyclone”. Williams was considered my many to be the forerunner to Satchel Page. Ty Cobb, a man not known to be friendly to African Americans, considered him a 30 game winner if allowed to play in the major league. In 1930 Williams struck out 27 Kansas City Monarchs and threw a one-hitter in a 12-inning game. Williams played for more than 20 years, from 1910 to 1932 with the San Antonio Black Bronchos, the Chicago Leland Giants, the New York Lincoln Giants, the Chicago American Giants, the Atlantic City Bacharach Giants, the Brooklyn Royal Giants, the Homestead Grays and the Detroit Wolves. In 1999 he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
PICTURES: L: Smokey Joe Williams. R: Gravestone of Smokey Joe Williams.
INTERRED: Lincoln Memorial Cemetery, 4001 Suitland Road, Suitland, Maryland 20746. Phone: 301-568-8410.
SUBMITTED: February 20, 2009. Pictures taken February 15, 2009.
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Pictures taken and submitted by Percy White unless otherwise indicated. |