Kevin Joseph Aloysius “Chuck” Connors was an American actor, writer and professional basketball and baseball player. He is one of only 12 athletes in the history of American professional sports to have played both Major League Baseball and in the National Basketball Association. With a 40-year film and television career, he is best known for his five-year role as Lucas McCain in the highly rated ABC series The Rifleman (1958–63).
Charley Frank Pride is an American country music singer, musician, guitarist, recording artist, performer, business owner, and former baseball player. His greatest musical success came in the early to mid-1970s, when he became the best-selling performer for RCA Records since Elvis Presley. During the peak years of his recording career (1966–87), he garnered 52 top-10 hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, 40 of which made it to number one.
Daniel Ray Ainge is an American basketball executive and former professional basketball and baseball player. Ainge is currently the general manager and President of Basketball Operations for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Carl Michael Yastrzemski is an American former Major League Baseball player. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989. Yastrzemski played his entire 23-year Major League career with the Boston Red Sox (1961–1983). He was primarily a left fielder, but also played 33 games as a third baseman and mostly was a first baseman and designated hitter later in his career. Yastrzemski is an 18-time All-Star, the possessor of seven Gold Gloves, a member of the 3,000 hit club, and the first American League player in that club to also accumulate over 400 home runs. He is second on the all-time list for games played, and third for total at-bats. He is the Red Sox' all-time leader in career RBIs, runs, hits, singles, doubles, total bases, and games played, and is third on the team's list for home runs behind Ted Williams and David Ortiz.
Patrick Bergin Connaughton is an American professional basketball player who plays for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA), where he plays as a shooting guard or small forward, and baseball player for the Baltimore Orioles' organization in Minor League Baseball.
Anthony Nomar Garciaparra is an American retired Major League Baseball player and current SportsNet LA analyst. After playing parts of nine seasons as an All-Star shortstop for the Boston Red Sox, he played third base and first base for the Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Oakland Athletics. He is one of 13 players in Major League history to hit two grand slams during a single game, and the only player to achieve the feat at his home stadium.
James Howard Thome is an American former baseball player who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1991 to 2012. He played for six different teams, most notably the Cleveland Indians during the 1990s and early 2000s. A prolific power hitter, Thome hit 612 home runs during his career—the eighth-most all time—along with 2,328 hits, 1,699 runs batted in (RBIs), and a .276 batting average. He was a member of five All-Star teams and won a Silver Slugger Award in 1996.
Wesley Branch Rickey was an American baseball player and sports executive. He was perhaps best known for breaking Major League Baseball's color barriers by signing black player Jackie Robinson and for drafting the first Hispanic superstar, Roberto Clemente, as well as for creating the framework for the modern minor league farm system, for encouraging the Major Leagues to add new teams through his involvement in the proposed Continental League, and for introducing the batting helmet. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1967, two years after his death.
Dale Bryan Murphy is a former American baseball player. During an 18-year baseball career in Major League Baseball (MLB) (1976–93), he played as an outfielder, catcher, and first baseman for three teams, but is best noted for his time with the Atlanta Braves. In MLB's National League, Murphy won consecutive Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards (1982–83), the Silver Slugger Award for four straight years (1982–85), and the Gold Glove Award for five straight years (1982–86). He is a member of the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame, Georgia Sports Hall of Fame, and World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame.
Paul Andrew O'Neill is a retired right fielder and Major League Baseball player. In his career, he won five World Series championships while playing for the Cincinnati Reds (1985–1992) and New York Yankees (1993–2001). In a 17-year career, O'Neill compiled 281 home runs, 1,269 runs batted in, 2,107 hits, and a lifetime batting average of .288. O'Neill won the American League batting title in 1994 with a .359 average and was a five-time All-Star in 1991, 1994, 1995, 1997 and 1998.
Raymond Johnson Chapman was an American baseball player, spending his entire career as a shortstop for the Cleveland Indians.
Joe Allen Simpson is a former Major League Baseball player, and has been a radio and television broadcaster for the Atlanta Braves since 1992.
Forrest Clare "Phog" Allen was an American basketball and baseball player, coach of American football, basketball, and baseball, college athletics administrator, and osteopathic physician. Known as the "Father of Basketball Coaching," he served as the head basketball coach at Baker University (1905–1908), the University of Kansas, Haskell Institute—now Haskell Indian Nations University (1908–1909), and Warrensburg Teachers College—now the University of Central Missouri (1912–1919), compiling a career college basketball record of 746–264. In his 39 seasons at the helm of the Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball program, his teams won 24 conference championships and three national titles. The Helms Athletic Foundation retroactively recognized Allen's 1921–22 and 1922–23 Kansas teams as national champions. Allen's 1951–52 squad won the 1952 NCAA Tournament and his Jayhawks were runners-up in the NCAA Tournament in 1940 and 1953. His 590 wins are the most of any coach in the storied history of the Kansas basketball program.