Notable Births
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*Historian and civil rights advocate Mary Frances Berry was born in Nashville, Tennessee (February 17). She would become chancellor of the University of Colorado and a member of the United States Commission on Civil Rights.
*Jason Bernard, a film and television actor best known for his role as Caleb Taylor in the NBC miniseries V, was born in Chicago, Illinois (May 17).
Jason Bernard (b. May 17, 1938, Chicago, Illinois – d. October 16, 1996, Burbank, California) was a film and television actor. His first starring role was in the pilot episode of the television series The White Shadow as Jim Willis. His other well-known TV roles were in the 1980s TV series Cagney & Lacey as Inspector Marquette from 1982–1983, Days of Our Lives as Preston Wade in 1982, and a recurring role in the first season of Night Court as Judge Stone's arrogant rival Judge Willard. His biggest role came in the 1983 hit NBC miniseries V as Caleb Taylor. Bernard reprised his role in the 1984 sequel V:The Final Battle. His other big TV role was in the 1990s FOX comedy series Herman's Head as Herman's boss, Mr. Paul Bracken. He appeared in the video games Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger and Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom as Captain William Eisen.
Bernard's first role in a feature film was a cameo in the Charles Bronson film Death Wish, and his first major role was in the 1974 movie Thomasine & Bushrod. He later appeared in Car Wash, War Games and Blue Thunder.
Bernard made many guest appearances on a variety of television shows, ranging from Starsky & Hutch, Flamingo Road, The Jeffersons, The Flash, Murder She Wrote, Wiseguy, and Partners. He also appeared, as the chief security guard, in The Dukes of Hazzard episode "The Dukes in Hollywood".
He played the blind musician Tyrone Wattell in the film All of Me and his final appearance was in the 1997 film Liar Liar as Judge Marshall Stevens.
Shortly after principal filming of Liar Liar was completed, Bernard suffered a massive heart attack on October 16, 1996. He had been driving his automobile in Burbank, California when he was stricken, and was involved in a rear-end accident. Bernard was rushed to Providence St. Joseph's Medical Center in Burbank where he died within an hour. His body was cremated. Liar Liar was dedicated in memory of him.
******Historian and civil rights advocate Mary Frances Berry was born in Nashville, Tennessee (February 17). She would become chancellor of the University of Colorado and a member of the United States Commission on Civil Rights.
Mary Frances Berry, (b. Feb. 17, 1938, Nashville, Tennessee) American professor, writer, lawyer, and activist whose public service included work in three presidential administrations. From 1980 to 2004 she was a member of the United States Commission on Civil Rights, serving as chairwoman from 1993 to 2004. She was also an outspoken advocate of the Equal Rights Amendment.
Berry graduated from Howard University (B.A., 1961; M.A., 1962) and taught at Howard and at the University of Michigan, where she received a Ph.D. in American constitutional history in 1966 and a law degree in 1970. She became the first African American woman to head a major university when she served as chancellor of the University of Colorado at Boulder from 1976 to 1977. She taught there until 1980. Berry was assistant secretary for education in the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, a position she held from 1977 to 1980. During the administration of President Jimmy Carter, Berry was vice-chairwoman of the civil rights commission and became the first woman to head the commission. In 1984 she was dismissed from the commission, along with other critics of the Reagan administration. She sued for her reinstatement, which was finally ordered by the Federal District Court. President Bill Clinton named her to head the commission in 1993.
In addition to being in public service, Berry taught both American history and law at several universities, including Central Michigan University, Eastern Michigan University, and the University of Maryland. From 1987 she was Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought and professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania. She wrote many books and articles on the topics of racial and gender inequality, including Black Resistance/White Law: A History of Constitutional Racism in America(1971, expanded ed. 1994), which concluded that high-level government officials implemented laws that undermined minorities; Long Memory: The Black Experience in America (1982); and The Politics of Parenthood: Child Care, Women’s Rights, and the Myth of the Good Mother (1993), which put forth the thesis that in order for women to work, men must take on a larger share of child care. Among her later books were The Pig Farmer’s Daughter and Other Tales of American Justice: Episodes of Racism and Sexism in the Courts from 1865 to the Present (1999), My Face Is Black Is True: Callie House and the Struggle for Ex-Slave Reparations (2005), and And Justice for All: The United States Commission on Civil Rights and the Continuing Struggle for Freedom in America (2009), a history of the body on which she served for many years.
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*Lee Chamberlin, a theatrical, film and television actress, was born in New York City.
*Rosalind Cash, a singer and actress best known for her film role as Charlton Heston's character's love interest Lisa in the 1971 science fiction film, The Omega Man, was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Rosalind Cash (b. December 31, 1938, Atlantic City, New Jersey – d. October 31, 1995, Los Angeles, California) is also remembered as Mary Mae Ward on General Hospital from 1994 to 1995.
Rosalind Cash (b. December 31, 1938, Atlantic City, New Jersey – d. October 31, 1995, Los Angeles, California) is also remembered as Mary Mae Ward on General Hospital from 1994 to 1995.
Cash was the second of four children. Cash graduated with honors from Atlantic City High School in 1956. She attended City College of New York. Her career extended to theater, television, film and recording.
Cash appeared in the 1962 revival of Fiorello! and was an original member of the Negro Ensemble Company, founded in 1968. In 1973, she played the role of Goneril in King Lear at the New York Shakespeare Festival alongside James Earl Jones' Lear.
Cash appeared on the New York area television show Callback! which featured musical director Barry Manilow. Her other television credits include What's Happening!!, Good Times, Kojak, Barney Miller, Benson, Police Woman, Family Ties, Head of the Class, The Golden Girls, and many others. Cash was nominated for an Emmy Award for her work on the Public Broadcasting Service production of Go Tell it on the Mountain. In 1996, she was posthumously nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, for her role on General Hospital.
In addition to her role in The Omega Man, Cash's films included Klute (1971), The New Centurions (1972), Uptown Saturday Night (1974) with Sydney Poitier, and Wrong Is Right (1982). In 1995, she appeared in Tales from the Hood, her last film appearance.
Cash supplied the voices of Sesame Street Muppet Roosevelt Franklin's mother and sister on the 1970 record album The Year of Roosevelt Franklin. Cash died of cancer on October 31, 1995 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
*Lee Chamberlin, a theatrical, film and television actress, was born in New York City.
Lee Chamberlin (b. Alverta La Pallo, February 14, 1938, New York City, New York – d. May 25, 2014, Chapel Hill, North Carolina) was a theatrical, film and television actress.
Lee Chamberlin was the daughter of Ida Roberta (née Small) and Bernando LaPallo (1901 [1907?}–2015) the centenarian author of Age Less/Live More, who claimed he was born in 1901, but documentation indicates sometime between 1907 and 1910.
Chamberlin attended elementary school at Our Lady of Lourdes in Harlem, and Cathedral High School in Mid-town Manhattan. Later she studied at New York University (NYU) and the Sorbonne in Paris. She went on to study acting at HB Studios in New York and with Uta Hagen.
Lee began her career in 1968 in Slave ship, a stage production based on the outline of LeRoi Jones (later known as Amiri Baraka). She appeared at The Orpheum Theatre in a musical production called Do Your Own Thing based on the Shakespearean play Twelfth Night and in an off Broadway production "The Belivers". She played Cordelia opposite James Earl Jones' King Lear in 1974 in the Delacorte Theatre at the New York Shakespeare in the Park Festival. Later, Chamberlin went on to win six AUDELCO Awards for Excellence in Black Theater on November 21, 1988, for her musical play Struttin’, performed at the Rosetta LeNoire AMAS Repertory Theater. She also appeared in the play Hospice produced at The Henry Street Settlement Theatre in New York City. She wrote and acted in her one woman play Objects in the Mirror are Closer than They Seem first as a reading in Miami, Florida, and later in 2010 as part of The Kitchen Theatre's Counter series in Ithaca, New York, from February 10 through 14 in a sold out run. The play was directed by Rachel Lampert. Chamberlin founded a non-profit organization called Lee Chamberlin's Playwrights' Inn Project Inc., establishing it in France to nurture the work of African American playwrights.
Chamberlin was a regular performer during the first two years of the esteemed series The Electric Company, and she made guest appearances in the television series What's Happening!!, Diff'rent Strokes, and NYPD Blue. In 1979, she played the wife of James Earl Jones' character on the short-lived police drama Paris. Most notably she played Odile Harris in Roots: The Next Generations (1979). Her first recurring role in a major television sitcom was as Lucy Daniels in All's Fair from 1976 to 1977. In the 1970s she appeared on shows like Lou Grant and James at 16. In the early 1980s, she appeared as Karen Weaver in The Secrets of Midland Heights and also appeared on The White Shadow. Other guest spots in the 1980s included Ryan's Four and Beat Street. In 1994, she played Commander Della Thorne in Viper. In 1998 she played Dr. Timmi in The Practice, and Judge Leslie Battles in To Have and To Hold. In 1999, she made guest appearances on Moesha and NewsRadio as Mrs. Leveaux. In 2000, she appeared in City of Angels and Any Day Now as Mrs. Samuels. In 2002, she appeared on Touched by An Angel, Judging Amy and First Monday in the role of Ms. Marks. From 1983 to 1995, Chamberlin played Pat Baxter, the mother of Angela Baxter Hubbard on the ABC soap opera All My Children. In 1997, she appeared in Sparks as Abigail and in Diagnosis Murder as Judge Gwen Mosford.
Her first role in film was a small part in Up the Sandbox starring Barbra Streisand. She had a prominent role as Madame Zenobia in the film Uptown Saturday Night and the follow-up Let's Do It Again. She also appeared in several television films including Long Journey Back (1978), Brave New World (1980), and Once Upon A Family (1980). Her final film role was in the short film "Habeaus Corpus" (2013), directed by Booker T. Mattison.
Chamberlin died of cancer at the age of 76 on May 25, 2014.
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*Theologian James Cone was born in Fordyce, Arkansas (August 5). He would become the major spokesperson for Black Theology.
*Theologian James Cone was born in Fordyce, Arkansas (August 5). He would become the major spokesperson for Black Theology.
James Hal Cone (b. August 5, 1938, Fordyce, Arkansas) is a theologian, best known for his advocacy of Black liberation theology. His 1969 book Black Theology and Black Power provided a new way to comprehensively define the distinctiveness of theology in the black church. Cone’s work was influential from the time of the book's publication, and his work remains influential today. His work has been both utilized and critiqued inside and outside of the African-American theological community. He is currently the Charles Augustus Briggs Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York.
Cone was born in Fordyce, Arkansas, and grew up in Bearden, Arkansas. He and his family attended Macedonia African Methodist Episcopal Church. He received a B.A. degree from Philander Smith College in Arkansas in 1958, a B.D. degree from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in 1961, and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Northwestern University in 1963 and 1965, respectively. He taught theology and religion at Philander Smith College, Adrian College in Michigan, and beginning in 1970 at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, where he was awarded the distinguished Charles A. Briggs Chair in systematic theology in 1977.
The hermeneutic, or interpretive lens, for James Cone's theology starts with the experience of African Americans, and the theological questions he brings from his own life. He incorporates the powerful role of the Black church in his life, as well as racism experienced by African Americans. For Cone, the theologians he studied in graduate school did not provide meaningful answers to his questions. This disparity became more apparent when he was teaching theology at Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Cone's theology also received significant inspiration from a frustration with the Black struggle for civil rights. He felt that Black Christians in North America should not follow the "white Church", on the grounds that it was a willing part of the system that had oppressed black people. Accordingly, his theology was heavily influenced by Malcolm X and the Black Power movement. Martin Luther King, Jr. was also an important influence. Cone describes King as a liberation theologian before the phrase existed.
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*Dolores Cross, the first African American woman president of Chicago State University, was born in Newark, New Jersey (August 29).
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*Painter Emilio Cruz was born in New York City (March 15).
*Dolores Cross, the first African American woman president of Chicago State University, was born in Newark, New Jersey (August 29).
Born to Ozie and John Tucker on August 29, 1938, in Newark, New Jersey, Cross' early education took place in Newark's public school system. After receiving her B.S. in education from Seton Hall University in 1963, Dr. Cross furthered her education by gaining her M.S. in education from Hofstra University and later her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.
Throughout her career, Cross was consistent in her commitment to educational excellence. While earning her B.S. as a young mother, she overcame negative societal attitudes about race and gender. After completing her Ph.D. in 1971, Cross went on to make a critical impact in institutions of higher education. She served as an associate professor of education at Claremont University in California, vice chancellor for student affairs and special programs at City University of New York, president of the New York State Services Corporation, and as president of Chicago State University and Morris Brown College. In addition to her earned degrees, she received more than eight honorary degrees from various universities and has served on numerous national and international associations and boards, including the American Council on Education and the Institute for International Education.
When Cross arrived at Morris Brown College, it was financially troubled. During her tenure, she worked to increase the academic standards of the college and to address its formidable financial issues.
While she was President, Morris Brown College allegedly obtained $3.4 million in federally insured student loans and Pell grants in the names of ineligible students, including some who never attended the college, some who were enrolled part-time and others who had already left. The money was allegedly used to pay the school's operating costs.
As with all such loans, the responsibility for paying back the loans fell on the students. Due to its ongoing financial issues, the school eventually lost its accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. After the loss of accreditation, MBC students became ineligible for many government grants and loans. The school nearly closed in 2003 as its enrollment dropped. The school faced foreclosure in 2012, and went through bankruptcy in 2014.
In May 2006, Cross pleaded guilty to a charge of embezzlement stemming from her time at the college. Federal prosecutors dismissed 27 other charges against her in exchange for her plea.
On January 3, 2007, Cross was sentenced to five years of probation and a year of home confinement for her role in fraudulently obtaining millions of dollars in federal student aid for the college. In addition, the college’s financial-aid director at the time the fraud was committed was also sentenced, to five years of probation and 18 months of home confinement. The prosecutors and her lawyers agreed to a plea bargain. The light sentence meted out by the judge was based on her age (70), her medical condition and the fact that she did not profit personally from the crime.
After her tenure at Morris Brown in the summer of 2002, Cross continued her commitment to education by acting as chairperson of the American Association of Higher Education. She chronicled her life story in a memoir entitled, Breaking Through the Wall: A Marathoner's Story.
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*Painter Emilio Cruz was born in New York City (March 15).
Emilio Antonio Cruz (b. March 15, 1938, New York City, New York – d. December 10, 2004, New York City, New York) was an African American artist of Cuban descent. He was born in the Bronx on March 15, 1938. He studied at the Art Students League and The New School in New York City, and finally at the Seong Moy School of Painting and Graphic Arts in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
As a young artist in the 1960s, Cruz was connected with other artists who were applying abstract expressionism concepts to figurative art such as Lester Johnson, Bob Thompson and Jan Muller. He combined human and animal figures with imagery from archaeology and natural history to create disturbing, dreamlike paintings. Cruz received a John Jay Whitney Fellowship and awards from the Joan Mitchell Foundation and from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Cruz moved to Chicago and taught at the Art Institute of Chicago during the 1970s, where he exhibited widely and was represented by the Walter Kelly Gallery. He wrote two plays, Homeostasis: Once More the Scorpion and The Absence Held Fast to Its Presence. These were first performed at the Open Eye Theater in New York in 1981, and later were included in the World Theater Festival in Nancy and Paris, France and in Italy. In 1982, Cruz returned to New York where he began to exhibit again. In the late 1980s he resumed teaching at the Pratt Institute and at New York University.
Emilio Antonio Cruz died from pancreatic cancer on December 10, 2004.
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*Bettye Davis, the first African American woman elected to the Anchorage, Alaska, Board of Education, was born in Homer, Louisiana (May 17).
Bettye Davis was a Democratic Party member of the Alaska Senate, representing the K District from 2000 through 2013. She was defeated in the 2012 general election for state senate district M by Anna Fairclough. She was previously a member of the Alaska House of Representatives from 1991 through 1996. On April 2013, she was elected to the Anchorage School Board, a body on which she'd served non-consecutive terms in the 1980s and 1990s.
Davis received a Bachelor of Science degree in Social Work from Grambling State University in 1972 and received a Diploma in Nursing from Saint Anthony School in 1961.
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*Bettye Davis, the first African American woman elected to the Anchorage, Alaska, Board of Education, was born in Homer, Louisiana (May 17).
Bettye Davis was a Democratic Party member of the Alaska Senate, representing the K District from 2000 through 2013. She was defeated in the 2012 general election for state senate district M by Anna Fairclough. She was previously a member of the Alaska House of Representatives from 1991 through 1996. On April 2013, she was elected to the Anchorage School Board, a body on which she'd served non-consecutive terms in the 1980s and 1990s.
Davis received a Bachelor of Science degree in Social Work from Grambling State University in 1972 and received a Diploma in Nursing from Saint Anthony School in 1961.
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*Tyrone Davis, a blues and soul singer best know for the hit "Turn Back The Hands of Time", was born in Greenville, Mississippi (May 4).
Tyrone Davis (b. Tyrone Fettson, May 4, 1938, Greenville, Mississippi – d. February 9, 2005, Chicago, Illinois) was a blues and soul singer and who recorded a long list of hit records over a period of more than 20 years. He had three no. 1 hits on the Billboard R&B chart: "Can I Change My Mind" (1968), "Turn Back The Hands of Time" (1970), and "Turning Point" (1975).
Tyrone Fettson was born in Greenville, Mississippi, to Willie Branch and Ora Lee Jones. He moved with his father to Saginaw, Michigan, before moving to Chicago in 1959.
Working as a valet/chauffeur for blues singer Freddie King, he started singing in local clubs where he was discovered by record executive/musician Harold Burrage. His early records for small record labels in the city, billed as "Tyrone the Wonder Boy", failed to register. Successful Chicago record producer Carl Davis signed him in 1968 to a new label, Dakar Records, that he was starting as part of a distribution deal with Atlantic, and suggested that Tyrone change his name. Tyrone subsequently decided to borrow Carl's last name and, thereby, became Tyrone Davis. His first release, "A Woman Needs To Be Loved" was flipped when the b-side started to get radio attention. The song, "Can I Change My Mind" featured a change of vocal style for Davis with a softer, more pleading approach and tone. The record shot up the listings and spent three weeks on the top of the Billboard R&B chart while climbing to #5 on the Hot 100 chart. The record sold over one million copies and received gold disc recognition. Davis' biggest hit came in early 1970 when "Turn Back The Hands of Time" also reached #1 on the R&B chart and went up to #3 on the Hot 100 pop chart. Written by Jack Daniels and Bonnie Thompson, this disc also sold over one million copies, and received a gold disc awarded by the Recording Industry Association of America in May 1970.
Davis released about 25 singles during his seven years with Dakar, most of them big R&B sellers produced by Willie Henderson. He returned to the top spot, for the last time, with "Turning Point" in 1975. Soon afterwards, Davis switched to the major Columbia record label and recorded seven albums over the next five years with producer Leo Graham and arranger James Mack who had collaborated with him for "Turning Point". Major hits with Columbia included "Give It Up" (#2), "This I Swear" (#6), and "In The Mood" (#6,1979). Dubbed the "king of romantic Chicago soul" by MTV, Davis' perceived vulnerability and class endeared him to female soul fans through the 70's.
1982 brought a change of label to the newly established independent, Highrise and another major hit, "Are You Serious" (#3 R&B, #57 pop), again produced by Leo Graham, and written by L. V. Johnson. When Highrise closed the following year, Davis switched to a tiny Los Angeles label, Ocean Front, which lacked promotional muscle to get behind arguably one of his best performances, "Let Me Be Your Pacifier". In 1991, Davis switched to the Atlanta label, Ichiban Records, recording three albums including the song "Mom's Apple Pie". In 1994, Davis went to Bellmark/Life Records for one album. Davis' days as a major chart act were over, but he continued to be a popular live attraction and finally signed in 1996 with Malaco Records, the southern-based blues label recording him on a number of albums. He also performed on a PBS special on 1970s soul music in 2004, singing "If I Could Turn Back The Hands Of Time".
A stroke in September 2004 ended his career and, following complications, he died in a Chicago hospital on February 9, 2005 at the age of 66. He left a widow, Ann, to whom he had been married for over 40 years, and several children and grandchildren.
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*Baritone Simon Estes, who would become known for singing lead roles in Wagnerian operas, was born in Centerville, Iowa (March 2).
*Baritone Simon Estes, who would become known for singing lead roles in Wagnerian operas, was born in Centerville, Iowa (March 2).
Simon Estes (b. March 2, 1938, Centerville, Iowa) is an operatic bass-baritone who had a major international opera career beginning in the 1960s. He has sung at most of the world's major opera houses as well as in front of presidents, popes and internationally renowned figures and celebrities including Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon, Boris Yeltsin, Yasser Arafat, Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. Notably, he was part of the first generation of black opera singers to achieve widespread success and is viewed as part of a group of performers who were instrumental in helping to break down the barriers of racial prejudice in the opera world.
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*Curt Flood, a professional baseball player who challenged Major League Baseball's reserve clause, was born in Houston, Texas.
*Curt Flood, a professional baseball player who challenged Major League Baseball's reserve clause, was born in Houston, Texas.
Curt Flood, byname of Curtis Charles Flood (b. January 18, 1938, Houston, Texas — d. January 20, 1997, Los Angeles, California) was a professional baseball player whose anti-trust litigation challenging the major leagues’ reserve clause was unsuccessful but led ultimately to the clause’s demise. Flood began playing baseball as a youth and was signed in 1956 by the National League Cincinnati Reds. He was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1958 and played for them through the 1969 season as an outfielder. He batted over .300 in six seasons and had a career average (1956–71) of .293. When he was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies, Flood, with the backing of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), challenged the reserve clause, which gave St. Louis the right to trade him without his permission, as violating federal antitrust laws. (Earlier attempts to overthrow the reserve clause had resulted in United States Supreme Court decisions in 1922 and 1953 that held the Sherman Antitrust Act law did not apply to baseball.)
Flood lost his case in 1970 but refiled it in 1971; the decision went against him. Later strike actions by the MLBPA and the consequent establishment of free agency for players with 10 years of service with the same club made the reserve clause inoperative.
After his retirement Flood became a broadcaster for the Oakland Athletics and later worked for the Oakland Department of Sports and Aquatics as commissioner of a sandlot baseball league.
Flood’s autobiographical The Way It Is, recounting his struggle against the reserve clause, appeared in 1971.
Erma Vernice Franklin (b. March 13, 1938, Shelby, Mississippi – d. September 7, 2002, Detroit, Michigan) was a Gospel and R&B singer. Franklin was the elder sister of American singer/musician Aretha Franklin. Franklin's best known recording was the original version of "Piece of My Heart", written and produced by Bert Berns, and recorded in 1967, for which she was nominated for a Grammy Award. The better-known cover version of the same song was recorded the following year by Big Brother and the Holding Company, with the lead vocal by Janis Joplin.
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*Erma Franklin, the sister of Aretha Franklin and a singer best known singing the original version of "Piece of My Heart", was born in Shelby, Mississippi (March 13).
*Erma Franklin, the sister of Aretha Franklin and a singer best known singing the original version of "Piece of My Heart", was born in Shelby, Mississippi (March 13).
Erma Vernice Franklin (b. March 13, 1938, Shelby, Mississippi – d. September 7, 2002, Detroit, Michigan) was a Gospel and R&B singer. Franklin was the elder sister of American singer/musician Aretha Franklin. Franklin's best known recording was the original version of "Piece of My Heart", written and produced by Bert Berns, and recorded in 1967, for which she was nominated for a Grammy Award. The better-known cover version of the same song was recorded the following year by Big Brother and the Holding Company, with the lead vocal by Janis Joplin.
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*Prentice Gautt, the first African American football player at the University of Oklahoma, waa born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (February 8).
*Prentice Gautt, the first African American football player at the University of Oklahoma, waa born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (February 8).
Prentice Gautt (b. February 8, 1938, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – d. March 17, 2005, Lawrence, Kansas) was a football running back for the University of Oklahoma (Sooners) football team from 1956 to 1959. Gautt was the first African American football player at the University of Oklahoma, where he wore #38.
When former Sooners coach Bud Wilkinson was pressured against giving Gautt a scholarship, a group of African American doctors and pharmacists gave him money to attend the school. Within a year, Gautt had a scholarship and the donated money was given to another black student. Gautt then became a two-time All-Big Eight player and the 1959 Orange Bowl MVP. His senior year, he was named to the Academic All-American team.
He played football professionally in the National Football League (NFL) with the Cleveland Browns (one year) and St. Louis Cardinals (six years).
After the NFL, Gautt coached football at Missouri while earning his Ph.D. in psychology. He then started a career in athletics administration, first as an assistant commissioner for the Big Eight Conference and as a special assistant to the commissioner of the Big 12 Conference.
Gautt played high school football at Douglass High School in Oklahoma City. His senior year, he became the first African American to play in the All-State game and he earned MVP honors.
Gautt died on March 17, 2005 from flu-like symptoms.
He was posthumously given the 2005 Outstanding Contribution to Amateur Football Award by the National Football Foundation (NFF) and the College Football Hall of Fame in May 2005.
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*Sherman Hemsley, an actor who played George Jefferson in the hit sitcom The Jeffersons, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (February 1)
*Sherman Hemsley, an actor who played George Jefferson in the hit sitcom The Jeffersons, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (February 1)
Sherman Alexander Hemsley, (b. February 1, 1938, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — d. July 24, 2012, El Paso, Texas) was an actor who charmed television audiences in the 1970s and ’80s as the irascible George Jefferson on the sitcom All in the Family and the hit spin-off The Jeffersons. Hemsley dropped out of high school to join the air force, and upon his discharge he returned to Philadelphia, where he worked at the post office and attended the Academy of Dramatic Arts. In 1967, he moved to New York, where he performed with the Negro Ensemble Company and Vinnette Carroll's Urban Arts Corps and in Off-Broadway productions. All in the Family creator Norman Lear saw him perform in the Broadway musical Purlie (1970–71) and offered him the role of Jefferson while Hemsley was in the musical Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope (1972). Hemsley first appeared as the blustering Jefferson on All in the Family in 1973, instantly winning fans with his comic talents as he verbally sparred with the bigoted Archie Bunker (played by Carroll O'Connor). The Jeffersons premiered in 1975 and proved a steady success throughout its 11-season run. Hemsley starred in another sitcom, Amen (1986–91), and made guest appearances on such shows as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Goode Behavior (1996–97), and House of Payne (2011), the last in the role of George Jefferson.
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*Trumpeter and bandleader Frederick Dewayne ("Freddie") Hubbard was born in Indianapolis, Indiana (April 7). He would win a Grammy for his album Straight Life.
*Trumpeter and bandleader Frederick Dewayne ("Freddie") Hubbard was born in Indianapolis, Indiana (April 7). He would win a Grammy for his album Straight Life.
Freddie Hubbard (b. Frederick Dewayne Hubbard, April 7, 1938, Indianapolis, Indiana —d. December 29, 2008, Sherman Oaks, California) was a jazz musician who played bravura trumpet solos with a harmonic-rhythmic flair that made him the most exciting late-bop virtuoso on his instrument. Early in his career, while influenced by bop-era trumpeters (including Clifford Brown and Lee Morgan), Hubbard developed a big, commanding tone and a subtle style of inventing melodies that flowed and, alternately, burst into dramatic contrasts. A prolific and daring recording artist, he not only was a major hard-bop figure but also played free jazz with Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, and Eric Dolphy and modal jazz with Wayne Shorter. After performing (1961–64) in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, Hubbard led combos, including 1970s jazz-rock fusion groups that recorded the popular albums Red Clay and First Light (Grammy Award, 1972). He also played (1976–79) with Shorter and Herbie Hancock in the all-star quintet V.S.O.P. and on sound tracks for films, including Blowup. Years of intense trumpeting led to a lip infection in 1992 that severely curtailed Hubbard’s career. In later years he played the less-demanding flugelhorn, rather than the trumpet, accompanied by the New Jazz Composers Octet.
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*Jimmie Lee Jackson, a civil rights activist whose death inspired the Selma to Montgomery marches, was born (December 16).
*Jimmie Lee Jackson, a civil rights activist whose death inspired the Selma to Montgomery marches, was born (December 16).
Jimmie Lee Jackson (December 16, 1938 - February 26, 1965) was a civil rights activist in Marion, Alabama, and a deacon in the Baptist church. On February 18, 1965, he was beaten by troopers and shot by Alabama State Trooper James Bonard Fowler while participating in a peaceful voting rights march in his city. Jackson was unarmed; he died several days later in the hospital.
His death inspired the Selma to Montgomery marches in March 1965, a major event in the American Civil Rights Movement that helped gain Congressional passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This opened the door to millions of African Americans being able to vote again in Alabama and across the South, regaining participation as citizens in the political system for the first time since the turn of the 20th century, when they were disenfranchised by state constitutions and discriminatory practices.
In 2007 former trooper Fowler was indicted in Jackson's death, and in 2010 he pleaded guilty to manslaughter. He was sentenced to six months in prison.
Jimmie Lee Jackson was a deacon of the St. James Baptist Church in Marion, Alabama, ordained in the summer of 1964. Jackson had tried to register to vote for four years, without success under the discriminatory system maintained by Alabama officials. Jackson was inspired by Martin Luther King, Jr., who had come with other SCLC staff to Selma, Alabama, to help local activists in their voter registration campaign. Jackson attended meetings several nights a week at Zion's Chapel Methodist Church. His desire to vote led to his death at the hands of an Alabama State Trooper. It inspired SCLC leader James Bevel to initiate and organize the dramatic Selma to Montgomery marches, which directly contributed to President Lyndon Johnson calling for, and Congress passing, the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
On the night of February 18, 1965, about 500 people organized by Southern Christian Leadership Conference activist C. T. Vivian, left Zion United Methodist Church in Marion and attempted a peaceful walk to the Perry County jail, about a half a block away, where young civil-rights worker James Orange was being held. The marchers planned to sing hymns and return to the church. Police later said that they believed the crowd was planning a jailbreak.
They were met at the Post Office by a line of Marion City police officers, sheriff's deputies, and Alabama State Troopers During the standoff, streetlights were abruptly turned off (some sources say they were shot out by the police), and the police began to beat the protesters. Among those beaten were two United Press International photographers, whose cameras were smashed, and NBC News correspondent Richard Valeriani who was beaten so badly that he was hospitalized. The marchers turned and scattered back towards the church.
Jackson, his mother Viola Jackson, and his 82-year-old grandfather, Cager Lee, ran into Mack's Café behind the church, pursued by Alabama State Troopers. Police clubbed Lee to the floor in the kitchen; when Viola attempted to pull the police off, she was also beaten. When Jackson tried to protect his mother, one trooper threw him against a cigarette machine. A second trooper shot Jackson twice in the abdomen. James Bonard Fowler later admitted to pulling the trigger, saying he thought Jackson was going for his gun. The wounded Jackson fled the café, suffering additional blows by the police, and collapsed in front of the bus station.
In the presence of FBI officials, Jackson told a lawyer, Oscar Adams of Birmingham, that he was "clubbed down" by State Troopers after he was shot and had run away from the café. Jackson died of his wounds at Good Samaritan Hospital in Selma, on February 26, 1965.
Jackson was buried in Heard Cemetery, an old slave burial ground, next to his father, with a headstone paid for by the Perry County Civic League.
Jackson's death led James Bevel, SCLC Director of Direct Action and the director of SCLC's Selma Voting Rights Movement, to initiate and organize the first Selma to Montgomery march to publicize the effort to gain registration and voting. Held a few days later, on March 7, 1965, the event became known as "Bloody Sunday" for the violent response of state troopers and posse, who attacked and beat the protesters after they came over the Edmund Pettus Bridge and left the city. The events captured national attention, raising widespread support for the voting rights campaign. In the third march to Montgomery, protesters traveled the entire way, and a total of 25,000 people peacefully entered the city, protected by federal troops and Alabama National Guard under federal command.
In March 1965, President Lyndon Johnson announced his federal bill to authorize oversight of local practices and enforcement by the federal government; it was passed by Congress as the Voting Rights Act of 1965. After the act was passed, Jimmie Lee Jackson's grandfather Cager Lee, who had marched with him in February 1965 in Marion, voted for the first time at the age of 84.
A grand jury declined to indict Fowler in September 1965, identifying him only by his surname.
On May 10, 2007, 42 years after the crime, Fowler was charged with first degree and second-degree murder for Jackson's death, and surrendered to authorities. On November 15, 2010, Fowler pled guilty to manslaughter and apologized publicly for killing Jackson. He said he had acted in self-defense. He was sentenced to six months in jail, but served five months due to health problems which required medical surgery.
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*Maynard Jackson was born in Dallas, Texas (March 23). He would be elected three times as mayor of Atlanta (1974, 1978, and 1990).
Maynard Holbrook Jackson, Jr. (b. March 23, 1938, Dallas, Texas — d. June 23, 2003, Arlington, Virginia) was a lawyer and politician who became the first African American mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, serving three terms (1974–82 and 1990–94).
Jackson’s father was a Baptist minister, his mother a professor of French. He entered Morehouse College through a special-entry program and received a bachelor’s degree in political science and history in 1956. He then attempted law school but was forced to drop out. Later he enrolled in North Carolina Central University School of Law, received a J.D. (Juris Doctor) degree in 1964, and found work as an attorney for the National Labor Relations Board in Atlanta. Jackson, a member of the Democratic Party, made his first attempt at elective office in 1968 with a run for the United States Senate. Although he was unsuccessful, he caught the public’s eye and gained the office of vice mayor of Atlanta in 1969.
Jackson’s runoff victory in 1973 over the white incumbent under whom he had served as vice mayor was widely seen as a turning point for the “New South.” Atlanta’s population was nearly 50 percent black, and Jackson implemented an affirmative action program to ensure that minorities shared in the prosperity of the expanding city through municipal contracts. One of his major achievements was the expansion of Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport into a major transportation hub, “ahead of schedule and under budget.” (It was renamed Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport after his death.) He reformed the police force and worked to maintain calm when the city was terrorized by a string of child murders. After his re-election in 1977, he was barred from a third consecutive term and supported the successful candidacy of Andrew Young. Jackson then worked as a municipal bond attorney while staying active in politics. In his third bid for the mayoralty, he was swept into office with nearly 80 percent of the vote. He counted among his triumphs the securing of Atlanta as the site of the 1996 Olympic Summer Games. Ill health led him to decline seeking a further term, and he returned to the bond business, founding his own firm.
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*Etta James, a legendary rhythm and blues singer known for the classic "At Last", was born in Los Angeles, California (January 25).
Etta James (b. Jamesetta Hawkins, January 25, 1938, Los Angeles, California —d. January 20, 2012, Riverside, California) spanned a variety of music genres including blues, R&B, soul, rock and roll, jazz and gospel. Starting her career in 1954, she gained fame with hits such as "The Wallflower", "At Last", "Tell Mama", "Somthing's Got a Hold on Me" and "I'd Rather Go Blind" for which she wrote the lyrics. She faced a number of personal problems, including drug addiction, before making a musical resurgence in the late 1980s with the album Seven Year Itch.
James is regarded as having bridged the gap between rhythm and blues and rock and roll, and was the recipient of six Grammys and 17 Blues Music Awards. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Grammy Hall of Fame in both 1999 and 2008. Rolling Stone ranked James number 22 on their list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time and number 62 on the list of the 100 Greatest Artists.
James was reared by foster parents until her mother (who was 14 when James was born) took her 12-year-old daughter to San Francisco. There James formed a girl doo-wop trio called the Creolettes, who were renamed the Peaches after bandleader Johnny Otis discovered them when James was 14. The group’s song “
Roll with Me Henry” (co-written by James and set to the music of Hank Ballard and the Midnighters' suggestive hit “
Work with Me, Annie”) was an instant success in 1954, but it was retitled “
The Wallflower” because of its perceived sexual connotation; the lyrics and title were changed to “
Dance with Me, Henry” for singer Georgia Gibbs’s 1955 rendition, which reached number one on the charts. After signing (1960) with Chess Records, James became its first major female star, with such songs as “
All I Could Do Was Cry,” “
Trust in Me,” “
At Last,” and “
Something’s Got a Hold on Me.” In 1967 she hit the charts again with the searing soul song “
Tell Mama.” James left Chess in 1976 and began recording for other labels and touring. She was the opening act for the Rolling Stones in the late 1970s and early ’80s.
An addiction to heroin, which began in the 1960s, contributed to James’s up-and-down career, and even as she kicked that habit in the 1970s, she turned to cocaine. After a seven-year silence, in 1988 she recorded the album Seven Year Itch; she followed that with Stickin’ to My Guns (1990), 12 Songs of Christmas (1998), Let’s Roll (2003), and her last, The Dreamer (2011). Over the years James’s voice changed—growing rougher and deeper and losing its little-girl quality—and she became one of the first women to sing in the style that became soul. She continued to perform into the early 21st century.
James’s artistry was recognized with Six Grammy Awards, including one in 2003 for lifetime achievement, as well as induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1993), the Blues Hall of Fame (2001), and the Grammy Hall of Fame (1999 and 2008). Her autobiography, Rage to Survive (co-written with David Ritz), was published in 1995.
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*Gus Johnson, a Hall of Fame professional basketball player, was born in Akron, Ohio.
Gus Johnson (b. December 13, 1938, Akron, Ohio – d. April 29, 1987, Akron, Ohio) was a professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). A 6 ft. 6 in. (1.98 m), 235-pound (107 kg) forward-center. who spent nine seasons with the Baltimore Bullets, and his final season was split between the Phoenix Suns and the Indiana Pacers of the ABA.
One of the first forwards to frequently play above the rim, Johnson combined an unusual blend of strength, jumping ability, and speed; he was one of the first dunk shot artists in the NBA. His nickname "Honeycomb" was given to him by his college coach. He had a gold star drilled into one of his front teeth and shattered three backboards during his career.
As a member of the Baltimore Bullets, Johnson was voted to the All-Rookie Team for 1963–64. He played in five NBA All-Star Games, was named to four All-NBA Second Teams, and was twice named to the All-NBA Defense First Team. His No. 25 jersey was retired by the Bullets franchise. With the Pacers, he was a member of the 1973 ABA championship team.
Johnson was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010.
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*Ben E. King, a soul and R&B singer best known for the song "Stand by Me", was born in Henderson, North Carolina.
Benjamin Earl King (September 28, 1938 – April 30, 2015), known as Ben E. King, was an American soul and R&B singer. He was perhaps best known as the singer and co-composer of "Stand by Me" -- a US Top 10 hit, both in 1961 and later in 1986 (when it was used as the theme to the film of the same name), a number one hit in the United Kingdom in 1987, and no. 25 on the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA's list of Songs of the Century -- and as one of the principal lead singers of the R&B vocal group the Drifters.
King was born Benjamin Earl Nelson on September 28, 1938, in Henderson, North Carolina, and moved to Harlem, New York, at the age of nine in 1947. King began singing in church choirs, and in high school formed the Four B’s, a doo-wop group that occasionally performed at the Apollo.
In 1958, King (still using his birth name) joined a doo-wop group called the Five Crowns. Later that year, the Drifters' manager George Treadwell fired the members of the original Drifters, and replaced them with the members of the Five Crowns. King had a string of R&B hits with the group on Atlantic Records. He co-wrote and sang lead on the first Atlantic hit by the new version of the Drifters, "There Goes My Baby" (1959). He also sang lead on a succession of hits by the team of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, including "Save the Last Dance for Me", "This Magic Moment", and "I Count the Tears". King only recorded thirteen songs with the Drifters—two backing other lead singers and eleven as lead vocal — including a non-single called "Temptation" (later redone by Drifters vocalist Johnny Moore). The last of the King-led Drifters singles to be released was "Sometimes I Wonder", which was recorded May 19, 1960, but not issued until June 1962.
Due to contract disputes with Treadwell in which King and his manager, Lover Patterson, demanded greater compensation, King rarely performed with the Drifters on tour or on television. On television, fellow Drifters member Charlie Thomas usually lip-synched the songs that King had recorded with the Drifters.
In May 1960, King left the Drifters, assuming the stage name Ben E. King in preparation for a solo career. Remaining with Atlantic Records on its Atco imprint, King scored his first solo hit with the ballad "Spanish Harlem" (1961). His next single, "Stand by Me", written with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, ultimately would be voted as one of the Songs of the Century by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). King cited singers Brook Benton, Roy Hamilton, and Sam Cooke as influences for his vocals. "Stand by Me", "There Goes My Baby", and "Spanish Harlem" were named as three of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll; and each of those records plus "Save The Last Dance For Me" has earned a Grammy Hall of Fame Award.
King's records continued to place well on the Billboard Hot 100 chart until 1965. British pop bands began to dominate the pop music scene, but King still continued to make R&B hits, including "What is Soul?" (1966), "Tears, Tears, Tears" (1967), and "Supernatural Thing" (1975). A 1986 re-issue of "Stand by Me" followed the song's use as the theme song to the movie Stand By Me and re-entered the Billboard Top Ten after a 25-year absence.
As a Drifter and as a solo artist, King achieved five number one hits: "There Goes My Baby", "Save The Last Dance For Me", "Stand By Me", "Supernatural Thing", and the 1986 re-issue of "Stand By Me". He also earned 12 Top 10 hits and 26 Top 40 hits from 1959 to 1986. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a Drifter. He was also nominated as a solo artist.
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*Ernest Ladd, a professional football player and wrestler, was born in Rayville, Louisiana (November 28).
Ernest "Ernie" Ladd (b. November 28, 1938, Rayville, Louisiana – d. March 10, 2007, Franklin, Louisiana), nicknamed "The Big Cat", was a collegiate and professional football player and a professional wrestler. A standout athlete in high school, Ladd attended Grambling State University on a basketball scholarship before being drafted by the American Football League's San Diego Chargers in 1961. Ladd found success in the American Football League (AFL) as one of the largest players in professional football history at 6' 9" and 315 pounds.
Ernest "Ernie" Ladd (b. November 28, 1938, Rayville, Louisiana – d. March 10, 2007, Franklin, Louisiana), nicknamed "The Big Cat", was a collegiate and professional football player and a professional wrestler. A standout athlete in high school, Ladd attended Grambling State University on a basketball scholarship before being drafted by the American Football League's San Diego Chargers in 1961. Ladd found success in the American Football League (AFL) as one of the largest players in professional football history at 6' 9" and 315 pounds.
Ladd helped the Chargers to four AFL championship games in five years, winning the championship with the team in 1963. He also had stints with the Kansas City Chiefs and the Houston Oilers. Ladd also took up professional wrestling during the AFL offseason and after a knee injury ended his football career, he turned to wrestling full-time in 1969.
As a wrestler, Ladd became one of the top heels in the business. For much of his career he played a villainous character who would arrogantly taunt both opponents and crowds. Ladd feuded with many popular wrestlers of the time, including Wahoo McDaniel, Andre the Giant and Mr. Wrestling. He retired from wrestling in 1986.
Ladd was recognized for his careers in both football and wrestling. He was inducted into the San Diego Chargers Hall of Fame in 1981, the Grambling State University Hall of Fame in 1989 and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) Hall of Fame in 1995.
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*Eugene Martin, a visual artist, was born in Washington, D. C. (July 24).
Eugene James Martin (b. July 24, 1938, Washington, D. C. – d. Lafayette, Louisiana, January 1, 2005) was a visual artist.
Eugene J. Martin's art is best known for his imaginative, complex mixed media collages on paper, his often gently humorous pencil and pen and ink drawings, and his paintings on paper and canvas that may incorporate whimsical allusions to animal, machine and structural imagery among areas of "pure", constructed, biomorphic, or disciplined lyrical abstraction. Martin called many of his works straddling both abstraction and representation "satirical abstracts". He did not create sculptures.
Eugene James Martin was born on Capitol Hill. His parents were Margaret Helen Dove and James Walter Martin, an itinerant jazz musician. After his mother died in 1942 giving birth to Jerry Martin, the two brothers were placed in foster care in Washington D.C. As a child, Eugene ran away on several occasions, was placed in reform school at six years of age, and eventually spent the remainder of his childhood on a farm in Clarksburg, Maryland where his foster parents were Franie and Madessa Snowdon. On the farm, he drew realistic portraits and nature scenes, and also played upright bass, thunder bass, and slide trombone in the local rhythm & blues band The Nu-tones. After attending Clarksburg Elementary, and Lincoln High and Carver High in Rockville, Maryland, Martin pondered whether to become a full-time musician or visual artist. He briefly attended the for the opportunity to receive an art education, but instead was honorably discharged.
After attending the Corcoran School of Art from 1960–1963, Eugene James Martin became a professional fine arts painter, considering artistic integrity his only guide. He did not adhere to any particular school or art movement, remaining an individualist throughout his life. His art defies categorization.
While spending most of his life in Washington D.C., Martin briefly lived in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, from 1990–1994, returned to Washington D.C., and in 1996 moved to Lafayette, Louisiana with his wife, Suzanne Fredericq, a biologist, whom he married in 1988. In December 2001 he suffered simultaneously a brain hemorrhage and stroke while in Belgium. After undergoing physical therapy in Lafayette, he resumed painting and continued creating art until his death.
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*Willie McCovey, a Hall of Fame baseball player, was born in Mobile, Alabama (January 10).
Willie Lee McCovey (b. January 10, 1938, Mobile, Alabama), nicknamed "Mac", "Big Mac", and "Stretch", played nineteen seasons for the San Francisco Giants, and three more for the San Diego Padres and Oakland Athletics between 1959 and 1980. He batted and threw left-handed and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1986.
McCovey was a power-hitting first baseman and holds the record for most seasons played at that position with 22. In 1959 he was named the National League Rookie of the Year. McCovey had 521 career home runs and is tied with Ted Williams on the upper rungs of the all-time list. He was selected to the National League All-Star team six times, and in 1969 he was named Most Valuable Player in the National League after batting .320 with 45 home runs. He was enormously popular with the San Francisco fans and held several public relations positions with the Giants after his retirement. The portion of San Francisco Bay beyond right field in the Giants’ home field, AT&T Park, was named McCovey Cove in his honor. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, in 1986.
One of the most intimidating power hitters of his era, McCovey was called "the scariest hitter in baseball" by pitcher Bob Gibson, an assessment with which Reggie Jackson concurred concurred. McCovey's powerful swing generated 521 home runs, 231 of which he hit in Candlestick Park, the most hit there by any player, and included a home run of September 16, 1966 described as the longest ever hit in that stadium.
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Roger Earl Mosley (b. December 18, 1938, Los Angeles, California) grew up in the Imperial Courts project with his mother Eloise Harris in Watts. In 1974, he founded the Watts Repertory Company.
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Novella Christine Nelson (December 17, 1938 – September 1, 2017) was an American actress and singer. She established her career as a singer, both on the off-Broadway and Broadway stage[1] and in cabaret-style locales.[2]
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*Eugene Mingo, a professional football player best known for scoring the first punt return for a touchdown in the American Football League, was born in Akron, Ohio (September 22).
Eugene L. Mingo, also known as Gene Mingo (b. September 22, 1938, Akron, Ohio), was a professional football player who played several positions including halfback, placekicker, and return specialist. He is widely recognized as the first African American placekicker in American professional football.
In 1960, Mingo had the first punt return for a touchdown in the American Football League, for the Denver Broncos. That touchdown won the first-ever American Football League game, as the Broncos defeated the Boston Patriots. Mingo also scored the first points in Mile High Stadium, then called Bears Stadium, with an 18-yard field goal. In the 1961 season opener at War Memorial Stadium against the Buffalo Bills, Mingo threw two touchdown passes, from the halfback position, to help the Broncos win 22-10: a 50-yarder to Lionel Taylor in the first quarter, and a 52-yarder to Taylor in the third. Mingo kicked the PATs (points after touchdown) after each score. He led the American Football League in scoring as a rookie in 1960 with 123 points and in 1962 with 137 points. Mingo holds the Broncos' franchise record for the longest touchdown run, an 82-yarder against the Raiders in 1962. He also played for the Oakland Raiders, Miami Dolphins, and Washington Redskins. He kicked for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1969 and 1970.
On September 14, 2014, Mingo, along with Dan Reeves and Rick Upchurch, was inducted into the Broncos Ring of Fame.
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*Roger Mosley, an actor, director and writer best known for his role as the helicopter pilot Theodore "T. C." Calvin in the television series Magnum, P. I., was born in Los Angeles, California (December 18).
Roger Earl Mosley (b. December 18, 1938, Los Angeles, California) grew up in the Imperial Courts project with his mother Eloise Harris in Watts. In 1974, he founded the Watts Repertory Company.
Mosley appeared as Monk in the feature film Terminal Island (1973). Other actors in the feature were Phyllis Davis, Don Marshall, Ena Hartman and Tom Selleck. Selleck would later become the lead actor in Magnum P. I. Mosley's most prominent film role was his 1976 starring turn as the title character in Leadbelly, directed by Gordon Parks. In an article in the November 1982 issue of Ebony magazine, it was reported that this was his favorite role.
Mosley guest-starred on shows such as Night Court, Starsky and Hutch, Kojak, The Rockford Files, Baretta, and Sanford and Son. He also had a role in Roots: The Next Generations. He made a memorable appearance in the 1973 film The Mack, as the militant brother of the main character Goldie. He appeared in other so-called blaxploitation films including Hit Man (1972), Sweet Jesus, Preacherman (1973), Darktown Strutters (1975) and The River Niger (1976). His other film credits include McQ (1974) with John Wayne, The Greatest (1977, as Sonny Liston), Semi-Tough (1977), Heart Condition (1990) and Pentathlon (1994). He also starred in Hangin' With Mr. Cooper (1992-1993) as Coach Ricketts in a recurring role with comedian/actor Mark Curry, and in A Thin Line Between Love & Hate (1996) with Martin Lawrence, Bobby Brown, and Lynn Whitfield.
He appeared in Magnum, P. I. as Tom Selleck's friend and a helicopter pilot who operates his own tourist charter Island Hoppers from 1980-1988. Mosley is a licensed private helicopter pilot in real life, but, when on the set of Magnum, P. I., he was not allowed to do his own stunts. A pilot wearing a body stocking with muscles would be used instead.
He also appeared in season five of Las Vegas as the billionaire friend of Montecito owner A.J. Cooper (Tom Selleck).
He also appeared in season five of Las Vegas as the billionaire friend of Montecito owner A.J. Cooper (Tom Selleck).
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*Sylvia Moy, a songwriter and record producer most famously at Motown Records, was born in Detroit, Michigan (September 15).
Sylvia Rose Moy (b. September 15, 1938, Detroit, Michigan – d. April 15, 2017, Dearborn, Michigan) was the first woman at the Detroit-based music label to write and produce for Motown acts. She is probably best known for her songs written with and for Stevie Wonder.
Born and brought up on the northeast side of Detroit, Moy studied and performed jazz and classical music at Northern High School, before she was seen performing in a club in 1963 by Marvin Gaye and Mickey Stevenson. She was given recording and songwriting contracts by Motown, but was urged to prioritize her songwriting because the company was short of material for its artists.
According to Berry Gordy's autobiography, To Be Loved, Moy was directly responsible for the label keeping Stevie Wonder. Gordy wrote that, after Stevie's voice began to change as a result of puberty, he was going to drop him from the label. It was then that Moy went to Gordy and asked "if she could come up with a hit for Stevie would he reconsider". He agreed.
Her first writing success came with "Uptight (Everything's Alright)", which she co-wrote with Henry "Hank" Cosby after hearing Wonder improvising on piano. Moy wrote lyrics to the song, which she conveyed to Wonder by singing into his headphones one line ahead as he recorded.
Among the subsequent hit singles Moy wrote and/or produced while at Motown were Stevie Wonder's "My Cherie Amour", "I Was Made to Love Her", and "Never Had a Dream Come True"; and "Honey Chile" and "Love Bug Leave My Heart Alone' by Martha and the Vandellas. She also co-wrote "This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)" with Holland-Dozier-Holland for the Isley Brothers; and "It Takes Two" with William "Mickey" Stevenson for Marvin Gaye and Kim Weston.
Moy later wrote theme songs for several television shows, and was involved in writing film music. She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame alongside fellow Motown songwriter and producer Hank Cosby in 2006. She also set up a non-profit group, Center for Creative Communications, working with underprivileged children in Detroit.
Moy died of complications from pneumonia in Dearborn, Michigan, at the age of 78.
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Novella Christine Nelson (December 17, 1938 – September 1, 2017) was an American actress and singer. She established her career as a singer, both on the off-Broadway and Broadway stage[1] and in cabaret-style locales.[2]
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*Vada Pinson, a Major League Baseball player, was born in Memphis, Tennessee (August 11).
Vada Edward Pinson, Jr. (b. August 11, 1938, Memphis, Tennessee – October 21, 1995, Oakland, California) was a professional baseball player and coach. He played as a center fielder in Major League Baseball for 18 years, from 1958 through 1975, most notably for the Cincinnati Reds, for whom he played from 1958 to 1968. Pinson, who batted and threw left-handed, was primarily a center fielder who combined power, speed, and strong defensive ability.
Pinson was born in Memphis, Tennessee and his family moved to Oakland, California when he was a child. He was a graduate of Oakland's McClymonds High School, also attended by Baseball Hall of Fame outfielder Frank Robinson (a Pinson teammate in the major leagues for nine years), star centerfielder Curt Flood and Baseball Hall of Fame center Bill Russell. He appeared in 2,469 games for the Reds, St. Louis Cardinals, Cleveland Indians, California Angels, and Kansas City Royals, notching 2,757 hits and finishing with a career batting average of .286, with 256 home runs and 305 stolen bases.
*Country singer Charley Pride was born in Sledge, Mississippi (March 18).
Charley Frank Pride (b. March 18, 1938, Sledge, Mississippi) was a country music singer, musician/guitarist, recording artist, performer, and business owner. His greatest musical success came in the early- to mid-1970s when he became the best-selling performer for RCA Records since Elvis Presley. In total, he garnered 39 No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts.
Pride is one of the few African-Americans to have had considerable success in the country music industry and one of only three African-Americans (along with DeFord Bailey and Darius Rucker) to have been inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry.
Pride broke new ground in the 1960s by becoming the most successful African American star that the field had known to date and a significant next-generation standard bearer for the hard-core honky-tonk country music sound.
The son of poor, cotton-picking, sharecropping parents and one of 11 children, Pride was attracted in his youth both by Grand Ole Opry radio broadcasts featuring the “King of Country Music” Roy Acuff and honky-tonk artists Hank Williams and Ernest Tubb and by baseball. He received his first guitar at age 14 but initially pursued a career as a pitcher and outfielder in the Negro American League — all the while singing country songs for teammates on bus trips. In 1960 he moved to west-central Montana, where he played minor-league and semi-professional baseball and performed music in local nightclubs. After a disc jockey in Helena, Montana, introduced Pride to country stars Red Sovine and Red Foley, Pride pursued a publishing and recording contract in Nashville, inspired and encouraged by those two musicians (especially Sovine).
For as long as the genre had existed, there had been some African Americans who performed country songs. Harmonica virtuoso DeFord Bailey, for instance, had been a featured performer of the Grand Ole Opry as early as the late 1920s and blues-oriented songsters such as Leadbelly and Mississippi John Hurt also sang country or a country-flavored repertoire. When Pride relocated to Nashville in the mid-1960s, however, there had never been an African American singing star in the field, and the music industry was far from certain there could ever be one. Some within the industry resisted the concept. After more than a year of fruitless efforts to establish himself as a country music singer, Pride finally received a recording contract—with RCA Victor—in 1965, with the backing of producer Jack Clement, who had worked with country music legend Johnny Cash and rockabilly musician Jerry Lee Lewis at Sun Records in the 1950s. The label’s commitment quickly panned out: from the release of his first single—“The Snakes Crawl at Night” (1966)—country music audiences were drawn to Pride’s rich baritone voice, the extraordinary clarity and affecting simplicity of his singing, and the traditional content of the songs he recorded.
Over the next 20 years Pride recorded 50 singles that reached the top 10 on the country music charts. Some indeed rose to number one, sold hundreds of thousands of copies, and eventually became acknowledged classics of country music. Among these hits were “
Pride received multiple awards from the Country Music Association, including Entertainer of the Year in 1971 and top male vocalist in both 1971 and 1972. In 1993 he joined the Grand Ole Opry, and his memoirs—Pride: The Charley Pride Story, written with Jim Henderson—were published the following year. Pride was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2000, and he remained one of country music’s most successful live attractions—often performing with his son Dion and his younger brother Stephen—into the 21st century. In 2006 he released Pride and Joy: A Gospel Music Collection, and Choices appeared in 2011.
The son of poor, cotton-picking, sharecropping parents and one of 11 children, Pride was attracted in his youth both by Grand Ole Opry radio broadcasts featuring the “King of Country Music” Roy Acuff and honky-tonk artists Hank Williams and Ernest Tubb and by baseball. He received his first guitar at age 14 but initially pursued a career as a pitcher and outfielder in the Negro American League — all the while singing country songs for teammates on bus trips. In 1960 he moved to west-central Montana, where he played minor-league and semi-professional baseball and performed music in local nightclubs. After a disc jockey in Helena, Montana, introduced Pride to country stars Red Sovine and Red Foley, Pride pursued a publishing and recording contract in Nashville, inspired and encouraged by those two musicians (especially Sovine).
For as long as the genre had existed, there had been some African Americans who performed country songs. Harmonica virtuoso DeFord Bailey, for instance, had been a featured performer of the Grand Ole Opry as early as the late 1920s and blues-oriented songsters such as Leadbelly and Mississippi John Hurt also sang country or a country-flavored repertoire. When Pride relocated to Nashville in the mid-1960s, however, there had never been an African American singing star in the field, and the music industry was far from certain there could ever be one. Some within the industry resisted the concept. After more than a year of fruitless efforts to establish himself as a country music singer, Pride finally received a recording contract—with RCA Victor—in 1965, with the backing of producer Jack Clement, who had worked with country music legend Johnny Cash and rockabilly musician Jerry Lee Lewis at Sun Records in the 1950s. The label’s commitment quickly panned out: from the release of his first single—“The Snakes Crawl at Night” (1966)—country music audiences were drawn to Pride’s rich baritone voice, the extraordinary clarity and affecting simplicity of his singing, and the traditional content of the songs he recorded.
Over the next 20 years Pride recorded 50 singles that reached the top 10 on the country music charts. Some indeed rose to number one, sold hundreds of thousands of copies, and eventually became acknowledged classics of country music. Among these hits were “
All I Have to Offer You (Is Me)” (1969), “
Is Anybody Goin’ to San Antone” (1970), “
Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’” (1971), and “
Someone Loves You Honey” (1978). Throughout that two-decade stretch of market success, Pride regularly recorded country classics from the post-World War II honky-tonk era, making the senior Hank Williams’s songs “
Kaw-Liga,” “
Honky Tonky Blues,” and “
You Win Again” top hits again, a generation after their original release.
Pride received multiple awards from the Country Music Association, including Entertainer of the Year in 1971 and top male vocalist in both 1971 and 1972. In 1993 he joined the Grand Ole Opry, and his memoirs—Pride: The Charley Pride Story, written with Jim Henderson—were published the following year. Pride was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2000, and he remained one of country music’s most successful live attractions—often performing with his son Dion and his younger brother Stephen—into the 21st century. In 2006 he released Pride and Joy: A Gospel Music Collection, and Choices appeared in 2011.
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*Poet and novelist Ishmael Reed was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee (February 22).
Ishmael Reed, in full Ishmael Scott Reed (b. February 22, 1938, Chattanooga, Tennessee) an author of poetry, essays, satiric novels, and plays.
Reed grew up in Buffalo, New York, and studied at the University of Buffalo. He moved to New York City, where he co-founded the East Village Other (1965), an underground newspaper that achieved a national reputation. Also that year he organized the American Festival of Negro Art. Reed later taught at several schools, most notably the University of California at Berkeley (1968–2005). In 1990 he created Konch magazine, which began as a print publication and later moved to a digital-only format.
Reed’s novels are marked by surrealism, satire, and political and racial commentary. They depict human history as a cycle of battles between oppressed people and their oppressors. The characters in is first novel, The Free-Lance Pallbearers, was published in 1967. It centers on Bukka Doopeyduk, who launches a rebellion in the miserable nation of Harry Sam, ruled by the despotic Harry Sam. A black circus cowboy with cloven hooves, the Loop Garoo Kid, is the hero of the violent Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down (1969). Mumbo Jumbo (1972) pits proponents of rationalism and militarism against believers in the magical and intuitive. The Last Days of Louisiana Red (1974) is a novel set amid the racial violence of Berkeley, California, in the 1960s. Flight to Canada (1976) depicts an American Civil War-era slave escaping to freedom via bus and airplane.
Among Reed’s later novels are The Terrible Twos (1982), its sequel The Terrible Threes (1989), Japanese by Spring (1993), and Juice! (2011). He also wrote numerous volumes of poetry and collections of essays, the latter of which include Barack Obama and the Jim Crow Media (2010) and Going Too Far: Essays About America’s Nervous Breakdown (2012). Six of his plays, including Mother Hubbard and The Preacher and the Rapper, were collected in a volume that was published in 2009. In addition, Reed edited a number of anthologies.
Reed was the recipient of numerous honors, notably a MacArthur fellowship (1998).
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*Basketball player Oscar "The Big O" Robertson was born in Charlotte, Tennessee (November 24). With Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, he would lead the Milwaukee Bucks to a 1971 NBA championship.
Oscar Robertson was born in Charlotte, Tennessee, and moved with his family to Indianapolis, Indiana. He attended the University of Cincinnati and as a sophomore became the nation's leading scorer. A 3-time All-American, in 1960, he was signed by the Cincinnati Royals of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Robinson, known as the "Big O", is considered to be one of the greatest guards in the history of basketball, and his name became synonymous with overall basketball skill. In 1964, he won the NBA's Most Valuable Player Award.
Oscar Robertson, in full Oscar Palmer Robertson, byname the Big O (b. November 24, 1938, Charlotte, Tennessee), was a basketball player who starred in both the collegiate and professional ranks and was considered one of the top players in the history of the game. As a player with the Cincinnati (Ohio) Royals of the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 1961–62, he averaged double figures in points (30.8), rebounds (12.5), and assists (11.4) per game, a feat unmatched by any other player.
Robertson grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he led Crispus Attucks High School to two state championships. In 1956, he received an athletic scholarship to the University of Cincinnati and became the first African American to play basketball there. In three seasons of collegiate basketball, he averaged 33.8 points per game and helped the Cincinnati Bearcats to twice reach the Final Four of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball tournament. He set 14 NCAA records during his college days. In 1960, he won a gold medal in Rome as a member of the United States Olympic team.
Robertson was the first selection of the 1960 NBA draft and earned Rookie of the Year honors that season with the Cincinnati Royals. Measuring 6 feet 5 inches (1.96 metres) and weighing more than 200 pounds (91 kg), Robertson was larger than most guards. He was able to use his size to gain position for scoring and rebounding. He was also a superior ball handler, leading the league in assists six times. He was named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player for the 1963–64 season, in which he averaged 31.4 points, 9.9 rebounds, and 11 assists per game.
Robertson was traded in 1970 to the Milwaukee Bucks, where he teamed with Lew Alcindor (later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and won the NBA title that season. Robertson retired from the NBA in 1974 with 26,710 career points (25.7 per game), 7,804 rebounds (7.5 average), and 9,887 assists (an NBA record at the time). He was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1979.
After his playing days ended, Robertson pursued a career in business and from 1981 was chief executive officer of a Cincinnati-based chemical company.
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Thomas Ernest "Satch" Sanders (b. November 8, 1938, New York City, New York) was a professional basketball player and coach. He was a 6'6", 210 lb power forward. Sanders is tied for third for most NBA championships in a career, and is one of three NBA players with an unsurpassed 8-0 record in NBA Finals play. On April 4, 2011, it was announced that Sanders was elected to the 2011 class to enter the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor.
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*Satch Sanders, a professional basketball player who won eight championships while playing for the Boston Celtics and who became the first African American basketball coach at Harvard University, was born in New York City (November 8).
Thomas Ernest "Satch" Sanders (b. November 8, 1938, New York City, New York) was a professional basketball player and coach. He was a 6'6", 210 lb power forward. Sanders is tied for third for most NBA championships in a career, and is one of three NBA players with an unsurpassed 8-0 record in NBA Finals play. On April 4, 2011, it was announced that Sanders was elected to the 2011 class to enter the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor.
After playing at New York University as a stand out collegian, Sanders spent all of his 13 years in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Boston Celtics, being part of eight championship teams in 1961-66, 1968 and 1969. In NBA history, only teammates Bill Russell and Sam Jones have won more championship rings during their playing careers. He ended his career in 1973.
Following his playing career Sanders became the basketball coach at Harvard University, a position he held until 1977. Sanders became the first African-American to serve as a head coach of any sport in the Ivy League. In 1978, Sanders became the head coach of the Boston Celtics, taking over for former teammate Tommy Heinsohn. Sanders returned the following season. However, after a 2-12 record he was replaced by Dave Cowens, who took on the role as a player-coach.
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*William Shaw, a college and professional football player who is the only player ever inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame without every playing in the National Football League, was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
William Lewis "Billy" Shaw (b. December 15, 1938, Vicksburg, Mississippi) was drafted in 1961 by the American Football League's Buffalo Bills. Shaw, of Georgia Tech, was the prototypical "pulling guard" who despite his size held his own against much bigger defensive linemen like Ernie Ladd, Earl Faison and Buck Buchanan. With the Bills, he won three straight Eastern Division titles and two American Football League (AFL) championships in 1964 and 1965.
Shaw was a first-team All-American Football League selection four times (1963 through 1966) and second team All-AFL in 1968 and 1969. He played in eight American Football League All-Star Games and was named to the All-Time All-AFL Team. He made the All-Decade All-pro football team of the 1960s. Shaw played his entire career in the American Football League, and retired after the 1969 AFL season.
Shaw is the only player ever inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame without ever playing in the National Football League (NFL). (The Bills along with the rest of the AFL merged with the NFL the season following his retirement). He is also a member of the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame and the Bills' 50th Anniversary Team.
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*Rockin' Sidney, a zydeco musician known for his hit "My Toot Toot", was born in Lebeau, Louisiana (April 9).
Sidney Simien aka Rockin' Sidney and Count Rockin' Sidney, (b. April 9, 1938, Lebeau, Louisiana - d. February 25, 1998) was an R&B, zydeco, and soul musician who began recording in the late 1950s and continued performing until his death.
Rockin' Sidney was a long-time zydeco musician who played almost every style of music, from Caribbean beats to blues. His credits included "No Good Woman", "You Ain't Nothing But Fine", "Tell Me", and his biggest hit, "My Toot Toot", which became a worldwide hit.
Simien was born into a long historical Creole French speaking family and a descendant of Marie Semien (who was a Creole Plantation owner). Sidney himself was born in the tiny farming community of Lebeau, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana. Sidney took up the guitar at an early age. He started his musical career at age 14 or 15 playing harmonica and guitar. His first gig was as backup for his uncle Frank Simien. By Sidney's late teens, he was leading his own band as Sidney Simien and His All Stars, which included several members of his family. In 1957, at the age of 18, he recorded his first side, "Make Me Understand," on the short-lived Carl label. "No Good Woman" became a small hit in Louisiana in 1962, while the flip side, "You Ain't Nothing But Fine" brought him his first national attention as a songwriter. The Fabulous Thunderbirds recorded the song on their debut album. After that, Sidney recorded "She's My Morning Coffee" / "Calling You" on the Jin label.
Although his real success came from zydeco, Sidney did not start out playing the accordion or Cajun music. Heavily influenced by local musicians such as Slim Harpo and Cookie & The Cupcakes, Sidney made R&B-styled recordings briefly on the Louisiana record label, Fame, during the late 1950s. He was often backed by George Lewis on harmonica and Katie Webster on piano. Floyd Soileau's Jin Records label released nine Rockin' Sidney singles between 1957–1964. Sidney also recorded on Rod Records. In 1963 his single "No Good Woman" on the Ville Platte label sold well in South Louisiana and East Texas and was well received by music critics, but just missed the national Top 100.
In 1965, he and his band The Dukes signed with Eddie Shuler's Louisiana-based Goldband Records. He took to wearing a turban and was known as "Count Rockin' Sidney". During this period he cut well over a dozen R&B, soul, and blues singles such as "Something Working Baby" and "Soul Christmas", without much success. Between the mid-1960s and the late 1970s, Sidney cut well over 50 singles for the Louisiana-based Goldband label, working in a variety of contemporary blues, soul and R&B modes; none proved successful.
In the late 1970s Sidney was performing solo organ gigs at Lake Charles hotels and lounges when he recognized zydeco's growing popularity. Sidney quickly added the instrument to his repertoire and made that traditional folk music of Louisiana his focus. Zydeco was long familiar to him, from his Creole heritage. His Clifton Chenier and Buckwheat Zydeco parodies became one of his performance highlights. For Chenier, Sidney dressed up as the zydeco monarch, complete with a crown, cape and gold tooth. The Buckwheat bit was done with a ventriloquist dummy. His first zydeco album, Give Me a Good Time Woman was released in 1982 on the Maison De Soul label.
In the late 1970s, Sidney was recording for a new label, Bally Hoo, and started his own publishing company, Sid Sim Publishing. His zydeco talents were immediately recognized and he had another hit with "Louisiana Creole Man." He also signed a lease agreement with Floyd Soileau to distribute his recordings on Soileau's Maison de Soul Records label, giving Soileau's Flat Town Music Company a share of the profits. By the early 1980s, Sidney had recorded two successful albums for Maison de Soul, Give Me A Good Time Woman and Boogie, Blues 'N' Zydeco.
His big moment came in 1984 when "My Toot Toot" made him internationally known. Sidney wrote the song, and released it on the Maison De Soul Records label in Ville Platte, Louisiana. In October 1984, he included the tune in his third album, My Zydeco Shoes Got the Zydeco Blues. He recorded the entire album in his home studio in Lake Charles, and played all the instruments himself. In January 1985, "My Toot Toot" was released as a single in Louisiana and Texas, and became his first true regional hit. Thanks to Cleon Floyd, manager of R&B singer (and uncle to) King Floyd, it became a huge New Orleans hit. Floyd first heard the crowd's reaction to the song at a bill headlined by Solomon Burke. Cleon was also the president of the Orleans Street Jocks Association and took twenty copies of the record back to the city; he quickly had to order more. By Mardi Gras, it was a jukebox and record hop smash.
Huey Meaux got the original leased to Epic Records (a division of Columbia Records), who released it nationally, and for a brief moment Rockin' Sidney made musical history. Epic managed to get Rockin' Sidney into the country Top 40 where it stayed for 18 weeks. Later that year, "My Toot Toot" was certified platinum and won a Grammy Award. "My Toot Toot" became a national and international million-selling phenomenon.
Sidney used royalties from "My Toot Toot" to purchase radio station KAOK-AM in Lake Charles. He also bought Festival City, a 6-acre (2.4 ha) entertainment complex in Lake Charles. and started a record label, ZBC Records. After the success of "My Toot Toot," Sidney toured the United States and Europe and continued to record, characteristically playing all parts. Although nothing before or after ever matched the career-defining success of "My Toot Toot," several of his songs such as "If It's Good for the Gander," "My Zydeco Shoes," "Jalapeño Lena", and "Ann Cayenne" have become zydeco staples and are played regularly by other bands.
After a long bout with throat cancer, Rockin' Sidney Simien succumbed to the disease in 1998.
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*John Sturdivant, the first African American president of the American Federation of Government Employees, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (June 30).
In 1956, when John Nathan Studivant enlisted in 1956 in the Air Force, it misspelled his name as Sturdivant, and he kept that spelling. He began his civilian career in 1961, working for the Army Interagency Communications Agency in Winchester, Va.
Soon after taking his Government job, he became involved in union activities, serving as president of a local in Virginia from 1968 to 1976. In 1976, he became a staff worker with the union's national office in Washington, soon rising to the position of organizing director.
In 1980, he received his bachelor's degree in labor studies from Antioch College. Two years later, he was elected the union's executive vice president, and in 1988, he challenged the union's sitting president and won the top post in a close election.
During Sturdivant's tenure, the American Federation of Government Employees had 210,000 dues-paying members, but represented another 390,000 Federal workers who did not pay dues. The union represented a cross section of workers, including border guards, astronauts and white-collar employees in the Social Security Administration.
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*Niara Sudarkasa, an educator and anthropologist, was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida (August 14). She would become the first woman president of Lincoln Univerity, Pennsylvania.
Niara Sudarkasa (b. August 14, 1938, Fort Lauderdale, Florida) is a scholar, educator, Africanist and anthropologist. In 1989, Essence magazine named her "Educator for the '90s", and in 2001 she became the first African American to be installed as a Chief in the historic Ife Kingdom of the Yoruba of Nigeria.
Niara Sudarkasa was born Gloria Albertha Marshall on August 14, 1938 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Niara was a gifted student who skipped several grades in primary school. She graduated from high school and accepted early admission to Fisk University on a Ford Foundation scholarship when she was fifteen years old. She left Fisk and transferred to Oberlin, earning a degree in anthropology and English from Oberlin in 1957. She received her masters degree in anthropology from Columbia University. While completing her Ph.D. she taught at Columbia University, becoming the first African American woman to teach there when she earned her Ph.D. in 1964.
Soon after earning her Ph.D., Sudarkasa was appointed assistant professor of anthropology at New York University, the first black woman to hold that position. She was also the first African American to be appointed to the Department of Anthropology at the University of Michigan in 1969. While at Michigan, she became involved in civil rights and student issues. When she left Michigan in 1986, Sudarkasa became the first female (and the first African American woman) to serve as president of Lincoln University in Pennsylvania.
In the late 1990s, after concerns over improper use of university funds, nepotism and other financial irregularities led the state to withhold its $11,000,000 budget contribution, Sudarkasa resigned from Lincoln University.
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*Allen Toussaint, a record producer known for his New Orleans sound, was born in Gert Town, Louisiana (January 14).
Allen Toussaint (b. January 14, 1938, Gert Town, Louisiana – d. November 10, 2015, Madrid, Spain) was an American musician, songwriter, arranger and record producer, who was an influential figure in New Orleans R&B from the 1950s to the end of the century described as "one of popular music's great backroom figures". Many other musicians recorded Toussaint's compositions, including "Java", "Mother-in-Law", "I Like It Like That", "Fortune Teller", "Ride Your Pony", "Get Out of My Life, Woman", "Working in the Coal Mine", "Everything I Do Gonna be Funky", "Here Come the Girls", "Yes We Can Can", "Play Something Sweet", and "Southern Nights". As a producer, his credits included Dr. John's hit "Right Place, Wrong Time", and Labelle's "Lady Marmalade".
In 1998 Toussaint was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 2009 into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. On May 9, 2011, Allen Toussaint was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. In 2013, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama.
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*Maxine Waters was born in Kinloch, Missouri (August 15). She would become a United States Congressperson representing Los Angeles.
Waters was born 1938 in Kinloch, Missouri, to Remus and Velma Lee Carr (née Moore). Fifth out of thirteen children, Waters was raised by her single mother once her father left the family when Maxine was two. She graduated from Vashon High School in St. Louis, and moved with her family to Los Angeles, California, in 1961. She worked in a garment factory and as a telephone operator before being hired as an assistant teacher with the Head Start program at Watts in 1966. She later enrolled at Los Angeles State College (now California State University, Los Angeles) and graduated with a sociology degree in 1970.
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*Billy Williams, a Hall of Fame Major League Baseball player, was born in Whistler, Alabama (June 15).
Billy Leo Williams (b. June 15, 1938, Whistler, Alabama) was a Major League Baseball (MLB) left fielder who played sixteen seasons for the Chicago Cubs and two seasons for the Oakland Athletics. Williams was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987. In 1999, he was named a finalist for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.
Williams was one of the best Cubs players. He was the 1961 National League Rookie of the Year and was a National League (NL) and Cubs All-Star for six seasons. In 1970, Williams had a .322 batting average with 42 home runs and 129 runs batted in (RBI), led the NL with 205 hits, and was the NL Most Valuable Player runner-up. In 1972, he won the NL batting title hitting .333. Williams hit over 400 home runs in his career including 30 or more for five seasons. He also hit over .300 for five seasons and had over 100 RBI for ten seasons.
Williams was a highly competitive player on Chicago Cubs teams that never reached the post-season. When he finally played in the post-season during the next to final year of his career with the Oakland Athletics, the "A's" did not play in the World Series.
During his career, Williams accumulated a lifetime .290 batting average with 426 home runs and 1475 RBI. In 1999, he was selected as a member of the Cubs All-Century Team.
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*Maurice Williams, a singer best known for the classic hit "Stay", was born in Lancaster, South Carolina (April 26).
Maurice Williams was born April 26, 1938 in Lancaster, South Carolina. His first experience with music was in the church, where his mother and sister both performed. By the time he was six, Williams was performing regularly there. With his childhood friend Earl Gainey, Williams formed the gospel group the Junior Harmonizers. As rock and roll and doo-wop became their primary interest, the Junior Harmonizers changed their name to the Royal Charms.
In addition to Williams and Gainey, the Royal Charms were made up of Willie Jones (baritone), William Massey (tenor, baritone, trumpet), and Norman Wade (bass). In the winter of 1956, while still in high school, Williams and his band traveled to Nashville, Tennessee, to record for the Excello label. At the time they were going by the name the Royal Charms, but the founder of Excello Records, Ernie Young, convinced them to change their name to the Gladiolas (at the time, there were at least two other bands using the same name).
The song "Little Darlin'" was a #11 hit on the R&B chart in 1957, but did not break the Billboard Hot 100's Top 40. However, when it was covered by the Canadian group the Diamonds, it moved up to #2.
Williams finished high school and while on the road with the band (after their station wagon broke down in Bluefield, West Virginia), the band came across a British-built Ford car known as the Zodiac (a 'luxury' version of the Ford Zephyr built in Britain, Australia and New Zealand) and changed their name. Shortly thereafter, Henry Gatson replaced Earl Gainey.
In the spring of 1959, Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs performed at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina. Around that time, the group split and reformed. The members were Williams, Gatson, Wiley Bennett, and Charles Thomas. Later, Little Willie Morrow and Albert Hill were added. One month later, in the early summer of 1959, the band recorded in a Quonset Hut on Shakespeare Road in Columbia. The recording engineer, Homer Fesperman, recorded several tracks that the band had hoped would fetch them a hit. One of the last tracks that they recorded that day was "Stay", a song that Williams had written a couple of weeks before.
After taking the demo of "Stay" to Al Silver at Herald Records in New York City, the song was pressed and released in early 1960. At 1:36, "Stay" is the shortest recording ever to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States.
At the end of 1963, the British band the Hollies covered "Stay", which gave the group their debut Top Ten hit single in the United Kingdom (U.K.), peaking at No.8 in January 1964, three years after the Zodiacs' version had peaked at No.14 on the U.K. charts (January 1961). Later versions of "Stay", by the Four Seasons (1964) and Jackson Browne (1978), reached the Top 20 in the United States, each selling over one million copies in the United States alone. The inclusion of the Zodiacs' "Stay" on the soundtrack to the film Dirty Dancing in 1987 led to the song selling more records than it had during its original release.
A 1965 recording by the group, "May I", released by Vee Jay Records and Dee-Su Records, became, over the years, another million-selling record.
Williams continued recording, touring, and releasing music through the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. He was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2010. He also made several performances for the PBS "Doo Wop 50" show series in 2001.
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*Bill Withers, a singer-songwriter best known for his hit "Lean on Me", was born in Slab Fork, West Virginia (July 4).
*Bill Withers, a singer-songwriter best known for his hit "Lean on Me", was born in Slab Fork, West Virginia (July 4).
William Harrison "Bill" Withers, Jr. (b. July 4, 1938, Slab Fork, West Virginia) performed and recorded from 1970 until 1985. He recorded several major hits, including "Lean on Me", "Ain't No Sunshine", "Use Me", "Just the Two of Us", "Lovely Day", and "Grandma's Hands". Withers won three Grammy Awards and was nominated for four more. His life was the subject of the 2009 documentary film Still Bill. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015.
Withers was born the youngest of six children in the small coal-mining town of Slab Fork, West Virginia. He was born with a stutter and has said he had a hard time fitting in. Raised in nearby Beckley, he was thirteen years old when his father died. Withers enlisted with the United States Navy at the age of 18 and served for nine years, during which time he got over his stutter and became interested in singing and writing songs. Discharged from the Navy in 1965, he relocated to Los Angeles in 1967 to pursue a musical career. Withers worked as an assembler for several different companies, including Douglas Aircraft Corporation, while recording demo tapes with his own money, shopping them around and performing in clubs at night. When he debuted with the song "Ain't No Sunshine" he refused to resign from his job because of his belief that the music business was a fickle industry.
During early 1970, Withers' demonstration tape was auditioned favorably by Clarence Avant, owner of Sussex Records. Avant signed Withers to a record deal and assigned former Stax Records stalwart Booker T. Jones to produce Withers' first album. Four three-hour recording sessions were planned for the album, but funding caused the album to be recorded in three sessions with a six-month break between the second and final sessions. Just as I Am was released in 1971 with the tracks, "Ain't No Sunshine" and "Grandma's Hands" as singles. The album features Stephen Stills playing lead guitar. On the cover of the album, Withers is pictured at his job at Weber Aircraft in Burbank, California, holding his lunch pail.
The album was a success and Withers began touring with a band assembled from members of The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band: drummer James Gadson, guitarist Benorce Blackmon, keyboardist Ray Jackson, and bassist Melvin Dunlap.
At the 14th annual Grammy Awards on Tuesday, March 14, 1972, Withers won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Song for "Ain't No Sunshine". The track had already sold over one million copies and was awarded a platinum disc by the Recording Industry Association of America (R.I.A.A.) in September 1971.
During a hiatus from touring, Withers recorded his second album, Still Bill. The single, "Lean on Me" went to number one the week of July 8, 1972. It was Withers' second gold single with confirmed sales in excess of three million. His follow-up, "Use Me" released in August 1972, became his third million seller, with the R.I.A.A. gold disc award taking place on October 12, 1972. His performance at Carnegie Hall on October 6, 1972, was recorded, and released as the live album Bill Withers, Live at Carnegie Hall on November 30, 1972. In 1974, Withers recorded the album +'Justments. Due to a legal dispute with the Sussex company, Withers was unable to record for some time thereafter.
During this time, he wrote and produced two songs on the Gladys Knight & the Pips record I Feel a Song, and in October 1974 performed in concert together with James Brown, Etta James, and B. B. King in Zaire four weeks prior to the historic Rumble in the Jungle fight between Foreman and Ali. Footage of his performance was included in the 1996 documentary film When We Were Kings, and he is heard on the accompanying soundtrack. Other footage of his performance is included in the 2008 documentary film Soul Power which is based on archival footage of the 1974 Zaire concert.
After Sussex Records folded, Withers signed with Columbia Records in 1975. His first album release with the label, Making Music, Making Friends, included the single "She's Lonely", which was featured in the film Looking for Mr. Goodbar. During the next three years, he released an album each year with Naked & Warm (1976), Menagerie (1977, containing the successful "Lovely Day"), "Bout Love" (1978) and "Get on Down"; the latter song also included on the Looking for Mr. Goodbar soundtrack.
In 1976, Withers performed "Ain't No Sunshine" on Saturday Night Live.
Due to problems with Columbia and being unable to get songs approved for his album, he concentrated on joint projects from 1977 to 1985, including "Just the Two of Us", with jazz saxophonist Grover Washington, Jr., which was released during June 1980. It won a Grammy on February 24, 1982. Withers next did "Soul Shadows" with The Crusaders, and "In the Name of Love" with Ralph MacDonald, the latter being nominated for a Grammy for vocal performance.
In 1982, Withers was a featured vocalist on the album, "Dreams in Stone" by French singer Michel Berger. This record included one composition co-written and sung by Withers, an upbeat disco song about New York City entitled "Apple Pie." The album was not released in North America, although it contains several songs about America.
In 1985 came Watching You Watching Me, which featured the Top 40-rated R&B single "Oh Yeah", and which ended Withers' business association with Columbia Records. Withers toured with Jennifer Holiday in 1985 to promote what would be his final studio album.
In 1987, Withers received his ninth Grammy Award nomination and on March 2, 1988, his third Grammy for Best Rhythm and Blues Song as songwriter for the re-recording of "Lean on Me" by Club Nouveau on their debut album Life, Love and Pain, released in 1986 on Warner Bros. Records.
In 1996, a portion of Withers' song "Grandma's Hands" was sampled in the song "No Diggity" by BLACKstreet, featuring Dr. Dre. The single went to Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, sold 1.6 million copies and won a Grammy in 1999 for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.
Withers contributed two songs to Jimmy Buffett's 2004 release License to Chill.
In 2007, "Lean on Me" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
On January 26, 2014, at the 56th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, Bill Withers: The Complete Sussex & Columbia Albums Collection, featuring Withers' 9 studio albums, received the "Best Historical" Grammy Award (in a tie with The Rolling Stones' "Charlie Is My Darling - Ireland 1965.") The award was presented to Leo Sacks, who produced the collection, and the mastering engineers Mark Wilder, Joseph M. Palmaccio and Tom Ruff.
On April 18, 2015, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Stevie Wonder.
On October 1, 2015, there was a tribute concert at Carnegie Hall in Withers' honor, featuring Aloe Blacc, Ed Sheeran, Dr. John, Michael McDonald and Anthony Hamilton recreating his 1973 concert album, Live at Carnegie Hall, along with other Withers material. Withers was in attendance and spoke briefly onstage.
Withers married actress Denise Nicholas in 1973, during her stint on the television sitcom Room 222. The couple divorced the following year. In 1976, Withers married Marcia Withers née Johnson and they had two children, Todd and Kori.
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