Notable Births
*Earlene Brown (née Dennis; b. June 11, 1935, Latexo, Texas – d. May 1, 1983, Compton, California), an athlete notable for her careers in track and field and roller games, was born in Latexo, Texas (June 11). She competed at the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Olympics in the shot put and discus throw and won a bronze medal in the shot put in 1960.
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*Actress and singer Carol Diahann Johnson, known as Diahann Carroll, was born in the Bronx, New York (July 17). She would earn an Oscar nomination as best actress for her work in the movie Claudine.
Brown was born on July 11, 1935 in Latexo, in Houston County, Texas, a town that, according to Isobel Silden, Earlene "(could) no longer find on the map" by 1973. Earlene's father was 'a 6-footer' and a semi-pro baseball player with the Negro League in Texas. She was an only child. Her parents separated in 1938 and she followed her mother who joined the second Great Migration of Southern African-Americans to California and moved to Los Angeles.
Brown began her participation in track and field activities as a member of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Deputy Auxiliary Police after it was introduced on September 9, 1943, by Mayor Fletcher Bowron. She competed and excelled in the basketball throw, which led up to the shot put. While attending Jordan High, she was discovered by Adeline Valdez, Josephine Spearman and Clarence Mackey, who tried to get her to turn out for the Helsinki Olympics, but she was then "too busy going to dances".
Brown joined the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) at 21 in 1956, by which time she was already married to Henry Brown, a bricklayer, and had a baby boy, Reginald, born November 19, 1954. There, she started weight lifting under the tutelage of Des Koch, while America's original javelin technician Steve Seymour coached her in shot and discus. Seeing Brown throw, Seymour was convinced she had potential as a gold medalist and decided to send her to the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. Since the Browns could not afford to pay for Earlene's training and traveling expenses, Brad Pye Jr., an influential sports editor of the Los Angeles Sentinel and African-American community activist, led a campaign that raised funds to support her. Shortly thereafter, though, Brown and her husband separated and her son, Reggie, was left in the care of his grandmother. To support herself, Brown began attending Henrietta's Beauty College to become a hairdresser.
From 1959 on, Brown was associated with the Tennessee State University "Tigerbelles", whose coach Ed Temple was also the Head Coach of the United States Olympic Women's Track and Field Team. Temple spent time 'getting Earlene in shape' for the 1960 Games and Earlene then became one of Wilma Rudolph's closest friends. At the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, Brown won the bronze medal in the women's shot put. In the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Brown – who was short-sighted and wore heavy glasses as a consequence, except when throwing – was "beset by both wind and rain and lost her footing and a chance to get a toehold on the crown". In 1965, she retired from shot put competition. The same year she became a skater. As a blocker for the New York Bombers Roller Derby team, she was dubbed the "Brown Bomber". In 1975, after retiring from all athletic endeavors, she returned to her practice as a beautician. She died aged 47, on May 1, 1983 in Compton, California.
Brown was the first American woman to medal in the shot put, one of the only two United States women to place at Rome and the only shot-putter to compete in three consecutive Olympics. Her events of choice were the shot put and discus throwing. Brown finished in the top ten in the shot put and discus in the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, setting American records in both events.
Brown was an eight-time (1956–1962 and 1964) and three-time (1958, 1959 and 1961) national champion in the shot put and discus, respectively. In 1958 she received the No. 1 world ranking and became the first American to break the 50-foot barrier in the shot put. In 1959, she won gold medals in both the shot put and discus events at the Pan American Games. On December 1, 2005, Brown was posthumously inducted in the National Track and Field Hall of Fame by the USA Track and Field (USATF) during the Jesse Owens Awards and Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony held in Jacksonville, Florida.
After her career in the international track and field community, Brown made her debut in the banked track sport of roller games in 1965. She began her skating career with Roller Games' Texas Outlaws and New York Bombers. At almost 6 feet tall (on skates) and over 250 pounds, Brown quickly became one of the sport's most feared defensive skaters – her signature move being "the bear hug." After a brief retirement, Brown returned to roller games, skating with the World Famous, World Champion Los Angeles Thunderbirds. It was at this juncture that she became known in the sport as "747" because of her size and weight. After the 1975 season, Brown permanently retired from roller games.
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*Actress and singer Carol Diahann Johnson, known as Diahann Carroll, was born in the Bronx, New York (July 17). She would earn an Oscar nomination as best actress for her work in the movie Claudine.
Diahann Carroll (b. Carol Diahann Johnson, July 17, 1935, Bronx, New York) is an American television and stage actress and singer known for her performances in some of the earliest major studio films to feature African American casts, including Carmen Jones (1954) and Porgy and Bess (1959) as well as on Broadway. Julia (1968) was one of the first series on American television to star an African American woman in a non-stereotypical role and was followed by her portrayal of Dominique Devereaux in the primetime soap opera Dynasty over three seasons. She is the recipient of numerous stage and screen nominations and awards, including her 1968 Golden Globe Award for "Best Actress In A Television Series" in 1968.
Carroll was born in the Bronx, New York, to John Johnson, of Aiken, South Carolina, and Mabel (Faulk), of Bladenboro, North Carolina. When Carroll was an infant, the family moved to Harlem, where she grew up. She attended Music and Art High School, and was a classmate of Billy Dee Williams. In many interviews about her childhood, Diahann Carroll recalls her parents' support of her and that they enrolled her in dance, singing, and modeling classes. By the time Diahann Carroll was 15, she was modeling for Ebony. She was tall, with a lean model's build. After graduating from high school, Diahann Carroll attended New York University, majoring in sociology.
At the age of 18, Carroll got her big break when she appeared as a contestant on the Dumont Television Network program, Chance of a Lifetime, hosted by Dennis James. On the show which aired January 8, 1954, Carroll took the $1,000 top prize for her rendition of the Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein song, "Why Was I Born?" She went on to win the following four weeks. Engagements at Manhattan's Cafe Society and Latin Quarter nightclubs soon followed.
Carroll's film debut was a supporting role in Carmen Jones (1954) as a rival to the sultry lead character, Dorothy Dandridge. That same year, she starred in the Broadway musical, House of Flowers. In 1959, she played Clara in the film version of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, but her character's singing parts were dubbed by opera singer Loulie Jean Norman. She made a guest appearance in the series Peter Gunn, in the 1960 episode "Sing a Song of Murder". She starred with Sidney Poitier, Paul Newman, and Joanne Woodward in the 1961 film Paris Blues. In 1962, she won the Tony Award for best actress (a first for an African American woman) for the role of Barbara Woodruff in the Samuel A. Taylor and Richard Rodgers musical No Strings. In 1974, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for Claudine.
Carroll is known for her title role in the 1968 television series Julia, which made her the first African American actress to star in her own television series where she did not play a domestic worker. That role won her the Golden Globe Award for "Best Actress In A Television Series" in 1968, and a nomination for an Emmy Award in 1969. Some of her earlier work included appearances on shows hosted by Jack Paar, Merv Griffin, Johnny Carson, Judy Garland, and Ed Sullivan, and on The Hollywood Palace variety show.
In 1984, Carroll joined the nighttime soap opera Dynasty as the jetsetter Dominique Deveraux, half-sister of Blake Carrington. Her high-profile role on Dynasty also reunited her with schoolmate Billy Dee Williams, who briefly played her onscreen husband Brady Lloyd. Carroll remained on the show until 1987, simultaneously making several appearances on its short-lived spin-off, The Colbys. She received her third Emmy nomination in 1989 for the recurring role of Marion Gilbert in A Different World. In 1991, Carroll played the role of Eleanor Potter, the wife of Jimmy Potter, portrayed by Chuck Patterson, in The Five Heartbeats, a musical drama film in which Jimmy manages a vocal group. In this role, Carroll was a doting, concerned, and protective wife alongside actor and musician Robert Townsend, Leon Michael Wright, and others. In a reunion with Billy Dee Williams in the television series Lonesome Dove in 1995, she played Mrs. Greyson, the wife of Williams' character. In 1996, Carroll starred as the crazed silent movie star Norma Desmond in the Canadian production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical version of the classic film Sunset Boulevard.
In 2001, Carroll made her animation début in The Legend of Tarzan, in which she voiced Queen La, an evil sorceress and ruler of the ancient city of Opar.
In 2006, Carroll appeared in the television medical drama Grey's Anatomy as Jane Burke, the demanding mother of Dr. Preston Burke. In December 2008, Carroll was cast in the USA Network's series White Collar as June, the savvy widow who rents out her guest room to Neal Caffrey. In 2010, Carroll was featured in UniGlobe Entertainment's breast cancer docudrama entitled, 1 a Minute, and appeared as Nana in two Lifetime movies: At Risk and The Front, movie adaptations of two Patricia Cornwell novels.
Diahann Carroll was present on stage for the 2013 Emmy Awards, to briefly speak about her retrospective of being the first African American nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. However, actually, at least three African American performers were nominated before Carroll, who was first nominated in 1963. These performers include: Ethel Waters for a guest appearance on Route 66, in 1962; Harry Belafonte, nominated in 1956 and 1961 and winning in 1960; and Sammy Davis, Jr., who was nominated in 1956 with Belafonte.
Carroll married four times, first to record producer Monte Kay. The union produced a daughter, Suzanne Kay Bamford (b. September 9, 1960), who became a freelance media journalist. In 1973, Carroll surprised the press by marrying Las Vegas boutique owner Fred Glusman. Several weeks later, she filed for divorce, charging Glusman with physical abuse. In 1975, she married Robert DeLeon, a managing editor of Jet. She was widowed two years later when DeLeon was killed in a car crash. Carroll's fourth marriage was to singer Vic Damone in 1987. The union, which Carroll admitted was turbulent, had a legal separation in 1991, reconciliation, and divorce in 1996. Carroll for a time also dated and was engaged to British television host and producer David Frost.
*Paul Chambers, a jazz double bassist, was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (April 22).
Paul Laurence Dunbar Chambers, Jr., (b. April 22, 1935, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - d. January 4, 1969, New York City, New York) was a jazz double bassist. A fixture of rhythm sections during the 1950s and 1960s, his importance in the development of jazz bass can be measured not only by the length and breadth of his work in this short period but also his impeccable time and intonation, and virtuosic improvisations. He was also known for his bowed solos.
Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on April 22, 1935, to Paul Lawrence Chambers and Margaret Echos. He was raised in Detroit, Michigan following the death of his mother. He began playing music with several of his schoolmates. The baritone horn was his first instrument. Later he took up the tuba.
Chambers became a string bassist around 1949. His formal bass training got going in earnest in 1952, when he began taking lessons with a bassist in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Chambers did some classical work himself, with a group called the Detroit String Band that was, in effect, a rehearsal symphony orchestra. Studying at Cass Technical High School off and on from 1952 to 1955, he played in Cass' own symphony, and in various other student groups, one of which had him playing baritone saxophone. By the time he left for New York City at the invitation of tenor saxophonist Paul Quinichette, he had absorbed a working knowledge of many instruments.
Jazz bass players were largely limited to timekeeping with drums, until Duke Ellington's bassist Jimmy Blanton began a transformation in the instrument's role at the end of the 1930s. Chambers was about 15 when he started to listen to Charlie Parker and Bud Powell, his first jazz influences. Oscar Pettiford and Ray Brown were the first bassists he admired, and these were followed by Percy Heath, Milt Hinton and Wendell Marshall for their rhythm section work, and Charles Mingus and George Duvivier for their technical prowess and for their efforts in broadening the scope of jazz bass. Blanton was his all-time favorite. Playing his first gig at one of the little bars in the Hastings Street area, he was soon doing club jobs with Thad Jones, Barry Harris and others.
From 1954 on through 1955, Chambers gained promenance touring with such musicians as Bennie Green, Quinichette, George Wallington, J. J. Johnson and Kai Winding. In 1955, he joined the Miles Davis quintet, staying on with the group until 1963 and appearing on many classic albums, including Kind of Blue. One of Chambers's most noted performances was on that album's first track, "So What", which opens with a brief duet featuring Chambers and pianist Bill Evans. The sessions for Kind of Blue were challenging for all of the musicians, working to the peak of their musical abilities. Chambers' contribution on Kind of Blue is considered to be some of the most rhythmically and harmonically supportive bass playing in the history of jazz.
From 1963 until 1968, Chambers played with the Wynton Kelly trio. He freelanced frequently as a sideman for other important names in jazz throughout his career.
During the course of his lifetime Paul Chambers developed addictions to both alcohol and heroin. On January 4, 1969, he died of tuberculosis at the age of 33.
From 1963 until 1968, Chambers played with the Wynton Kelly trio. He freelanced frequently as a sideman for other important names in jazz throughout his career.
During the course of his lifetime Paul Chambers developed addictions to both alcohol and heroin. On January 4, 1969, he died of tuberculosis at the age of 33.
Chambers' accompaniment and solos with Davis and other leaders remain distinctive and influential. He and Slam Stewart were among the first jazz bassists to perform arco or bowed features. From his role in the Davis band, Chambers was the bassist in two rhythm sections. The first, with Red Garland on piano and Philly Joe Jones on drums, came to be known as "the rhythm section," -- a name featured on a celebrated album by saxophonist Art Pepper, Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section. The second, with Wynton Kelly and Jimmy Cobb, made many sessions as a unit, recording albums with John Coltrane, Wes Montgomery, the celebrated track "Freddie Freeloader" in Miles Davis' Kind of Blue, and by themselves under Kelly's name in albums such as Kelly Blue.
Paul Chambers was in great demand as a session musician, and played on numerous albums during the period he was active including such landmarks as Thelonious Monk's Brilliant Corners, Coltrane's Giant Steps, and Oliver Nelson's The Blues and the Abstract Truth. Many musicians wrote songs dedicated to Chambers. Long-time fellow Davis bandmate, pianist Red Garland, wrote the tune "The P.C. Blues", and Coltrane's song "Mr. P.C." is named after Chambers. Tommy Flanagan wrote "Big Paul", which was performed on the Kenny Burrell and John Coltrane Prestige 1958 LP. Max Roach wrote a drum solo called "Five For Paul", on a 1977 drum solo LP recorded in Japan, and Sonny Rollins wrote "Paul's Pal" for him as well.
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*Eldridge Cleaver, the author of Soul On Ice, was born in Wabbaseka, Arkansas (August 31).
Leroy Eldridge Cleaver (b. August 31, 1935, Wabbaseka (near Little Rock), Arkansas – d. May 1, 1998, Pomona, California), better known as Eldridge Cleaver, was an American writer, and political activist who became an early leader of the Black Panther Party. His 1968 book Soul On Ice is a collection of essays, praised by The New York Times Book Review at the time of its publication as "brilliant and revealing".
Cleaver was an inmate of correctional institutions in California almost constantly from his junior high school days until 1966 for crimes ranging from possession of marijuana to assault with intent to commit murder. While in prison, Cleaver supplemented his incomplete education with wide reading and became a follower of the Black Muslim separatist Malcolm X. Cleaver also began writing the essays that would eventually be collected in Soul on Ice, and whose publication in Ramparts magazine helped him win parole in 1966.
Cleaver was an inmate of correctional institutions in California almost constantly from his junior high school days until 1966 for crimes ranging from possession of marijuana to assault with intent to commit murder. While in prison, Cleaver supplemented his incomplete education with wide reading and became a follower of the Black Muslim separatist Malcolm X. Cleaver also began writing the essays that would eventually be collected in Soul on Ice, and whose publication in Ramparts magazine helped him win parole in 1966.
After being paroled, Cleaver met Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, who had just founded the the Black Panther Party in Oakland, California. Cleaver soon became the party’s minister of information. The publication in 1968 of Soul on Ice, a collection of angry memoirs in which Cleaver traced his political evolution while denouncing American racism, made him a leading black radical spokesman. In April 1968, however, he was involved in a shoot-out in Oakland between Black Panthers and police that left one Panther dead and Cleaver and two police officers wounded. Faced with re-imprisonment after the shoot-out, Cleaver jumped bail in November 1968 and fled first to Cuba and then to Algeria.
In exile, Cleaver held the title of Head of the International Section of the Panthers. As editor of the official Panther's newspaper, Cleaver's influence on the direction of the Party was rivaled only by founders Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. Cleaver and Newton eventually fell out with each other, resulting in a split that weakened the party.
Having broken with the Panthers in 1971 and grown disillusioned with communism, Cleaver returned voluntarily to the United States in 1975. The charges against him were dropped in 1979 when he pled guilty to assault in connection with the 1968 shoot-out and was put on five years’ probation.
Cleaver wrote in Soul on Ice: "If a man like Malcolm X could change and repudiate racism, if I myself and other former Muslims can change, if young whites can change, then there is hope for America."
During his exile, Cleaver became a born again Christian during his year of isolation while living underground.
In the early 1980s, Cleaver became disillusioned with what he saw as the commercial nature of evangelical Christiantiy and examined alternatives, including Sun Myung Moon's campus ministry organization CARP {Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles}, and Mormonism. He later led a short-lived revivalist ministry called Eldridge Cleaver Crusades, a hybrid synthesis of Islam and Christianity he called "Christlam".
Cleaver was later baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS Church) on December 11, 1983. He periodically attended regular LDS services, lectured by invitation at LDS gatherings, and was a member of the church in good standing at the time of his death in 1998.
In his later years, Cleaver engaged in various business ventures, but struggled with an addiction to cocaine.Cleaver wrote in Soul on Ice: "If a man like Malcolm X could change and repudiate racism, if I myself and other former Muslims can change, if young whites can change, then there is hope for America."
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*George Coleman, a hard bop saxophonist, bandleader, and composer known chiefly for his work with Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock in the 1960s, was born in Memphis, Tennessee (March 8). He was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master 2015.
Coleman was taught how to play the alto saxophone in his teens by his older brother Lucian Adams, inspired (like many jazz musicians of his generation) by Charlie Parker. Among his schoolmates were Harold Mabern, Booker Little, Frank Strozier, Hank Crawford, and Charles Lloyd. After working with Ray Charles, Coleman started working with B. B. King in 1953, at which point he switched to tenor saxophone. In 1956, Coleman moved to Chicago, along with Booker Little, where he worked with Gene Ammons and Johnny Griffin before joining Max Roach's quintet (1958–1959). Coleman recorded with organist Jimmy Smith on his album Houseparty (1957), along with Lee Morgan, Curtis Fuller, Kenny Burrell, and Donald Bailey. Moving to New York City with Max Roach in that year, he went on to play with Slide Hampton (1959–1962), Ron Carter, Jimmy Cobb, and Wild Bill Davis (1962), before joining Miles Davis' quintet in 1963–1964.
His albums with Davis (and the rhythm section of Herbie Hancock (piano), Ron Carter (bass), and Tony Williams (drums)) are Seven Steps to Heaven (1963), A Rare Home Town Appearance (1963), Côte Blues (1963), In Europe (1963), My Funny Valentine (1964) and Four & More, both live recordings of a concert in Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City in February 1964. Shortly after this concert, Coleman was replaced by Wayne Shorter. Nevertheless, Davis retained a high opinion of Coleman's playing, stating that "George played everything almost perfectly...He was a hell of a musician." Coleman played with Lionel Hampton (1965–1966), also in 1965 and on Chet Baker's The Prestige Sessions, with Kirk Lightsey, Herman Wright, and Roy Brooks. Charles Mingus (1977–1978), Shirley Scott (1972), Clark Terry, Horace Silver, Elvin Jones (1968), Cedar Walton (1975), Ahmad Jamal (1994, 2000), and many others.
Coleman also appeared in the science-fiction film Freejack (1992), starring Emilio Estevez, Mick Jagger, and Anthony Hopkins; and 1996's The Preacher's Wife, with Denzel Washington and Whitney Houston.
Coleman recorded into the 2000s. His CD as co-leader, Four Generations of Miles: A Live Tribute to Miles, with bassist Ron Carter, drummer Jimmy Cobb and guitarist Mike Stern was released on Chesky Records in October 2002, and it concentrates almost exclusively on the 1950s repertoire of Miles Davis. Tracks include: "There Is No Greater Love", "All Blues", "On Green Dolphin Street", "Blue in Green", "81", "Freddie Freeloader", "My Funny Valentine", "If I Were A Bell", and "Oleo". He was featured on Joey DeFrancesco's 2006 release Organic Vibes, along with vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, Billboard's Top Jazz Album, peaked to No. 17.
Coleman was married to jazz organist Gloria Coleman and is father to jazz drummer George Coleman Jr.
George Coleman was named to the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2015, and received a brass note on the Beale Street Brass Notes Walk of Fame.
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*James Cotton, a blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter who performed and recorded with many of the great blues artists of his time, was born in Tunica, Mississippi (July 1).
James Henry Cotton (b. July 1, 1935, Tunica, Mississippi – d. March 16, 2017, Austin, Texas) played drums early in his career but is most famous for his harmonica playing.
Cotton began his professional career playing the blues harp in Howlin' Wolf's band in the early 1950s. He made his first recordings in Memphis for Sun Records, under the direction of Sam Phillips. In 1955, he was recruited by Muddy Waters to come to Chicago and join his band. Cotton became Muddy's bandleader and stayed with the group until 1965. In 1965, he formed the Jimmy Cotton Blues Quartet, with Otis Spann on piano, to record between gigs with the Muddy Waters band. He eventually left to form his own full-time touring group. His first full album, on Verve Records, was produced by guitarist Mike Bloomfield and vocalist and songwriter Nick Gravenites, who later were members of the band Electric Flag.
In the 1970s, Cotton played harmonica on Muddy Waters' Grammy Award winning 1977 album Hard Again, produced by Johnny Winter.
Born in Tunica, Mississippi, Cotton became interested in music when he first heard Sonny Boy Williamson II on the radio. He left home with his uncle and moved to West Helena, Arkansas, finding Williamson there. For many years Cotton claimed that he told Williamson that he was an orphan and that Williamson took him in and raised him, a story he admitted in later years was not true. However, Williamson did mentor Cotton during his early years. Williamson left the South to live with his estranged wife in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, leaving his band in Cotton's hands. Cotton was quoted as saying, "He just gave it to me. But I couldn't hold it together 'cause I was too young and crazy in those days an' everybody in the band was grown men, so much older than me."
Cotton played drums early in his career but is famous for his harmonica playing. He began his professional career playing the blues harp in Howlin' Wolf's band in the early 1950s. He made his first recordings as a solo artist for Sun Records in Memphis in 1953. In 1954, he recorded an electric blues single "Cotton Crop Blues", which featured a heavily distorted power chord-driven electric guitar solo by Pat Hare. Cotton began working with the Muddy Waters Band around 1955. He performed songs such as "Got My Mojo Working" and "She's Nineteen Years Old", although he did not play on the original recordings; Little Walter, Waters' long-time harmonica player, played for most of Waters' recording sessions in the 1950s. Cotton's first recording session with Waters took place in June 1957, and he alternated with Little Walter on Waters' recording sessions until the end of the decade.
In 1965 he formed the Jimmy Cotton Blues Quartet, with Otis Spann on piano, to record between gigs with Waters's band. Their performances were captured by producer Samuel Charters on volume two of the Vanguard recording Chicago/The Blues/Today! After leaving Waters's band in 1966, Cotton toured with Janis Joplin while pursuing a solo career. He formed the James Cotton Blues Band in 1967. The band mainly performed its own arrangements of popular blues and R&B from the 1950s and 1960s. Cotton's band included a horn section, like that of Bobby Bland's. After Bland's death, his son told news media that Bland had recently discovered that Cotton was his half-brother.
In the 1970s, Cotton recorded several albums for Buddah Records. He played harmonica on Waters' Grammy Award winning 1977 Hard Again, produced by Johnny Winter. In the 1980s he recorded for Alligator Records in Chicago and he rejoined the Alligator roster in 2010. The James Cotton Blues Band received a Grammy nomination in 1984 for Live from Chicago: Mr. Superharp Himself!, on Alligator, and a second for his 1987 album Take Me Back, on Blind Pig Records. He was awarded a Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album for Deep in the Blues in 1996. Cotton appeared on the cover of the July–August 1987 issue of Living Blues magazine (number 76). He was featured in the same publication's 40th anniversary issue of August–September 2010.
In 2006, Cotton was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame at a ceremony conducted by the Blues Foundation in Memphis. He won or shared ten Blues Music Awards.
Cotton battled throat cancer in the mid-1990s, but he continued to tour, using singers or his backing band members as vocalists. On March 10, 2008, Cotton and Ben Harper performed at the induction of Little Walter into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, playing "Juke" and "My Babe" together. The induction ceremony was broadcast nationwide on VH1 Classic. On August 30, 2010, Cotton was the special guest on Larry Monroe's farewell broadcast of Blue Monday, which he hosted on KUT in Austin, Texas, for nearly 30 years.
Cotton's studio album Giant, released by Alligator Records in late September 2010, was nominated for a Grammy Award. His album Cotton Mouth Man, also on Alligator, released on May 7, 2013, was also a Grammy nominee. It includes guest appearances by Gregg Allman, Joe Bonamassa, Ruthie Foster, Delbert McClinton, Warren Haynes, Keb Mo, Chuck Leavell and Colin Linden. Cotton played harmonica on "Matches Don't Burn Memories" on the debut album by the Dr. Izzy Band, Blind & Blues Bound, released in June 2013. In 2014, Cotton won a Blues Music Award for Traditional Male Blues Artist and was also nominated in the category Best Instrumentalist – Harmonica.
Cotton died at a medical center in Austin, Texas, from pneumonia on March 16, 2017 at the age of 81.
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*Sugar Pie DeSanto, a Filipino-African American rhythm and blues singer of the 1950s and 1960s, was born in Brooklyn, New York (October 16).
Sugar Pie DeSanto (b. Peylia Marsema Balinton, October 16, 1935, Brooklyn, New York) was born to an African-American mother, who was a concert pianist, and a Filipino father. She spent most of her early life in San Francisco, California, where she moved with her family at the age of four. She stood 4 feet 11 inches (1.50 m). As a girl she was friends with Etta James.
Johnny Otis discovered DeSanto in 1955, and she toured with the Johnny Otis Revue. Otis gave her the stage name Sugar Pie. In 1959 and 1960, DeSanto toured with the James Brown Revue.
In 1960, DeSanto rose to national prominence when her single "I Want to Know" reached number four on Billboard's Hot R&B chart. She recorded the song with her husband, Pee Wee Kingsley. Soon thereafter their marriage ended. DeSanto moved to Chicago and signed with Chess Records in 1962 as a recording artist and writer. Among her recordings for Chess were "Slip-in Mules", "Use What You Got", "Soulful Dress" (her biggest hit for Chess), and "I Don't Wanna Fuss". DeSanto participated in the American Folk Blues Festival tour of Europe in 1964, and her lively performances, including wild dancing and standing back flips, were widely appreciated.
In 1965 DeSanto, under the name Peylia Parham, began a writing collaboration with Shena DeMell. They produced the song "Do I Make Myself Clear", which DeSanto sang as a duet with Etta James. It reached the top 10. It was followed by another DeSanto–James duet, "In the Basement", in 1966. DeSanto's next record, "Go Go Power", did not make the charts, and she and Chess parted ways.
DeSanto kept on writing songs and recorded for a few more labels without much success. She eventually moved back to the Bay Area, settling in Oakland.
Though it has often been said that her stage performances far surpassed her studio recordings, a full-length live recording, Classic Sugar Pie, was not released until 1997.
DeSanto was given a Bay Area Music Award in 1999 for best female blues singer. In September 2008, she was given a Pioneer Award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. She received a lifetime achievement award from the Goldie Awards in November 2009.
DeSanto was married to Pee Wee Kingsley in the 1950s. After that marriage ended, she was married to Jesse Earl Davis for 27 years. In October 2006, Davis died attempting to extinguish a fire that destroyed their apartment in Oakland, California.
*Reverend Ike, a televangelist, was born in Ridgeland, South Carolina (June 1).
Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II, better known as Reverend Ike (b. June 1, 1935, Ridgeland, South Carolina – d, July 28, 2009, Los Angeles, California) was a minister and electronic evangelist based in New York City. He was known for the slogan "You can't lose with the stuff I use!" His preaching is considered a form of prosperity theology.
Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II was born in Ridgeland, South Carolina, to parents from the Netherlands Antilles, and was of African American and Indo (Dutch-Indonesian) descent. He began his career as a teenage preacher and became assistant pastor at Bible Way Church in Ridgeland, South Carolina. After serving a stint in the Air Force as a Chaplain Service Specialist (a non-commissioned officer assigned to assist commissioned Air Force chaplains), he founded, successively, the United Church of Jesus Christ for All People in Beaufort, South Carolina, the United Christian Evangelistic Association in Boston, Massachusetts, his main corporate entity, and the Christ Community United Church in New York City.
Known popularly as "Reverend Ike," his ministry reached its peak in the mid 1970s, when his weekly radio sermons were carried by hundreds of stations across the United States. He was famous for his "Blessing Plan" – radio listeners sent him money and in return he blessed them. He said doing this would make radio listeners who did it more prosperous. He was criticized for his overt interest in financial remuneration.
"This is the do-it-yourself church," he would say tossing aside the Apostle Paul and channeling Ayn Rand. "The only savior in this philosophy is God in you."
When it came to the worship of Mammon, Reverend Ike was as transparent as they come. "It is the lack of money that is the root of all evil," he used to say. "The best thing you can do for the poor is not to be one of them." Reverend Ike's theology was indistinguishable from the fever dream of the most unrepentant capitalist: "Forget about the pie-in-the-sky; get yours here and now."
Reverend Ike bought the Loew's 175th Street Theatre movie palace in the Washington Heights neighborhood for over half a million dollars, renamed it the "Palace Cathedral" – although colloquially it was known as "Reverend Ike's Prayer Tower" – and had it fully restored. Restorations included the seven-story high, twin chamber Robert Morton organ. The "Miracle Star of Faith", visible from the George Washington Bridge, tops the building’s cupola. He was also the "chancellor" of the United Church Schools, including the Science of Living Institute and Seminary (which awarded him, his wife, and his son Doctor of the Science of Living degrees); the Business of Living Institute (home of Thinkonomics); and other educational projects.
Ike and his wife, Eula M. Dent, had one son, Xavier Eikerenkoetter. Reverend Ike died in Los Angeles, California, on July 28, 2009. His son took over the church.
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*Gail Fisher, an actress who was the first African American woman to win a Golden Globe and an Emmy, was born in Orange, New Jersey (August 18).
Gail Fisher (b. August 18, 1935, Orange, New Jersey – d. December 2, 2000, Los Angeles, California) was one of the first African American women to play substantive roles in American television. She was best known for playing the role of secretary Peggy Fair on the television detective series Mannix from 1968 through 1975, a role for which she won two Golden Globe Awards and an Emmy Award. Fisher became the first black woman to win a Golden Globe.
The youngest of five children, Fisher was born in Orange, New Jersey. Her father died when she was two years old, and she was raised by her mother, Ona Fisher, who raised her family with a home-operated hair-styling business while living in the Potter's Crossing neighborhood of Edison, New Jersey. She graduated from Metuchen High School in Metuchen, New Jersey. During her teenaged years, she was a cheerleader and entered several beauty contests, winning the titles of Miss Transit, Miss Black New Jersey, and Miss Press Photographer.
In a contest sponsored by Coca-Cola, Fisher won the opportunity to spend two years studying acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. As a student of acting in New York City, she worked with Lee Strasberg and became a member of the Repertory Theater at Lincoln Center, where she worked with Elia Kazan and Herbert Blau. As a young woman, she also worked as a model.
Fisher made her first television appearance in 1960 at age 25, appearing in the syndicated program Play of the Week. Also during the early 1960s, she appeared in a television commercial for All laundry detergent, which she said made her "the first black female -- no, make that black, period -- to make a national TV commercial, on camera, with lines." In 1965, Herbert Blau cast her in a theatrical production of Danton's Death.
Fisher first appeared in Mannix during the second season, when Mannix left the detective firm Intertect and set up shop as a private investigator. In 1968, she made guest appearances on the television series My Three Sons; Love, American Style; and Room 222. In 1970, her work on Mannix was honored when she received the Emmy Award for outstanding performance by an actress in a dramatic supporting role. In winning the Emmy, she beat out Susan Saint James of The Name of the Game and Barbara Anderson of Ironside, becoming the first African American woman to win an Emmy Award. After Mannix was canceled in 1975, Fisher rarely appeared on television. She guest-starred in a 1980 episode of The White Shadow.
Fisher was married and divorced twice. She had two daughters, Samara and Jole, from her 1964 marriage to John Levy. Her marriage to Wali Muhammad (Walter Youngblood), famed cornerman to Sugar Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali, ended in divorce when he changed religions. Wali was also an assistant minister to Malcolm X at Nation of Islam Mosque No. 7.
Gail Fisher died in Los Angeles in 2000, aged 65.
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*Bob Gibson, a Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher, was born in Omaha, Nebraska (November 9).
Robert "Bob" Gibson (b. November 9, 1935, Omaha, Nebraska), a baseball pitcher who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals (1959–75), was born in Omaha, Nebraska. Nicknamed "Gibby" and "Hoot", Gibson tallied 251 wins, 3,117 strikeouts, and a 2.91 earned run average (ERA) during his career. A nine-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion, he won two Cy Young Awards and the 1968 National League (NL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award. In 1981, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. The Cardinals retired his uniform number 45 in September 1975 and inducted him into the team Hall of Fame in 2014.
Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Gibson overcame childhood illness to excel in youth sports, particularly basketball and baseball. After briefly playing under contract to both the basketball Harlem Globetrotters team and the St. Louis Cardinals organization, Gibson decided to continue playing only baseball professionally. Once becoming a full-time starting pitcher in July 1961, Gibson began experiencing an increasing level of success, earning his first All-Star appearance in 1962. Gibson won two of three games he pitched in the 1964 World Series, then won 20 games in a season for the first time in 1965. Gibson also pitched three complete game victories in the 1967 World Series.
The pinnacle of Gibson's career was 1968, when he posted a 1.12 ERA for the season and then followed that by recording 17 strikeouts during Game 1 of the 1968 World Series. Over the course of his career, Gibson became known for his fierce competitive nature and the intimidation factor he used against opposing batters. Gibson threw a no-hitter during the 1971 season, but began experiencing swelling in his knee in subsequent seasons. After retiring as a player in 1975, Gibson later served as pitching coach for his former teammate Joe Torre. At one time a special instructor coach for the St. Louis Cardinals, Gibson was later selected for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999.
Gibson was born in Omaha, Nebraska, the last of Pack and Victoria Gibson's seven children (five boys and two girls). Gibson's father died of tuberculosis three months prior to Gibson's birth, and Gibson himself was named Pack Robert Gibson in his father's honor. While he revered his father's legacy, Gibson disliked the name Pack, and later changed his first name to Robert. Despite a childhood that included health problems like rickets, and a serious case of either asthma or pneumonia when he was three, Gibson was active in sports in both informal and organized settings, particularly baseball and basketball. Gibson's brother Josh (no relation to the Negro Leagues star player), who was 15 years his senior, had a profound impact on his early life, serving as a mentor to him. Gibson played on a number of youth basketball and baseball teams his brother coached, many of which were organized through the local YMCA.
Gibson attended Omaha Technical High School, where during his tenure he participated on the track, basketball, and baseball teams. Health issues resurfaced for Gibson, though, and he needed a doctor's permission to compete in high school sports because of a heart murmur that occurred in tandem with a rapid growth spurt. Gibson was named to the All-State basketball team during his senior year of high school by a newspaper in Lincoln, Nebraska, and soon after won a full athletic scholarship for basketball to Creighton University.
While at Creighton, Gibson majored in sociology, and continued to experience success playing basketball. At the end of Gibson's junior basketball season he averaged 22 points per game, and made third team Jesuit All-American. As his graduation from Creighton approached, the spring of 1957 proved to be a busy time for Gibson. Aside from getting married, Gibson had garnered the interest of Harlem Globetrotters basketball team and the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team. In 1957, Gibson received a $3,000 bonus to sign with the Cardinals. He delayed his start with the organization for a year, playing basketball with the Harlem Globetrotters, earning the nickname "Bullet" and becoming famous for backhanded dunks.
Gibson was assigned to the Cardinals' big league roster for the start of the 1959 season, recording his Major League debut on April 15 as a relief pitcher. Reassigned to the Cardinals minor league affiliate in Omaha soon after, Gibson returned to the Major Leagues on July 30 as a starting pitcher, earning his first Major League win that day. Gibson's experience in 1960 was similar, pitching nine innings for the Cardinals before shuffling between the Cardinals and their Rochester affiliate until mid-June. After posting a 3–6 record with a 5.61 ERA, Gibson traveled to Venezuela to participate in winter baseball at the conclusion of the 1960 season. Cardinals manager Solly Hemus shuffled Gibson between the bullpen and the starting pitching rotation for the first half of the 1961 season. In a 2011 documentary, Gibson indicated that Hemus's racial prejudice played a major role in his misuse of Gibson, as well as of teammate Curt Flood, both of whom were told by Hemus that they wouldn't make it as major leaguers, and should try something else. Hemus was replaced as Cardinals manager in July 1961 by Johnny Keane, who had been Gibson's manager on the Omaha minor league affiliate several years prior. Keane and Gibson shared a positive professional relationship, and Keane immediately moved Gibson into the starting pitching rotation full-time. Gibson proceeded to compile an 11–6 record the remainder of the year, and posted a 3.24 ERA for the full season.
In late May of the 1962 season, Gibson pitched 22 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings on his way to being named to his first National League All-Star team. Because of an additional All-Star Game played each season from 1959 to 1962, Gibson was named to the second 1962 All-Star Game as well, where he pitched two innings. After suffering a fractured ankle late in the season, Gibson, sometimes referred to by the nickname "Hoot" (a reference to western film star Hoot Gibson), still finished 1962 with his first 200 plus strikeout season. The rehabilitation of Gibson's ankle was a slow process, and by May 19 of the 1963 season he had recorded only one win. Gibson then began to rely on his slider and two different fastball pitches to reel off six straight wins prior to late July.
Gibson and all other National League pitchers benefited from a rule change that expanded the strike zone above the belt buckle. Adding to his pitching performances was Gibson's offensive production, with his 20 RBIs outmatching the combined RBI output of entire pitching staffs on other National League teams. Even with Gibson's 18 wins and the extra motivation of teammate Stan Musial's impending retirement, the Cardinals finished six games out of first place.
Building off their late season pennant run in 1963, the 1964 Cardinals developed a strong camaraderie that was noted for being free of the racial tension that predominated in the United States at that time. Part of this atmosphere stemmed from the integration of the team's spring training hotel in 1960, and Gibson and teammate Bill White worked to confront and stop use of racial slurs within the team. On August 23, the Cardinals were 11 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies, and remained six and half games behind on September 21. The combination of a nine-game Cardinals winning streak and a ten-game Phillies losing streak then brought the season down to the final game. The Cardinals faced the New York Mets, and Gibson entered the game as a relief pitcher in the fifth inning. Aware that the Phillies were ahead of the Cincinnati Reds 4–0 at the time he entered the game, Gibson proceeded to pitch four innings of two-hit relief, while his teammates scored 11 runs of support to earn the victory. The Cardinals' win and the Phillies' defeat of the Reds made the Cardinals the National League champions, and Gibson was rewarded for his fine performance down the stretch with his first of four National League Player of the Month awards (7-2 in nine games, 1.95 ERA, 65 SO).
They next faced the New York Yankees in the 1964 World Series. Gibson was matched against Yankees starting pitcher Mel Stottlemyre for three of the Series' seven games, with Gibson losing Game 2, then winning Game 5. In Game 7 Gibson pitched into the ninth inning, where he allowed home runs to Phil Linz and Clete Boyer, making the score 7–5 Cardinals. With Ray Sadecki warming up in the Cardinal bullpen, Gibson retired Bobby Richardson for the final out, giving the Cardinals their first World Championship since 1946. Along with his two victories, Gibson set a new World Series record by striking out 31 batters.
Gibson made the All-Star team again in 1965 season, and when the Cardinals were well out of the pennant race by August, attention turned on Gibson to see if he could win 20 games for the first time. Gibson was still looking for win number 20 on the last day of the season, a game where new Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst rested many of the regular players. Gibson still prevailed against the Houston Astros by a score of 5–2. The 1966 season marked the opening of Busch Memorial Stadium for the Cardinals, and Gibson was selected to play in the All-Star Game in front of the hometown crowd that year as well.
The Cardinals built a three and half game lead prior to the 1967 season All-Star break, and Gibson pitched the seventh and eighth innings of the 1967 All-Star game. Gibson then faced the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 15, when Roberto Clemente hit a line drive off Gibson's right leg. Unaware his leg had been fractured, Gibson faced three more batters before his right fibula bone snapped above the ankle. After Gibson returned on September 7, the Cardinals secured the National League pennant on September 18, 10½ games ahead of the San Francisco Giants.
In the 1967 World Series against the Boston Red Sox, Gibson allowed only three earned runs and 14 hits over three complete game victories (Games 1, 4, and 7), the latter two marks tying Christy Mathewson's 1905 World Series record. Just as he had in 1964, Gibson pitched a complete game victory in Game 7, and contributed offensively by hitting a home run that made the game 3–0. Gibson became the only pitcher to be on the mound for the final out of Game 7 of a World Series multiple times.
The 1968 season became known as "The Year of the Pitcher", and Gibson was at the forefront of pitching dominance. His earned run average was 1.12, a live-ball era record, as well as the major league record in 300 or more innings pitched. It was the lowest major league ERA since Dutch Leonard's 0.96 mark, 54 years earlier. Gibson threw 13 shutouts, three fewer than fellow Nebraskan Grover Alexander's 1916 major league record of 16. He won all twelve starts in June and July, pitching a complete game every time, (eight of which were shutouts), and allowed only six earned runs in 108 innings pitched (a 0.50 ERA). Gibson pitched 47 consecutive scoreless innings during this stretch, at the time the third-longest scoreless streak in major league history. He also struck out 91 batters, and he won two-consecutive NL Player of the Month awards. Gibson finished the season with 28 complete games out of 34 games started. Of the games he didn't complete, he was pinch-hit for, meaning Gibson was not removed from the mound for another pitcher for the entire season.
Gibson won the National League MVP Award. Not until Clayton Kershaw in 2014 would another National League pitcher do so. With Denny McLain winning the American League's Most Valuable Player award, 1968 remains, to date, the only year both MVP Awards went to pitchers. For the 1968 season, opposing batters only had a batting average of .184, an on-base percentage of .233, and a slugging percentage of .236. Gibson lost nine games against 22 wins, despite his record-setting low 1.12 ERA; the anemic batting throughout baseball included his own Cardinal team. The 1968 Cardinals had one .300 hitter, while the team-leading home run and RBI totals were just 16 and 79, respectively. Gibson lost five 1–0 games, one of which was to San Francisco Giants pitcher Gaylord Perry's no-hitter on September 17. The Giants' run in that game came on a first-inning home run by light-hitting Ron Hunt -- the second of two he would hit the entire season, and one of only 11 that Gibson allowed in 304 2⁄3 innings.
In Game 1 of the 1968 World Series, Gibson struck out 17 Detroit Tigers to set a World Series record for strikeouts in one game (breaking Sandy Koufax's record of 15 in Game 1 of the 1963 World Series). He also joined Ed Walsh as the only pitchers to strike out at least one batter in each inning of a World Series game, Walsh having done so in Game Three of the 1906 World Series. After allowing a leadoff single to Mickey Stanley in the ninth inning, Gibson finished the game by striking out Tiger sluggers Al Kaline, Norm Cash and Willie Horton in succession.
Gibson next pitched in Game 4 of the 1968 World Series, defeating the Tigers' ace pitcher Denny McLain by a 10–1 score. The teams continued to battle each other, setting the stage for another winner-take-all Game 7 in St. Louis on October 10, 1968. In this game Gibson was matched against Tigers pitcher Mickey Lolich, and the two proceeded to hold their opponents scoreless for the first six innings. In the top of the seventh, Gibson retired the first two batters before allowing two consecutive singles. Detroit batter Jim Northrup then hit a two-run triple over the head of center fielder Curt Flood, leading to Detroit's Series win.
The overall pitching statistics in MLB's 1968 season, led by Gibson's individual record setting performance, are often cited as one of the reasons for Major League Baseball's decision to alter pitching related rules. Sometimes known as the "Gibson rules", MLB lowered the pitcher's mound by five inches in 1969 from 15 inches to 10 inches, and reduced the height of the strike zone from the batter's armpits to the jersey letters.
Aside from the rule changes set to take effect in 1969, cultural and monetary influences increasingly began impacting baseball, as evidenced by nine players from the Cardinals 1968 roster who did not report by the first week of spring training due to the status of their contracts. On February 4, 1969, Gibson appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and said the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) had suggested players consider striking before the upcoming season began. However, Gibson himself had no immediate contract worries, as the $125,000 salary Gibson requested for 1969 was agreed to by team owner Gussie Busch and the Cardinals, setting a new franchise record for the highest single-season salary.
Despite the significant rule changes, Gibson's status as one of the league's best pitchers was not immediately affected. In 1969, he went 20–13 with a 2.18 ERA, 4 shutouts and 28 complete games. On May 12, 1969, Gibson struck out three batters on nine pitches in the seventh inning of a 6–2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Gibson became the ninth National League pitcher and the 15th pitcher in Major League history to throw an "immaculate inning". After pitching into the tenth inning of the July 4 game against the Cubs, Gibson was removed from a game without finishing an inning for the first time in more than 60 consecutive starts, a streak spanning two years. After participating in the 1969 All-Star Game (his seventh selection), Gibson set another mark on August 16 when he became the third pitcher in Major League history to reach the 200-strikeout plateau in seven different seasons.
Gibson experienced an up-and-down 1970 season, marked at the low point by a July slump where he resorted to experimenting with a knuckleball for the first time in his career. Just as quickly, Gibson returned to form, starting a streak of seven wins on July 28, and pitching all 14 innings of a 5–4 win against the San Diego Padres on August 12. He would go on to win his fourth and final NL Player of the Month award for August (6-0, 2.31 ERA, 55 SO). Gibson won 23 games in 1970, and was once again named the NL Cy Young Award winner.
Gibson was sometimes used by the Cardinals as a pinch-hitter, and in 1970 he hit .303 for the season in 109 at-bats, which was over 100 points higher than teammate Dal Maxvill. For his career, he batted .206 (274-for-1,328) with 44 doubles, 5 triples, 24 home runs (plus two more in the World Series) and 144 RBIs, plus stealing 13 bases and walking 63 times. He is one of only two pitchers since World War II with a career batting average of .200 or higher and at least 20 home runs and 100 RBIs (Bob Lemon, who had broken into the majors as a third baseman, is the other at .232). Gibson was above average as a baserunner and thus was occasionally used as a pinch runner, despite managers' general reluctance to risk injury to pitchers in this way.
Gibson achieved two highlights in August 1971. On the 4th of the month, he defeated the Giants 7–2 at Busch Memorial Stadium for his 200th career victory. Ten days later, he no-hit the eventual World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates 11–0 at Three Rivers Stadium. Three of his 10 strikeouts in the game were to Willie Stargell, including the game's final out. The no-hitter was the first in Pittsburgh since Nick Maddox at Exposition Park in 1907. None had been pitched in the 62-year (mid-1909 to mid-1970) history of Three Rivers Stadium's predecessor, Forbes Field. Gibson began the 1972 season by going 0–5, but broke Jesse Haines' club record for victories on June 21, and finished the year with 19 wins.
Gibson was the second pitcher in Major League Baseball history, after Walter Johnson, to strike out over 3,000 batters, and the first to do so in the National League. He accomplished this at home, at Busch Stadium on July 17, 1974. The victim was Cesar Geronimo of the Cincinnati Reds.
During the summer of 1974, Gibson felt hopeful he could to put together a winning streak, but he continually encountered swelling in his knee. In January 1975, Gibson announced he would retire at the end of the 1975 season. During the 1975 season, he went 3–10 with a 5.04 ERA. In his final appearance, Gibson was summoned as a reliever in a 6–6 game against the Cubs and gave up the game-winner to an unheralded player, best known for his odd name and being the son of TV personality Peter Marshall. "When I gave up a grand slam to Pete LaCock", Bob Gibson said later, "I knew it was time to quit." The Cardinals honored him with "Bob Gibson Day" in September 1975.
In the eight seasons from 1963 to 1970, Gibson won 156 games and lost 81, for a .658 winning percentage. He won nine Gold Glove Awards, was awarded the World Series MVP Award in 1964 and 1967, and won Cy Young Awards in 1968 and 1970.
Gibson was a fierce competitor who rarely smiled and was known to throw brushback pitches to establish dominance over the strike-zone and intimidate the batter, similar to his contemporary and fellow Hall of Famer Don Drysdale. Even so, Gibson had good control and hit only 102 batters in his career (fewer than Drysdale's 154).
Gibson's jersey number 45 was retired by the St. Louis Cardinals on September 1, 1975. In 1981, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall Of Fame. In 1999, he was ranked Number 31 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. He has a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame and a bronze statue of Gibson by Harry Weber is located in front of Busch Stadium, commemorating Gibson along with other St. Louis Cardinals greats. Another statue of Gibson was unveiled outside of Werner Park in Gibson's home city, Omaha, Nebraska, in 2013. In 2004, he was named as the most intimidating pitcher of all time on the Fox Sports Net series The Sports List. The street on the north side of Rosenblatt Stadium, former home of the College World Series in his hometown of Omaha, is named Bob Gibson Boulevard. In January, 2014, the Cardinals announced Gibson among 22 former players and personnel to be inducted into the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum for the inaugural class of 2014.
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*James Timothy "Mudcat" Grant (b. August 13, 1935 in Lacoochee, Florida), a Major League Baseball pitcher who played for the Cleveland Indians (1958–64), Minnesota Twins (1964–67), Los Angeles Dodgers (1968), Montreal Expos (1969), St. Louis Cardinals (1969), Oakland Athletics (1970 and 1971) and Pittsburgh Pirates (1970–71) was born in Lacoochee, Florida. He was named to the 1963 and 1965 American League All-Star Teams.
In 1965, Mudcat Grant was the first black pitcher to win 20 games in a season in the American League and the first black pitcher to win a World Series game for the American League. He pitched two complete game World Series victories in 1965, hitting a three-run home run in game 6, and was named The Sporting News American League Pitcher of the Year.
Grant signed with the Cleveland Indians in 1954 as an amateur free agent and made his big league debut with the Indians in 1958. His best season in Cleveland was in 1961 when he had a won-loss record of 15-9 and a 3.86 earned run average. In June 1964, he was traded to the Minnesota Twins and had a record of 11-9 for the remainder of the season. In 1965, Grant had the best year of his career. He was 21-7 for the Twins, helping to lead the team to the 1965 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. In 1965, Grant hosted a local Minneapolis variety television program, The Jim Grant Show, where he sang and danced.
Grant finished 6th in voting for the 1965 American League MVP after leading the League in Wins, Won-Loss Percentage (.750), Shutouts (6) and Home Runs Allowed (34). He also started 39 Games, had 14 Complete Games, 270 ⅓ Innings Pitched, 252 Hits Allowed, 107 Runs Allowed, 99 Earned Runs Allowed, 61 Walks, 142 Strikeouts, 8 Wild Pitches, 1,095 Batters Faced, 2 Intentional Walks and a 3.30 ERA. Grant's home run in the 6th game of the 1965 World Series was only the second by an American League pitcher during a World Series game.
1966 was Grant's last year as a full-time starting pitcher. He spent his next five seasons in baseball as a reliever and occasional starter for five different big league clubs.
In 14 years, Grant compiled a 145-119 Win–Loss record, 571 Games, 293 Games Started, 89 Complete Games, 18 Shutouts, 160 Games Finished, 53 Saves, 2,442 Innings Pitched, 2,292 Hits Allowed, 1,105 Runs Allowed, 985 Earned Runs Allowed, 292 Home Runs Allowed, 849 Walks, 1,267 Strikeouts, 33 Hit Batsmen, 60 Wild Pitches, 10,293 Batters Faced, 59 Intentional Walks, 3 Balks and a 3.63 ERA. Grant's home run during Game 6 of the 1965 World Series was the only one he hit that season and one of only seven he hit in his entire career.
After his playing career ended, Grant worked for the North American Softball League, one of three Men's Professional Softball Leagues active in the pro softball era. He later worked as a broadcaster and executive for the Indians, and also as a broadcaster for the Athletics.
In retirement, Grant dedicated himself to studying and promoting the history of blacks in baseball. On his website, Grant paid tribute to the fifteen black pitchers (including himself) who, as of 2006, had won 20 games in a season. The "15 Black Aces" are: Vida Blue, Al Downing, Bob Gibson, Dwight Gooden, Mudcat Grant, Ferguson Jenkins, Sad Sam Jones, Don Newcombe, Mike Norris, David Price, J. R. Richard, C. C. Sabathia, Dave Stewart, Dontrelle Willis and Earl Wilson. In 2006, Grant released his long-awaited book, The Black Aces, Baseball's Only Black Twenty-Game Winners, featuring chapters on each of the black pitchers to have at least one twenty win season, and also featuring Negro League players that Mudcat felt would have been 20 game winners if they were allowed to play. The book was featured in the Hall of Fame during Induction Weekend 2006, and in February 2007 President Bush honored Mudcat and fellow Aces, Ferguson Jenkins, Dontrelle Willis and Mike Norris, and the publication of the book at a ceremony at the White House.
On April 14, 2008, Grant threw out the ceremonial opening pitch at Progressive Field to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his major league debut. Mudcat was also awarded the key to the city to honor the occasion.
*Earl G. Graves, publisher of Black Enterprise magazine, was born in Brooklyn, New York (January 9).
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Graves (b. Earl Gilbert Graves, Sr., b. January 9, 1935, Brooklyn, New York) grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of New York City. Graves undertook his first job at the age of seven selling boxed Christmas cards for his uncle. His territory was severely limited due to his father's rule that he could only sell to people living on their side of the block. A member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics in 1958 from Morgan State University. While at Morgan State, Graves made a name for himself as an entrepreneur. Realizing that there was a big market for flowers during Homecoming Week, he went to two competing local florists and cut deals with both to sell flowers on campus. For a percentage of the profits, the florists provided the flowers while Graves covered the campus.
Graves was also an ROTC graduate and attended Airborne and Ranger Schools.
Having written a letter to the Democratic National Committee, he became a volunteer for the 1964 presidential campaign of Lyndon B. Johnson. His work with the party gave Graves the opportunity to serve as administrative assistant to newly elected Senator Robert F. Kennedy in 1965. Following the assassination of the senator, Graves landed a seat on the advisory board of the Small Business Administration in 1968.
While serving on the SBA's advisory board, Graves' direct work with the agency would lead to his belief for the need of advisement for businesses in economic development and urban affairs. Graves decided to create an annual newsletter that would chronicle issues relevant to black business people and raise awareness of the importance of black consumer power. At the suggestion of then SBA Director Howard J. Samuels, Graves would expand the concept of a newsletter into a full-fledged magazine.
Graves started Earl G. Graves, Ltd., and under that holding company, he began the Earl G. Graves Associates management consulting firm. In August 1970, the first issue of Black Enterprise magazine would hit newsstands. Earl G. Graves, Ltd. would grow to include a number of divisions including publishing, marketing, radio, television and event coordinating arms. The firm is the co-owner of the private equity fund Black Enterprise Greenwich Street Corporate Growth Fund, an equity partnership formed with Travelers Group, Inc. The fund aims to invest and promote minority operated businesses.
From 1990 to 1998, Graves served as CEO to a Pepsi Cola bottling franchise in Washington, D. C. He has held other board and director memberships to a number of corporations including AMR Corporation, Daimler AG, Federated Department Stores and Rohm and Haas. Graves was a board member of the American Museum of Natural History and Hayden Planetarium in New York City. He was also a member of the Board of Trustees of Howard University.
Graves received the Silver Buffalo Award from the Boy Scouts of America in 1988, and served as the national commissioner from 1990 to 1995. He received the NAACP's Spingarn Medal in 1999. In 2002, Graves was named one of the 50 most powerful and influential African Americans in corporate America by Fortune magazine.
Graves was appointed by the administration of George W. Bush to serve on the Presidential Commission for the National Museum of African American History and Culture. On April 26, 2007, Earl G. Graves Sr. was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame. In 2009, Graves became the recipient of the 2009 NCAA Silver Anniversary Award.
Morgan State University's business school is named the Earl G. Graves School of Business and Management after Earl G. Graves.
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*Vernice "Bunky" Green, a jazz alto saxophonist and educator, was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (April 23).
In 1961, Hewitt joined the faculty at the University of Montana. In 1966, she became tenured and promoted to associate professor, then in 1972, to full professor. In 1995, she was elected chair of the Department of Mathematical Science. She served in that position until she retired in June 1999.
While a professor at the University of Montana, she participated in multiple other organizations. She served on the executive council of the mathematical honor society, Pi Mu Epsilon. She also served on the chair of the committee that writes questions for the mathematics section of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). Hewitt was also a faculty consultant for the Advanced Placement examination in calculus. In 1995, she was awarded an Educational Testing Service (ETS) Certificate of Appreciation after twelve years of service.
Hewitt's mathematical works focus on two mathematics areas: abstract algebra and group theory. She published eight research papers and twenty-one unpublished lectures.
She was awarded a prestigious National Science Foundation postdoctoral Science Faculty Fellowship. She was elected to the board of governors of the Mathematical Association of America.
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*Z. Z. Hill, a blues singer known for his hit "Down Home Blues", was born in Naples, Texas (September 30).
Arzell Hill (b. September 30, 1935, Naples, Texas – d. April 27, 1984, Dallas, Texas), known as Z. Z. Hill was a blues singer best known for his recordings in the 1970s and early 1980s, including his 1982 album for Malaco Records, Down Home, which stayed on the Billboard soul album chart for nearly two years. The track "Down Home Blues" has been called the best-known blues song of the 1980s.
*Vernice "Bunky" Green, a jazz alto saxophonist and educator, was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (April 23).
Vernice "Bunky" Green (b. April 23, 1935, Milwaukee, Wisconsin) was raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he played the alto saxophone, mainly at a local club called "The Brass Rail".
His first big break came when he was hired in New York City by Charles Mingus as a replacement for Jackie McLean in the 1960s. His brief stint with the eccentric bass player made a deep impression. Mingus' sparing use of notation and his belief that there was no such thing as a wrong note had a lasting influence on Green's own style.
The next year, Green moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he appeared with several prominent players including Sonny Stitt, Louie Bellson, Andrew Hill, Yusef Lateef, and Ira Sullivan. Originally strongly influenced by Charlie Parker, Green spent a period reassessing his style and studying, emerging with a highly distinctive sound that has deeply influenced a number of younger saxophonists, including Steve Coleman and Greg Osby.
Green gradually withdrew from the public eye to develop a career as a leading jazz educator. He taught at Chicago State University from 1972–1989, and in the 1990s took up the directorship of the jazz studies program at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, where he taught and acted as chair of Jazz Studies until his retirement in 2011. He also served a term as the president of the International Association for Jazz Education and was elected to the Jazz Education Hall of Fame.
Green recorded several albums during the 1960s, including Step High (featuring Wynton Kelly and Jimmy Cobb), Playing for Keeps, and Soul in the Night (which paired Green with Sonny Stitt). In addition to a handful of records as a leader on the Vanguard label during the 1970s, he also recorded several albums with Elvin Jones, including Summit Meeting and Time Capsule. His 1989 session on the Delos label, Healing the Pain, commemorates the death of his parents and was awarded the coveted 5-star rating from Down Beat magazine. Green's studio album, Another Place (which features the rhythm section of Jason Moran, Lonnie Plaxico, and Nasheet Waits), also received a 5-star review from Down Beat. In July 2008 his recording The Salzau Quartet Live at Jazz Baltica was released.
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*Gloria Conyers Hewitt, a mathematician who became the third African-American woman to receive a PhD in Mathematics, was born Sumter, South Carolina (October 26).
*Gloria Conyers Hewitt, a mathematician who became the third African-American woman to receive a PhD in Mathematics, was born Sumter, South Carolina (October 26).
Hewitt entered Fisk University in 1952 and graduated in 1956 with a degree in secondary mathematics education. The department chairman, Lee Lorch, who Hewitt worked under for two years, recommended Hewitt to two schools, without her knowledge. Therefore, in her senior year, Hewitt was offered a fellowship from the University of Washington without applying for it. Completing her masters in 1960, Hewitt received her Ph.D. in mathematics in 1962 from the University of Washington, with a thesis on "Direct and Inverse Limits of Abstract Algebras" (completing her masters in 1960).
In 1961, Hewitt joined the faculty at the University of Montana. In 1966, she became tenured and promoted to associate professor, then in 1972, to full professor. In 1995, she was elected chair of the Department of Mathematical Science. She served in that position until she retired in June 1999.
While a professor at the University of Montana, she participated in multiple other organizations. She served on the executive council of the mathematical honor society, Pi Mu Epsilon. She also served on the chair of the committee that writes questions for the mathematics section of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). Hewitt was also a faculty consultant for the Advanced Placement examination in calculus. In 1995, she was awarded an Educational Testing Service (ETS) Certificate of Appreciation after twelve years of service.
Hewitt's mathematical works focus on two mathematics areas: abstract algebra and group theory. She published eight research papers and twenty-one unpublished lectures.
One would expect Hewitt to have to face many racial and gender oriented obstacles; however, in a personal interview she stated that she did not feel there had been any racial incidences in her career that had a detrimental effect on her studies. She did, however, write an article in the Annals of the New York Academy of Science, titled "The Status of Women in Mathematics".
She was awarded a prestigious National Science Foundation postdoctoral Science Faculty Fellowship. She was elected to the board of governors of the Mathematical Association of America.
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*Z. Z. Hill, a blues singer known for his hit "Down Home Blues", was born in Naples, Texas (September 30).
Arzell Hill (b. September 30, 1935, Naples, Texas – d. April 27, 1984, Dallas, Texas), known as Z. Z. Hill was a blues singer best known for his recordings in the 1970s and early 1980s, including his 1982 album for Malaco Records, Down Home, which stayed on the Billboard soul album chart for nearly two years. The track "Down Home Blues" has been called the best-known blues song of the 1980s.
Born in Naples, Texas, Hill began his singing career in the late 1950s as part of a gospel group called The Spiritual Five, touring Texas. He was influenced by Sam Cooke, B. B. King, and Bobby "Blue" Bland, and began performing his own songs and others in clubs in and around Dallas, including spells fronting bands led by Bo Thomas and Frank Shelton. He took his stage name in emulation of B. B. King.
Encouraged by Otis Redding who had seen him perform, he joined his older brother, budding record producer Matt Hill, in Los Angeles in 1963, and released his first single, "You Were Wrong", on the family's own M.H. label. It spent one week at No. 100 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1964, and Hill was quickly signed by Kent Records. Most of his records for Kent were written or co-written by Hill, and arranged by leading saxophonist Maxwell Davis. None charted, but in retrospect many, such as "I Need Someone (To Love Me)", are now viewed with high regard by soul fans.
After leaving Kent in 1968, Hill recorded briefly for Phil Walden's Macon, Georgia based Capricorn label, but after a disagreement with Walden his recording contract was bought by Jerry "Swamp Dogg" Williams' Mankind label, where Hill finally fulfilled his end of the deal. He returned to California to record for his brother's Hill label, and the song "Don't Make Me Pay For His Mistakes", co-produced by Matt Hill and Miles Grayson, became his biggest pop hit, reaching No. 62 on the Hot 100. The Kent label reissued his 1964 recording of "I Need Someone", which also charted. Williams also recorded Hill in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, in 1971, resulting in several R&B hits including "Chokin' Kind" and "It Ain't No Use", as well as the LP The Brand New Z. Z. Hill.
With his brother's help, Hill then signed to United Artists, where he was aided by arrangements and compositions by established R&B talents including Lamont Dozier and Allen Toussaint, and released several singles that made the R&B chart in the mid 1970s. After his brother Matt's sudden death from a heart attack, Z. Z. Hill left United Artists and signed with Columbia Records, recording two albums with leading arranger-producer, Bert de Coteaux in New York. Several singles taken from the albums charted, including "Love Is So Good When You're Stealing It", which spent 18 weeks on the Billboard R&B chart in the summer of 1977.
In 1979, he left Columbia and returned south, signing for Malaco Records. His first hit for the label was his recording of songwriter George Jackson's "Cheating In The Next Room," which was released in early 1982 and broke into the R&B top 20, spending a total of 20 weeks on the chart. He had a number of best-selling albums on Malaco, the biggest being Down Home, which stayed on Billboard's soul album chart for nearly two years. The song "Down Home Blues", again written by Jackson, was later recorded by label-mate Denise LaSalle. Hill's next album, The Rhythm & The Blues in 1982, was also received with critical acclaim, and its success contributed to the subsequent boom in blues music, much of it recorded by the Malaco label, in Jackson, Mississippi.
While touring in February 1984, Hill was involved in a car accident. Although he continued to perform, he died two months later at the age of 48, from a heart attack arising from a blood clot formed after the accident.
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*Sculptor Richard Hunt was born in Chicago (September 12).
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*Sculptor Richard Hunt was born in Chicago (September 12).
Richard Hunt (b. September 12, 1935, Chicago, Illinois) was born in 1935 on Chicago's South Side. From an early age he was interested in the arts, as his mother was an artist. As a young boy, Hunt began to show enthusiasm and talent in artistic disciplines such as drawing and painting, and also sculpture, an interest that grew more and more as he got older. Beginning in the seventh grade, he developed his skills at the Junior School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Hunt also acquired business sense and awareness of social issues from working for his father in a barbershop.
As a teenager, Hunt began his work in sculpture, working in clay and carvings. While his work started in his bedroom, he eventually built a basement studio in his father's barbershop. Hunt studied at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1953 to 1957, focusing on welding sculptures, but also studying lithography. Hunt began exhibiting his sculptures nationwide while still a student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. As a Junior, his piece “Arachne,” was purchased by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He received a B.A.E. (bachelor of arts in education) from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1957. Upon graduating, Hunt was awarded the James Nelson Raymond Foreign Travel Fellowship and continued his studies in England, France, Italy, and Spain. His time abroad solidified his belief that metal was the definitive medium of the twentieth century. Upon returning from his studies abroad, Hunt served in the United States Army from 1958 to 1960. He became the youngest exhibiting artist at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair.
Hunt began to experiment with materials and sculpting techniques, influenced heavily by progressive twentieth-century artists. This experimentation garnered critically positive response from the art community, such that Hunt was exhibited at the Artists of Chicago and Vicinity Show and the American Show, where the Museum of Modern Art purchased a piece for its collection. He was the youngest artist to exhibit at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair, a major international survey exhibition of modern art.
During his career, Hunt completed more public sculptures than any other artist in the country. As of January 20, 2015, Hunt had created over 125 sculptures for public display in the United States. His signature pieces include Jacob's Ladder at the Carter G. Woodson Library in Chicago and Flintlock Fantasy in Detroit.
Hunt was appointed by President Lyndon Johnson as one of the first artists to serve on the governing board of the National Endowment for the Arts and he also served on boards of the Smithsonian Institution. From 1980 to 1988, Hunt served as Commissioner of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American Art. From 1994 to 1997, Hunt served on the Smithsonian Institution's National Board of Directors.
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*Alvin Neill Jackson, affectionately referred to as "Little" Al Jackson, a former left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played from 1959 to 1969, was born in Waco Texas (December 26). His 43 wins with the New York Mets were the franchise record until Tom Seaver eased past the mark in 1969.
*Alvin Neill Jackson, affectionately referred to as "Little" Al Jackson, a former left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played from 1959 to 1969, was born in Waco Texas (December 26). His 43 wins with the New York Mets were the franchise record until Tom Seaver eased past the mark in 1969.
Listed at 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m), 169 pounds (77 kg), Alvin Neill Jackson (b. December 26, 1935, Waco, Texas) attended Wiley College. He was signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates as an amateur free agent in 1955 but his first regular major league experience came as a member of the inaugural 1962 New York Mets. As a starting pitcher, he posted an 8–20 record that year. The 40–120 record of the 1962 Mets continues to be the most losses by a Major League team in a single season since the 19th Century. On August 14, 1962, Jackson pitched a complete game 3-1 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies in 4 hours 35 minutes – the longest complete game in terms of playing time in Major League history.
After three more seasons of sixteen or more losses with the Mets, including a second 8–20 campaign, Jackson was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for Ken Boyer. In 1966, his first year in St. Louis, Jackson had his best season in the majors. He was sixth in the National League in earned run average and ninth in complete games. Unfortunately for Jackson, he also lost fifteen games and, the next year, was used more as a relief pitcher. However, those 15 losses gave him a five-year streak of at least 15 losses—the record since 1900 is six. Despite going 9–4 in 1967, he did not see action in the 1967 World Weries.
After the 1967 season, Jackson was traded back to the Mets for pitcher Jack Lamabe and continued pitching out of the bullpen. He was with the "Miracle" Mets of 1969 but was sold to the Cincinnati Reds in June after compiling an ERA over ten, and never did play in a postseason.
Jackson pitched 33 games for the Reds in relief to finish 1969. Before he played a game in 1970, the Reds released him and his career was over.
In addition to his 43 wins as a Met, Jackson's franchise record of 10 shutouts was also broken by Hall of Famer Tom Seaver. Two of the shutouts (July 27, 1962 and October 2, 1964) were 1–0 wins over Bob Gibson — the Mets' first two victories over the future Hall of Famer and the only two times the Mets defeated him between 1962 and 1966. He threw a one-hitter on June 22, 1962 against the Houston Colt .45s, the first in Mets' history. The lone hit was by Joey Amalfitano in the first inning.
After his playing days, Jackson fashioned a two-decades-plus-long career as a coach, serving as a pitching mentor at the big-league level with the Boston Red Sox (1977–79) under former Met teammate Don Zimmer and the Baltimore Orioles (1989–91) under Frank Robinson and Johnny Oates. However, he spent most of his tenure as a minor league instructor with the Mets, and was a member of Bobby Valentine's Major League Baseball (MLB) staff in 1999–2000.
*Track star Rafer Johnson was born in Hillsboro, Texas (August 18). He would win a gold medal in the decathlon at the 1960 Rome Olympics.
Rafer Lewis Johnson (b. August 18, 1935, Hillsboro, Texas) was born in Hillsboro, Texas, but the family moved to Kingsburg, California, when he was 5. For a while, they were the only black family in the town. A versatile athlete, he played on Kingsburg High School's football, baseball and basketball teams. He was also elected class president in both junior high and high school. At 16, he became attracted to the decathlon after seeing double Olympic champion Bob Mathias, the local hero from Tulare and 24 miles (40 km) from Kingsburg compete.
He competed in his first meet in 1954 as a freshman at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). His progress in the event was impressive; he broke the world record in his fourth competition. He pledged Pi Lambda Phi fraternity, America's first non-discriminatory fraternity, and was class president at UCLA. In 1955, in Mexico City, he won the decathlon title at the Pan American Games.
Johnson qualified for both the decathlon and the long jump levents for the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. However, he was hampered by an injury and forfeited his place in the long jump. Despite this handicap, he managed to take second place in the decathlon behind compatriot Milt Campbell. It would turn out to be his last defeat in the event.
Due to injury, Johnson missed the 1957 and 1959 seasons (the latter due to a car accident), but he broke the world record in 1958 and 1960.
At the 1960 Games, the decathlon competition became a duel between Johnson and Taiwan's Yang Chuan-kwang (C. K. Yang), who was Johnson’s friend and teammate at UCLA. After the first day, Johnson led Yang by 55 points, despite the fact that Yang had finished ahead of Johnson in four of the five competitions. On the second day, Johnson fell from the lead when he hit the first hurdle in the 110-meter hurdles and finished 0.7 second behind Yang. The two traded positions in the standings again after the discus throw, and Johnson increased his lead with a career-best performance in the pole vault and a better throw than Yang in the javelin. Yet victory for Johnson was far from certain at the start of the final event, the 1,500 meters. He led by only 67 points, and Yang, favored in this event, needed to beat Johnson by 10 seconds to win the decathlon. Johnson ran a personal best of 4 minutes 49.7 seconds and finished only 1.2 seconds behind Yang. Johnson won the gold medal, and Yang took the silver medal—the first medal of any kind won by a Taiwanese athlete. For his Olympic performance, Johnson received the James E. Sullivan Memorial Award as the outstanding amateur athlete of 1960.
Johnson was also the flag bearer at the 1960 Olympics and lit the Olympic Flame when the Olympics came to Los Angeles in 1984. Johnson was a real life hero, along with Rosey Grier tackling Sirhan Sirhan moments after he had mortally wounded Robert F. Kennedy.After the Olympics, Johnson turned his celebrity into acting, sportscasting and public service, and was instrumental in creating the California Special Olympics.
Johnson was also the flag bearer at the 1960 Olympics and lit the Olympic Flame when the Olympics came to Los Angeles in 1984. Johnson was a real life hero, along with Rosey Grier tackling Sirhan Sirhan moments after he had mortally wounded Robert F. Kennedy.After the Olympics, Johnson turned his celebrity into acting, sportscasting and public service, and was instrumental in creating the California Special Olympics.
After the 1960 Olympics, Johnson embarked on an acting career. His credits included such films as The Sins of Rachel Cade (1961) and License to Kill (1989) and various television shows, notably Lassie, Dragnet 1967, Mission: Impossible, and The Six Million Dollar Man. A campaign worker on Robert F. Kennedy's presidential bid, he was present when Kennedy was assassinated in 1968 and helped subdue the gunman, Sirhan Sirhan. Johnson was later involved in the Special Olympics. In 1984, he lit the torch signaling the opening of the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. His autobiography, The Best That I Can Be (co-written with Philip Goldberg), was published in 1998.
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*Jazz tenor saxophonist Rahsaan Roland Kirk was born in Columbus, Ohio (August 7). He would become famous for making his own instruments and playing more than one at a time.
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*Robert Henry Lawrence, Jr., a United States Air Force officer and the first African-American astronaut, was born in Chicago, Illinois (October 2).
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*Leon Lynch, the first African American national officer of the AFL-CIO Steel Workers Union was born (June 4).
Rahsaan Roland Kirk (b. August 7, 1935, Columbus, Ohio – d. December 5, 1977, Bloomington, Indiana) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist who played tenor saxophone, flute, and many other instruments. He was renowned for his onstage vitality, during which virtuoso improvisation was accompanied by comic banter, political ranting, and the ability to play several instruments simultaneously.
Kirk was born Ronald Theodore Kirk in Columbus, Ohio, where he lived in a neighborhood known as Flytown. He felt compelled by a dream to transpose two letters in his first name to make Roland. He became blind at an early age as a result of poor medical treatment. In 1970, Kirk added "Rahsaan" to his name after hearing it in a dream.
Kirk's musical career spanned from 1955 until his death in 1977. He preferred to lead his own bands and rarely performed as a sideman, although he did record with arranger Quincy Jones and drummer Roy Haynes and had notable stints with bassist Charles Mingus. One of his best-known recorded performances is the lead flute and solo on Jones' "Soul Bossa Nova".
Kirk was politically outspoken. During his concerts, between songs he often talked about topical issues, including African-American history and the Civil Rights Movement. His monologues were often laced with satire and absurdist humor.
In 1975, Kirk suffered a major stroke which led to partial paralysis of one side of his body. He continued to perform and record, modifying his instruments to enable him to play with one arm. At a live performance at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London he even managed to play two instruments, and carried on to tour internationally and to appear on television.
Rahsaan Roland Kirk died from a second stroke in 1977 after performing in the Frangipani Room of the Indiana University Student Union in Bloomington, Indiana.
His playing was generally rooted in soul jazz or hard bop, but Kirk's knowledge of jazz history allowed him to draw from many elements of the music's past, from ragtime to swing and free jazz. Kirk also absorbed classical influences, and his artistry reflected elements of pop music by composers such as Smokey Robinson and Burt Bacharach, as well as Duke Ellington, John Coltrane and other jazz musicians. The live album Bright Moments (1973) is an example of one of his shows.
Kirk played and collected a number of musical instruments, mainly various saxophones, clarinets and flutes. His main instruments were tenor saxophone supplemented by other saxes, like two obscure saxophones: the stritch (a straight alto sax lacking the instrument's characteristic upturned bell) and a manzello (a modified saxello soprano sax, with a larger, upturned bell). A number of his instruments were exotic or homemade. Kirk modified instruments himself to accommodate his simultaneous playing technique.
He typically appeared on stage with all three horns hanging around his neck, and at times he would play a number of these horns at once, harmonizing with himself, or sustain a note for lengthy durations by using circular breathing. He used the multiple horns to play true chords, essentially functioning as a one-man saxophone section. Kirk insisted that he was only trying to emulate the sounds he heard in his head. Even while playing two or three saxophones at once, the music was intricate, powerful jazz with a strong feel for the blues.
Kirk was also an influential flautist, including recorders. He employed several techniques that he developed himself. One technique was to sing or hum into the flute at the same time as playing. Another was to play the standard transverse flute at the same time as a nose flute.
He played a variety of other instruments, like whistles, often kept a gong within reach, the clarinet, harmonica, English horn, and was a competent trumpeter. He had unique approaches, using a saxophone mouthpiece on a trumpet. He also used many non-musical devices, such as alarm clocks, sirens, or a section of common garden hose (dubbed "the black mystery pipes"). His studio recordings used tape-manipulated musique concrete and primitive electronic sounds before such things became commonplace.
Kirk was a major exponent of circular breathing. Using this technique, he was not only able to sustain a single note for an extended period; he could also play sixteenth-note runs of almost unlimited length, and at high speeds. His circular breathing ability enabled him to record "Concerto For Saxophone" on the Prepare Thyself to Deal With a Miracle LP in one continuous take of about 20 minutes' playing with no discernible "break" for inhaling.
*Robert Henry Lawrence, Jr., a United States Air Force officer and the first African-American astronaut, was born in Chicago, Illinois (October 2).
Robert Henry Lawrence Jr. (b. October 2, 1935, Chicago, Illinois – d. December 8, 1967, Edwards Air Force Base, California), attended Haines Elementary School and, at the age of 16, in 1952, he graduated in the top 10 percent from Englewood High School in Chicago. At the age of 20, he graduated from Bradley University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry. At Bradley, he distinguished himself as Cadet Commander in the Air Force ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) and received the commission of second lieutenant in the Air Force Reserve Program.
At the age of 21, he was designated as a United States Air Force pilot after completing flight training at Malden Air Force Base, Missouri.
At 22, he married Barbara Cress, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Henry Cress of Chicago. By the time he was 25, he had completed an Air Force assignment as an instructor pilot in the T-33 training aircraft for the German Air Force.
In 1965, Lawrence earned a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the Ohio State University. His doctoral thesis was "The Mechanism Of The Tritium Beta Ray Induced Exchange Reaction Of Deuterium With Methane and Ethane In The Gas Phase."
He was a senior United States Air Force (USAF) pilot, accumulating well over 2,500 flight hours, 2,000 of which were in jets. Lawrence flew many tests in the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter to investigate the gliding flight of various sunpowered spacecraft returning to Earth from orbit, such as the North American X-15 rocket-plane. NASA cited Lawrence for accomplishments and flight maneuver data that "contributed greatly to the development of the Space Shuttle."
In June 1967, Lawrence successfully completed the United States Air Force Test Pilot School (Class 66B) at Edwards AFB, California. The same month, he was selected by the USAF as an astronaut in the Air Force's Manned Orbital Laboratory (MOL) program, thus becoming the first black astronaut.
Robert Lawrence was also a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity.
Lawrence was killed in the crash of an F-104 Starfighter at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on December 8, 1967, at only 32 years of age. He was flying backseat on the mission as the instructor pilot for a flight test trainee learning the steep-descent glide technique. The pilot flying made such an approach but flared too late. The airplane struck the ground hard, its main gear failed, the plane caught fire, and rolled. The front-seat pilot ejected upward and survived, with major injuries. The back seat, which delays a moment to avoid hitting the front seat, ejected sideways, killing Lawrence instantly. Had Lawrence lived, he likely would have been among the MOL astronauts who transferred to NASA after the program's cancellation, some of whom flew on the Space Shuttle. During his brief career, Lawrence earned the Air Force Commendation Medal, the Outstanding Unit Citation. On December 8, 1997, his name was inscribed on the Space Mirror Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
*Leon Lynch, the first African American national officer of the AFL-CIO Steel Workers Union was born (June 4).
As vice-president, Leon Lynch (b. June 4, 1935 - d. May 4, 2012, Memphis, Tennessee) was the first African American national officer of the AFL-CIO Steel Workers Union. Lynch began to work for the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company as a loader in 1956. In 1967, he took a B. S. at Roosevelt University in Chicago, Illinois, and began to work as a union staff representative in 1968.
As a boy, Lynch's family settled in Indiana, where he learned the bass violin. He played with the Count Basie Orchestra when it appeared in East Chicago, Indiana. He was not quite 18 at the time and the club where the band was playing served alcohol, so during breaks between sets, Mr. Lynch would have to step outside.
After high school, he went to work in the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company steel mill in East Chicago, where he was a tally man, keeping count of the production totals.
There he met co-worker Joe Jackson, whose sons were forming a band. For a time, Mr. Lynch played the bass as part of the band that backed up the Jackson 5.
At the mill, Lynch became involved in the union, writing grievances.
Lynch was a hard worker. In 1958, Lynch realized a strike at the mill would be a long one, so he went out and got two jobs, one delivering milk and the other selling shoes to support his family. When he was not working, he was on the picket line at the mill.
In 1968, Lynch was hired by the United Steel Workers of America (USW) as an organizer and was sent to Memphis, after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, to organize the African-American workers there.
He worked hard in Memphis, and when Local 7655 opened its first union hall there, the members hung a sign out front that said "Leon Lynch Union Hall."
In 1976, he was appointed to be the international vice president for human affairs of the USW and was elected to the post for six consecutive terms, the first African-American to be an international vice president of a major labor union. In October 1995, he was elected to the executive council of the AFL-CIO.
Lynch believed that the labor movement was the way to build a black middle class.
In 2005, USW Local 1011 in East Chicago, where he started his career, dedicated the Leon Lynch Learning Center where steelworkers are prepared for opportunities in today's job market.
Lynch died on May 4, 2012at the Methodist Hospice Residence in Memphis, Tenn. He was 76 and had prostate cancer.
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*Singer Johnny Mathis was born in Gilmer, Texas (September 30). He would earn more than 50 gold and platinum records.
*Singer Johnny Mathis was born in Gilmer, Texas (September 30). He would earn more than 50 gold and platinum records.
Johnny Mathis, byname of John Royce Mathis (b. September 30, 1935, Gilmer, Texas), American pop singer who achieved wide and enduring popularity as an angelic-voiced crooner of romantic ballads. He was perhaps best known for his affecting rendition of the Erroll Garner composition “
Misty” (1959).
Mathis grew up in a large working-class family in San Francisco. He developed an appreciation of music from his father, a former vaudeville performer, and, as a child, he sang regularly in church and at school events. From age 13, he also took vocal lessons, which provided him with a classical foundation for his burgeoning talent. Mathis meanwhile excelled at high-school sports and earned an athletic scholarship to San Francisco State College (now San Francisco State University). While in college he began singing at local jazz clubs, through which he attracted the attention of a Columbia Records representative. Although his skill at the high jump earned him an invitation to attend trials for the 1956 Olympic Games, Mathis decided instead to pursue a musical career with Columbia, and he left school without graduating.
Mathis’s first recording, Johnny Mathis: A New Sound in Popular Song (1956), was in a jazz vein, with arrangements by Gil Evans and others. It failed to make an impression with audiences, however, and Columbia executive and producer Mitch Miller subsequently re-branded Mathis as a pop balladeer. The switch proved beneficial, as the singer soon generated a string of hits, beginning with the lushly orchestrated “
Wonderful! Wonderful!” (1956). The dreamily romantic tunes “
It’s Not for Me to Say” (1957) and “
Chances Are” (1957) further highlighted his smooth and precisely controlled tenor. Mathis found additional success with the albums Johnny’s Greatest Hits (1958)—believed to be the first-ever compilation of an artist’s previously released hit singles—and the holiday-themed Merry Christmas (1958), both of which sold steadily for years after their release. In the late 1950s, he also recorded songs for several movies.
In 1964, Mathis founded his own management and production company, Rojon Productions. As the traditional pop standards and show tunes that dominated his early albums waned in popularity, he expanded his easy-listening repertoire with songs by such contemporary hit makers as the Beatles, Burt Bacharach, and Antonio Carlos Jobim. With the album I’m Coming Home (1973), Mathis also began to dabble in soul music. By then his most commercially successful days were behind him, although he scored a surprise number-one hit with “
Too Much, Too Little, Too Late” (1978), a duet with rhythm-and-blues singer Deniece Williams. Additional duets with Williams followed, as well as with other performers, including Dionne Warwick and Gladys Knight.
Greatly admired for his professionalism, Mathis performed and recorded regularly into the 21st century, his later albums ranging from the Henry Mancini collaboration The Hollywood Musicals (1986) and the Duke Ellington tribute In a Sentimental Mood (1990) to Let It Be Me: Mathis in Nashville (2010), a collection of mellow country songs. Apart from several in the mid-1960s, all his albums (some 100) were released by Columbia. Among Mathis’ numerous honors was a Lifetime Achievement Award (2003) from the Recording Academy.
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*"Little" Esther Phillips, a singer best known for the songs "And I Love Him" and "Release Me", was born in Galveston, Texas (December 23).
*"Little" Esther Phillips, a singer best known for the songs "And I Love Him" and "Release Me", was born in Galveston, Texas (December 23).
Born Esther Mae Jones (b. December 23, 1935, Galveston, Texas - d. August 7, 1984, Carson, California), the parents of Esther divorced when she was an adolescent. Afterwards, she divided her time between her father, in Houston, and her mother, in the Watts section of Los Angeles. Esther was brought up singing in church and was reluctant to enter a talent contest at a local blues club, but her sister insisted. A mature singer at the age of 14, she won the amateur talent contest in 1949 at the Barrelhouse Club, owned by Johnny Otis. Otis was so impressed that he recorded her for Modern Records and added her to his traveling revue, the California Rhythm and Blues Caravan, billed as Little Esther. She later took the surname Phillips, reportedly inspired by a sign at a gas station.
Her first hit record was "Double Crossing Blues", with the Johnny Otis Quintette and the Robins (a vocal group), released in 1950 by Savoy Records, which reached number 1 on the Billboard R&B chart. She made several hit records for Savoy with the Johnny Otis Orchestra, including "Mistrusting Blues" (a duet with Mel Walker) and "Cupid's Boogie", both of which also went to number 1 that year. Four more of her records made the Top 10 in the same year: "Misery" (number 9), "Deceivin' Blues" (number 4), "Wedding Boogie" (number 6), and "Far Away Blues (Xmas Blues)" (number 6). Few female artists performing in any genre had such success in their debut year.
Phillips left Otis and the Savoy label at the end of 1950 and signed with Federal Records. But just as quickly as the hits had started, they stopped. She recorded more than thirty sides for Federal, but only one, "Ring-a-Ding-Doo", made the charts, reaching number 8 in 1952. Not working with Otis was part of her problem; the other part was her deepening dependence on heroin, to which she was addicted by the middle of the decade. Being in the same room when Johnny Ace shot himself (accidentally) on Christmas Day, 1954, while in-between shows in Houston, presumably did not help matters.
In 1954, she returned to Houston to live with her father and recuperate. Short on money, she worked in small nightclubs around the South, punctuated by periodic hospital stays in Lexington, Kentucky, to treat her addiction. In 1962, Kenny Rogers discovered her singing at a Houston club and helped her get a contract with Lenox Records, owned by his brother Lelan.
Phillips eventually recovered enough to launch a comeback in 1962. Now billed as Esther Phillips instead of Little Esther, she recorded a country tune, "Release Me", with the producer Bob Gans. This went to number 1 on the R&B chart and number 8 on the pop chart. After several other minor R&B hits for Lenox, she was signed by Atlantic Records. Her cover of the Beatles' song "And I Love Him" nearly made the R&B Top 10 in 1965. The Beatles flew her to the United Kingdom for her first overseas performances.
She had other hits in the 1960s for Atlantic, such as the critically acclaimed Jimmy Radcliffe song "Try Me", which featured a saxophone part by King Curtis (and is often mistakenly credited as the James Brown song of the same title), but she had no more chart-toppers. Her heroin dependence worsened, and she checked into a rehabilitation facility. There she met the singer Sam Fletcher. While undergoing treatment, she recorded some sides for Roulette in 1969, mostly produced by Lelan Rogers. On her release, she moved back to Los Angeles and re-signed with Atlantic. Her friendship with Fletcher resulted in a performance engagement at Freddie Jett's Pied Piper club in late 1969, which produced the album Burnin'. She performed with the Johnny Otis Show at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1970.
One of her biggest post-1950s triumphs was her first album for Kudu Records, From a Whisper to a Scream, in 1972. The lead track, "Home Is Where the Hatred Is", an account of drug use written by Gil Scott-Heron, was nominated for a Grammy Award. Phillips lost to Aretha Franklin, but Franklin presented the trophy to her, saying she should have won it instead.
In 1975, she released a disco-style update of Dinah Washington's "What a Diff'rence a Day Makes", her biggest hit single since "Release Me". It reached the Top 20 in the United States and the Top 10 on the United Kingdom Singles Chart. On November 8, 1975, she performed the song on an episode of NBC's Saturday Night (later called Saturday Night Live) hosted by Candice Bergen. The accompanying album of the same name became her biggest seller yet, with arranger Joe Beck on guitar, Michael Brecker on tenor sax, David Sanborn on alto sax, Randy Brecker on trumpet, Steve Khan on guitar and Don Grolnick on keyboards.
She continued to record and perform throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, completing seven albums for Kudu and four for Mercury Records, which signed her in 1977. In 1983, she charted for the final time with "Turn Me Out", recorded for Muse, a small independent label, which reached number 85 on the R&B chart. She completed recording her final album a few months before her death. It was released by Muse in 1986.
Phillips died at UCLA Medical Center in Carson, California, in 1984, at the age of 48, from liver and kidney failure due to long-term drug abuse. Her funeral services were conducted by Johnny Otis. Originally buried in an unmarked pauper's grave at Lincoln Memorial Park in Compton, she was re-interred in 1985 in the Morning Light section at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, in Los Angeles. A bronze marker recognizes her career achievements and quotes a Bible passage: "In My Father's House Are Many Mansions" (John 14:2).
Phillips was twice nominated for the Rock and Roll of Fame, in 1986 and 1987, but was not inducted.
*****
*Boxer Floyd Patterson was born in Waco, North Carolina (January 4). He would become the first Olympic gold medalist (1952) to win a world professional boxing title.
Floyd Patterson, (b. January 4, 1935, Waco, North Carolina — d. May 11, 2006, New Paltz, New York), was the first fighter to hold the world heavyweight championship twice.
Born into poverty in North Carolina, Patterson grew up in Brooklyn, New York. He learned to box while in a school for emotionally disturbed children and soon began training with Constantine ("Cus") D'Amato, who later worked with Mike Tyson. Patterson won New York Golden Gloves titles in 1951 and 1952 and earned the gold medal as a middleweight at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, Finland. His first professional fight took place on September 12, 1952. Over the next four years, he lost only one bout (1954), a disputed decision in favor of the clever and far more experienced Joey Maxim, a former light-heavyweight champion.
Patterson was undersize for a heavyweight, typically weighing about 185 pounds (84 kg), and had a short reach (71 inches [180 cm]). In the ring, he relied on his speed and a peekaboo boxing style, in which he held his gloves close to his face. On November 30, 1956, he knocked out Archie Moore in five rounds in Chicago to capture the heavyweight title vacated by the retired Rocky Marciano. At the time, Patterson was the youngest person to hold the championship. He defended his title in four subsequent fights before facing Ingemar Johansson of Sweden on June 26, 1959. Although heavily favored to win, Patterson was knocked out in the third round. On June 20, 1960, he regained the title with a fifth-round knockout of Johansson. Patterson remained heavyweight champion until September 25, 1962, when he was knocked out in the first round by Sonny Liston in Chicago. He later was defeated by Liston and Muhammad Ali in his attempts to recapture the world championship. In 1968, Patterson lost to Jimmy Ellis, World Boxing Association heavyweight champion, in a match for that version of the disputed world title. He retired from the ring in 1972, having won 55 of 64 fights. Forty of his wins were by knockout.
Patterson, who was noted for his shyness and gentle manner, later ran an amateur boxing club and was athletic commissioner for the state of New York. In 1991 he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
Patterson, who was noted for his shyness and gentle manner, later ran an amateur boxing club and was athletic commissioner for the state of New York. In 1991 he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
*****
*Frank Robinson, a Hall of Fame baseball player and the first African American manager in Major League Baseball, was born in Beaumont, Texas (August 31).
Frank Robinson (b. August 31, 1935, Beaumont, Texas) played for five teams from 1956 to 1976, and became the only player to win league MVP (Most Valuable Player) honors in both the National and American Leagues. He won the Triple Crown, was a member of two teams that won the World Series (the 1966 and 1970 Baltimore Orioles), and amassed the fourth-most career home runs at the time of his retirement. Robinson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982.
Robinson was the first African-American hired to serve as manager in Major League history. He managed the Cleveland Indians during the last two years of his playing career, compiling a 186–189 record. He went on to manage the San Francisco Giants, the Baltimore Orioles, and the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals.
As a youth, Robinson played sandlot and American Legion Junior League baseball in Oakland, California, and at McClymonds High School, where he also played football and basketball. The right-hander played third base and pitched occasionally. After graduation he was signed by the National League (NL) Cincinnati Reds and played with their minor league teams (third base and outfield) until he joined the parent club in 1956, the year he was awarded Rookie of the Year honors. Robinson won an NL Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in 1961, and he batted more than .300 in 5 of the 10 years before he was traded to the American League (AL) Baltimore Orioles in 1966. In his first season with Baltimore, he won the Triple Crown —leading the league in home runs (49), runs batted in (122), and batting average (.316) — and he was named the 1966 AL MVP, becoming the first to win the award in both leagues. He remained with Baltimore through 1971 and then played with the NL Los Angeles Dodgers (1972) and the AL California Angels (1973-74) and Cleveland Indians (1974-76). With 586 career home runs, Robinson ranked fourth in home runs hit, after Hank Aaron (755), Babe Ruth (714), and Willie Mays (660) when he retired in 1976.
Robinson began managing the Cleveland Indians in 1975, the first African American to manage a major league team. He had begun his managing career in winter baseball for the Santurce team in the Puerto Rican League in 1968 and had also coached at Baltimore and in the minor leagues for the International League. In 1981, he became manager of the NL San Francisco Giants. In 1984 Robinson returned to the Orioles, working as a coach, as a manager (he was named AL Manager of the Year in 1989), and in the front office for the team’s upper management. He stayed with the Orioles until the end of the 1995 season. In 2000 Robinson was put in charge of discipline as a vice president of Major League Baseball, meting out fines and suspensions in controversial improprieties. In 2002, Robinson became manager of the Montreal Expos (since 2005 known as the Washington Nationals). He was fired by the franchise in 2006. Robinson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, in 1982.
*****Robinson began managing the Cleveland Indians in 1975, the first African American to manage a major league team. He had begun his managing career in winter baseball for the Santurce team in the Puerto Rican League in 1968 and had also coached at Baltimore and in the minor leagues for the International League. In 1981, he became manager of the NL San Francisco Giants. In 1984 Robinson returned to the Orioles, working as a coach, as a manager (he was named AL Manager of the Year in 1989), and in the front office for the team’s upper management. He stayed with the Orioles until the end of the 1995 season. In 2000 Robinson was put in charge of discipline as a vice president of Major League Baseball, meting out fines and suspensions in controversial improprieties. In 2002, Robinson became manager of the Montreal Expos (since 2005 known as the Washington Nationals). He was fired by the franchise in 2006. Robinson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, in 1982.
*Otis Rush, a blues musician, singer and guitarist, was born near Philadelphia, Mississippi (April 29). His distinctive guitar style features a slow-burning sound and long bent notes. With similar qualities to Magic Sam and Buddy Guy, his sound became known as West Side Chicago blues and was an influence on many musicians including Michael Bloomfield, Peter Green, and Eric Clapton.
Otis Rush (b. April 29, 1935, near Philadelphia, Mississippi) was a blues guitarist and singer. His distinctive guitar style featured a slow-burning sound and long bent notes. With qualities similar to the styles of Magic Sam and Buddy Guy, his sound became known as West Side Chicago blues and was an influence on many musicians, including Michael Bloomfield, Peter Green and Eric Clapton.
Rush was left-handed and, unlike many other left-handed guitarists, played a left-handed instrument strung upside-down, with the low E string at the bottom. He played often with the little finger of his pick hand curled under the low E for positioning. It is widely believed that this contributed to his distinctive sound. He had a wide-ranging, powerful tenor voice.
The son of Julia Campbell Boyd and O. C. Rush, Otis Rush was born near Philadelphia, Mississippi, in 1935. Rush moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1948, and made a name for himself playing in blues clubs on the South Side and the West Side of the city. From 1956 to 1958, he recorded for Cobra Records and released eight singles, some featuring Ike Turner or Jody Williams on guitar. His first single, "I Can't Quit You Baby", in 1956 reached No. 6 on the Billboard R&B chart. During his tenure with Cobra, he recorded some of his well-known songs, such as "Double Trouble" and "All Your Love (I Miss Loving)."
Cobra Records went bankrupt in 1959, and Rush signed a recording contract with Chess in 1960. He recorded eight tracks for the label, four of which were released on two singles that year. Six tracks, including the two singles, were later included on the album Door to Door in 1969, a compilation also featuring Chess recordings by Albert King. Rush went into the studio for Duke Records in 1962, but only one single, "Homework" backed with "I Have to Laugh", was issued by the label.
In 1965, Rush recorded for Vanguard. These recordings are included on the label's compilation album Chicago/The Blues/Today! Vol. 2. Rush began playing in other cities in the United States and in Europe during the 1960s, notably with the American Folk Blues Festival. In 1969, his album Mourning in the Morning was released by Cotillion Records. Recorded at the FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, the album was produced by Michael Bloomfield and Nick Gravenites (then of Electric Flag). The sound incorporated soul and rock, a new direction for Rush.
In 1971, Rush recorded the album Right Place, Wrong Time in San Francisco for Capitol Records, but Capitol did not release it. The album was finally issued in 1976, when Rush purchased the master from Capitol and had it released by P-Vine Records in Japan. Bullfrog Records released it in the United States soon after. The album has since gained a reputation as one of his best works . He also released some albums for Delmark Records and for Sonet Records in Europe during the 1970s, but by the end of the decade he had stopped performing and recording.
Rush made a comeback in 1985 with a United States tour and the release of a live album, Tops, recorded at the San Francisco Blues Festival.
Rush released Ain't Enough Comin' In, his first studio album in 16 years, in 1994. Any Place I'm Goin' followed in 1998, and he earned his first Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album in 1999. Rush did not record a new studio album since 1998 but he continued to tour and perform until 2004, when he suffered a stroke. In 2002, he was featured on the Bo Diddley tribute album Hey Bo Diddley – A Tribute!, performing the song "I'm a Man", produced by Carla Olson. Rush's 2006 album Live...and in Concert from San Francisco, a live recording from 1999, was released by Blues Express Records. Video footage of the same show was released on the DVD Live Part 1 in 2003.
*David Smyrl, Mr. Handford on Sesame Street, was born in North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (September 13).
David Langston Smyrl (b. September 13, 1935, North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - d. March 22, 2016, Wynnewood, Pennsylvania) was an actor and writer who played Mr. Handford, the owner of Hooper's Store, on Sesame Street from 1990 to 1998 (replacing Leonard Jackson). Smyrl also co-wrote the songs in episode 3717 with Ian James.
Smyrl began his career as a coffeehouse poet in the 1960s, and appeared in the Broadway musical Working (1978). In 1980, relocating to California, Smyrl became a staff writer on the sitcom Benson. He subsequently worked on The Cosby Show as a gag writer, audience warm-up man, and recurring guest performer, appearing in five episodes, notably as contractor Sam Lucas. Film credits include a small role in The Preacher's Wife, and on television, Smyrl appeared twice on Law & Order. An active voice-over performer, Smyrl was heard in many national commercials, in addition to narrating Ralph Bakshi's two Malcolm and Melvin shorts for Cartoon Network and voicing Henry Radiman in the online animated series Anarchy.
*****
*Lionel Thomas Taylor, a football wide receiver who led the American Football League (AFL) in receptions each year for the first six years of the league's existence, was born in Kansas City, Missouri (August 15).
Lionel Thomas Taylor (b. August 15, 1935, Kansas City, Missouri) attended New Mexico Highlands University, where he starred in basketball and track, earning all-conference wide receiver honors in 1956 and 1957.
Taylor first played eight games as a linebacker with the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) before moving to the Denver Broncos of the AFL for the 1960 season. With the Broncos, he switched positions and became a receiver. Third in all-time receptions (543) and receiving yards (6,872) for the Denver Broncos, Taylor was the Broncos' team MVP in 1963, 1964 and 1965, and an AFL All-Star in 1961, 1962 and 1965. An original Bronco, Taylor was part of the team's inaugural Ring of Fame class in 1984.
Taylor was the first professional football receiver ever to make 100 catches in a single season, accomplishing the feat in only 14 games (1961). He had four seasons with over 1,000 yards receiving, and averaged 84.7 catches per year from 1960 to 1965, then the highest six-year total in professional football history. As of 2017, his 102.9 yards per game in 1960 remains a Broncos franchise record. Taylor completed his career with the Houston Oilers in 1967 and 1968.
After his playing career, Taylor went into a long career as a coach. He was an assistant coach for the Super Bowl championship teams of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1970s.
*****
*Bobby Timmons, a jazz pianist and composer, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (December 19).
*Bobby Timmons, a jazz pianist and composer, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (December 19).
Robert Henry "Bobby" Timmons (b. December 19, 1935, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – d. March 1, 1974, New York City, New York), a jazz pianist and composer, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a sideman in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers for two periods (July 1958 to September 1959; February 1960 to June 1961), between which he was part of Cannonball Adderley's band. Several of Timmons' compositions written when part of these bands – including "Moanin", "Dat Dere", and "This Here" – enjoyed commercial success and brought him more attention. In the early and mid-1960s he led a series of piano trios that toured and recorded extensively.
Timmons was strongly associated with the soul jazz style that he helped initiate; this link to apparently simple writing and playing, coupled with drug and alcohol addiction, led to a decline in his career. Timmons died, aged 38, from cirrhosis.
Timmons was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of a minister. He had a sister, Eleanor. Both of his parents, and several aunts and uncles, played the piano. From an early age Timmons studied music with an uncle, Robert Habershaw, who also taught McCoy Tyner. Timmons first played at the church where his grandfather was minister; this influenced his later jazz playing. He grew up in the same area as other future musicians, including the Heath brothers, Jimmy, Percy, and Tootie. Timmons' first professional performances were in his local area, often as a trio that included Tootie Heath on drums. After graduating from high school Timmons was awarded a scholarship to study at the Philadelphia Musical Academy.
Timmons moved to New York in 1954. He played with Kenny Dorham in 1956, making his recording debut with the trumpeter in a live set in May of that year. He went on to play and record with Chet Baker in 1956–57 (bassist Scott LaFaro was part of this band for a time), Sonny Stitt in 1957, and Maynard Ferguson in 1957–58. He also recorded as a sideman with hornmen Curtis Fuller, Hank Mobley, and Lee Morgan, all for Blue Note Records in 1957.
Timmons became best known as a member of Art Blakey's band the Jazz Messengers, which he was first part of from July 1958 to September 1959, including for a tour of Europe. He was recruited for the Messengers by saxophonist Benny Golson. By late 1958, Timmons was sharing bandmate Morgan's East Sixth Street apartment and the pair had bought a piano, allowing Timmons to practice and Morgan to work on composing. From around the time he joined Blakey, Timmons, along with some of his fellow band members, was a heroin user. After leaving Blakey, Timmons joined Cannonball Adderley's band, in October 1959.
Timmons was also known as a composer during this period. His compositions "Moanin'" (from the 1958 album of the same title), "This Here", and "Dat Dere" helped generate the gospel-tinged 'soul jazz' style of the late 1950s and early 1960s. The first was written when Timmons was first with Blakey; the others were composed when he was with Adderley. "This Here" (sometimes "Dis Here") was a surprise commercial success for Adderley: recorded in concert in 1959, it was released as part of the The Cannonball Adderley Quintet in San Francisco album while the band was still on tour, and they discovered its popularity only when they arrived back in New York and found crowds outside the Village Gate, where they were due to play.
Timmons was reported to be dissatisfied with the money he had received from "This Here", and was enticed in February 1960 into leaving Adderley and returning to Blakey's band by the offer of more pay. Timmons then appeared on further well-known albums with the drummer, including A Night in Tunisia, The Freedom Rider and The Witch Doctor. His own recording debut as sole leader was This Here Is Bobby Timmons in 1960, which contained his first versions of his best-known compositions. In the same year, he played on recordings led by Nat Adderley, Arnett Cobb, and Johnny Griffin. among others; on the first of these, Work Song, Timmons did not appear on all of the tracks, because he had been drinking heavily.
Timmons left Blakey for the second time in June 1961, encouraged by the success of his compositions, including jukebox plays of "Dat Dere", which Oscar Brown had recorded after adding lyrics. Timmons then formed his own bands, initially with Ron Carter on bass and Tootie Heath on drums. They toured around the United States, including the West Coast, but played most in and around New York. In the initial stages of this trio, Timmons liked the group sounds of the trios led by Red Garland and Ahmad Jamal. Timmons was at the peak of his fame at that point, but was addicted to heroin, and used a lot of the money that the band was paid maintaining his habit.
Timmons started playing vibraphone in the mid-1960s. He occasionally played organ, but recorded only one track on that instrument – a 1964 version of "Moanin'" on From the Bottom. Recordings as a leader continued, usually as part of a trio or quartet, but, after joining Milestone Records around 1967, Timmons' album Got to Get It! featured him as part of a nonet, playing arrangements by Tom McIntosh.
Timmons' career declined quickly in the 1960s, in part because of drug abuse and alcoholism and partly as a result of frustration at being typecast as a composer and player of seemingly simple pieces of music. In 1968, he made his second, final, recording for Milestone, Do You Know the Way? In the following year he played in a quartet led by Sonny Red, with Dexter Gordon on one of the saxophonist's temporary returns to the United States from Europe, and in a trio backing vocalist Etta Jones. Timmons continued to play in the early 1970s, mostly in small groups or in combination with other pianists, and mainly in the New York area.
Timmons joined Clark Terry's big band for a tour of Europe in 1974. He was unwell and drank on the plane to Sweden, and fell while drinking at the bar before the band's first concert, in Malmo. Susceptible to blood clotting, he was flown back to the United States. On March 1, 1974, he died from cirrhosis, at the age of 38, at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York. He had been in hospital for a month. He was buried in Philadelphia, and was survived by his wife, Estelle, and son, also Bobby.
*****
*Jacqueline Vaughn, the first African American woman president of the Chicago Teachers Union, was born in St. Louis, Missouri (July 27). Vaughn began to teach in the Chicago schools in 1956, and was a vice-president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers in 1969.
Jacqueline Barbara Vaughn (née Robinson; b. July 27, 1935, St. Louis, Missouri – d. January 22, 1994, Chicago, Illinois) was an American Chicago Public Schools special education teacher and labor leader. She was the first African-American and first woman to head the nation's third largest teachers union local. She served as President of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) from 1984 to 1994, the Illinois Federation of Teachers (1989–94), and Vice-President of the American Federation of Teachers (1974–1994). She led what has been called one of the "mightiest teachers unions in the nation." Vaughn was famous for her fashion sense and her no-nonsense negotiation style in contract talks. Her ability to build consensus between the leadership team, the teachers and school support staff garnered respect from those in and out of the educational system. Vaughn spent much of her career trying to reform the educational system. Through her vision, the CTU Quest Center was created to give school professionals a place to design more effective teaching methods and student learning techniques.
Born Jacqueline Barbara Robinson on July 27, 1935, in St. Louis, Missouri, Robinson moved to Chicago after both parents died at an early age. She was raised by an aunt, Mae A. Bibbs, a first grade teacher at Douglas Elementary School. Bibbs helped to guide the young girl to a career as a teacher. Vaughn attended Morgan Park High School and graduated from Chicago Teachers College in 1956. She worked various teaching assignments before becoming a special education teacher at Einstein Elementary School and later a language arts specialist. During that time, Vaughn rose through the ranks of the Chicago Teachers Union. She served as a union delegate from 1957 to 1961, field representative from 1961 to 1963, and Elementary Functional Vice President from 1963 to 1968.
In 1968, Vaughn was elected to Executive leadership in the CTU as recording secretary under then President, John Desmond. In 1972, Vaughn was elected vice-president, a post she held until Robert Healey stepped down as president in 1984. Vaughn became one of Chicago's most visible union leaders during her tenure as CTU president, making regular appearances on the nightly news voicing the concerns and interests of both teachers and students during difficult negotiations with the Chicago School Board. Between 1969 and 1987, the union authorized nine strikes to improve educational conditions.
The strike in 1987 lasted 4 weeks, from September 8 to October 4 and resulted in a pay increase for teachers and reductions in class size. It was the longest strike in Chicago history.
Vaughn died on January 22, 1994 after a long battle with breast cancer. In 1992, Under her direction the Chicago Teachers Union became the first labor organization to receive a $1 million grant from the MacArthur Foundation to fund the CTU Quest Center. The center provides teachers and paraprofessionals with continuous learning opportunities that can help improve teaching and student learning. On April 1, 1993, Wilson High School on the northwest side of Chicago was renamed Jacqueline B. Vaughn Occupational High School after the former special education teacher and labor leader. The school provides special needs students with practical skills to become a viable part of the greater community. On March 11, 1998, Roosevelt Road in the south Loop area of downtown Chicago between The Dan Ryan Expressway and Museum Plaza by the city's lakefront was officially renamed the Honorary Jacqueline B. Vaughn Way .
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