May 17, 1956, Olympic gold medalist and professional boxer Charles Ray “Sugar Ray” Leonard was born in Wilmington, NC.
Leonard, the fifth of seven children of Cicero and Getha Leonard, . He was named after Ray Charles, his mother's favorite singer.

c.1930, Leaksville, NC area.

The identities of the ball players are unknown except for the catcher, 'Rabbitt' Martin. Martin was reportedly an exceptional player.

Althea Gibson, An African American Woman Pioneer In Professional Tennis And Golf

Althea Gibson was born 8. 25, 1927. She was an African American tennis player.

The Asheville Royal Giants, the city's first Black baseball team, pose for a team photo on July 14, 1916 at Pearson Park in West Asheville, NC.

Austin Curtis was one of the most successful jockeys in the early history of the United States. He was born enslaved in Virginia, and was owned by slaver Willie Jones of Halifax, NC.

Image: There are no known verified images of Austin Curtis. This image is an artist depiction of horse racing at the Hampton Plantation in Maryland. Source: NPS/Harpers Ferry Center

The Buck Leonard Association located in Rocky Mount, North Carolina is working to preserve the history of the Negro Leagues. Check out the organization's web site to learn more about their efforts. Link Below.

Bonnie Dayle Logan was born June 26, 1949, in Durham, N.C., one of three children to Alice and George Logan, Jr. She attended Hillside High School in Durham where she was undefeated in singles competition for three years as National Interscholastic Girls Champion.

Photograph: Irwin R. Holmes (center) with left to right: Craig Page, Rep. Larry Hall, Ulis Malloy, Dennis Corbitt, Bonnie Logan, Joe Austin, Mike Spears, Ivan Harrell and coach Ike Barnes.-COURTESY OF IRWIN HOLME

Photograph: Bonnie Logan, on the left, winner of the 1967 ATA Women's Singles title is congratulated by finalist Sylvia Hooks and tournament administrators.
Bonnie Logan was the first African American women to play in the Virginia Slims Women's Tennis Circuit.

Kathy McMillan​, Track + Field, Inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall Of Fame in 1999.

Catherine "Kathy" Laverne McMillan, was born in Raeford, North Carolina on November 7, 1957.
She is a retired American athlete, who mainly competed in the long jump.

Charles Sifford, ‘the Jackie Robinson of golf,’ to be honored with centennial celebration in 2022
Plans to honor the Charlotte native include a feature-length documentary on Sifford’s life, re-release of his autobiography and more.

Mr. Charlie Williams-Harness Racer
"Creekside would like to acknowledge Mr. Charles Williams in honor of Black History Month. Mr. Williams is 86 years young and a community member from Ahoskie, North Carolina who has been Harness Racing since he was a young boy.

Creekside has a picture of Mr. Charles Williams and his horse at that time "Southampton Linda" hanging in our hallway from September 25, 1949 from the Atlantic District Fair Ground here in Ahoskie.

Image: team photo of the Cornfield Boys, a Negro baseball team in Hertford County, NC
"Sandlot teams known as the "Cornfield Boys' created one of the state's greatest sports stories when they beat teams from the Negro Major Leagues in the 1940s and 1950s."

Cullen Jones, An Olympic Swimmer

*Cullen Jones was born on Feb 29, 1984. He is an African American competitive swimmer and Olympic gold medalist in freestyle sprint events.

1938 Durham Black Sox Team Photograph

This rare image is a team photograph of the 1938 Durham Black Sox and was taken at El Toro Park in Durham, NC which burned down in 1939.

The Black Sox were one of several Negro League teams that played in the city of Durham, along with the Durham Eagles and Durham Rams, from the 1920s through 1963.

Floyd Patterson was born in Waco, NC on January 4, 1935 and died in New Paltz, NY on May 11, 2006. He was an American professional boxer who competed from 1952 to 1972, and twice reigned as the world heavyweight champion from 1956 to 1962. At the age of 21, he became the youngest boxer in history to win the title, and was also the first heavyweight to regain the title after losing it. As an amateur, he won a gold medal in the middleweight division at the 1952 Summer Olympics.

Fred "Curly" Neal's Harlem Globetrotters Jersey.
Born May 19, 1942 in Greensboro, North Carolina, Neal attended Greensboro-Dudley High School. He went to Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina. At Smith, he averaged 23.1 points a game and was named All-CIAA guard.
He is an American former basketball player best known for his career with the Harlem Globetrotters, instantly recognizable with his shaved head. Following in the footsteps of Marques Haynes, Neal became the Trotters' featured ballhandler, a key role in the team's exhibition act.

Fred "Curly" Neal's Obituary from March 26, 2020.

Greensboro, NC native Fred “Curly” Neal, age 77, has died Thursday, March 26, 2020 at his home in Houston at the age of 77.
He attended Dudley High, was inducted into the N.C. Sports Hall of Fame in 2008. The Globetrotters retired No. 22 that same year.

Ligon High School Coach George Jones (left) with Willie Dean “Pat” White, 9 May 1962.
Raleigh, NC.

Pat White was Ligon High School’s sports prodigy. Excelling in tennis, basketball, football, and baseball. White was a football All-American scoring more touchdowns that any quarterback in the school’s history.

Harold “Happy” Hairston, A L.A. Laker And Man Of The Community

He was born on May 31, 1942 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

American professional basketball player. He was best remembered for playing with the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), along with stints with the Cincinnati Royals and the Detroit Pistons.

THE HOMESTEAD GRAYS

- From: Dorothy Slater:
"I bought a book of postcards from the era of the Negro leagues from the Goodwill store in Middletown Maryland.
I look inside, and there is my dad! James Alton Slater 4th from the left in the rear.
I was in tears. I knew he had played in the Negro League, but never saw him in his uniform."

Irwin Holmes
Photo desription: Irwin Holmes on the NC State University tennis team in 1957.
Credit Courtesy Of Meredythe Holmes -A college age Irwin, an African American wearing glasses, smiling, looking at the viewer, holding a tennis racket. He is wearing a grey tee shirt.

Jessica McDonald is the lone mom on the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team that won the World Cup Sunday in a match against the Netherlands.

McDonald also happens to be a player for the NC Courage, the professional women's soccer team that plays in Cary, and a UNC-Chapel Hill graduate. .

THE FOUNDING OF THE ATA, 1916
Mark Preston | February 3, 2020

Photo description: Jimmy McDaniels in action at the New York State Negro Tennis Championship at the Cosmopolitan Tennis Club in New York City, Aug. 5, 1940. (Credit: Getty Images)

Left- A team shot of the New York Black Yankees from sometime in the 1940s. Barbee played for the team on and off for decades.

Right- John Quincy Adams Barbee (March 16, 1914 – January 14, 2000), nicknamed "Bud", was an American Negro league outfielder in the 1930s and 1940s.

Leora "Sam" Jones was born August 11, 1960 in Mount Olive, North Carolina.
She is an American former handball player who competed three times at the Olympics, in 1984, in 1988, and in 1992.

She was Inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall Of Fame in 2004

Photograph source: NC Museum Of History Sports Hall Of Fame Exhibit.

Marilyn “Que” Tucker, from Reidsville, Rockingham County, North Carolina, is the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s Commissioner with a proven track record of service to young people.

Meadowlark Lemon Dies at 83; Harlem Globetrotters’ Dazzling Court Jester
By Bruce Weber / NYT Obituary Dec. 28, 2015

Meadow Lemon (April 25, 1932 – December 27, 2015)

Lemon was born in Wilmington, North Carolina and attended Williston Industrial School, graduating in 1952. He then matriculated at Florida A&M University, but was soon drafted into the United States Army and served for two years in Austria and West Germany.

Murfreesboro, North Carolina: Black Baseball Teams 1930s to 1960s.

On November 8, 2024 a historical marker was dedicated in Riverside Park celebrating Black baseball players in Hertford County, North Carolina.

Photograph shows an 84 year old Effa Manley along with Buck O’Neil, Joe Black, Webster McDonald, Buck Leonard-(who is a native of NC), Ted Page, and Leon Day.

Robert McAdoo​ was born September 25, 1951 (age 73)
in Greensboro, North Carolina.

He was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall Of Fame in 1993.

McAdoo is an American former professional basketball player and coach.

Left-1961 Raleigh (NC) Tigers Program Negro American Baseball.

Right - Russell Mosley, in 1955 was a shortstop with the Memphis Red Sox in his first year in the Negro Leagues. He spent time with the Raleigh Tigers of the Negro American League.
Photo courtesy of Cam Perron/N&O

Image and narrative source: The Negro Leagues Up Close blog.

Image: A baseball card of Sam Allen signed by Sam Allen.

Words on image: “Sam Allen, who competed for the (Raleigh) Tigers in 1958, one year after he led the Negro American League with the Kansas City Monarchs and one year before the Tigers themselves joined the NAL.

On June 24, 1933, legendary Boston Celtics player Sam Jones was born in Wilmington, North Carolina and raised in Laurnburg, NC, he was a high school graduate of the historic Laurinburg (N.C.) Institute,

During his 12 seasons with the Celtics, Jones and his team won 10 championships.
Breaking through the gates of white supremacy segregation laws.

Sheila Ford Duncan, from Clarkton, North Carolina, is the women's basketball program’s all-time leader with 2,442 points and 2,200 rebounds, leading UNCAsheville to the 1984 NAIA National Title.

Siler City Baseball Team. Believed to be Siler City Giants, late 1960s.

Photograph: Tennis legends who played in Durham include Joe Williams (standing far left) and Arthur Ashe at age 14 (far right). -COURTESY OF IRWIN HOLMES

Negro Baseball League’s 100th Anniversary
1920 – 2020
The Negro League documents the careers of more than four thousand black baseball players. To date there are less than 50 living players.

Photo Credit: Algonquin Tennis Club, 1954. Arthur Ashe is on the front row, 5th from the right..From "Durham's Hayti" by Andre Vann and Beverly Washington Jones.

The Legacy of African Americans and Tennis in the Triangle
The first African American tennis club in the Triangle started almost 100 years ago.
. It was located at 1308 Fayetteville Street , Durham NC. It was Built in 1925-1935 / Demolished in 1968.

The Blue Birds (pictured here) were one of eight African American baseball teams in the boys Asheville Varsity Club It was founded in 1957 by George Bishop (top row, left).

The Forgotten History of Black Baseball in Charlotte

By Michael Turner Webb /CulturedotOrg
June 1, 2021

On June 20, 1890, The Wilmington Messenger reported on a game between their local Black baseball team, the Fowler Base Ball Club of Wilmington, against the Quicksteps of Charlotte. On the day of the game, June 19, the Quicksteps of Charlotte won by a narrow victory to the Fowler Base Ball Club of Wilmington with the score, 11-10. The two Black baseball clubs would play another game the following day where the Quicksteps won by another close call.

The historic Algonquin Tennis Club, which served the African American community in the early and middle 20th Century, was located roughly in the area of the current W.D. Hill Recreation Center on Fayetteville Street. The Durham Committee on Negro Affairs was founded at the Algonquin on August 15, 1935.

THE STANTONSBURG HAWKS.

Wilson was not the only county town to field an African-American semi-pro baseball team.

From 1945 into the late 1970s, the Stantonsburg Hawks traveled neighboring counties

WILSON BRAVES SCORE VICTORIES.

The Wilson Braves had a much better May than April 1932.

The nine played the Bull City Aces (of Durham), the Harlem (N.Y.) Black Sox, the Hamlet Airliners, the Camel City Aces (of Winston-Salem), and teams from Leaksville and Greenville and went 9-2.

Tresa Brown | UNC Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Brown was a member of The 1984 Kodak Women's All-American Team, the first all-Black women’s team selection.

While at UNC, Tresa Brown led the Tar Heels to their first ACC title in 1984 as tournament MVP.
Brown became the first UNC player to earn both Kodak All-American selection and ACC Player of the Year honors.

1960 Gold Medalist Walt Bellamy Jr.,(July 24, 1939-November 2, 2013 (aged 74) From New Bern, North Carolina.
@IrememberOurHistory®

He was selected to join others on the USA Basketball team representing the United States at the Olympic Games in Rome, Italy.

Team USA dominated the competition - undefeated 8-0 in the tournament - scoring an average of 101 points per game and defeating the opponent by an average 42 points per game.

On August 7, 1972, Negro League ballplayer and Rocky Mount native Walter Fenner “Buck” Leonard was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.