African-Americans In Sports
Michael Jordan
Michael is married,
and he and his wife Juanita have 3 kids, named Jasmine, Jeffrey and Marcus.
He has been on two Olympic Gold Medal teams. Once as a college player in
1984 and the second time on Dream Team I in 1992. Jordan's father, James,
was killed in a robbery in 1993. This devastating event in Michael's life
was partially responsible for him leaving the NBA. He claimed that basketball
held no more challenges for him. He turned to Baseball for a challenge
where he played in the White Sox organization. He was quick, and could play
defense, but he just couldn't do enough with the bat. His return to basketball
came on March 19, 1995 against Indiana. The Bulls had retired Jordan's
number 23 on November 11, 1994. When Michael returned he wore number 45,
but soon returned to his familiar number 23. After a shaky return at the
end of the 1995 season (only scoring 26.9 ppg), he was back in full form
for 1995-96, winning another scoring title. He was named the MVP for the
fourth time in 1996 and won his fourth NBA Championship and won his fourth
NBA Finals MVP Trophy. Jordan was only the second person, the other was
Willis Reed in 1970, to win the MVP for the regular season, Finals and AS
Game. Jordan did it in 1996 after making his return and leading the Bulls
to an NBA record 72 wins. Jordan led his Bull's to a Sixth NBA Championship
in 1998, and he added a fifth MVP Trophy in 1998, after losing out to Karl
Malone in 1997. He also beat Karl's Jazz for the Title that year. Jordan
joins Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Bill Russell as the only five time winners
of the MVP, Jabbar has actually won it six times. Jordan was named MVP in
1988, 1991, 1992, 1996 and now in 1998. In 1996 he was also selected to
be on the All-Interview team, along with Malone, Barkley, Magic and Jayson
Williams. He was a repeat on the All-Interview in 1998 when everyone asked
him about his retirement. During the summer of 1996, Michael starred in
his first feature movie, Space Jam alongside Bugs Bunny, Marvin Martian and
Porky Pig. Michael announced his retirement from basketball and the Chicago
Bulls for a second and final time on January 13, 1999. Debate will continue
for years whether or not he was the greatest of all time.
Marion Jones
Marion Jones
Marion Jones was
nine when the Olympics came to town and helped her chart a course for her
life. At the time - 1984, when the Games were in Los Angeles - her family
was living in Palmdale, north of L.A. The 24-year-old sprinter, arguably
the world’s highest-profile female athlete, will pursue an unprecedented
five gold medals during the 2000 Olympics, which begin Sept. 15 in Sydney.
She qualified for three events - the 100 meters, 200 meters and long jump
- with victories at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in Sacramento
in July. Subsequently, she was named to the U.S. team in both the 4x100 and
4x400 relay. The buildup for that Drive For Five has become inescapable,
both for Jones and those anticipating the Sydney Games. The roots of Jones’
drive trace back to her childhood as a self-described tomboy, tagging along
with her brother Albert, five years her senior. Whatever Albert and his friends
did, Marion wanted to do. Marion took her first steps into the national
spotlight as a high school athlete, winning nine California state track
titles and twice winning the Gatorade national high school athlete of the
year award. As a freshman and sophomore, she attended Rio Mesa High in Oxnard,
Calif., and won state championships in the 100 and 200 both years, moving
into the national rankings in both events her sophomore year. She continued
to win those events after moving to Thousand Oaks, Calif., before her junior
year, and added a state title in the long jump as a senior. By then, she was
truly on the national stage. As a junior, she competed at the Olympic Trials
in New Orleans, finishing fourth in the 200 (her time of 22.58 seconds, a
national junior record, left her a hundredth of a second out of third and
a spot on the team) and fifth in the 100. She could have gone to Barcelona
Games as a member of the 4x100 relay team, but ultimately declined. Jones
was not just running track during this time. She was also a forward on Thousand
Oaks High’s girls’ basketball team, which won a CIF-Southern Section title
in 1992 and was runnerup in 1993. And, when she went on to college at the
University of North Carolina, it was in basketball that she made her greatest
impact. Moved to point guard, she helped the Tar Heels go 33-2 and win a national
championship. She would miss her junior year because of injury, but in her
other three seasons, the team was a combined 92-10. Her track, those years,
was undistinguished, at least by her standards. She won conference titles
in the 100 and long jump in 1994 and in the long jump in 1995, and took a
second and a fourth in the long jump at the NCAA championships, but never
won a national collegiate title. She came back to track full time in the
1997 season, winning the 100 at the world championships and running on the
U.S. team that won the 4x100 relay in an American record 41.47. The following
year, she was the Track and Field News athlete of the year, winning 35 of
36 events (the other was a second-place in the long jump at her final meet
of 1998) and finishing the year ranked No. 1 in the world in the 100, 200
and long jump. Only two other athletes, Carl Lewis and Poland’s Irena Szewinska,
had ever been ranked No. 1 in three events before. That fall, she married
C.J. Hunter, who she had met when Hunter was an assistant track coach at
North Carolina. The next year had its highs and lows for both of them. Hunter
won the shot put at the world championships; Jones won the 100 and took
the bronze in the long jump, but suffered a back injury running the 200
and did not compete the rest of the year.
Roy Jones, Jr.
Roy Jones, Jr.
Roy was born on
January 16, 1969 in Pensacola, Florida. He is currently 31 years old. Was
born in Pensacola, Fl and attended Washinton High School before graduation
and attending Pensacola Junior College. His parents, Roy Jones Sr. and
Carol Jones, currently reside in live on their farm in Pensacola, Fla. Roy,
who is single, has twin sons. He stands 5 feet 11 inches and weighs (at
last check) 180 lbs. Roy Jones Jr. is the man. He is the worlds best boxer
pound for pound. Roy holds the WBA, WBC and IBF championship belts in the
light heavyweight division. He is also ranked number 1 by a majority of
the major boxing associations. And Jones doesn't just box opponents, he
DESTROYS them. It's more like a clinic - have you seen Roys left hook? Aww,
too late - look at you! Down on the canvas! Like lighting - Roy introduces
any and all he faces to a world of pain. Thats not all - we gotta remember
that Jones has STYLE, and also knows how to work a crowd. In Jones last fight
(Telesco) he showed up in a sharp tuxedo ensemble and put on a show which
included appearances by Method Man and RedMan on either side of him as well
as Whitney Houston. And is this all? Not even. The guy is a baller, raps,
and designs his own clothes!