African-Americans In Sports


Micheal Jordan
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!



Back To Home         Actors         Actresses         Male Models         Female Models         Politics

Contact me: [email protected]

 
 
 
 




   
Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

1