December 18, 1787: New Jersey becomes the 3rd State to ratify the Constitution of the United States.
This is, therefore, New Jersey's official day of Statehood, and, effectively, the State's "birthday," even though its current land had been occupied by Native Americans since time immemorial, had been sighted by Europeans as early as 1609, and often cites as its "beginning" the 1664 takeover of New Netherland by the English.
December 18, 1969: I am born in Livingston, Essex County, New Jersey. It pleases me that I share my birthday with my home State.
Top 10 Athletes From New Jersey
Remember: What matters is not where the athlete was born, but where he grew up and was trained to play his sport. Example: Dennis Rodman was born in Trenton, but grew up in Dallas, so he would count for Texas, not New Jersey. Where he played or coached, in college or the pros, doesn't matter. For all they did in New Jersey, Lawrence Taylor came from Virginia, and Martin Brodeur from Quebec, so that's where they would count (if, that is, I were doing this for Canada's Provinces).
Sometimes, this is tricky. Orel Hershiser was born in Buffalo, then lived in Detroit, Toronto, and finally Cherry Hill, Camden County, before turning pro in baseball. He only lived in Detroit for 6 years, but that was where he first played any kind of organized ball, so, in spite of having played high school ball for Cherry Hill East, he qualifies for Michigan, not New Jersey.
Honorable Mention to Amos Alonzo Stagg of West Orange, Essex County, New Jersey. Before Martin Brodeur and other local athletes lived in what's become a well-off town, before the Richard J. Codey Arena (formerly the South Mountain Arena) became the Devils' practice home and center for local high school and youth hockey, even before Thomas Edison built his post-Menlo Park laboratory there, West Orange was an area for poor Irish immigrants and their kids, and Stagg was one.
He overcame this to become one of the best all-around athletes of the 1880s. At Yale, he was a pitcher, and invented the batting cage. In football, he played end, and was named to the 1st All-America team, in 1889. In basketball, he became an instructor at the YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, and played in the 1st public basketball game in 1892, a few weeks after his fellow instructor, Dr. James Naismith, invented the sport there. The students beat the faculty 5-1, with a basket counting for only 1 point. Stagg scored the faculty's only basket.
If I was counting coaching achievements, he would be a lot higher than an honorable mention. He coached his 1st college football team in 1892, at the University of Chicago. He coached his last in 1958, at what's now San Joaquin Delta College, at age 96. (He lived to be 102.)
Essentially, he and the man who coached him at Yale, Walter Camp, invented American football as we've come to know it. He invented the center snap, the T formation, the linebacker, the unbalanced line, the quarterback keeper, the man in motion, the lateral, the reverse, the end-around, the onside kick, the quick kick, and what became known as the Statue of Liberty play. And that's just plays. He also invented the huddle, the tackling dummy, hip pads, padded goalposts, varsity letters (Chicago's "C"), and was the 1st coach in any sport to assign uniform numbers to his players. He also wrote the 1st book that included diagrams of football plays, in 1893.
At Chicago, he coached football from 1892 to 1932, baseball from 1893 to 1913, track & field from 1896 to 1928, and basketball in 1920-21. He served as athletic director from 1892 to 1933. And he wasn't just innovative, as a coach, he was good. He won Conference Championships in 1905, 1907, 1908, 1913, 1922, 1924, 1936, 1938, 1940, 1941 and 1942 -- his last at age 80. His 1905 and 1913 Chicago teams, both unbeaten and untied, were retroactively awarded National Championships.
The football stadiums at both Chicago and the University of the Pacific, in Stockton, California, were named for him. He is in both the College Football and the Basketball Halls of Fame. The NCAA named its Division III championship game the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, held annually in Salem, Virginia (outside Roanoke).
Honorable Mention to Alex Wojciechowicz of South River, Middlesex County. A member of Fordham University's legendary 1930s offensive line the Seven Blocks of Granite, he was a 2-time All-Pro center and linebacker for the Detroit Lions, and helped the Philadelphia Eagles win the 1948 and 1949 NFL Championships. He is a member of the College Football, Pro Football, and Philadelphia Eagles Halls of Fame, and was named to the NFL's 1940s All-Decade Team.
Honorable Mention to Lou Creekmur of Woodbridge, Middlesex County. An 8-time Pro Bowler, the offensive tackle won the NFL Championship with the Detroit Lions in 1952, 1953 and 1957. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Honorable Mention to Jim Ringo of Phillipsburg, Warren County. A 10-time Pro Bowler, he was the center on the 1961 and 1962 NFL Champion Green Bay Packers, before being traded to the Philadelphia Eagles. He is a member of the Pro Football, Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles Halls of Fame, and was named to the NFL's 1960s All-Decade Team.
Honorable Mention to Rosey Grier of Roselle, Union County. His real name is Roosevelt, so he wasn't nicknamed for his hometown. A 2-time Pro Bowler, the defensive tackle played in 5 NFL Championship Games for the Giants, winning in 1956, before becoming a member of the Los Angeles Rams' line known as the Fearsome Foursome. He later became an actor and a community activist, and was the 1st former professional athlete to be a panelist on Match Game, preceding Alex Karras and Don Sutton.
Honorable Mention to Mike Rozier of Woodrow Wilson High School in Camden, Camden County, winner of the 1983 Heisman Trophy at Nebraska. He became a 2-time All-Pro running back for the Houston Oilers.
Honorable Mention to Ron Dayne of Overbrook High School in Pine Hill, Camden County. Funny how New Jersey's only 2 Heisman winners come from the same County, only 15 miles apart. Dayne won the Trophy in 1999 with Wisconsin, and remains the NCAA's all-time leader in rushing yardage with 7,125 yards. He played 8 seasons in the NFL, the 1st 5 with the Giants, reaching Super Bowl XXXV. He and Rozier are both in the College Football Hall of Fame.
Honorable Mention to Joe Theismann of South River, Middlesex County. He was the 1st New Jersey-trained quarterback to lead his team to an NFL Championship, with the 1982 Washington Redskins, winning Super Bowl XVII.
Honorable Mention to Joe Flacco of Audubon, Camden County. He was the 2nd New Jersey-trained quarterback to lead his team to an NFL Championship, with the 2012 Baltimore Ravens, winning Super Bowl XLVII.
Honorable Mention to David Tyree of Montclair, Essex County. The receiver reached the Pro Bowl with the Giants in 2005, and kept their drive to win Super Bowl XLII alive with his legendary "Helmet Catch." He is now the Giants' Director of Player Developent (kind of an assistant general manager).
Honorable Mention to Charlie Sweasy and Andy Leonard, both of Newark, Essex County. Sweasy was the 2nd baseman on baseball's 1st opening professional team, the 1869-70 Cincinnati Red Stockings. Leonard was its left fielder, and continued to excel with some of his former teammates on the Boston Red Stockings, who dominated the 1st professional league, the National Association, in the early 1870s.
Honorable Mention to Billy Hamilton of Newark, Essex County. No, not the center fielder for the Cincinnati Reds -- he's from Mississippi. This one, "Sliding Billy," was a star center fielder in the 1890s, for the Philadelphia Phillies and for the Boston Beaneaters, forerunners of the Atlanta Braves.
There were no All-Star Games or postseason awards in his time, but he had a .344 lifetime batting average, led the National League in batting in 1891 and 1893, had a 141 career OPS+, and was the best stealer of his era. His 914 stolen bases -- sometimes recorded as 937 -- were an all-time record until surpassed by Lou Brock. (Because 1900 was frequently used as a cutoff point, Ty Cobb was said to be the all-time leader with 892. Regardless, Brock and later Rick Henderson surpassed both o them.)
He helped the Beaneaters win the Pennant in 1897 and 1898. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame and the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame.
Honorable Mention to Leon "Goose" Goslin of Salem, Salem County. A left fielder, he batted .316 lifetime, with 2,735 hits, including 248 home runs. He was the only player to win all 3 of the Washington Senators' Pennants: 1924 (winning the District's only World Series), 1925 and 1933. He helped the Detroit Tigers win the Pennant in 1934 and 1935 (the team's 1st World Championship). He led the American League in RBIs in 1924 and batting average in 1928. He was an All-Star in 1936.
He is (for now) the only South Jersey native in the Baseball Hall of Fame, and was named to
The Sporting News' 100 Greatest Baseball Players in 1999.
Honorable Mention to Don Newcombe of Elizabeth, Union County. And...
Honorable Mention to Joe Black of Plainfield, Union County. The 1st black man to be the starting, and the 1st black man to be the winning, pitcher in a World Series game, respectively.
Roger Kahn immortalized several of the 1950s Brooklyn Dodgers in his book
The Boys of Summer, including Black. But not Newcombe: Kahn, focused on the Dodgers of 1952 and 1953, when he covered the team for the New York Herald-Tribune, the youngest baseball beat writer in New York newspaper history, and, at the time, Newk was serving in the U.S. Army in the Korean War. Unfortunately, by the time the Dodgers finally won the World Series in 1955, Black had been traded. But that year, Newk won 20 games and hit 7 home runs, a feat only achieved in the major leagues by 1 other pitcher, Wes Ferrell -- and he didn't win the Pennant when he did it.
Honorable Mention to Mike Trout of Millville. The center fielder for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim was named American League Rookie of the Year in 2012, and the MVP in 2014 and 2016, finishing 2nd 3 other times. He helped the Angels win the AL Western Division in 2014. He is a 6-time All-Star. His lifetime batting average is .306, and his career OPS+ is a shocking 172. Oh yeah: He's only 26 years old. If I do this list again in 5 years, he will most likely be in the Top 10.
Honorable Mention to John Roosma of Passaic, Passic County. A member of the Passaic High School "Wonder Five" of 1919-21, he was personally recruited for the U.S. Military Academy by General Douglas MacArthur -- himself a former Army athlet. He became the 1st college player to score over 1,000 points in a career, and Army's basketball most valuable player award is named for him.
He was stationed in Hawaii when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He rose to the rank of Colonel, and commanded the 334th Combat Infantry Regiment, driving into Germany and helping bring about V-E Day. He lived until 1983.
Honorable Mention to Bennie Borgman of Haledon, Bergen County. One of the earliest pro basketball stars, he played for the New York team known as the Original Celtics (no connection to the Boston NBA team), winning league championships in 1922, 1926 and 1928. He later served as the 1st head coach of the Syracuse Nationals (now the Philadelphia 76ers), and played minor-league baseball for 15 seasons, without reaching the majors. He was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Honorable Mention to Tom Barlow of Trenton, the State Capital, in Mercer County. Another of the earliest stars of professional basketball, he played for the Philadelphia Warriors in the American Basketball League from 1926 to 1932, well before the founding of the NBA, or their move to the San Francisco Bay Area (now known as the Golden State Warriors). He is in the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Honorable Mention to Rory Sparrow of Paterson, Passaic County. The Eastside High School graduate played for several teams, including both the Nets and the Knicks. His Rory F. Sparrow Foundation, benefiting underprivileged kids in the New York Tri-State Area, earned him the NBA's 1986 J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award, and a place as 1 of 8 "Athletes Who Care" to receive
Sports Illustrated's Sportspeople of the Year award for 1987.
Honorable Mention to Nikos Galis of Union City, Hudson County. A graduate of Union Hill High School in his hometown, he stayed in New Jersey and starred at Seton Hall University. And he is in the Basketball Hall of Fame, newly elected this year. But he never made so much as a dribble in the NBA.
So why is he in? Because he went to his parents' homeland, Greece, and became the greatest basketball player the country has ever seen, leading Thessaloniki-based Aris to 8 titles in their league, which he led in scoring 11 times and whose MVP he won 5 times. He led Greece to the 1987 Eurobasket title (continental tournament for national teams).
Honorable Mention to Carol Blazejowski of Cranford, Union County. "The Blaze" is on the short list for the title of greatest female basketball player ever. In 1978, playing for Montclair State College, she set a Madison Square Garden (old or new) record for points in a college game, by a person of either gender, with 52 against Queens College. That season, she was awarded the 1st Wade Trophy for women's player of the year.
She was too young to play on the 1976 U.S. Olympic team, and the boycott kept her out of the 1980 Olympics. When the Women's Pro Basketball League was formed in 1980, she was signed by the New Jersey Gems, and was, at $50,000, the league's highest-paid player. It lasted just the 1 season, and she never played again.
She then worked in the NBA's front office, was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1994, and when the NBA created the WNBA in 1997, she was named general manager of the New York Liberty. She now works for her alma mater, since renamed Montclair State University.
Honorable Mention to Anne Donovan of Ridgewood, Bergen County. A graduate of Paramus Catholic High School, she won the AIAW Championship (that era's national championship for women's basketball) at Virginia's Old Dominion University as a freshman (freshwoman?) in 1980, and was named national Player of the Year as a senior in 1983. She is in the Basketball Hall of Fame as a player.
She went into coaching, and has coached at East Carolina and Seton Hall, and for 5 different WNBA teams, including the Seattle Storm, whom she took to the 2004 WNBA Championship, and the New York Liberty. She won Olympic Gold Medals with the U.S. as a player in 1984 in Los Angeles and 1988 in Seoul, and as head coach in 2008 in Beijing.
Honorable Mention to Milt Campbell of Plainfield, Union County. He won the Gold Medal in the decathlon at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia.
Honorable Mention to Renaldo Nehemiah of Scotch Plains, Union County. For all the great soccer players produced by Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School their best athlete ever didn't play that sport. (They also produced slugging outfielder Jeffrey Hammonds, Rutgers football All-American Bill Austin, and Joe Scarpati, who held Tom Dempsey's 63-yard field goal. And also recent Governor Donald DiFrancesco.)
The top sprint hurdler in the world in the late 1970s, Nehemiah was denied an Olympic Gold Medal by the 1980 U.S. boycott. But, despite having stuck to track instead of football at the University of Maryland, he played 3 seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, and won Super Bowl XIX with them. He was then cut -- after the Niners drafted Jerry Rice, who only became the greatest receiver who ever lived.
Honorable Mention to Saskia Webber of Princeton, Mercer County. A member of the U.S. soccer team that won the 1999 Women's World Cup, she and her teammates were honored by
Sports Illustrated as their Sportspeople of the Year. She also played on the team that won the Gold Medal at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
Honorable Mention to Carli Lloyd of Delran, Burlington County. Only 2 human beings have scored a hat trick, 3 goals, in a World Cup Final: Geoff Hurst of England in the 1966 men's Final against West Germany, and Carli Lloyd of America in the 2015 women's Final against Japan. She also won Olympic Gold Medals with the U.S. in 2008 in Beijing, in 2012 in London, and in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. She plays her club soccer for the Houston Dash.
Honorable Mention to Tobin Heath of Basking Ridge, Somerset County. Another member of the U.S. team that won the Women's World Cup, and won Olympic Gold Medals in 2008 and 2012. She plays for the Portland Thorns, winning the National Women's Soccer League title in 2013 and 2017.
Honorable Mention to Heather O'Reilly of East Brunswick, Middlesex County -- the town where I've lived most of my life. We don't know each other, though I was there for the ceremony when East Brunswick High School, our shared alma mater, retired her Number 9. She won the 2015 Women's World Cup; Olympic Gold Medals in 2004, 2008 and 2012; and the NWSL Championship with FC Kansas City in 2015. She now plays for Arsenal Ladies -- as if I needed another reason to cheer her.
Honorable Mention to Josh Miller of East Brunswick, Middlesex County. At the same ceremony, Josh, the only EB grad to reach the NFL, had his Number 6 retired. I was a year ahead of him, and we did know each other.
A graduate of the University of Arizona, he was the punter on the 1995 Baltimore Stallions team that became the only team outside Canada to win the Grey Cup. He reached the 2000 Pro Bowl with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and in 2005 was a member of the New England Patriots team that won Super Bowl XXXIX. He also played for the Tennessee Titans, and now hosts a sports-talk show on a Pittsburgh radio station.
Honorable Mention to Dave Wohl of East Brunswick, Middlesex County. At the same ceremony, Wohl, the only EB grad to reach the NBA, had his Number 12 retired. (Oddly, while they both grew up in EB, both Dave and Josh were born in Queens.) He went to the University of Pennsylvania, and played for 5 NBA teams, closing his career with his home-State Nets in 1977.
He went into coaching, and won an NBA Championship as Pat Riley's assistant on the 1985 Los Angeles Lakers. He then spent 3 years as Nets head coach, served as an assistant for several other teams, and recently served as general manager of the Los Angeles Clippers.
Honorable Mention to Eric LeGrand of Woodbridge, Middlesex County. A star defensive tackle at Colonia High School in Woodbridge, he was paralyzed while making a tackle for Rutgers against Army at MetLife Stadium in 2010. His recovery to graduate and begin a sports media career in spite of his injury became one of sports' most inspirational stories, and his Number 52 became the 1st number retired in Rutgers football.
Honorable Mention to Jeff Torborg of Westfield, Union County. Although Westfield High School has produced a lot of good football players, including former Giants Butch Woolfolk and Dave Brown -- and also Charles Addams, cartoonist and creator of The Addams Family -- its most successful athlete was a baseball player. Torborg's .537 batting average now only got him onto the 1963 All-America team, but remains a Rutgers University baseball record.
He wasn't much of a hitter, but he was a good defensive catcher, helping the Los Angeles Dodgers win the 1965 World Series. Sandy Koufax pitched 4 no-hitters, and Nolan Ryan pitched 7, and Torborg caught 1 from each of them.
He later coached for the Yankees, and managed several teams, nearly reaching the postseason with the 1990 Chicago White Sox, earning him American League Manager of the Year. Unfortunately, his most notable managing tenure was with the 1992 and 1993 Mets, with their underachieving and their disciplinary issues.
Honorable Mention to Dick Button of Englewood, Bergen County. The Gold Medalist in men's figure skating in the Winter Olympics of 1948 in St. Moritz, Switzerland and 1952 in Oslo, Norway, he received the 1949 James E. Sullivan Award as the nation's outstanding amateur athlete.
He is now best remembered as the voice of Olympic figure skating, first on ABC, then on CBS, now on NBC. Sadly for Scott Hamilton and Brian Boitano, he was also a pioneer in going bald after winning gold.
Honorable Mention to Bruce Baumgartner of Haledon, Bergen County. Winner of the 1995 Sullivan Award, he won Olympic Gold Medals in wrestling in 1984 in Los Angeles and 1992 in Barcelona.
Very Honorable Mention to Paul Robeson of Somerville, Somerset County. You may know of him as an actor, a singer -- having sung it in
Show Boat on Broadway in 1927 and the film version in 1936, his version of "Old Man River" is considered the definitive one -- an antipoverty activist, and as a victim of the anti-Communist blacklist of the 1940s and '50s. But he was a great athlete, too.
Born in Princeton, and a graduate of Somerville High School, he was only the 3rd black student ever to enroll at what was then called Rutgers College, and the 1st ever to play football there. He was named valedictorian of the Class of 1919.
At 6-foot-3 and 219 pounds, which made him very big for the time, he played end, both ways, and Walter Camp, who created the concept of the All-American team, named him to it in 1917 and 1918. When Camp named his all-time All-American team in 1920, he called Robeson the greatest defensive end he had ever seen.
Due to his other commitments, he only played 2 seasons of pro ball, with the 1921 Akron Pros and the 1922 Milwaukee Badgers. The blacklist meant that, from 1950 onward, he was written out of American society. By the time he died in 1976, he was virtually forgotten. He has been rediscovered, with Rutgers properly honoring him, and the U.S. Postal Service put him on a stamp.
Honorable Mention to Jim Dowd of Brick, Ocean County. A graduate of Brick Township High School, he set a national high school career scoring record with 375 points: 189 goals and 186 assists.
He is the only native of New Jersey ever to play for the State's only true major league sports team (the Giants and Jets having never adopted the New Jersey name, and the Nets having left). He is also the only native of New Jersey to get his name on the Stanley Cup. Fortunately, he did both at the same time. His late goal won Game 2 of the 1995 Stanley Cup Finals, and the Devils beat the Detroit Red Wings in 4 straight games.
He played 17 seasons in the NHL, and has gone in to coaching.
Honorable Mention to Edward "Mickey" Walker of Elizabeth, Union County. "The Toy Bulldog" was Welterweight Champion of the World from 1922 until 1926, and then Middleweight Champion of the World until 1929. He later ran a popular restaurant in Manhattan, and became an accomplished painter.
Honorable Mention to Gus Lesnevich of Cliffside Park, Bergen County. The Light Heavyweight Champion of the World form 1941 to 1948,
The Ring magazine named him Fighter of the Year for 1947.
Honorable Mention to Ike Williams of Trenton, Mercer County. The Lightweight Champion of the World from 1945 to 1951 -- from April 18, 1945 to July 26, 1948, 2 of the 8 weight classes were held by New Jerseyans --
The Ring named him Fighter of the Year for 1948.
Think about that: At a time when boxing had Joe Louis, Jersey Joe Walcott, Ezzard Charles, Archie Moore, Sugar Ray Robinson, Jake La Motta, Rocky Graziano, Tony Zale, Beau Jack, Willie Pep and Sandy Saddler, New Jersey-trained boxers were named Fighter of the Year in back-to-back years.
I'll get to Walcott a little later. He, Walker and Williams are in the International Boxing Hall of Fame, but Lesnevich has not yet been so honored.
Honorable Mention to Regret of Middletown, Monmouth County. In 1915, she became the 1st filly to win the Kentucky Derby. Only 2 others have followed: Genuine Risk in 1980 and Winning Colors in 1988.
Now, the Top 10:
10. Tommy Heinsohn of Jersey City, Hudson County. A graduate of St. Michael's High School (now defunct) in Union City (also Hudson County), he, like Manhattan's Bob Cousy, went from the New York Tri-State Area to the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, and became their all-time leading scorer.
A 6-time NBA All-Star with a deadly hook shot, he was the 1957 Rookie of the Year, and was a member of the 1st 8 NBA Championships won by the Boston Celtics: 1957, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964 and 1965. He coached the Celtics from 1969 to 1978, winning Coach of the Year in 1973 and the NBA Championship in 1974 and 1976. He then became a broadcaster, and called their 1981, 1984, 1986 and 2008 titles -- making him, now that Red Auerbach is dead, the only Celtic employee to have been a part of all 17 titles and all 21 NBA Finals appearances.
He is in the Basketball Hall of Fame, and he has had Number 24 retired by Holy Cross and Number 15 retired by the Celtics.
9. Monte Irvin of Orange, Essex County. Born in Alabama, he moved to Orange as a child, and starred in 4 sports at Orange High School, setting a State record in the javelin throw. A left fielder, he played for his "hometown" Newark Eagles, and was a 5-time Negro League All-Star, helping them win the 1946 Negro World Series.
Some observers thought he might become the 1st black player in modern baseball. That didn't happen, but in 1949, he and Hank Thompson (in the same game) became the 1st black players for the New York Giants. He led the National League in RBIs in 1951, helping them win the Pennant. He was named to the 1952 All-Star Game, and helped them win the World Series in 1954.
He was the last living member of the Hall of Fame who had been elected in part due to his Negro League performance. Having long since moved to San Francisco, a city in which he had never played a home game, the Giants retired his Number 20.
8. Joe Medwick of Carteret, Middlesex County. He was called Ducky, because of the way he walked; and Muscles, because no one dared to call him Ducky to his face. A 3-sport terror at Carteret High School, and a Catholic son of Hungarian immigrants, Knute Rockne, himself an immigrant, wanted him to play football for Notre Dame.
He chose baseball instead, and made the right choice. He was a member of the St. Louis Cardinals' "Gashouse Gang" that won the 1934 World Series, although his actions in Game 7 led to one of the biggest controversies in baseball history. In 1937, he was named National League Most Valuable Player, having won the Triple Crown, and he remains the last NL player to do that.
In 1940, he was traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers. He seemed to be on course for one of the greatest careers in baseball history. But just after the trade, he was hit in the head with a pitch, and was never the same. He still made 10 All-Star teams, had a .324 lifetime batting average, a 134 OPS+, and 2,471 hits including 540 doubles, 113 triples and 205 home runs. He added another Pennant with the Dodgers in 1941.
He is the only Central Jersey native in the Baseball Hall of Fame, and the Cardinals have elected him to their team Hall of Fame, but have not retired his Number 7.
7. Larry Doby of Paterson, Passaic County. Born in South Carolina, he was a 4-sport athlete at Paterson's Eastside High School. He played for the Newark Eagles of the Negro Leagues, where he was a teammate with Irvin on the team that won the 1946 Negro World Series. In 1947, Bill Veeck, owner of the Cleveland Indians, made him the 1st black player in the American League.
He had never played center field before, but became a 7-time All-Star, and in 1948, not only became the 1st black player to play on a World Series winner, but the 1st one to hit a home run in a World Series game. He led the AL in home runs in 1952, and in 1954 led it in both home runs and RBIs, helping the Indians win another Pennant.
The Indians retired his Number 14 and elected him to their team Hall of Fame. He lived long enough to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Just as he was the majors' 2nd black player, he was also its 2nd black manager, with the 1978 Chicago White Sox -- then owned by his former patron, Bill Veeck.
6. Jersey Joe Walcott of Pennsauken, Camden County. He struggled for a long time to get his shot at the Heavyweight Championship of the World, finally getting it in 1947 against Joe Louis, but lost a very controversial decision. Louis knocked him out in the rematch.
He then fought Ezzard Charles, Louis' successor, 3 times before finally winning it in 1951, making him, at 37, the oldest man ever to win the title. (He held that record until George Foreman broke it in 1994.) It also made him the only New Jerseyan ever to win it. (Although living in North Bergen, Hudson County, and known as "The Pride of New Jersey," 1935-37 champ James J. Braddock was born and raised in Manhattan.)
He fought Charles a 4th time, and won again. But in 1952, fighting in his almost-hometown of Philadelphia, he knocked Rocky Marciano down in the 1st round, but Marciano got up, and gained the upper hand, and knocked Walcott out in the 13th. In a rematch the following year, Marciano knocked Walcott out in the 1st round, and Walcott retired.
He became a referee, and was assigned to the 2nd fight between Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston in 1965, but infamously lost control of the fight. In 1971, he was elected Sheriff of Camden County, the 1st black Sheriff in New Jersey. From 1975 to 1984, he was the Chairman of the New Jersey State Athletic Commission, which, among other things, oversees boxing in the State.
5. Rick Barry of Roselle Park, Union County. At the University of Miami, he led the nation in scoring in 1965. He then led the NBA in scoring and was named All-Star Game MVP in 1967, having been named Rookie of the Year the season before. He helped the team then known as the San Francisco Warriors win the 1967 NBA Western Division title, but lost the Finals. He became the 1st NBA star to bolt for the ABA, crossing the Bay and winning the 1969 ABA Championship with the Oakland Oaks, and the 1972 Eastern Division title with the New York Nets.
He then returned to his former team, now in Oakland and calling themselves the Golden State Warriors. He was a 12-time All-Star, 8 times in the NBA and 4 in the ABA. In 1975, he led the NBA in steals, and helped the Warriors win their 1st title since moving from Philadelphia in 1962, and won the Finals MVP.
He closed his career in 1980 with the Houston Rockets. The year before, he set an NBA record with a .947 free throw percentage. One of the last players to make free throws underhanded, he retired with a career percentage of .900, then the all-time leader. (Both records have since been broken. Steve Nash is now the all-time leader at .904, with Mark Price and the still-active Stephen Curry between him and Barry.)
The Warriors retired his Number 24. He was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame, and named to the ABA All-Time Team and the NBA's 50th Anniversary 50 Greatest Players, 1 of 5 players so honored. His sons Brent and Jon also played in the NBA.
4. Christie Pearce of Point Pleasant, Ocean County. A graduate of Monmouth University in West Long Branch, Monmouth County, she played for the U.S. women's soccer team from 1997 to 2015. This included the 1999 Women's World Cup, where she was named with her teammates
Sports Illustrated's Sportspeople of the Year; and the 2015 Women's World Cup, for which she was Captain, under her married name, Christie Rampone. (Now divorced, she again uses "Pearce.")
She was the only player on both teams. At 40, she was the oldest player to appear in a Women's World Cup Final. She also won Olympic Gold Medals with the U.S. in 2004 in Athens, in 2008 in Beijing, and in 2012 in London. She still plays club soccer, right here in Middlesex County, for Sky Blue FC, who play at Yurcak Field on the Busch Campus of Rutgers University in Piscataway.
3. Franco Harris of Mount Holly, Burlington County. One of several New Jersey football players picked off by Penn State coach Joe Paterno, Franco, a graduate of Rancocas Valley High School, was NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1972.
That year, the owners of a local Italian restaurant, noting that he was half-black and half-Italian, came to Three Rivers Stadium in fatigues and battle helmets, calling themselves "Franco's Italian Army." He was on the receiving end of a freak play that resulted in the Steelers scoring the winning touchdown in their 1st-ever Playoff game, known as the Immaculate Reception.
When the Steelers won Super Bowl IX to be crowned 1974 NFL Champions, their 1st title, he was named the game's MVP, setting a Super Bowl rushing record (which didn't last very long). A 9-time Pro Bowler, he was an integral part of all 4 Steeler Super Bowl wins in the 1970s. He rushed for 12,120 yards and 91 touchdowns. He also caught 307 passes for 2,287 yards and 9 more touchdowns -- an even 100.
He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the NFL's 1970s All-Decade Team. The Steelers don't retire uniform numbers, but have not given his Number 32 out again, and elected him to their 75th Anniversary Team and, earlier this year, their new Hall of Honor. After retiring, he stayed in the Pittsburgh area, and built a business fortune.
2. Shaquille O'Neal of Newark, Essex County. You can look it up, and see that he went to high school in San Antonio, Texas, but he started playing basketball at the Boys and Girls Club of America in Brick City. The Boys and Girls Club does terrific things with inner-city youth. (Then again, O.J. Simpson and Alex Rodriguez also got their starts with them. You win some, and... )
A 2-time Southeastern Conference Player of the Year at Louisiana State, he became a 15-time NBA All-Star, being named MVP of the All-Star Game 3 times. With the Orlando Magic, he was 1993 Rookie of the Year, and led them to the 1995 NBA Eastern Conference title, winning the NBA's scoring title. Orlando proved too small for him, and he signed with the Los Angeles Lakers as a free agent for the 1996-97 season.
At the 1997 All-Star Game in Cleveland, he was honored as one of the league's 50th Anniversary 50 Greatest Players. He was injured, and didn't show up. When his name was announced, he was booed. (Patrick Ewing was also selected, and injured. He showed up, was announced, and was cheered.) And in his 1st 3 seasons in L.A., which were also Kobe Bryant's 1st 3, Shaq couldn't get them into the NBA Finals. His legacy was at stake.
Whether you think the Lakers benefited from officials' calls or not, the results are there to read. In 2000, he led the league in scoring again, was named regular season MVP, and took the Lakers to the NBA Championship. He took them to 3 straight, 2000-02, and was given the Bill Russell Award as Finals MVP all 3 times. Eventually, after the Lakers lost the 2004 Finals, it became clear that he and Kobe could no longer work together, and Shaq got his wish and got out.
He won another title in 2006 with Dwyane Wade, Alonzo Mourning, Gary Payton and the Miami Heat. The rest of his career was less dramatic, making single-season stops in Phoenix, Cleveland and Boston, before retiring in 2011, as the last active member of the 50 Greatest Players. He was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame, and has the rare distinction of 3 different numbers retired: 33 by LSU, 34 by the Lakers, and 32 by the Heat. (Oddly, the Magic haven't yet retired his 32.)
He tried his enormous hand at acting and rapping. Well, let's just say it's a good thing he kept his "day job."
There is one guy who can get past Shaq. Not jump over him. Unless Shaq lies down. He was a long jumper, not a high jumper:
1. Carl Lewis of Willingboro, Burlington County. The Boro is also the hometown of baseball players Kristopher Negron and Mark Zagunis; NFL players Anthony Griggs, Kareem McKenzie, Wali Lundy and Dezman Moses; basketball players Patrick McFarland, Malik Allen and Crystal Langhorne; and NHL defenseman T.J. Brennan. And, from outside sports,
CSI actor Gary Dourdan.
Although born in Birmingham, Alabama, attending the University of Houston (at the same time as Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, and the rest of the "Phi Slamma Jamma" basketball team), and competing (as did his sister, Carole Lewis) for the Santa Monica Track Club, Frederick Carlton Lewis grew up in Willingboro, and graduated from Willingboro High School. (There was also a John F. Kennedy High School, as there is in Woodbridge and Paterson, but they were reconsolidated in 1990, with JFKHS becoming a middle school.)
In the 1980s, when American track & field may have been the best it's ever been, Carl was the standout performer. Although he never did break Bob Beamon's record in the long jump (Mike Powell did), no long jumper has as many truly long jumps as he had, including 71 of 28 feet or more, and winning 65 straight events. He received the 1981 Sullivan Award.
In the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, he matched Jesse Owens' feat of 1936 in Berlin by winning 4 Gold Medals, taking the same events: The long jump, the 100 meters, the 200 meters, and anchoring the 4 x 100 meter relay.
In 1988, in Seoul, he repeated in the long jump, something no other Olympic performer has done, and finished 2nd in the 100 and the 200 -- but was awarded the Gold in the 100 when Ben Johnson of Canada failed a steroid test, and his shocking world record of 9.79 seconds was voided. In 1992, in Barcelona, Carl again won the long jump, and, as in 1984 but not 1988, anchored the 4 x 100 relay. In 1996, in Atlanta. he won the long lump for the 4th straight time, matching a record for any Olympic track event. All told: 9 Gold, 1 Silver. He won Olympic Gold at age 23, and at age 35 -- a stunning age for a track & field performer.
In 1999, the International Olympic Committee voted him Sportsman of the Century. The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF, the governing body for world track & field), named him World Athlete of the Century. And Sports Illustrated named him Olympian of the Century and the greatest athlete from New Jersey. Despite all of Shaq's achievements, Carl is still on top.
