Gaines, providing scholarships to players in a time when that advantage was rare for black athletes, guided Winston-Salem State to the 1967 NCAA Division II national championship - a first for a predominately black school.
McLendon, one of basketball's earliest innovators, was the last living coach to study under Dr. James Naismith, the game's inventor. A student at Kansas in the 1930s, McLendon wasn't permitted to play basketball for Naismith because of the state's Jim Crow policies.
Walker was the U.S. Olympic team's first African-American coach, guiding the track and field squad in the 1976 Olympics. He was also named the U.S. Olympic Committee's first black president in 1996.
Althea Gibson
Born in Silver, S.C., on Aug. 25, 1927, Gibson attended high school in Wilmington. She became the first African-American woman to win a tennis major championship ... Gibson won the 1956 French Open ... Gibson later went on to become the first African-American to play on the Ladies Professional Golf Association ... She died Sept. 28, 2003.
Tennis historian and TV commentator Bud Collins on Gibson:
"Three years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball, she leaped over the color barrier in 1950. People who saw her play realized she was a terrific talent but wasn't allowed to play in the tournaments that mattered the most.
"Finally, in 1957 she became the No. 1 player in the world. She won the U.S. Open in 1957 and '58. She won Wimbledon in '57 and '58. In 1956, she won the French Open, becoming the first black to win a major championship.
"She really wasn't welcome ... I don't think she ever felt comfortable. She was alone. It was difficult ... She was a fine athlete, but she didn't get the recognition she deserved."
Meadowlark Lemon
Born April 25, 1935 in Wilmington ... Learned to play basketball on a local court in Wilmington before attending college at Florida A&M ... From 1954 through 1978, Lemon played for the Harlem Globetrotters and came to be known as the "Clown Prince of Basketball" and broke barriers as an ambassador of the game ... He toured the world with the Globetrotters, playing in dozens of countries in front of presidents and the Pope ... Lemon had an infectious joy about him on the court, where he was renowned for his half-court hook shots and his no-look passes ... He was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003.
Former North Carolina All-America point guard Phil Ford on Lemon:
"He was as big a figure in my life as anyone. I never missed the Harlem Globetrotters on TV. I never got to see them play in person, but every time they were on TV I was glued to it. I prepared to watch the Harlem Globetrotters the same way I did to watch 'The Wizard of Oz.' They were two things I didn't miss.
"Meadowlark Lemon was such a part of that team and the things he did were unbelievable. The older I got, I realized how important he was to our sport, bringing all people to watch the Globetrotters. They traveled the world and all races, colors and creeds liked the Globetrotters.
"When I'd watch them play, I'd go outside and try to hit that hook shot of his. When you consider where they played and how many people saw them, he has to be one of the greatest ambassadors ever in our society."
Ron Green Jr.
Clarence 'Big House' Gaines
Longtime Winston-Salem State coach inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1982 ... Retired in 1993 after 47 years with 828 victories, then second most in college basketball history ... Coached Winston-Salem State to 12 CIAA titles and the NCAA Division II championship in 1967 - the first predominantly black school to win a national title ... Died in 2005.
Steve Joyner, men's basketball coach and athletics director at Johnson C. Smith, on Gaines: "I was coach Gaines' paperboy growing up in Winston-Salem. ... He was far-reaching in the giving of his talents, his abilities and his guidance.
"I remember in 2001 him telling me if (J.C. Smith) didn't win the CIAA championship, he'd have a whipping for me! We all grew up hearing from Big House.
"I had a lot of contact with him and his wife (Clara). They were the type of people who would guide, influence and encourage you. He touched a variety of people on all levels. He was happy to do it."
David Scott
John McLendon
Coached N.C. Central to eight CIAA basketball championships ... Known for introducing the fast-break offense and full-court press into the modern game ... Also given credit for inventing delay offense later known as "Four Corners" under North Carolina's Dean Smith ... Organized the "secret game" between N.C. Central and Duke, during a time when black and white schools weren't permitted to play each other ... Coached Tennessee State to three NAIA championships and also became first African-American pro coach, leading Cleveland Pipers of American Basketball Association from 1959-61 (the team's owner was George Steinbrenner) ... Member of Basketball Hall of Fame as a "contributor" ... Died in 1999.
Sam Jones, former Boston Celtics and N.C. Central star, on McLendon:
"I remember coach Mac's teams running the Four Corners in the early '50s. There wasn't a shot clock back then, and if we had eight points on somebody late in the game, we thought the game was over. He loved the fast break, too. That's the reason I had so much success when I got to Boston: I was already comfortable with the running game.
"One thing that should be done, and I'm pressing this, is coach Mac should be in the Hall of Fame also as a coach, not just a contributor. Nobody ever did as much for basketball - on and off the court."
David Scott
Buck Leonard
A Rocky Mount native, Leonard was among the Negro Leagues' most prolific hitters ... Playing for the Homestead Grays, he was nicknamed the "Black Lou Gehrig" ... Helped the Grays to nine consecutive championships and played with Josh Gibson, perhaps the Negro Leagues' greatest player ... Hit .392 in 1941, a year after Gibson had left the team ... Was 39 when Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier in 1947 ... Was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972 ... Died in 1997.
Baseball broadcasting great Joe Garagiola on Leonard:
"I never saw him play. But when you're called the 'Black Lou Gehrig,' you've got something going. I met him once at an All-Star reunion game of Negro League players in Chicago in 1983. I was in absolute awe of seeing him and other players like Satchell (Paige), Cool Papa (Bell) and Josh Gibson. What a tremendous honor it was for me to be on the same field with them.
"The underlying thought I've always had: What a shame, we missed seeing players like these, you know? Buck's legacy, and the legacy of all those players, is just because of the way they were born, they weren't allowed to play in the big leagues. But they weren't bitter. If they were, they didn't say it."
David Scott
LeRoy T. Walker
First African-American to coach a U.S. Olympic track and field team. Twenty years later as the first African-American president of the United States Olympic Committee, Walker was influential in his native Atlanta securing the 1996 Summer Games ... Elected to the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 1987 ... Graduated from Benedict College (S.C.) in 1940 ... In 1945, named track and field coach at N.C. Central, where he produced 80 All-Americans ... Earned a Ph.D in exercise physiology and biomechanics. Rose from N.C. Central's track coach to athletics director to the school's chancellor. Walker, 91, retired in 1986 and lives in Durham.
Former N.C. Central world-record hurdler Charles Foster (Gaffney, S.C.), a member of Walker's 1976 Summer Olympics team in Montreal and now an assistant coach at Virginia Tech, recalls a man who lived to shatter racial barriers:
"When he recruited me, he told me he was going places. I'm still holding on to his coattails now. He instilled a sense of responsibility to everyone. I bought it hook-line-and-sinker. The man was extremely committed to his values and beliefs. But he had the flexibility to go extreme mainstream.
"There were naysayers, like when he started working with Duke to bring international track meets to Durham. People thought he was trying to be high and mighty. It did not faze him. ... I've always admired his vision and bravery."
Harry Pickett
Charlie Sifford
Born in Charlotte on June 2, 1922, Sifford eventually became the man who broke down the walls of segregation in professional golf ... Sifford learned to play golf by working as a caddie in Charlotte...In 1957, he won the Long Beach Open, beating several prominent white players from the PGA Tour in the process (the tournament was not, however, an official PGA Tour event) ... In 1961, Sifford became the first African-American member of the PGA Tour ... Sifford finished among the top 60 money winners from 1960 through 1969, winning the 1967 Greater Hartford Open and the 1969 Los Angeles Open ... In 2004, he became the first African-American inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame ... In 2006, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
James Black, an African-American golfer who played the PGA Tour in the 1960s with Sifford:
"Charlie was the type of golfer you respected because he had respect for himself and for the game. That was important. He was a very honest person and carried himself in a respectful way through times that weren't as easy as they are today. He held his head high and kept going.
"He taught us a lot about what was right and about honesty. He talked to me about that a lot. He talked about how you had to respect yourself and about your relationship with God. He said everything won't always be to your liking, but if you know yourself and work hard you can keep going.
"He set an example for the rest of the African-Americans in golf and not just for African-Americans but for white golfers, too ... When he was inducted into the Hall of Fame, that was very special for him. He cherishes those honors."
Ron Green Jr.
Michael Jordan
Inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009 ... Grew up in Wilmington and starred for Laney High ... As a freshman at North Carolina, Jordan hit the game-winning shot against Georgetown in the 1982 NCAA final ... He broke ground for all athletes as a star of promotion and marketing efforts worldwide ... Consensus All-American at UNC in 1983 and '84 ... Selected as ACC's No.1 male athlete in league's first 50 years ... Won six NBA championships with the Bulls ... Five-time NBA MVP (1988, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1998) ... Selected as ESPN's greatest athlete of the 20th century.... Won gold medals at the Olympics for the U.S. in 1984 and 1992 ... Now directs the Charlotte Bobcats' basketball operations and is trying to get an ownership group together to purchase the team outright ... At age 47, Jordan officially lives in Chicago area but comes to Charlotte often for Bobcats business.
Former North Carolina coach Dean Smith on Michael Jordan: "When people ask me if I knew Michael would become a Hall of Fame player when I recruited him to play at North Carolina, I laugh and say, 'Who did?' He was an exceptionally quick athlete who improved every year. In fact, if Michael returned to the NBA right now, two things would happen: First, he would still be a very good player; and second, he would be looking for ways to become even better. He was always doing that, even at the height of his marvelous career."
Scott Fowler
Bob Johnson
Bob Johnson became the first African-American to take majority control of a major league sports team in 2003, when he was selected by the NBA to oversee Charlotte's expansion franchise ... Johnson made his fortune as founder of Black Entertainment Television, turning a small investment in cable television into a billion-dollar enterprise he eventually sold to Viacom ... He brought in NBA great and former North Carolina star Michael Jordan as an equity partner running the basketball operation.
In what Johnson calls his "second act," he's diversified into a variety of businesses: banking and finance, real estate, hospitality, film production, gaming and automotive and motorcycle industries ... A graduate of Illinois and Princeton, Johnson is currently trying to sell the Bobcats in the team's sixth season.
Longtime professional basketball executive Carl Scheer, former vice president of the Charlotte Hornets:
"[His ownership] has been a very big deal. It's historic in many ways. There had never been an African-American majority owner of a major league professional sports team. It puts things in perspective about how far we've come and that there's still a long way to go... We'll see more African-American leadership at the ownership level. ...As the economic base for African-Americans grows, they will choose to enter all kinds of industries not open to them in the past, and sports ownership is one of those."
Rick Bonnell and Ron Green Jr.
Charlie Scott
Born Dec. 15,1948 in New York City, Charlie Scott became the first African-American college basketball player to star at a major Division I school in the Southeast while playing for North Carolina in the late 1960s ... After spending one year at Laurinburg Institute, Scott came to Chapel Hill in 1967, becoming the first African-American scholarship athlete ... Scott led the Tar Heels to two Final Four appearances in a career in which he averaged 22.1 points and 7.1 rebounds per game ... He was a member of the 1968 gold medal-winning Olympic basketball team. ... He played 10 professional seasons, two in the ABA before spending eight years in the NBA.
Basketball Hall of Famer David Thompson, who grew up in Shelby and was a three-time All-American at N.C. State, on Charlie Scott:
"He was somebody to look up to and somebody that inspired me to want to play basketball. For a long time I patterned a lot of my game after him. I wore 33 in high school because of Charlie Scott.
"I looked back at some film and watched myself in high school, and the way I dribbled up court was similar to him. I guess you emulate the guys you admire. He could do it all. ... He was quick and was good under pressure.
"That first guy [to break the color barrier] you wanted to be an upstanding guy who made good grades and led by example. He was that. Charlie was a guy all the teachers would say you should be like him. Your parents would say be like Charlie Scott.
Ron Green Jr.
