| A | B |
|---|
| First Black heavyweight champ, 1910 | Jack Johnson |
| One of the first Black players in the NFL became a player coach in 1920 | Fritz Pollard |
| Longest reigning boxing champ | Joe Louis (fought two fights with Max Schmelling in the 1930s) |
| Was a hero of the 1936 Olympics for his track and field exploits | Jesse Owens |
| First African American on the PGA (Golf) tour | Charlie Sifford |
| First African American to play in the major league | Jackie Robinson (Brooklyn Dodgers 1947) |
| First African American to win a Grand Slam Tennis Event | Althea Gibson |
| Broke Babe Ruth's Homerun Record | Hank Aaron |
| Won 3 gold medals in the 1960 Rome Olympics | Wilma Rudolph |
| First African American head coach in the NBA | Bill Russell |
| First to challenge the powers of major league baseball when he refused to accept a trade. Helped pave the way for free agency | Curt Flood (The 10/5 rule ten years in the league and five with the same team can refuse a trade.) |
| Famous running back who retired at the apex of his career | Jim Brown |
| Won Gold medal in the 1960 Olympics and won the heavyweight championship 4 times. | Muhammad Ali |
| First starting African-American collegiate basketball team for a non HBCU | Texas Western Basketball team 1966, won the national championship |
| Sprinters who placed first and third in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics and stages a Black Power protest | John Carlos and Tommie Smith |
| First African-American to win Wimbledon | Arthur Ashe |
| First Superbow won by an African American Coach | Superbowl 41 pitted Tony Dungy vs Lovie Smith. Dungy Colts won |
| First African American baseball manager | Frank Robinson |
| First African American baseball coach | buck O'Neill (Chicago Cubs) |
| First African American female baseball executive | Effa Manley, owned the Newark Eagles of the Negro National League |
| President of Basketball operations for the LA Lakers | Magic Johnson |
| Played for the Bulls and Wizards and is an owner for the Charlotte Hornets | Michael Jordan |
| Distinguished herself in the heptathlon and long jump events. | Jackie Joyner Kersee |
| Most succesful pro golfer | Tiger Woods |
