GM – FBF – Today’s American Champion is an American former professional football player who was a running back for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). A Pro Bowl invitee in each of his ten NFL seasons and two-time NFL Offensive Player of the Year, he led the league in rushing yards four times and established himself as one of the most elusive runners in pro football with his quickness and agility.In 2007, he was ranked by NFL Network’s NFL Top 10 series as the most elusive runner in NFL history and was also voted the greatest short player of all time as well as being placed #1 on the list of the greatest players never to play in a Super Bowl. He is often regarded as one of the greatest running backs in the NFL history.Today in our History – Barry Sanders (born July 16, 1968) was born on this date.Sanders played college football for the Oklahoma State Cowboys football team, where, as a junior in 1988 he compiled what is considered one of the greatest individual seasons in college football history, rushing for 2,850 yards and 42 touchdowns in 12 games. He was awarded the Heisman Trophy as the most outstanding college player in the nation and was unanimously recognized as an All-American. Sanders was first inducted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1998. He then was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003 and in that same year inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame.Sanders joined the Lions in 1989 and had an immediate impact, winning the NFL’s Rookie of the Year award. Through ten seasons in Detroit, he averaged over 1,500 rushing yards per season and just under 100 rushing yards per game. In 1997, he became the third player to rush for over 2,000 yards in a season and was named the NFL Most Valuable Player (He was co-MVP with Green Bay Quarterback Brett Favre). Still seemingly in his prime, Sanders unexpectedly retired from football after the 1998 season, 1,457 yards short of breaking the then NFL’s all-time rushing record. His number 20 jersey was retired by the Lions, and he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004. A year later Sanders was also inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame along with fellow pro and college football Hall of Famer Thurman Thomas.In 2019, Sanders was included in the National Football League 100th Anniversary All-Time Team as one of the greatest all-time running backs alongside fellow Hall of Fame running backs such as Jim Brown, Walter Payton, Earl Campbell, Emmitt Smith, and many others.Barry Sanders, born on July 16, 1968, in Wichita, Kanas is a former American football running back. He was the son of William, who was a Roofer, and Shirley, a registered nurse. He was one of the eleven children. He attended Wichita North High School. During his career with the Detroit Lions of the National Football League, he was a ten-time pro bowl selection and four-time rushing champion.Sanders was always athletic and had a great love for basketball.Although his father believed that it would be better for him to develop an interest in football as it would help him in winning a college scholarship. In his early years, Sanders became the starting running back in the fourth game of his senior year, where he rushed for 1417 yards which earned him all-state honors. Even though he was a stellar athlete, he received scholarships from only Emporia State, the University of Tulsa, and Oklahoma State. He decided on going to Oklahoma State.Oklahoma State University had very high hopes for Sanders and football. They demanded at least 50-60 hours a week due to which Sanders lacked behind in his schoolwork. During his freshman and sophomore years, Sanders played second string to Thurman Thomas. During his junior here, Sanders became the starter and proceeded to smash 13 NCAA records. Sanders had most rushing yards of 2,628 and most touchdowns 39 in a season, which led to his nomination for the coveted Heisman Trophy. After receiving the trophy, Sanders entered NFL instead of continuing his studies at Oklahoma State University, mostly because he wanted to support his family financially.After entering the NFL, Sander signed a $6.1 million five-year contract with The Detroit Lions. They selected him with the 3rd overall pick in the 1989 draft. In the same year, Sanders was named Sporting News NFL Rookie of the Year. Due to a contract dispute, Sanders missed his rookie training camp in 1989. Sanders, during the regular season, ran for 18 yards in the first carry and a touchdown during his fourth. During the 1990s, Sanders was featured as running back on the Lions Teams that made the playoffs. In 1991, Sanders averaged 4.5 yards per rushing attempt and compiled a total of 1,548 yards, the same year he was named NFCs Most Valuable Player by the NFL Players Association. Although in 1992 and 1993, his scores went a little down to 1,352 and 1,115 respectively due to his injury. In 1994, he averaged 5.7 yards per rushing attempt but scored only seven touchdowns. 1997 turned to be a good year as he compiled a total of 2,053 yards rushing and averaging a 6.1 yards. At the end of 1998, Sanders had a total of 15,269. In 1997, he was named Sporting News Player of the Year.In 1999, Sanders announced his retirement. It was believed that Sanders could have surpassed Walter Payton’s career record of 16,726 but Sanders did not choose that path. He was well-respected and one of the league’s most popular players. Research more about this great American Champion and share it with your babies. 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GM – FBF – Today’s American Champion was an American politician of the Ohio Democratic party. He served as the first black mayor of Dayton, Ohio. He was also the city’s longest-tenured mayor to date. He was born in Berryberg, West Virginia and was raised in Steubenville, Ohio. He graduated from Wilberforce University in 1937. After serving in the United States Army, he received a law degree from Ohio State University in 1948. He moved to Dayton to practice law and worked with the NAACP in civil rights cases. He filed one of the first segregation cases after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision.In 1959, he became the 23rd president of the Dayton Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People NAACP. He entered politics as an assistant to Rep. Rodney M. Love of Ohio working on the War on Poverty. in 1967, Dayton City Commissioner Don Crawford resigned to become the Dayton City Clerk and McGee was selected to fill his term. McGee won re-election to the seat in 1969. In May 1970, Mayor Dave Hall resigned for health reasons. The City Commission deadlocked for two months with tie votes of 2-2 with McGee and Michael Liskany each receiving the vote of another commissioner. Liskany ultimately announced that he would drop out, allowing McGee to become mayor. McGee was re-elected in 1973 and 1977 before stepping down. After leaving politics, he continued with his legal practice.Today in our History – July 15, 1970 – James Howell “Jim” McGee is sworn in as the first black Mayor of Dayton, Ohio.He met his wife, Elizabeth while he was in law school. They had two daughters, Annette and Frances.He was a Prince Hall Freemason, holding membership in Ancient Square Lodge No. 40 of Dayton, Ohio, and was also a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.James McGee died on March 4, 2006 in Trotwood, Ohio. In 1988, a major boulevard in Dayton was named for McGee. Formerly known as Western Avenue, in West Dayton, the road is now known as James H. McGee Boulevard from Germantown Street to Little Richmond Road. Research more about this great American Champion and share it with your babies. Make it a champion day!

GM – FBF – Today’s American Champion event, Bruce’s Beach was a beach resort in the city of Manhattan Beach, California, that was owned by and operated for African Americans. It provided the African American community with opportunities unavailable at other beach areas because of segregation.As a result of racial discrimination from disgruntled white neighbors, the property was seized using eminent domain proceedings in the 1920s and closed down. Some of the areas was eventually turned into a city park in the 1960s and renamed Bruce’s Beach in 2007.Today in our History – July 14, 2021 – Bruce Beach returned to the ancestors from which it was taken in 1924.While many historians credit George H. Peck (1856–1940), a wealthy developer and the founder of Manhattan Beach, for having “bucked” the practice of racial exclusion, Peck created barriers to deter Black out-of-town visitors to Bruce’s Beach. To reach the ocean, visitors had to walk an extra half mile around the property owned by Peck, who had lined it with security and “No Trespassing” signs.Willa and Charles Bruce bought a property in the strand area for $1,225 that was set aside from Henry Willard in 1912 and added on three lots. They established a resort and named it for Mrs. Bruce.The development included a bathhouse and dining house for blacks, whose access to public beaches was highly restricted. Aside from the blacks-only beach resort, Manhattan Beach was “an otherwise lily-white community” and blacks only had limited access to beaches; Mrs. Bruce’s initiative “defiantly transgressed these racial boundaries.” It was not the only beach attraction available to black people; there was also Peck’s Pier and pavilion on 34th Street, a section of Santa Monica State Beach referred to as the “Ink Well”, and the Pacific Beach Club in Orange County. As Los Angeles’s population increased and property values soared in the 1920s, black people in the area suffered from increased racial tension, before eminent domain proceedings started by the city forced the club to close down.In the 1920s, the resort was attacked by the Ku Klux Klan in an attempt to get the city to take back the land from the rightful owners, the Bruce family. Under the pretense of building a city park, the city of Manhattan Beach did take the land away from the Bruce family, and African Americans were run off the land. It was not until 2007, practically eighty years later, that this travesty was acknowledged by the city and the beach was renamed Bruce’s Beach.In the 1950s, city officials began to worry that family members might sue to regain their land unless it was used for the purpose for which it had been originally taken. In the 1960s, the property, which had been vacant for decades, was made into a city park first called Bayview Terrace Park, then Parque Culiacan; in 2006, the Manhattan Beach City Council decided to rename the park, “commemorating our community’s understanding that friendship, goodwill, and respect for all begins within our own boundaries and extends to the world community. All are welcome.” It was ceremoniously renamed in March 2007 during an event exhibiting “a deep tide of goodwill.”The park is on a slope overlooking the ocean and includes rolling grassy terraces with benches and small trees. It is located a few blocks from the beach, between 26th and 27th Street, and runs west from Highland Avenue to Manhattan Avenue.A beachfront property in Manhattan Beach that was seized from a Black family 97 years ago may be returned to the family’s descendants.In 1924, the city of Manhattan Beach used eminent domain to force Willa and Charles Bruce off their land where they lived and ran a resort for Black families. The Bruces were among the first Black landowners in the city.The land is now owned by Los Angeles County and houses the county’s lifeguard headquarters and training center.The story of racial injustice shocked L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn and now she’s exploring what can be done to right the wrong.”I’m considering, first of all, giving the property back to the Bruce family,” Hahn tells Eyewitness News. “I think that would be the one act that would really be justice for that family. I wanted the county of Los Angeles to be a part of righting this terrible wrong.”The beach on Highland Avenue at 27th Street was a resort for Black families who came to enjoy the beach until it was taken away. Anthony Bruce, one of the family’s last living direct descendants of the family, says the seizure robbed him of his family’s legacy.”It was a wrong against the Bruce family,” says Anthony Bruce. “I think we would be wealthy Americans still living there in California… Manhattan Beach probably.”Supervisor Hahn says there is also an option of leasing the property from the Bruce family so the county’s lifeguard building can remain at the location. Or the Bruce family could be paid reparations for what they lost.Manhattan Beach resident Kavon Ward has been petitioning and raising awareness about the history of Bruce’s Beach.”They need to pay for the stripping of generational wealth,” says Kavon Ward. “This family could have been wealthy, they could have passed on wealth to other family members. Manhattan Beach could have been more culturally diverse… there would have been more black people here.”Then there’s the matter of the beach itself. A Manhattan Beach city task force is sending the full City Council new recommendations, including a resolution of apology and creating a new commemorative plaque with wording that would prominently acknowledge the pioneering Bruce family instead of the original white landowner.Ward says the issue is far deeper than a plaque.”This task force and members of Manhattan Beach are living in this sort of bubble of white supremacy and white fragility and I feel like it’s time to penetrate that bubble,” says Ward. “It’s time for this bubble to be popped.”Hahn says the time may be right for the county to take action to correct history.”We are now in this country finally meeting this moment,” says Supervisor Hahn. “And there are a lot of talks about reparations, financial restitution being made to African Americans in this country.” Research more about this great American Champion Institution and make it with your babies. Make it a champion day!

GM – FBF – Today’s American Champion is an American actress, designer, and former model. She is best known for The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1993–1996) in her role as the second Vivian Banks on the NBC sitcom.Today in our History – July 13, 1948 – Daphne Etta Maxwell Reid is born.Reid was born in New York City, the daughter of Rosalee and Green Maxwell. She is a graduate of The Bronx High School of Science. She received a degree in interior design and architecture from Northwestern University, which she attended on a scholarship and where she became the first African-American woman to be named homecoming queen. While at Northwestern she began a modeling career, eventually signing with the Eileen Ford modeling agency. She was the first black woman to be on the cover of Glamour magazine.She has appeared in numerous television programs. Her best-known role was replacing Janet Hubert-Whitten as Vivian Banks on the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air from 1993 to 1996. She joined the show right after the fictional character Nicky Banks was born toward the end of Season 3, when Hubert-Whitten did not renew her contract.Before that role, she starred in several television series including, Simon & Simon, Frank’s Place, and Snoops.She had a recurring role as JT’s mother, Frances Hunter, on the UPN sitcom Eve, and then played Juanita Lawrence on the BET sitcom Let’s Stay Together.Reid is also an accomplished photographer as well as a designer and clothing creator.During the 1980s and 1990s Reid served on the advisory board of the National Student Film Institute.She is a recipient of the Women of Vision Award from Women in Film & Video, among a myriad of other awards.With her husband, actor Tim Reid, she owned and operated New Millennium Studios in Petersburg, Virginia, until 2014.She also served on the board of visitors at Virginia State University, for eight years. She was appointed in July 2008.On July 31, 2010, she became an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority, during their 50th national convention in New Orleans.She has one son, Chris Tubbs, from her first marriage to the late Robert Tubbs; and two stepchildren, Timothy II (b. 1968) and Tori Reid (b. 1971). She also has three grandchildren.Born Daphne Maxwell, actress Daphne Reid was born on July 13, 1948. Growing up on Manhattan’s West Side, Reid was influenced early on by her teachers to enroll in a challenging high school. Despite her initial desire to attend the Fashion Industries High School, she was swayed to attend the Bronx High School of Science.While attending Bronx Science, Reid was highly involved, serving as senior class president and joining the Group Theater Workshop. After her graduation, she received a scholarship to attend Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. While there, she was named homecoming queen, becoming the first black woman at the school to attain the title. She went on to earn her B.A. in 1970.While still a student at Northwestern, one of Reid’s teachers from Bronx Science submitted a photograph of her to a modeling agency, and her modeling career took off. In 1969, Reid became the first African American woman to grace the cover of Glamour. While in Chicago in the 1970s, Reid met comedian Tim Reid and the two became fast friends, and they would go on to marry in 1982.Reid made her television debut in 1979 on the short-lived series, The Duke, and made the move to Los Angeles. There, she appeared on several episodes of the popular show WKRP in Cincinnati opposite her future husband. Throughout the 1980s, she would appear on numerous hit television shows, including T.J. Hooker, The A-Team, Murder, She Wrote and Simon & Simon, where she again worked with her husband.In 1987, her husband co-produced the critically acclaimed but short-lived series Frank’s Place, and featured Tim and Daphne opposite one another. The two went on to work together on Snoops before hosting a talk show, The Tim and Daphne Show. In 1993, Reid made her biggest move yet, when she joined the cast of the hit series, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air in the role of Aunt Viv, and she remained there until the show’s end in 1996.In 1997, Reid, her husband, Mark Warner (now governor of Virginia) and Dan Hoffler founded New Millennium Studios in Petersburg, Virginia. The studio was the first African American production operation since scar Micheaux’s to handle a project from start to finish.A number of documentaries and films have since been filmed there, including The Contender and Hearts in Atlantis. They have also re-released The Spook Who Sat By the Door, by Sam Greenlee, as a part of their Obsidian Gold Series, and are working on a series entitled American Legacy highlighting historical contributions of African Americans. Currently, Reid is working on the sitcom Eve on UPN. Research more about this great American Champion and share it with your babies. Make it a champion day!

GM – FBF – Today’s American Champion is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and author who held an active career for over six decades before being convicted of a number of sex offenses in 2018.He began his career as a stand-up comic at the hungry i in San Francisco during the 1960s. He then landed a starring role in the television show I Spy, followed by his own sitcom The Bill Cosby Show, which ran for two seasons from 1969 to 1971. In 1972, using the Fat Albert character developed during his stand-up routines, Cosby created, produced, and hosted the animated comedy television series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids which ran until 1985, centering on a group of young friends growing up in an urban area.Throughout the 1970s, he starred in about half a dozen films, and he occasionally returned to film later in his career. In 1976, he earned his Doctor of Education from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His dissertation discussed the use of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids as a teaching tool in elementary schools.Beginning in the 1980s, he produced and starred in the television sitcom The Cosby Show, which aired from 1984 to 1992 and was rated as the number one show in America from 1985 through 1989. The sitcom highlighted the experiences and growth of an affluent African-American family.He produced the spin-off sitcom A Different World, which aired from 1987 to 1993. He also starred in The Cosby Mysteries from 1994 to 1995 and in the sitcom Cosby from 1996 to 2000 and hosted Kids Say the Darndest Things from 1998 to 2000.In the mid-2010s, numerous women made sexual assault accusations against him, the earliest dating back to 1965. More than 60 women have accused him of either attempted sexual assault, rape, drug-facilitated sexual assault, sexual battery, child sexual abuse, or sexual misconduct, all of which he has denied, and the statute of limitations had by the mid-2010s expired in nearly all cases.He was found guilty of three counts of aggravated indecent assault and sentenced to three to ten years in prison in September 2018. He is currently incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution – Phoenix in Pennsylvania.Today in our History – July 12, 1937 – William Henry Cosby Jr. is born.American comedian Bill Cosby has been the subject of publicized sexual assault allegations and was convicted of aggravated indecent assault in 2018. He has been accused by numerous women of rape, drug-facilitated sexual assault, sexual battery, child sexual abuse, and sexual misconduct.The earliest incidents allegedly took place in the mid-1960s. Assault allegations against Cosby became more public after a stand-up routine by comedian Hannibal Buress became popular in October 2014, alluding to Cosby’s covert sexual misbehavior; thereafter, many additional claims were made. The dates of the alleged incidents have spanned from 1965 to 2008 in ten U.S. states and in one Canadian province.Cosby has maintained his innocence and repeatedly denied the allegations made against him. He was asked about the allegations in November 2014 and responded, “I don’t talk about it!” He has declined to publicly discuss the accusations in interviews in the past, although he told Florida Today that “people shouldn’t have to go through that and shouldn’t answer to innuendos.” In May 2015, he said, “I have been in this business 52 years and I’ve never seen anything like this. Reality is a situation and I can’t speak.”Following the allegations, numerous organizations severed ties with Cosby and revoked honors and titles previously awarded to him. Media organizations pulled reruns of The Cosby Show and other television programs featuring Cosby from syndication.Twenty-five colleges and universities rescinded honorary degrees. Adweek reporter Jason Lynch noted that the “media landscape has changed considerably—and has now been joined by the far-less-forgiving social media arena.”Most of the alleged acts fall outside the statute of limitations for criminal legal proceedings, but criminal charges have been filed against Cosby in one case and numerous civil lawsuits have been brought against him. As of November 2015, eight related civil suits were active against him. Gloria Allred is representing 33 of the alleged victims.In July 2015, some court records were unsealed and released to the public from Andrea Constand’s 2005 civil suit against Cosby. The full transcript of his deposition was released to the media by a court reporting service. In his testimony, Cosby admitted to casual sex involving recreational use of the sedative-hypnotic methaqualone (Quaaludes) with a series of young women, and he acknowledged that his dispensing the prescription drug was illegal.In December 2015, three Class II felony charges of aggravated indecent assault were filed against Cosby in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, based on allegations by Constand concerning incidents in January 2004. Cosby’s first trial in June 2017 ended in a mistrial.Cosby was found guilty of three counts of aggravated indecent assault at retrial on April 26, 2018 and on September 25, 2018, he was sentenced to three to ten years in state prison and fined $25,000 plus the cost of the prosecution, $43,611. Cosby appealed on June 25, 2019 and the verdict was subsequently upheld and granted an appeal by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Bill Cosby was released from prison Wednesday, June 30, 2021, after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his 2018 conviction for sexual assault, a dramatic reversal in one of the first high-profile criminal trials of the #MeToo era.The court’s decision seemed likely to end the Pennsylvania case, legal experts said, and while more than 50 women across the nation have accused Mr. Cosby of sexual assault and misconduct, statutes of limitations in their cases makes further prosecutions unlikely.Mr. Cosby had served three years of a three- to 10-year sentence at a maximum-security prison outside Philadelphia when the court ruled that a “non-prosecution agreement” with a previous prosecutor meant that Mr. Cosby should not have been charged in the case.Mr. Cosby, 83, returned to his home in suburban Philadelphia on Wednesday afternoon where, looking frail and walking slowly, he was helped inside by his lawyer and a spokesman. He flashed a “V” sign as he reached his front door. 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GM – FBF – Today’s American Champion was an American gospel music singer and pastor. He was consecrated to the bishopric in 2000.Today in our History – July 11, 2010 – Walter Lee Hawkins (May 18, 1949 – July 11, 2010) dies.We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of Gospel recording artist Walter Hawkins at 2:48 PST July 11th at his home. For the last two years, Hawkins has been battling pancreatic cancer. He was 61 years old. Please keep the Hawkins family, The Love Center Family and the Gospel community, who have all been encouraged and blessed by his music through the years.Walter Hawkins was an American gospel music singer born May 18, 1949 in Oakland, California. One of gospel music’s most legendary figures, Bishop Walter Hawkins was one of the most beloved pastors and figures in contemporary Gospel Music today. In the Forty plus years of his career, he had created one of the most prolific and outstanding catalogs of hit gospel recordings and published songs.Walter is the brother of gospel singer Edwin Hawkins and Lynette Hawkins-Stephens. While married to Tramaine Hawkins, the couple had two children a son, Walter “Jamie” Hawkins, Jr. and a daughter, Trystan Hawkins with one granddaughter, Jahve Hawkins and one grandson, Jamie Daniel Hawkins. Walter “Jamie” Hawkins, Jr. is married to Myiia “Sunny” Davis-Hawkins. Hawkins started his career in one of his brother’s chorale, “The Northern California State Youth Choir” of the Church of God in Christ. Later on he accompanied his brother and made significant contributions to his career with the founding of The Edwin Hawkins Singers. This collaborative effort produced the hit song, “Oh Happy Day” which became one of the first gospel songs to crossover onto mainstream music charts.Walter left the group in the early ’70s. The following year, Hawkins became a pastor and founded the Love Center Church in East Oakland and established the Love Center Church in Oakland, CA. After forming the Love Center Choir, he recorded their first album as a church family. He used $1,800 he borrowed from his mother-in-law to complete the project. He and his Love Center Choir had considerable success with his Love Alive series, which collectively sold over a million copies from the ’70s through the ’90s. Recordings and published songs that include such great hits as Marvelous, Going Up Yonder, Changed, Be Grateful, Thank You, He’s That Kind Of Friend, Until I Found The Lord, Jesus Christ Is the Way, I’m Not The Same, Holy One, Spirit Now, Battle, I Love You Lord, Special Gift, Set Me Free, Is There Any Way, Everybody Ought To Know, My Gratitude, It’s Right and Good, Cry On, I’m So Thankful, Just In The Nick of Time, Jesus Made A Way, Thank You Lord, I Must Go On, I’m Going Away, Lord Give Us Time, Try Christ, I Feel Like Singing, Dear Jesus, God Is Standing By, I Love Jesus More, Follow Me, All You Need Is Christ, He Brought Me, He’ll Be There, Goin’ To A Place, I’m A Pilgrim, Never Alone, On & On, and so many more.Hawkins’ songs have been recorded by a who’s who in music ranging from Aretha Franklin and “American Idol” champ Ruben Studdard to Vickie Winans and M.C. Hammer. Hawkins and his groups have recorded with Van Morrison, Diahann Carroll, Sylvester (singer), Jeffrey Osborne, and many others.As elder statesmen in gospel, Hawkins became a favorite for cameo appearances in recent years. The Mississippi Mass Choir had a hit with him on “Hold, On, Soldier” in 1993 and Donald Lawrence & the TriCity Singers watched him steal the show on “Seasons” from their “Go Get Your Life Back” CD in 2002. The 2001 “Love Alive V” CD featured a huge comeback hit for Hawkins with the ballad, “Marvelous.” Hawkins’ final solo CD “A Song in My Heart” won a Stellar Award for Traditional Gospel Album of the Year in 2006. He was inducted into the Christian Music Hall of Fame in 2007.After surgery for pancreatic cancer in late 2008, the Hawkins Family (Walter, Edwin, Tramaine, and sister, Lynette) staged a successful, multi-city Hawkins Family reunion concert tour. At the time of his death, Hawkins was planning a new “Love Alive” CD concert recording for this fall.Hawkins is survived by his two children, Walter “Jamie” and Trystan Hawkins; daughter-in-law, Myiia Hawkins; two grandchildren Jamie- Daniel and Jahve; a host of nieces and nephews; the Love Center Church family and Choir; and his siblings Carol, Feddie, Edwin, Daniel, and Lynette. Research more about this great American Champion and share it with your babies. Make it a champion day!

GM – FBF – Today’s American Champion is an American mathematician known for her contributions to the mathematical modeling of the shape of the Earth, and her work on the development of the satellite geodesy models that were eventually incorporated into the Global Positioning System (GPS). She was inducted into the United States Air Force Hall of Fame in 2018.Today in our History – July 10, 1932 – Gladys Mae West (née Brown; born 1930) was born.West was born as Gladys Mae Brown in Sutherland, Virginia, in Dinwiddie County, a rural county south of Richmond. Her family was an African-American farming family in a community of sharecroppers. Her mother worked at a tobacco factory, and her father was a farmer who also worked for the railroad. West realized early on that she did not want to work in the tobacco fields or factories like the rest of her family, and decided that education would be her way out. At West’s high school, the top two students of each graduating class received full-ride scholarships to Virginia State College (now formally University), a historically black public university. West worked hard and graduated in 1948 with the title of valedictorian. She was initially unsure what college major to pursue at VSU, as she had excelled in all her subjects in high school. She was encouraged to major in science or math because of their difficulty, and West ultimately chose to study mathematics, a subject mostly studied at her college by men. She also became a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. West graduated in 1952 with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics. After graduating, she taught math and science for two years in Waverly, Virginia. West then returned to VSU to complete her Master of Mathematics degree, graduating in 1955. Afterward, she briefly took another teaching position in Martinsville, Virginia. In 1956, West was hired to work at the Naval Proving Ground in Dahlgren, Virginia, (now called the Naval Surface Warfare Center), where she was the second black woman ever hired and one of only four black employees. West was a programmer in the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division for large-scale computers and a project manager for data-processing systems used in the analysis of satellite data. Concurrently, West earned a second master’s degree in public administration from the University of Oklahoma. In the early 1960s, she participated in an award-winning astronomical study that proved the regularity of Pluto’s motion relative to Neptune.Subsequently, West began to analyze data from satellites, putting together altimeter models of the Earth’s shape. She became project manager for the Seasat radar altimetry project, the first satellite that could remotely sense oceans. West consistently put in extra hours, cutting her team’s processing time in half. She was recommended for a commendation in 1979. From the mid-1970s through the 1980s, West programmed an IBM computer to deliver increasingly precise calculations to model the shape of the Earth – an ellipsoid with irregularities, known as the geoid. Generating an extremely accurate model required her to employ complex algorithms to account for variations in gravitational, tidal, and other forces that distort Earth’s shape. West’s data ultimately became the basis for the Global Positioning System (GPS). In 1986, West published Data Processing System Specifications for the Geosat Satellite Radar Altimeter, a 51-page technical report from The Naval Surface Weapons Center (NSWC). The guide was published to explain how to increase the accuracy of the estimation of geoid heights and vertical deflection, important components of satellite geodesy. This was achieved by processing the data created from the radio altimeter on the Geosat satellite, which went into orbit on March 12, 1984. West worked at Dahlgren for 42 years, retiring in 1998. After retiring, she completed a PhD in Public Administration from Virginia Tech.West’s vital contributions to GPS technology were rediscovered when a member of West’s sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha read a short biography Gladys had submitted for an alumni function. West was inducted into the United States Air Force Hall of Fame in 2018, one of the highest honors bestowed by Air Force Space Command (AFSPC). The AFSPC press release at the time called her one of “the so-called ‘Hidden Figures’ part of the team who did computing for the US military in the era before electronic systems” – a reference to the 2016 book by Margot Lee Shetterly, which was adapted into the film Hidden Figures. Capt. Godfrey Weekes, commanding officer at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division in 2018, described the role played by West in the development of Global Positioning System: “She rose through the ranks, worked on the satellite geodesy, and contributed to the accuracy of GPS and the measurement of satellite data. As Gladys West started her career as a mathematician at Dahlgren in 1956, she likely had no idea that her work would impact the world for decades to come.” West agreed, saying that she had no idea at the time that her work would affect so many: “When you’re working every day, you’re not thinking, ‘What impact is this going to have on the world?’ You’re thinking, ‘I’ve got to get this right.'”West was selected by the BBC as part of their 100 Women of 2018. As an alumna of Virginia State University Dr. Gladys West was nominated and won the award for “Female Alumna of the Year” at the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Awards sponsored by HBCU Digest in 2018. She met her husband Ira West at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division, where he also worked as a mathematician. They were two of only four black employees at the time. They were married in 1957. They have three children and seven grandchildren. As of February 2018, West lives in King George County, Virginia. In 2018, West completed a PhD via a distance-learning program with the School of Public and International Affairs at Virginia Tech. West continues to prefer using a paper map over a tracking system, saying she still trusts her brain above all. She stated, “I’m a doer, hands-on kind of person. If I can see the road and see where it turns and see where it went, I am more sure. Research more about this great American Champion and share it with your babies. Make it a champion day!

GM – FBF – Today’s American Champion was an American composer, songwriter, arranger, choral conductor, and actor. He was regarded as a leading expert on Negro spirituals and choral music. His notable compositions include “Amen,” a gospel-tinged theme from the film Lilies of the Field and a 1963 hit for The Impressions, and the Christmas song “Mary’s Boy Child”.Today in our History – July 9, 1901 – Jester Joseph Hairston (July 9, 1901 – January 18, 2000) was born.Hairston was born in Belews Creek, a rural community on the border of Stokes, Forsyth, Rockingham and Guilford counties in North Carolina. His grandparents had been slaves. At an early age he and his family moved to Homestead, Pennsylvania, just outside Pittsburgh, where he graduated from high school in 1921. Hairston was still a small child when his father died in a job-related accident; he was raised by his grandmother while his mother went to work.While growing up, Hairston heard his grandmother and her friends talking and singing about life on the plantations of the southern US. He listened with immense interest and made a promise to himself that he would preserve this history through music.Hairston initially majored in landscape architecture at Massachusetts Agricultural College in the 1920s. While studying landscape architecture, Hairston became involved in various church choirs and choral groups. The accompanist of one, Anna Laura Kidder, saw his potential in music and became his benefactor. Mrs. Kidder offered him financial assistance to study music at Tufts University, from which he graduated in 1929. He was one of the first black students admitted to Tufts. Later he studied music at the Juilliard School.Hairston pledged Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, Chi chapter in 1925. He worked as a choir conductor in the early stages of his career. His work with choirs on Broadway eventually led to his singing and acting in plays, films, radio programs, and television shows.He sang with the Hall Johnson Choir in Harlem for a time but was nearly fired from the all black choir because he had difficulty with the rural dialects that were used in some of the songs. He had to shed his Boston accent and relearn the country speech of his parents and grandparents. Johnson had told him, “We’re singing ain’t and cain’t and you’re singing shahn’t and cahn’t and they don’t mix in a spiritual.” The Hall Johnson Choir performed in many Broadway shows including The Green Pastures. In 1936, they were asked to go to Hollywood to sing for the film The Green Pastures. At that time, a Russian composer, Dimitri Tiomkin, heard Jester and invited him to collaborate with him. This led to a thirty-year collaboration during which time Jester arranged and collected music for the movies. In 1939, Hairston married Margaret Swanigan. He also wrote and arranged spirituals for Hollywood films as well as for high school and college choirs around the country.Hairston wrote the song “Mary’s Boy Child” in 1956. He also arranged the song “Amen”, which he dubbed for the Sidney Poitier film Lilies of the Field, and arranged traditional Negro spirituals Most of Hairston’s film work was in the field of composing, arranging, and choral conducting. Hairston also acted in over 20 films, mostly in small roles, some of which were uncredited. Among the films he appeared in were bit parts in some of the early Tarzan movies, St. Louis Blues, The Alamo, To Kill a Mockingbird, In the Heat of the Night, Lady Sings the Blues, I’m Gonna Git You Sucka and Being John Malkovich. Hairston starred in John Wayne’s The Alamo (1960).In 1961, the US State Department appointed Jester Hairston as Goodwill Ambassador. He traveled all over the world teaching and performing the folk music of the slaves. In the 1960s he held choral festivals with public high school choirs, introducing them to Negro Spiritual music, and sometimes leading several hundred students in community performances. His banter about the history of the songs along with his engaging personality and sense of humor endeared him to many students.No matter where Hairston performed in the US, he checked the phone book for other Hairstons and was responsible for reuniting people on his family tree, both black and white.He composed more than 300 spirituals. All of his research and work has been documented for history. He was the recipient of many honorary doctorates, including a doctorate from The University of Massachusetts in 1972, and another in music from Tufts in 1977.Hairston appeared on TV’s The Amos ‘n’ Andy Show. He had the role of Leroy on the radio program and as Henry Van Porter on the television program. He also played the role of Wildcat on the show That’s My Mama. In his senior years he appeared on the show Amen as Rolly Forbes. His last television appearance was in 1993 on an episode of Family Matters. Hairston also played the role of “King Moses” on radio for the Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall show Bold Venture.In his later years, Hairston served as a cultural ambassador for American music, traveling to numerous countries with choral groups that he had assembled. In 1985 he took the Jester Hairston Chorale, a multi-racial group, to sing in the People’s Republic of China, at a time when foreign visitors were still quite rare in that country.Hairston died in Los Angeles of natural causes in 2000 at age 98. For his contribution to the television industry, Hairston has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6201 Hollywood Blvd.. Research more about this great American Champion and share it wit He is interred at Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, Californiah your babies and make it a champion day!

GM – FBF – Today’s American Champion is an American reproductive rights activist who was the first African American and the youngest president ever elected of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and the first woman since Margaret Sanger to hold the position. She is currently Co-Founder & Director at EeroQ, a quantum computing company. She is best known for her contributions to family planning and reproductive health, as well as the pro-choice movement.Today in our History – July 8, 1943 – Faye Wattleton (born Alyce Faye Wattleton) was born.President of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) from 1978 to 1992 . Name variations: Alyce Faye Wattleton. Born Alyce Faye Wattleton on July 8, 1943, in St. Louis, Missouri; daughter of George Edward Wattleton (a factory worker) and Ozie (Garrett) Wattleton (a seamstress and preacher); graduated from Ohio State University Nursing School, 1964; Columbia University, New York, M.S., 1967; married Franklin Gordon, in 1973 (divorced 1981); children: daughter Felicia Gordon (b. 1975).Faye Wattleton was the first African-American, the first woman since founder Margaret Sanger , and the youngest individual to serve as president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA). For 14 tumultuous years as the leader of an organization that advocates women’s reproductive freedom, Wattleton was embroiled in a national controversy over legalized abortion, especially during the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George Bush. With unflagging clarity of vision and eloquence, Wattleton articulated the tenets and goals of the PPFA’s pro-choice platform in a professional and nonthreatening manner. Carefully discerning between “pro-choice” and “pro-abortion” throughout her tenure, she kept the focus upon the essential rights of women to make choices about their own bodies without the intrusion of government or the courts.An only child, Faye Wattleton was born on July 8, 1943, in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of George Wattleton, a factory worker, and Ozie Wattleton , a seamstress and itinerant fundamentalist preacher. Ozie was one of Faye Wattleton’s role models, along with Martin Luther King, Jr., and John F. Kennedy. Although the family was poor, they lived their politics, stressing the importance of helping those who were less fortunate than they. Missionary work was an important part of their lives.Wattleton entered Ohio State University Nursing School at age 16 and earned a bachelor’s degree in 1964, becoming the first person in her family to do so. After graduation, she found a position as a maternity nursing instructor at the Miami Valley Hospital School of Nursing in Dayton, Ohio.There, she was exposed to the aftermath of illegal abortions, the memory of which would later inspire her to ensure the availability of legal abortions. In 1966, Wattletonmoved to New York to study at Columbia University on a full scholarship; a year later, she received an M.S. in maternal and infant health care, with certification as a nurse-midwife. While a student at Columbia, she interned at Harlem Hospital, where the importance of access to safe abortion became even more apparent to her.Returning to Dayton in 1967, Wattleton worked as a consultant and assistant director of Public Health Nursing Services for the city. Asked to join the local Planned Parenthood board, Wattleton became its executive director less than two years later. Under her leadership, the number of clients tripled, and the budget increased from less than $400,000 to just under $1 million. In 1973, she married Franklin Gordon, a social worker raised in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Two years later, she became a mother as well as the chair of the national executive director’s council of PPFA.She was appointed to the presidency in 1978, which surprised many who thought she lacked the experience to assume such a highly visible, highly paid position in the largest voluntary health agency in America. As it turned out, however, Wattleton was an ideal choice as a speaker for Planned Parenthood. According to Contemporary Black Biography, “She effectively bridged the gap between the organization’s mostly white, middle- and upper-class membership and the mostly poor women being served in the clinics. Her race helped her to challenge complaints that Planned Parenthood was helping to promote genocide by providing birth control to black women.” Wattleton argued that the greater threat was black women bearing numerous children against their will.t’s Takeout Tuesday from American Express. Order in from a local restaurant every Tuesday and support the small businesses that make our neighborhoods feel like home. Order in. Wattleton soon began to change the direction of Planned Parenthood, which until then had been recognized primarily for its 850 clinics in 46 states, serving some 3 million each year with everything from infertility counseling and birth control to prenatal care. Wattleton thought Planned Parenthood should also assume a strong advocacy role for women’s rights and reproductive freedom, especially at a time when conservative opposition to the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision by political groups such as the Moral Majority and the Right to Life movement was strengthened by the support of Republican administrations.Although abortion continued to be protected under the law, conservative groups succeeded in getting the Hyde Amendment passed in 1977, which severely restricted federal funding for the controversial procedure. And by 1989, the Supreme Court’s Webster decision enabled states even greater power to restrict abortion.Diffusing the political battle to several fronts, the Reagan administration fought to repeal the U.S. family planning program, Title I of the Public Health Service Act. President Reagan also attempted to enact a requirement that federally funded clinics receive parental consent before distributing contraceptive devices to minors. Wattleton, however, argued that parental notification would merely lead to an increase in teen pregnancies. The administration also proposed a rule to prevent abortion counseling by federally funded family-planning agencies. Meanwhile, conservative opposition to Planned Parenthood began to express itself in more extreme and sinister ways through the burning and bombing of clinics in Minnesota, Virginia, Nebraska, Vermont, and Ohio. Wattleton herself had been targeted by hate mail and death threats, necessitating the hiring of bodyguards.As family planning services and their funding were threatened, Wattleton worked even harder to bring PPFA into public view, making numerous guest appearances on radio and television talk shows to rally support. Although the organization lost a few corporate sponsors as it heightened its political visibility, private donations increased dramatically. Under Wattleton, the organization’s budget tripled. Film personalities and Hollywood executives demonstrated their support publicly, and the organization participated in massive rallies in the nation’s capital and elsewhere. On each occasion, Wattleton stood at the forefront delineating Planned Parenthood’s goals and arguing that PPFA was working to level the playing field in terms of access to health care between the rich and the poor, since the poor were especially vulnerable to reductions in federal funding.It’s Takeout Tuesday from American Express. Order in from a local restaurant every Tuesday and support the small businesses that make our neighborhoods feel like home. Order in. Help out. #ShopSmallEqual access was not the only issue raised concerning reproductive choice and freedom. Wattleton attempted to locate the reproductive issue in a wider context of federal neglect. In her view, the Reagan-Bush administration tried to dismantle programs designed to confront not only the issue of inadequate health care but also homelessness and poor education. Thus, sex education and information about contraceptives became crucial elements of PPFA’s platform. While using the media to promote those issues, Wattleton also co-authored the book How to Talk to Your Child About Sex, which sold more than 30,000 copies. In her view, children needed to be taught about sexuality before they became adolescents. She attributed the increase of teen pregnancies to children’s contradictory exposure to sex.Wattleton’s professional prestige continued to soar as she accumulated honors and awards, including the 1986 American Humanist Award and the Jefferson Award for the Greatest Public Service Performed by a Private Citizen in 1992. She also became a member of numerous organizations, among them the National Academy of the Sciences’ Institute of Medicine’s Study Committee on the Role of State and Local Public Health Departments, the advisory committee of the Women’s Leadership Conference on National Security, and the President’s Advisory Council on the Peace Corps.Amidst dissension in PPFA’s ranks regarding its public role in reproductive rights battles, however, Wattleton resigned from her post in 1992.The following year, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. In 1995, she established a women’s policy think tank, the Center for Gender Equality, to promote a national dialogue on the economic, political, and educational aspects of women’s lives in addition to health and reproductive rights. Research more about this American Champion and share it with your babies. Make it a champion day!

GM – FBF – Today’s American Champion is an American former professional basketball player. She is currently the head coach for Triplets in the BIG3 professional basketball league, as well as a studio analyst for Orlando Magic broadcasts on Fox Sports Florida. She played in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). She is a three-time WNBA MVP and a four-time Olympic gold medal winner. The number-seven pick in the 1997 inaugural WNBA draft, she followed her career at the University of Southern California with eight WNBA All-Star selections and two WNBA championships over the course of eleven seasons with the Los Angeles Sparks, before retiring in 2009.She was the first player to dunk in a WNBA game. In 2011, she was voted in by fans as one of the Top 15 players in WNBA history. In 2015, she was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. She was also inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.Today in our History – July 7, 1972 – Lisa Deshaun Leslie was born.Lisa Deshaun Leslie is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Los Angeles Sparks in the Women’s Basketball Association (WNBA) for her twelve-year career from 1997 to 2009. She is a two-time WNBA champion, three-time WNBA MVP, and a four-time Olympic gold medal winner. Leslie was the first player to dunk in a WNBA game and was considered a pioneer and cornerstone of the league during her NBA career.Lisa Leslie was born on July 7, 1972, in Gardena, California, to Christine Lauren Leslie and Walter Leslie, a semi-professional basketball player. Christine Leslie started her own trucking business to support her three children after her husband left the family. Leslie has two sisters, Dionne and Tiffany, and a brother, Elgin. By the time Leslie was in middle school, she had grown to over 6′1″. In the eighth grade, she transferred to a junior high school without a girls’ basketball team and joined a boys’ basketball team. Leslie entered Morningside High School in Inglewood, California, in 1986 and while there led the girls’ basketball team to two state championships.After high school, Leslie entered the University of Southern California (USC), where she played for the Trojans’ women’s basketball team from 1990 to 1994. During her time with the Trojans, she played 120 college games, averaging 20.1 points per game, making 53.4 percent of her shots, and 69.8 percent of her free throws.She set the PAC-10 Conference records for scoring, rebounding, and blocked shots accumulating 2,414 points, 1,214 boards, and 321 blocked shots. She also holds the USC single-season record for blocked shots (95). Leslie helped the team win one PAC-10 conference championship in 1994 and earn four NCAA tournament appearances. She was All-PAC 10 for four years and also earned All-American Honors. Leslie was also named national player of the year in 1994. She graduated from USC with a bachelor’s degree in communications in 1994.After USC, Leslie was drafted by the Los Angeles Sparks in the 1997 WNBA draft. During her twelve-year career with the Sparks, she led the team to two WNBA championships in 2001 and 2002. She was WNBA finals MVP in both championships. Other accomplishments included being named WNBA MVP three times (2001, 2004, 2006); she was also an eight-time All-Star (1999-2003, 2005, 2006, 2009). She was a two-time WNBA Defense Player of the Year (2004, 2008). On July 30, 2002, she made WNBA history when she became the first woman to dunk in a WNBA game. Leslie also won gold medals as a member of the USA Women’s Basketball team in 1996 Atlanta (Georgia) Olympic Games, 2000 Sydney (Australia) Olympic Games, 2004 Athens (Greece) Olympic Games, and 2008 Beijing (China) Olympic Games.Leslie retired at the end of the 2009 WNBA season. She finished her career holding the league records for points (2,263), rebounds (3,307), and PRA (Points, Rebounds, and Assists) (10,444). In 2011, Leslie was voted by fans as one of the top fifteen players in WNBA history. In 2015, she was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.In 2006, Leslie married Michael Lockwood. The couple has two children, Lauren Jolie Lockwood, born on June 15, 2007, and Michael Joseph Lockwood II, born on April 16, 2010. In 2009, Leslie earned a Master’s of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the University of Phoenix in Arizona. Research more about this great American Champion and share it with your babies. Make it a champion day!