American basketball player A’ja Wilson
Credit: © Thurman James, CSM/Alamy Images

On Sunday, September 18, the Las Vegas Aces defeated the Connecticut Sun, 78-71, to clinch the best-of-five Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) Finals, three games to one. The Las Vegas took home their first championship in team history. Aces guard Chelsea Gray, who had 20 points and 6 assists in Game 4, was named the series MVP. Gray celebrated with league MVP A’ja Wilson and their teammates on the Sun home court at Mohegan Sun Arena, on the Mohegan Reservation in Uncasville, Connecticut. The Connecticut Sun remained without a title in four trips to the Finals.

First-year Aces Coach Becky Hammon, helped the Aces meld their exceptional individual talents into a strong championship unit. Hammon had been an assistant coach with the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs and a seven-time All-Star in a 16 year WNBA career.

The basketball teams met for Game 4 before a large Sun home crowd. The score was close throughout, but the steady Aces extended their two-point halftime lead into a final margin of seven. In addition to Gray’s heroics, Wilson played all 40 minutes of the game, totaling 11 points and 14 rebounds. The Sun’s Alyssa Thomas also played 40 minutes, recording a second straight triple-double in the loss. Aces Kelsey Plum scored 15, and guard Riquna Williams added 18 points to help the Aces win their first title. The Aces’ party continued on September 20, when the team held a rally with their fans on the Las Vegas Strip.

American women’s basketball star Breanna Stewart
Credit: © Zach Bolinger, Icon Sportswire/AP Photo

The Aces’ Wilson won her second MVP award. She also led the WNBA in blocked shots and was named Defensive Player of the Year. The All-WNBA Team included Wilson, her teammate Plum, the Seattle Storm’s Breanna Stewart, the Chicago Sky’s Candace Parker, and Skylar Diggins-Smith of the Phoenix Mercury. The Aces’ Hammon was named Coach of the Year.

Serena Williams, an American tennis star, ranks among the most dominant players in women’s tennis. She is noted for her muscular body, her powerful shot making, and her foot speed.
© Leonard Zhukovsky, Shutterstock

Game, set, match, career! One of the most dominating players in women’s tennis, Serena Williams, has retired from the sport. In August 2022, Williams announced her plans to retire after the US Open. She waved goodbye to fans and other players after losing her match against Australian Ajla Tomljanović on September 2nd. Williams is noted for her muscular body, her powerful shot making, and her foot speed. In 1999, Williams won the US Open, defeating top-seeded Martina Hingis of Switzerland. Williams became the first African American woman to win a grand slam event since Althea Gibson won the tournament in 1958. The grand slam consists of the Australian Open, French Open, US Open, and Wimbledon in England.

Serena Williams, shown here at the Nasdaq-100 in 2003, is one of the most dominant players in women’s professional tennis.
© Ezra Shaw, Getty Images

In 2002, Williams won the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. She gained the number-one ranking for the first time that year. She defeated her sister Venus in the final match in each tournament. When she defeated Venus for the Australian Open championship in 2003, she became only the fifth woman to hold all four grand slam titles at the same time. Serena also won Wimbledon in 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015, and 2016; the Australian Open in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2015, and 2017; the US Open in 2008, 2012, 2013, and 2014; and the French Open in 2013 and 2015.

She defeated her sister for the 2009 Wimbledon title and the 2017 Australian Open title. At the 2017 Australian Open, Serena won her 23rd grand slam title, setting a record for the most grand slam singles titles in the open era. The open era began in 1968, when the International Tennis Federation allowed professional players to compete in major tournaments. Previously, only amateurs could compete in such tournaments. Only the Australian Margaret Smith Court, who began playing before the open era, has won more grand slam singles titles, with 24.

Serena won the gold medal in women’s singles at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. Serena and her sister also won the gold medal in women’s doubles in 2000, 2008, and 2012. Serena and Venus have won all four grand slam women’s doubles titles, though not in the same year.

Serena Jameka Williams was born on Sept. 26, 1981, in Saginaw, Michigan, and grew up in Compton, California. She began playing tennis at about the age of 5 under the guidance of her father, Richard. She turned professional in 1995. Williams discussed her personal life and her tennis career in the memoir On the Line (2009).

Bill Russell, number 6, was one of the leading rebounders in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Russell played for the Boston Celtics from 1956 to 1969. As player-coach of the Celtics from 1966 to 1969, he became the first African American head coach in major league professional sports.
Credit: © Bettmann/Getty Images

Legendary basketball player Bill Russell passed away on July 31, 2022, at the age of 88 years old. Russell won 11 league championships with the Boston Celtics. His awe-inspiring career, bold civil rights activism, and dedication to the sport prompted the National Basketball Association to retire number six, marking the third number to be retired leaguewide in all American sports. NBA players who currently wear number 6, like Lebron James of the Los Angeles Lakers, may continue wearing the number, but can also choose to switch numbers. Russell joins the ranks of NHL hockey player Wayne Gretzky (99) and MLB baseball player Jackie Robinson (42). Russell’s number will be the first number retired leaguewide in the NBA.

Russell became one of the finest defensive players in basketball history. A 6-foot-10-inch (208-centimeter) center for the Boston Celtics, Russell became a master at blocking shots and rebounding. He ranks second only to Wilt Chamberlain among the leading rebounders in the history of the NBA.

William Felton Russell was born on Feb. 12, 1934, in Monroe, Louisiana. He helped lead the University of San Francisco to win 57 of 58 games during the 1954-1955 and 1955-1956 seasons. Russell joined the Celtics in the 1956-1957 season and helped lead the team to 11 NBA championships in the 13 years he played.

Russell walked with Martin Luther King Jr. at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. Four years later, he stood up alongside football player Jim Brown and basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in support of boxer Muhammad Ali who faced criticism for not fighting in the Vietnam War. He also supported the movement against segregation in Boston schools. Russell continually stood up for himself and his Black teammates even when was unpopular in the league.

Russell served as player-coach of the Celtics from 1966 to 1969. He was the first African American head coach in major league professional sports. Russell retired as a player in 1969. He served as general manager and coach of the Seattle SuperSonics of the NBA from 1973 to 1977. He coached the Sacramento Kings of the NBA from 1987 to 1988, and served as a vice president for the team in 1988 and 1989.

Russell was a TV sports commentator between coaching assignments. He discussed his life and his views on basketball in Go Up for Glory (1970), Second Wind (1979), and Red and Me (2009). In 2011, Russell received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor awarded by the president of the United States.

Cathy Freeman, an Australian runner of Aboriginal descent, wins the women’s 400–meter race at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
Credit: © Tony Feder, Getty Images

On your mark, get set, make history! In 2000, Australian track star Cathy Freeman became the first Aboriginal athlete to win an individual gold medal when she finished first in the 400-meter race at the Summer Olympic Games in Sydney. Freeman also was chosen to light the Olympic torch at the opening ceremony. Freeman ran a successful career and then used her platform to work for equality for Aboriginal peoples.

Catherine Astrid Salome Freeman was born in Mackay, Queensland, on Feb. 16, 1973. She began running at a young age, running her first race when she was only 8 years old. In 1990, Freeman became the first Aboriginal athlete to win gold at the Commonwealth Games at the age of 16. Freeman became a controversial figure within Australia when she carried both the Australian and Aboriginal flags as she ran a lap of honor following her victories in the 200-meter and 400-meter finals at the Commonwealth Games in 1994.

The Commonwealth Games are a sports competition for members of the Commonwealth of Nations. The Commonwealth of Nations is an association of independent countries and other political units, most of which formerly lived under British law and government. Like the Olympic Games, the Commonwealth Games are held every four years. Athletes compete in such events as badminton, boxing, cycling, field hockey, lawn bowls, rugby sevens, squash, swimming and diving, track and field, and weightlifting.

The Aboriginal Peoples of Australia are the first people who lived in Australia and their descendants. Australia’s Aboriginal peoples include peoples of mainland Australia, Tasmania, and some other nearby islands. Historically, European colonizers controlled many aspects of life in Australia. As a result, Aboriginal people were denied the right to land, citizenship, and equal opportunities. In the mid and late 1990’s, government policy changes began opening doors for Aboriginal people. When Freeman was running as a national icon, Aboriginal people were still fighting for equal rights in Australia.

She was named Young Australian of the Year in 1990 and Australian of the Year in 1998, the only person to win both titles. Freeman won the silver medal for the 400-meter run at the 1996 Olympic Games, and she won the world title in the event in 1997 and 1999. In 2003, Freeman announced her retirement from athletic competition. In 2007, she founded the Cathy Freeman Foundation, which aims to close the educational gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children.

Australian tennis player Dylan Alcott competes at the 2022 Australian Open.
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July is Disability Pride Month. Behind the Headlines will feature people claiming their disability and excelling. Claiming disability means actively accepting their condition and integrating it into their identity.

Alcott has made a lot of racket in his career! Serving up matches and breaking records, Dylan Alcott became the first man to win the Golden Slam—all four major title tournaments and the Paralympic Games—in 2021. Alcott is a retired Australian wheelchair tennis player. He also played wheelchair basketball with the Australian Rollers national team. In 2022, Australia named Alcott Australian of the Year and an Officer of the Order of Australia.

Dylan Martin Alcott was born Dec. 4, 1990, in Melbourne. At birth, Alcott had a tumor wrapped around his spinal cord. Surgeons successfully removed the tumor. However, the surgery left him paraplegic—that is, paralyzed in the legs and lower body. He began playing wheelchair tennis in school, competing globally by the age of 16. Alcott started playing wheelchair basketball when he was 14 years old. He played with the Rollers in the 2006 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship. At the age of 17, Alcott won a gold medal at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, China, with the Rollers.

In 2009, Alcott began studying at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, in the United States. He led the school’s wheelchair basketball team to win the college championship. After his first year, he returned to Australia to prepare for the 2012 Paralympic Games in London, England. Alcott and the Rollers won the Wheelchair Basketball World Championship for the first time in 2010 in Birmingham, England. In 2012, they won silver at the Paralympics.

Australian tennis star Dylan Alcott competes in the men’s quads wheelchair singles at the Wimbledon Championships.
Credit: © PA Images/Alamy Images

In 2012, Alcott suffered serious injuries to his hand and arm when someone tried to move him in his wheelchair. The injury made Alcott eligible to participate in the quad class of wheelchair tennis and spurred his return to that sport. The quad class is reserved for players that also have some impairment in their playing arm. In 2014, he won the British Open Wheelchair Tennis Championship and the New Zealand Open. In 2015, Alcott won the quad wheelchair Australian Open title. Alcott was ranked number one in the world in 2015 after securing eight titles.

At the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Alcott won the men’s quad doubles gold medal with the Australian wheelchair tennis player Heath Davidson. The next day, he won the men’s quad singles gold medal. Alcott was named Australian Paralympian of the Year for his success at the games. In 2018, Alcott won the Wheelchair Tennis Masters title.

In 2021, Alcott became the third professional and the first man to complete the Golden Slam in a calendar year. He won the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, the United States Open, and the singles gold medal at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo. (The games, originally scheduled for 2020, were postponed to 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.) At the end of 2021, Alcott announced that the 2022 Australian Open would be his last professional competition. Alcott’s memoir Able: Gold Medals, Grand Slams and Smashing Glass Ceilings was published in 2018.

Colorado Avalanche plays the Tampa Bay Lightning for the 2022 Stanley Cup.
Credit: © Dirk Shadd, Tampa Bay Times/ZUMA Press/Alamy Images

The Colorado Avalanche defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 2 to 1 on Sunday, winning the best-of-seven Stanley Cup Finals, the National Hockey League’s championship, four games to two. They overcame a controversial penalty call in Game 5 and a 1-0 deficit early in Game 6 to secure the team’s first Stanley Cup victory since 2001.

Twenty-three-year-old defenseman Cale Makar was unanimously selected as the Conn Smythe Trophy for most valuable player in the playoffs. He racked up 8 goals and 21 assists during the playoffs. Veteran center Nathan MacKinnon accrued 13 goals and 11 assists during the playoffs. 

After a solid regular season, journeyman goaltender Darcy Kuemper had a mixed performance in the playoffs including a Game 3 Finals loss in which he gave up five goals on 22 shots. Kuemper stepped up Game 6, however, blocking 22 out of 23 Tampa Bay shots on goal. 

The Avs denied the Lightning a chance at a third consecutive Stanley Cup win. The Lightning were trying to win three in a row for the first time since the New York Islanders won four consecutive Finals from 1980-1983. 

Like thunderclouds approaching a mountain overburdened with snow, the Avalanche and the Lightning seemed destined to meet in the 2022 Stanley Cup Finals. Colorado racked up 56 wins during the regular season, narrowly missing the Presidents’ Trophy for best regular-season record. The Lightning are a perennial powerhouse, having made it at least as far as the Eastern Conference Final six out of the last eight seasons.

Even the best teams rarely have an easy path through hockey’s second season, but the two teams’ road was less difficult than most. Only one playoff series the two teams participated went to seven games, when the Toronto Maple Leafs pushed the Bolts to the brink of eliminations during first round. Colorado swept an overmatched Edmonton Oilers team in the Western Conference Final. Tampa Bay defeated the New York Rangers in six games to take the Prince of Wales Trophy.  

The Colorado Avalanche underwent a painful rebuild to reach this point. They were the worst team in the league in 2016-2017 season. But general manager Joe Sakic (a Hall-of-Fame Avalanche player) stuck with rookie coach Jared Bednar and picked up Makar in the 2017 draft. Sakic then made a series of shrewd moves that slowly improved the team over the next few years. He acquired forwards Andre Burakovsky and Nazem Kadri and goalie Kuemper, among others, through trades. 

The Avalanche are poised to compete for the Cup for years to come. Few of their players are on the wrong side of 30. Time will tell if they can go back-to-back, as Tampa Bay did. But the Lightning aren’t going away, either, led by captain Steven Stamkos. Hockey fans may witness this elemental clash again in future playoffs.

Kansas forward David McCormack and North Carolina guard R.J. during the 2022 NCAA tournament finals.
Credit: © David J. Phillip, AP Photo

On Monday, April 4, the University of Kansas Jayhawks overcame a 15-point halftime deficit to defeat the University of North Carolina Tar Heels, 72-69, and win the school’s fourth National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men’s basketball championship in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Jayhawks outscored the Tar Heels, 47-29, in the second half to cap the largest comeback in NCAA title game history.

North Carolina, the eighth seed in the East Region, hoped to become the first 8-seed to win the tournament since Villanova’s triumph in 1985. Led by the aggressive drives of point guard R. J. Davis and the spirited play of hobbled center Armando Bacot, the Tar Heels stunned the favored Jayhawks in the game’s first half. With several starters in foul trouble, Kansas—the Midwest Region’s top seed—looked out of sync and stumbled into halftime down 40-25.

Kansas emerged from the locker room as the more confident team, however, and quickly reduced the deficit to single digits. Center David McCormack (15 points, 10 rebounds) and guard Christian Braun (12 points, 12 rebounds) led the comeback. Forward Jalen Wilson and guards Ochai Agbaji and Remy Martin also scored in double-figures for the Jayhawks. Kansas Coach Bill Self nabbed a second NCAA victory, his last coming in 2008.

North Carolina outrebounded Kansas, 55 to 35, for the game, but it couldn’t convert enough of its extra shot attempts into baskets. The Jayhawks sank 44 percent of their field goal attempts, compared with 32 percent for the Tar Heels. Bacot (15 points, 15 rebounds), Davis (15 points, 12 rebounds), and forward Brady Manek (13 points, 13 rebounds) each tallied double-doubles for the Heels in the hard-fought game.

Carolina guard Caleb Love, whose heroics in Saturday’s semifinal led the Tar Heels to an 81-77 upset win over their archrival, the Blue Devils of Duke, had a rough game Monday night. Dogged by a tender ankle and a host of long, physical defenders, he missed 19 of his 24 shots, including an errant three-point attempt as time expired. Love had scored 28 points to dispatch Duke and send the Blue Devils’ legendary leader, Coach Mike Krzyzewski, into retirement a game earlier than Duke fans had hoped. Coach “K” finished his illustrious 47-year career with a record 1,202 wins, including 5 NCAA titles.

* * *

The NCAA women’s basketball championship took place a night earlier, on April 3. The top-ranked and top overall seed University of South Carolina Gamecocks led throughout, defeating the University of Connecticut Huskies, 64-49, at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Junior forward Aliyah Boston, the consensus national player of the year, amassed 11 points and 16 rebounds for the Gamecocks. Speedy senior guard Destanni Henderson played her greatest game on the biggest stage, tallying a career-high 26 points and frustrating the Huskies with relentless defensive pressure.

The Huskies, led by 14 points from star sophomore guard Paige Bueckers, were overwhelmed by the intensity and physicality of the Gamecocks. South Carolina outrebounded Connecticut, 49-24, and shot 26 free throws to the Huskies’ 4. South Carolina and Coach Dawn Staley brought home their second NCAA title, the first coming in 2017.

In a televised post-game interview, Henderson praised her coach and teammates, and she spoke of believing in herself through numerous on- and off-court challenges. The moment also served to highlight the NCAA’s new Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) policy that allows amateur athletes to profit from their collegiate fame. As the interview drew to a close, the fashion-forward guard squeezed in a plug for her clothing line, aptly named “Hennything is Possible.”

2017 National Women’s Soccer League Championship Game
Credit: © Andrew Bershaw, Icon Sportswire/Getty Images

March is Women’s History Month, an annual observance of women’s achievements and contributions to society. This month, Behind the Headlines will feature woman pioneers in a variety of areas.

After a six-year battle, the United States women’s soccer team and U.S. Soccer have reached a settlement. On Feb. 22, 2022, the two sides announced the deal. The settlement requires U.S. Soccer to pay $24 million to the athletes and pledge to equalize pay for women’s and men’s soccer. The battle began when Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Carli Lloyd, Becky Sauerbrunn, and Hope Solo filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against U.S. Soccer in 2016. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a United States government agency. It enforces laws that prohibit job discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability. The 5 women claimed they earned 40 percent of what the players on the men’s national team were paid, even though the women were ranked higher internationally. They also argued that their bonuses, transportation, and meal money for training camps were inferior to that of the men’s soccer team.

U.S. forward Alex Morgan drives the ball in the FIFA Women’s World Cup opening group stage match against Thailand at the Stade Auguste-Delaune in Reims, France, on June 11, 2019. Morgan scored five times in the 13-0 U.S. win.
Credit: © Feel Photo/Shutterstock

The soccer players are not the only playmakers who have fought for equal pay for women. In the United States in the 1960’s, the women’s movement discovered discrimination in the workplace, where women received lower pay and fewer promotions than men. Several laws passed during the 1960′s and 1970′s aimed at providing equal rights for women. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 requires equal pay for men and women doing the same work. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits job discrimination on the basis of sex, as well as on the basis of color, race, national origin, and religion. These changes helped pave the way for the soccer players.

The United States women’s soccer team has scored big over the years. They won the Women’s World Cup titles in 1991, 1999, 2015, and 2019. They have also brought home gold from the Olympic Games in 1996, 2004, 2008, and 2012. The team has been ranked number one by FIFA  since 2015. FIFA is the sport of soccer’s world governing body. FIFA stands for Fédération Internationale de Football Association (International Federation of Association Football). Soccer is called football or association football in much of the world.

In 2019, 28 U.S. women’s soccer players added to the pressure by filing a gender discrimination lawsuit. They withdrew their original complaint with the EEOC. The women fought to get equal pay and benefits but were defeated in April 2020. However, the players continued to fight by appealing the ruling. The new president of U.S. Soccer, a woman, hinted that the organization would make a deal with the women’s soccer team.

Throughout the years, the soccer players have inspired other athletes to speak up and ask for equal pay and treatment, including professional ice hockey and basketball players. Many other women athletes will be following their steps after successfully U.S. women’s soccer took down U.S. Soccer. The women’s team can now focus on the game, as they take on teams from around the world just in time for Women’s History Month this March.

Chloe Kim, American snowboarder
Credit: © Cameron Spencer, Getty Images

March is Women’s History Month, an annual observance of women’s achievements and contributions to society. This month, Behind the Headlines will feature woman pioneers in a variety of areas.

Chloe Kim brought home the gold medal in the women’s halfpipe snowboarding event at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games held in Beijing, China. The halfpipe is an acrobatic event performed in a deep trough. Kim also won the gold medal in the women’s halfpipe event at the 2018 Winter Olympics held in Pyeongchang, South Korea. In Pyeongchang, she became the youngest woman to win a snowboarding gold medal in the Winter Olympics. In Beijing, Kim became the first woman to win multiple Olympic golds in the women’s halfpipe snowboarding event.

Kim won the snowboarding gold medal in the women’s halfpipe competition during the 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Credit: © Leonard Zhukovsky, Shutterstock

Kim has also gained international success in slopestyle events. In slopestyle, competitors perform on special courses that feature various obstacles. Kim was too young to compete in the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. However, at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway, she won gold medals in both the halfpipe and slopestyle. She thus became the first American woman to win a snowboarding gold medal at the Youth Olympic competition.

Kim had previously earned international recognition for her performances in the X Games, an action sports competition held in the summer and winter and modeled on the Olympics. She won a silver medal in the superpipe, a variation of the halfpipe, at the 2014 Winter X Games. In 2015 and 2016, she won three X Games gold medals in the superpipe. In 2016, Kim became the first female to score a perfect 100 in the superpipe at the U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix. She won the gold medal in the superpipe at the X Games again in 2018, 2019, and 2021.

Kim was born on April 23, 2000, in Long Beach, California. Her parents had immigrated to the United States from South Korea. Kim began snowboarding at the age of 4 and began competing as a member of Team Mountain High in California at the age of 6. She trained in Switzerland from the ages of 8 to 10 and then returned to the United States. In the fall of 2019, Kim enrolled at Princeton University, in New Jersey. She took a leave of absence from her studies in 2020 to concentrate on snowboarding.

Buck O’Neil former player in the Negro Baseball league is honored at a Brooklyn Cyclones baseball game.
Credit: © Bruce Cotler, Globe Photos/ZUMA/Alamy Images

February is Black History Month, an annual observance of the achievements and culture of Black Americans. This month, Behind the Headlines will feature Black pioneers in a variety of areas. 

Baseball legend Buck O’Neil was the thread that connected Josh Gibson and Babe Ruth with Lionel Hampton and Ichiro Suzuki. He remains among the most celebrated and important figures in the history of baseball. O’Neil left a lasting impact on the sport as a skilled player, a knowledgeable manager, a shrewd judge of talent, a passionate promoter, and a gifted storyteller.

Major League Baseball (MLB) failed to appreciate Buck O’Neil in a timely fashion. It denied him the chance to play or manage in the league because he was Black. But the sport’s ultimate recognition is finally coming to him, albeit too late for him to enjoy it. In December of last year, the Early Baseball Committee voted to admit O’Neil into the Hall of Fame. He will be formally inducted in July.

John Jordan O’Neil, Jr., was born Nov. 13, 1911, in Carrabelle, Florida, on the Gulf Coast. His father played baseball and introduced him to the game. Around 1920, the family moved to Sarasota, near the spring training facilities of several MLB teams. As a youth, O’Neil watched such players as Babe Ruth prepare for the season. His family would also take him to Negro league games. Negro leagues were professional baseball leagues formed for Black players, who were barred from playing alongside white players because of racial segregation.

As a teenager, O’Neil worked in the fields harvesting celery. He was prohibited from attending the segregated high school in Sarasota. He received high school and college instruction from Edward Waters College (now Edward Waters University), a historically Black college in Jacksonville.

In 1934, O’Neil began playing for small Negro league teams. O’Neil got the nickname “Buck” after being mistaken for a Negro league team owner named Buck O’Neal. O’Neil joined the Kansas City Monarchs in 1938. His sure fielding at first base and high batting average helped the Monarchs to win four consecutive Negro American League pennants from 1939 to 1942.

At the time, Kansas City, Missouri, was one of the hubs of Black culture. O’Neil and many of his teammates were obsessed with jazz. They rubbed elbows with such jazz greats as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Lionel Hampton.

In 1943, O’Neil was drafted into the United States Navy to serve in World War II (1939-1945). He returned to the Monarchs after the war and was named player-manager in 1948. A player-manager manages a baseball team while also playing for the team.

Jackie Robinson had broken MLB’s color barrier the year before, and MLB clubs were signing star players away from Negro leagues teams. The loss of talent caused many Black baseball fans to lose interest in the Negro leagues. To keep the Monarchs in business, O’Neil sought out talented young Black players, signed them, and sold their contracts to MLB teams. He signed a young Ernie Banks on the recommendation of fellow Negro leagues legend Cool Papa Bell.

In 1955, O’Neil was hired as a scout by the MLB Chicago Cubs. He specialized in signing players from the remaining Negro leagues teams and Black players from the South. He scouted future Hall-of-Famers Lou Brock, Lee Smith, and Billy Williams.

In 1962, the Cubs named O’Neil a coach, making him the first Black coach in MLB history. At the time, the Cubs were utilizing a “college of coaches” approach, in which a group of men shared coaching duties throughout the season. O’Neil was given the impression that he might get a chance to manage the team.

During a game that season, a series of ejections of coaches made O’Neil the logical choice to fill in as the third-base coach. He would have become the first Black on-field coach in MLB history. But another coach came in to coach third instead. Years later, O’Neil learned that Cubs coach Charlie Grimm had told the other coaches that O’Neil was never to coach in the field or manage. O’Neil was certain that this exclusion was racially motivated. O’Neil returned to scouting in 1964. In 1988, he became a scout for the Kansas City Royals.

Later in life, O’Neil campaigned to raise public awareness of the Negro leagues. In 1990, he helped establish the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City. O’Neil was featured prominently in the documentary miniseries “Baseball” (1994) by the American filmmaker Ken Burns. He regaled audiences with stories of such Black baseball stars as Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson. The work served to introduce younger generations of baseball fans to the players of the Negro leagues.

O’Neil’s warmth, love of baseball, and gift for storytelling won him friends and admirers wherever he went. Star hitter Ichiro Suzuki met O’Neil early in his MLB career and sought him out whenever he traveled to Kansas City. After O’Neil’s death, Suzuki donated a large sum to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

O’Neil lobbied to get Negro leagues players elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. But in 2006, when 17 Negro leagues players and executives were inducted, O’Neil was not selected. The Hall of Fame asked O’Neil to speak during the induction anyway, since none of the 17 honorees were still living. O’Neil agreed and gave a speech praising the new Hall-of-Famers during the induction ceremony.

Despite O’Neil’s magnanimity, those close to him speculated that the snub broke his heart. O’Neil died on Oct. 6, 2006, just two months after the ceremony. It took 15 more years before O’Neil was finally inducted.

In July, O’Neil will take his rightful place next to the other legends of the game, many of whom he met, played against, or mentored. One of his own sayings fits this belated honoring of one of baseball’s greatest treasures: “Waste no tears for me. I didn’t come along too early—I was right on time.”