John Kuhel was born in Cleveland and developed his skills on the city’s sandlots. He played professional baseball for the Kansas City Blues at the age of 19, helping them to the Little World Series title in 1929. He was sold to the Washington Senators for the then-huge sum of $50,000 in 1930 and in […]
Armand D’Anna starred in Greater Cleveland’s strong Class A amateur baseball program over parts of three decades, pitching in 17 national tournaments and starting for famed Rosenblums in the first amateur night game at Cleveland Stadium. He began his amateur career in 1936 fresh out of Shaw High, pitching for the Class A champion Fisher […]
A quiet, dignified gentleman who came to the Cleveland Indians in a 1976 trade with Montreal for pitcher Jackie Brown, Andre “Thunder” Thornton played for ten memorable seasons with the Tribe. During that time, the slugging first basemen/designated hitter connected for 214 home runs, just 12 short of Earl Averill’s record. A knee operation which […]
Born and raised in Shaker Heights where he attended Shaker Heights High, Roger Penske developed a love of cars and speed which launched a career leading to his emergence as one of the most influential figures in the history of auto racing. During his short span of six years as a driver, for which he […]
Norbert “Nobby” Lewandowski could have served as the poster boy for Cleveland’s lauded amateur baseball program in the mid-20th century. He began competing in the program’s Class F league as an elementary school student in Cleveland’s Slavic Village and worked his way up to the Plain Dealer-sponsored AAA league. Along the way, using the skills […]
A nationally known sportswriter, Hal Lebovitz entertained and informed Cleveland sports fans for more than 50 years with his incisive reporting talents. A graduate of Glenville High and Western Reserve University, he became a full-time writer for the Cleveland News in 1946, covering high school sports. In 1950 he became the paper’s baseball beat writer, […]
A member of the U.S. National and International Figure Skating Teams from 1986 through 1998, Tonia Kwiatkowski ranks among the very best ice performers ever to come out of the Cleveland area. She earned a berth as an alternate on the 1998 United States Olympic Figure Skating Team to climax a career which included appearances […]
In an era when Cleveland was renowned for producing talented young boxing prospects, Jackie Keough ranked among the best. While just 17, the West Tech High School product advanced to the 1943 finals of the city Golden Gloves lightweight championship. The next year he came back to win the Northeastern Ohio Golden Gloves welterweight title. […]
A native Clevelander who starred at John Hay High, John Hicks went on to a stunning college football career at Ohio State and a highly successful professional stint. He started three Rose Bowl games for OSU at offensive tackle, was named All-Big Ten and a Walter Camp All-American as a junior in 1972, then capped […]
A seventh round draft choice of the Cleveland Browns while only a junior at the University of Mississippi in 1957, Gene Hickerson joined the team in 1958 to launch a 16-year career which earned him acclaim as one of the finest blocking guards in the history of professional football. Started his pro career as one […]