Question of the Week: Do you have any athletes in your family? [closed]

+15 votes
1.0k views

Do you have an athlete in your family or family tree? 

Please tell us about them with an answer below. You can also answer on Facebook or use the question image to share your answer with friends and family on social media.

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in The Tree House by Eowyn Langholf G2G Astronaut (2.7m points)
closed by Eowyn Langholf

35 Answers

+11 votes
My living first cousin and her now husband were members of the England badminton team in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
by M Ross G2G6 Pilot (964k points)
+8 votes
No professional athletes unless I go to distant French Canadian cousins, but I have many family members who played sports including my brothers and my children.
by Liza Gervais G2G6 Pilot (534k points)
+13 votes

Meet Gold Medalist Foy Draper. 1936 Berlin Olympics. Pictured with teammates: Left to Right: Jesse Owens, Ralph Metcalf, Foy Draper and Franky Wykoff. Despite his 5'7" height, he could run!  A native of California, he attended the University of Southern California. A track and field athlete he won the IC4A championship in 200 m in 1935. In 1936 he won the Gold Medal in the 4 x 100 relay.  He was the pilot of an A-20 Havoc during WW2 and was shot down in Thelepte, Tunisia. On January 4, 1943.  The plane and the crew were never found.crying

Foy's brother, Weldon, was also a star athlete for the University of Southern California in the sprint and sprint relay events, class of 1929.  Weldon Draper joined with Charlie Borah and two other USC sprinters to win the 440 yard four-man sprint relay, setting a new world record in 41.6 seconds. Due to injuries he failed to qualify for the Olympics.  He died in 1967 at the age 61.crying

Now, meet Frank Price Draper. He was a member of Company A, 29th Infantry Division. In September 1943, while stationed at Tidworth Barracks, Frank played as an outfielder for the 116th Regiment's baseball team.  A four-day, U.S. services, baseball tournament was held in London, which his team won it hands down!  On D-Day, June 6, 1944, he was part of the attack on Omaha Beach. He never made it to the beach as a Nazi artillery shell struck the landing craft he was riding, ripping his entire arm off.  His name is listed among the "Bedford Boys" in the National D-Day Memorial, Bedford, Virginia, USA.crying

by David Draper G2G Astronaut (5.0m points)
edited by David Draper
Thanks for sharing these great photos and stories, Dave.
+12 votes

My first cousin once removed, Lynn Wilbur St.John, excelled in sports and became a football, baseball and basketball coach. He was the athletic director at Ohio State University for 33 years, and they named the arena after him. This is a photo taken while I was on the campus there.

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/St._John-1037

by Alexis Nelson G2G6 Pilot (933k points)
edited by Alexis Nelson

What a nice tribute to your cousin! You may want to consider adding your photo as a background image to his profile.

Star, thank you for your comment and your suggestion about the background. I made the change, and I think it looks good.heart

Oh Alexis, I like it! I think it makes his profile more personal and it really stands out.
+10 votes

I only recently learned that Nico van Zoghel , a professional goal keeper, is my 2nd cousin once removed. He did get selected for the Dutch National football team, but never got to play for them.

by Joke van Veenendaal G2G6 Pilot (127k points)
How interesting, Joke! You should create a profile for Nico and connect to him. I would love to be able to connect so closely to a Notable like him.
+11 votes
My uncle Christopher Nelson Tonery played semi-pro baseball in Canada in the 50 s.   There whHere he met my aunt Doris  Aymer  In his later years he coached the high school VFW for many years.  He  has a tree planted in front of the local stadum in Manchester
by Fairlee Tonery G2G6 Mach 2 (25.5k points)
+9 votes
My uncle Christopher Nelson Tonery played semi-pro baseball in Canada in the 50 s.   There whHere he met my aunt Doris  Aymer  In his later years he coached the high school VFW for many years.  He  has a tree planted in front of the local stadum in Manchester
by Fairlee Tonery G2G6 Mach 2 (25.5k points)
+10 votes
My uncle Christopher Nelson Tonery played semi-pro baseball in Canada in the 50 s.   There whHere he met my aunt Doris  Aymer  In his later years he coached the high school VFW for many years.  He  has a tree planted in front of the local stadum in Manchester
by Fairlee Tonery G2G6 Mach 2 (25.5k points)
+9 votes
My uncle Christopher Nelson Tonery played semi-pro baseball in Canada in the 50 s.   There whHere he met my aunt Doris  Aymer  In his later years he coached the high school VFW for many years.  He  has a tree planted in front of the local stadum in Manchester
by Fairlee Tonery G2G6 Mach 2 (25.5k points)
+11 votes

My father, Attilio Fiordalisi-12 was a American football running back for the Cleveland Heights high school Tigers for three years. Also myself and my sister were both on a American baseball soft ball team. She was the pitcher and I played first base  many many years ago. My nephew was a American basketball center durning his high school years. My sister in law's family were are in several high school sports teams as well as now their children are also in various sports.

Whoops forgot my paternal grandfather Attilio Fiordalisi-15 Sr, sponsored several amateur American football and baseball teams. As heard before, they were the first Amateur American football team to play at the old Cleveland Stadium where they played a team from Detroit and lost in the last few mins of the game.

by Anne Fiordalisi G2G6 Pilot (174k points)
edited by Anne Fiordalisi
+17 votes
Me, me, me ... I'm the greatest athlete ever.  While clutching my computer, I leap tall buildings in a single bound to acquire line of sight to the cell tower of my ISP in order to work here on WikiTree.

... and if you believe that, I have this bridge I could sell you.
by Gaile Connolly G2G Astronaut (1.2m points)
edited by Gaile Connolly
Thanks, Gaile I am often in the same competition, and I enjoyed the laugh just now.
+10 votes

Not in my direct line but I have an Olympic Medalist Frederick Keeping at 8 degrees we share a common ancestor.

by Hilary Gadsby G2G6 Pilot (354k points)
+11 votes
Cirillo --- Major League Baseball Player,

Born 1969 in Pasadena, CA,

(You can look him up,,, (i can't Paste the info here),,, he played 14 seasons, 2 times All-Star,  played third base and holds a record for 99 games without an error on 3rd base.
by Linda Cirillo G2G Crew (880 points)

Jeff Cirillo on Wikipedia.

+10 votes
Yes my husband was an athlete. He played baseball, played tennis, was a golfer, became an 8th in National Champion for 3-Cushion Billiards. [[Thomsen-313|Thomas Finley Thomsen]] I am sure there are more notable ones in my family tree.
by Alice Thomsen G2G6 Pilot (390k points)
+10 votes
Family legend states that my great grand uncle, Anton Marius Johnson (Johansen-3519) won a medal at the Olympics. However, this is definitely not true. The more accurate story is he won a medal at some sort of track and field competition during the building of the Panama Canal. He was a good athlete and did work on the canal while in college at Mizzou. However, I have not been able to find record of any such athletic event.
by Thomas Luter G2G4 (4.6k points)
+13 votes

Yes. She is a second cousin once removed by blood. I knew her well in life as she was also interested in genealogy. I would go to her house to discuss our ancestors and she would always end up talking about baseball.. Pat Scott https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Scott-49031 was a pitcher for the Springfield Sallies and Fort Wayne Daises in the AAGPBL.  Thanks for this question - it let me know I drastically need to add to her profile.

Lukas Murphy

by Lukas Murphy G2G6 Mach 7 (71.4k points)
Great photo! Pat's story reminded me of the movie "A League of Their Own."
+11 votes

My mom was the unexpected athlete of the day in Hollywood, Florida in 1955. 

I was standing on the beach late afternoon with my grandparents, and my mom. I was 5 years old. 

Suddenly people started screaming because there was a man off shore and he appeared to be drowning. 

I was too short to see over the people on the beach so I couldn’t see what was going on, but suddenly people were coming over to me saying that my mom was a hero…hmm What? turns out mom ran into the ocean and pulled the man out. 

Courage under fire I guess. About 8 years later she found out that one of her heart valves had been damaged from the Rheumatic Fever she had as a child. So, that lifeguard action could have killed her. 

She lived to be 87. 

by Susan Ellen Smith G2G6 Mach 9 (93.2k points)
Yes .My 3rd Cousin 1x removed was the Olympic champion John Wilfred Loaring born in Manitoba in,1916 .He died in 1959 in Windsor Canada.He won a silver medal at the 1936 Olympic Games in.Berlin Germany .Was just 3 /10  second slower than the Olympic Champion

This is a great story about your Mom, Susan. You should add it to her profile, or perhaps to the Memories section of her profile.

I don't see a profile for John Loaring on WikiTree yet, Anonymous Carson. You may want to create one for this Canadian Notable and add your family connections to him.

John Loaring is not an ancestor of mine. I don’t know who he is…
I know it's confusing, Susan. Anonymous Carson responded with a comment to your post rather than responding with an answer. Carson wrote about John Loaring, and my second reply was in response to Carson. Sorry for the confusion.
+10 votes

My first cousin twice removed René Roothooft was a world top 5 table tennis player, bronze medal at the 1952 world championships and three-time French champion.

by Isabelle Martin G2G6 Pilot (610k points)
+10 votes
My grandson is a cross country runner--not yet professional as he is a senior in high school. He has set several records for his school and done very well in state competitions. He routinely runs 6 to 17 miles a day to stay in shape. He's also academically gifted and has many college offers to choose from. I'm very proud of him!
by Reta McCollum G2G6 Mach 2 (21.6k points)
+12 votes

Interesting timing ... I just found a famous one last week! Any Green Bay Packers fans here? I'm not really a sports fan but I just learned that Albert Reinhold Carmichael (aka Al "Hoagy" Carmichael) a star football player was a maternal 3rd cousin once removed to me. He held a National Football League record for over 50 years for the longest kickoff return until finally broken in 2007. He wrote his autobiography "106 Yards". He was also a stunt man in many Hollywood movies. Check out his WikiPedia page for more info on him.

I have another less known local athlete too. George Albert Walters, a 5th cousin once removed, was a Maritime Canada track and field star. He was born just a few miles from my home but lived in Prince Edward Island and is inducted into their Sports Hall of Fame.

by Rod Corkum G2G6 Mach 2 (25.9k points)

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