Pablo Morales, born December 5, 1964 in Chicago, Illinois to Cuban immigrants, won gold medals in swimming at the 1984 and 1992 Olympics. He also set world records in the 100 m butterfly in 1984 and 1986.
At the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Morales won a gold for the 4x100 m relay and two silver medals for the butterfly, setting the world record. Unfortunately, he did not qualify for the 1988 Olympics, and retired from the sport.
He returned to swimming and qualified for the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, where he won the gold in the 100 m butterfly.
John Curry, born September 9, 1949 in Birmingham, England, won the coveted Grand Slam in figure skating in 1976. He is the first male figure skater from Great Britain to win an Olympic Gold, which he won at the 1976 Olympic Games in Innsbruck. That year he won the European, World, and British championships.
Shortly after his win at the Olympics and before the World Championships, Curry confirmed he was gay at a press conference in Innsbruck. Apparently there was a brief scandal in Europe at the time, but his sexual orientation was ignored by the press and the public.
Curry passed away due to complications from AIDS in 1994.
Sammy Lee, born August 1, 1920 in Fresno, California to Korean parents, was the first Asian American man to win an Olympic gold medal for the US and the first man to win back-to-back gold medals in platform diving.
He received a degree in civil engineering from Occidental College, and then received his MD from the University of Southern California School of Medicine in 1947. At the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, Lee earned the bronze metal in the 3-meter springboard and a gold medal in the 10-meter platform events. He became the first Asian American man to win a gold medal and the second Asian American to earn the gold, since Vicki Draves won a gold medal just two days earlier in the springboard diving event.
In 1952, he was a major in the US Army Medical Corps. He expected to be sent to the Korean War, but was sent to the Olympic Games in Helsinki instead. He won the gold medal in the 10-meter platform, making him the first man to win back-to-back gold medals in platform diving.
Lee continued to serve in the Medical Corps in South Korea from 1953-1955, where he specialized in the diseases of the ear. He practiced as an ear, nose, and throat doctor for 35 more years until his retirement in 1990.
He passed away in Newport Beach, California in December 2016.
Oscar De La Hoya, born February 4, 1973 in East Los Angeles, California, is the first boxer in history to win world titles in six different weight divisions: Super featherweight, Lightweight, Light Welterweight, Welterweight, Light Middleweight, and Middleweight.
Over his career of 45 professional boxing fights, he won 39 times, with only 6 losses.
De La Hoya took home the gold medal in the 1992 Olympic games, and he was named The Ring magazine Fighter of the Year in 1995. In 2008, he was inducted into the US Olympic Hall of Fame.
DeHart Hubbard, born November 25, 1903, attended University of Michigan, where he was National Collegiate Athletic Association champion three times, for the outdoor long jump (1923 and 1925), and the 100-hard dash (1925). He was the Big Ten Conference champion 7 times.
While he was attending college, he participated in the 1924 Summer Olympic Games in Paris and became the first African-American to win an Olympic gold medal for any sport: the running long jump.
He founded the Cincinnati Tigers, a professional baseball team, which played in the Negro American League.
He has been inducted into the University of Michigan Hall of Honor and the National Track Hall of Fame.
Alice Coachman, born November 8, 1923 in Albany, Georgia, is the first African-American to win an Olympic gold medal. She represented the US at the 1948 Olympics in London, in the women's high jump, defeating England's Dorothy Tyler. King George VI presented her medal.
She was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1979. At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, she was honored as one of the 100 Greatest Olympians. She has also been inducted into the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame (1975) and the US Olympic Hall of Fame (2004).
She passed away from cardiac arrest in Albany, Georgia in July 2014.
