James William Johnson is a former American football coach and sports analyst. Johnson served as a head football coach on the collegiate level from 1979 to 1988 and in the National Football League (NFL) for nine seasons. He is the first head football coach to win both a college football national championship and a Super Bowl, achieving the former with Miami and the latter with the Dallas Cowboys.
Bruce Bernard Smith is an American former football defensive end who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 19 seasons, primarily with the Buffalo Bills. He played college football at Virginia Tech, where he was a two-time All-American, and was selected first overall by the Bills in the 1985 NFL Draft. Considered one of the greatest defensive ends of all time, Smith is the NFL's all-time career leader in quarterback sacks. Smith also received 11 Pro Bowl selections and eight first-team All-Pro honors, while appearing in four consecutive Super Bowls with the Bills. He was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2009.
Thurman Lee Thomas is an American former football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for thirteen seasons, primarily with the Buffalo Bills. He was selected by the Bills in the second round of the 1988 NFL Draft, where he spent all but one season of his professional career. Thomas spent his final NFL year as a member of the Miami Dolphins in 2000.
Andre Darnell Reed is a former American football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons, primarily with the Buffalo Bills. He played college football at Kutztown and was selected by the Bills in the fourth round of the 1985 NFL Draft with the 86th overall selection. Following 15 seasons with the Bills, where he earned Pro Bowl honors seven times, Reed spent his final season as a member of the Washington Redskins in 2000.
Steven Jay Tasker is an American sports reporter, locally in Western New York on the MSG Western New York cable TV station, and on WGR Radio and formerly for CBS Sports. He is a former football player who was a wide receiver and gunner in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted in the ninth round of the 1985 NFL Draft by the Houston Oilers. He played college football at Northwestern. He began his college career at Dodge City Community College. Tasker played most of his pro career with the Buffalo Bills, and was voted by Bills fans to the team's 50th season All-time Team. In 2008, the NFL Network show NFL Top 10 ranked Tasker the ninth best former player not enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He has several times been a nominee for the Hall, making the semi-finalist list eight times; he has not been inducted as a member as of 2021.
James William Anderson III, known professionally as Bill Anderson, is an American country music singer, songwriter, and television host. His soft-spoken singing voice was given the nickname "Whispering Bill" by music critics and writers. As a songwriter, his compositions have been covered by various music artists since the late 1950s, including Ray Price and George Strait.
William D. Snyder is a retired college football coach and former player. He served as the head football coach at Kansas State University from 1989 to 2005 and again from 2009 to 2018. Snyder initially retired from the position from 2006 to 2008 before being rehired. Snyder retired for the second time on December 2, 2018 and is serving as a special ambassador for the athletics department.
William J. George was an American football player. He played professionally as a linebacker for the Chicago Bears and the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL).
Ashley John Cooper AO was an Australian tennis player who played between 1953 and 1968. He was ranked as the world's No. 1 amateur player during the years of 1957 and 1958. Cooper won four singles and four doubles titles at Grand Slam tournaments. He won three of the four Grand Slam events in 1958. He turned professional in 1959. Cooper won the Slazenger Professional Championships tournament in 1959. He won the Grand Prix de Europe professional tour of Europe in 1960. Cooper won the European Cup professional tour of Europe in 1962. He retired from tennis play at the end of 1962 due to injury.
Malcolm James Anderson MBE is a former tennis player from Australia who was active from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s. He won the singles title at the 1957 U.S. National Championships and achieved his highest amateur ranking of No. 2 in 1957. He became a professional after the 1958 season and won the Wembley World Professional Tennis Championships in the 1959 season. He was runner-up at the 1972 Australian Open championships.
The 1983 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 26–27, 1983, at the New York Sheraton Hotel in New York City, New York. No teams elected to claim any players in the supplemental draft that year.
Sanford Emory Stephens II was an American college football player and civic leader. Stephens was born and raised in the Pittsburgh area city of Uniontown, Pennsylvania and is best known for his career as a college football quarterback at the University of Minnesota, where he became one of the first African-American quarterbacks in major college football and the first African American to be named an All-American at quarterback. He was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.
John Harold Cooper is a former American football player and coach. Cooper was an assistant coach at Iowa State, Oregon State, UCLA, Kansas, and Kentucky. Then, he embarked on a head coaching career, as he served as the head coach at the University of Tulsa (1977–1984), Arizona State University (1985–1987), and Ohio State University (1988–2000), compiling a career record of 192–84–6. Cooper was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 2008.
The 1979 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held May 3–4, 1979, at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, New York. The league also held a supplemental draft after the regular draft and before the regular season.
Andrew Lewis Cooper, nicknamed "Lefty", was an American left-handed pitcher in baseball's Negro leagues. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006. An alumnus of Paul Quinn College, Cooper played nine seasons for the Detroit Stars and ten seasons for the Kansas City Monarchs, and briefly played for the Chicago American Giants. The Texan was 6 feet 2 inches (188 cm) tall and weighed 220 pounds.
Charles Evans Bresnahan is an American football coach and former player. He was the defensive coordinator of the Oakland Raiders on two occasions and the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL) as well as the Florida Tuskers and Sacramento Mountain Lions of the United Football League (UFL). He also served as defensive coordinator in the college ranks at the University of Central Florida, University of South Florida and University of Maine. Bresnahan also served as an assistant coach with the Cleveland Browns and Indianapolis Colts of the NFL and the United States Naval Academy (Navy) and the Georgia Institute of Technology in the college ranks. Bresnahan also assisted in the Officiating Department of the NFL for 3 seasons. He is the son of Tom Bresnahan, a long time NFL assistant and Offensive Coordinator who coached 4 Super Bowls under Marv Levy (HOF-2001) with the Buffalo Bills.
Bradford Paul Cooper is an Australian former freestyle and backstroke swimmer of the 1970s, who won a gold medal in the 400 m freestyle at the 1972 Summer Olympics. In that race he originally finished second by the smallest margin ever to decide an Olympic swimming final, but was later awarded the gold medal after the victor, American Rick DeMont, an asthmatic, was disqualified after his post-race urinalysis tested positive for traces of the banned substance ephedrine contained in his prescription asthma medication, Marax.
James Elliott Bama was an American artist known for his realistic paintings and etchings of Western subjects. Life in Wyoming led to his comment, "Here an artist can trace the beginnings of Western history, see the first buildings, the oldest wagons, saddles and guns, and be up close to the remnants of Indian culture ... And you can stand surrounded by nature's wonders."
Norman Edwin William Clarke was a professional Canadian football player who played both defensive tackle and offensive tackle for the Saskatchewan Roughriders from 1951 through 1964.
William Goldwyn Nunn Jr. was an American sportswriter, newspaper editor and football scout for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the National Football League (NFL) and is a 2021 member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Due to the fame of his son, actor William G. Nunn III, he was also known as Bill Nunn Sr.
