Oscar De La Hoya is an American boxing promoter and former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2008. His accolades include winning 11 world titles in six weight classes, including lineal championships in three weight classes. De La Hoya was nicknamed "The Golden Boy of boxing" by the media when he represented the United States at the 1992 Summer Olympics where, shortly after having graduated from James A. Garfield High School, he won a gold medal in the lightweight division, and reportedly "set a sport back on its feet."
Ralph Cookerly Wilson Jr. was an American businessman and sports executive. He was best known as the founder and owner of the Buffalo Bills, a team in the National Football League (NFL). He was one of the founding owners of the American Football League (AFL), the league with which the NFL merged in 1970, and was the last of the original AFL owners to own his team. At the time of his death he was the oldest owner in the NFL, at age 95, and the third-longest tenured owner in NFL history. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2009.
Timothy John Russert was an American television journalist and lawyer who appeared for more than 16 years as the longest-serving moderator of NBC's Meet the Press. He was a senior vice president at NBC News and Washington bureau chief, and also hosted an eponymous CNBC/MSNBC weekend interview program. He was a frequent correspondent and guest on NBC's The Today Show and Hardball. Russert covered several presidential elections, and he presented the NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey on the NBC Nightly News during the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Time magazine included Russert in its list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2008. Russert was posthumously revealed as a 30-year source for syndicated columnist Robert Novak.
Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr. is an American boxing promoter and former professional boxer who competed between 1996 and 2017. He retired with an undefeated record and won 15 major world championships spanning five weight classes from super featherweight to light middleweight. This includes the Ring magazine title in three weight classes and the lineal championship in four weight classes. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal in the featherweight division at the 1996 Olympics, three U.S. Golden Gloves championships, and the U.S. national championship at featherweight.
David Aldridge is an American sports journalist who works as a writer for The Athletic. He was previously a reporter for Turner Sports, contributing to their NBA and MLB coverage. Other outlets that Aldridge has written and contributed for include ESPN, NBA TV, NBA.com, The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and TBD. In 2016, he was awarded the Curt Gowdy Media Award by the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Tim Kurkjian is a Major League Baseball (MLB) analyst on ESPN's Baseball Tonight and SportsCenter. He is also a contributor to ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com.
Mark Hodge Murphy is an American football executive and former player who is the president and chief executive officer (CEO) for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). Murphy, a safety, went undrafted in the 1977 NFL draft after playing college football at Colgate University. He was signed by the Washington Redskins, where he played for eight seasons from 1977 to 1984. With the Redskins, Murphy won Super Bowl XVII, played in Super Bowl XVIII and led the NFL in interceptions in 1983, earning his sole Pro Bowl and All-Pro honor that season.
James Edward Slattery was an American professional boxer in the light heavyweight division. He was inducted into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame in 1992, Buffalo Veteran Boxers Association Ring #44 in 1997 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2006.
The New York State Athletic Commission or NYSAC, also known as the New York Athletic Commission, is a division of the New York State Department of State which regulates all contests and exhibitions of unarmed combat within the state of New York, including licensure and supervision of promoters, boxers, professional wrestlers, seconds, ring officials, managers, and matchmakers. In 2016, the NYSAC was authorized to oversee all mixed martial arts contests in New York.
Timothy Richard Tebow is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for three seasons, primarily with the Denver Broncos. Tebow played college football for the Florida Gators, where he became the first underclassman to win the Heisman Trophy and helped lead the team to two BCS National Championship titles in 2006 and 2008. At the conclusion of his collegiate career, he held the Southeastern Conference's records for career passing efficiency and rushing touchdowns. He was selected by the Broncos in the first round of the 2010 NFL draft.
Brandon Lee Graham is an American professional football defensive end for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Eagles in the first round of the 2010 NFL draft with the thirteenth selection in the draft and the first from the Big Ten Conference. He was an All-American college football player at the University of Michigan.
Terrence Michael Pegula is an American billionaire businessman and petroleum engineer. He is the owner of the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League (NHL) and, with his wife Kim Pegula, the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He is also the president of both franchises. Amassing his fortune via investments in fracking, Pegula has interests in natural gas development, real estate, entertainment, and professional sports. His net worth is over $7 billion.
Russell Jerome Brandon is an American sports executive, and current CEO and President of the United Football League (UFL). Brandon is best known for his 21-year tenure in the front office of the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League.
Susan Slusser is an American sportswriter who works for the San Francisco Chronicle, covering the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball. She was the first woman to serve as president of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
Dan Rafael is an American sportswriter known for his coverage of boxing and baseball.
Kim S. Pegula is a Korean-born American former businesswoman and the wife of American multibillionaire Terry Pegula. She was the president of Pegula Sports and Entertainment, the holding company that managed the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League and the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League, in addition to several other minor league sports teams and entertainment assets. By extension she was the president of several teams under Pegula Sports and Entertainment, including the Bills and Sabres; Pegula, Shahid Khan, Zygi Wilf were the only three NFL team owners who were not born in the United States. Pegula Sports and Entertainment was dissolved in 2023, following an incapacitating stroke she suffered the year prior.
Tim Kawakami is an American sports journalist for The San Francisco Standard. Previously, he was a sports columnist for the San Jose Mercury News. In addition to his print column, he maintained a blog, communicated on Twitter, and had a podcast series. He was named the California Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association in 2013. In 2017, he joined The Athletic, a subscription-based, sports journalism website, becoming the editor-in-chief for its San Francisco Bay Area edition.
The Athletic is a subscription-based sports journalism department of The New York Times.
Wallace A. Matthews is an American journalist and sportscaster based in New York City. He has covered professional boxing, baseball, the NFL, the NHL, the NBA, thoroughbred horse racing, and professional tennis for newspapers, television networks and on radio since 1983. He was a columnist at Newsday, the New York Daily News, ESPN.com, Yahoo! Sports and the New York Post. In 2024 he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
