Sports People

There was a moment in 2013 when UFC president Dana White said that if a woman was ever going to fight in the octagon, it would probably be Ronda Rousey. He said that on camera, years before it happened, like he was describing a distant future. She made it happen the same year. Ronda Jean […]

Most people know the name Bird in basketball because of Larry. Three NBA championships. Three MVP awards. Twelve All-Star selections. A Hall of Fame career that defined the Boston Celtics dynasty of the 1980s. His name belongs in every serious conversation about the greatest players in the history of the sport. His daughter Mariah has

Larry Bird’s basketball career is one of the most documented in the history of American sport. Three NBA championships. Three consecutive MVP awards. Twelve All-Star selections. A Hall of Fame induction. A coaching career that produced a Coach of the Year award. The record is complete and unimpeachable. His relationship with his first daughter is

Tim Wakefield spent 17 seasons as one of the most beloved pitchers in Boston Red Sox history. He mastered the knuckleball, won two World Series titles, and became a fixture at Fenway Park for a generation of New England fans. His son Trevor watched all of it from the inside and then chose something entirely

Linda Kay Cooper was Jimmy Johnson’s first wife and the mother of his two sons. She watched him build his entire coaching career from the very beginning, from college assistant jobs through the University of Miami national championship, through the transformation of the Dallas Cowboys into a dynasty. Then she was gone from that story,

Rhonda Rookmaaker met Jimmy Johnson in 1984. He was the new head coach at the University of Miami, and she was cutting hair at a salon in Coral Gables. At that point, he was still married to someone else. They became friends, stayed friends, and eventually built one of the most private and durable relationships

Theodora Holmes grew up in a football family. Her father played at Michigan. Both her brothers played at USC and reached the NFL. Then she met Troy Polamalu, one of the most decorated defensive players in NFL history, through her own brother on the USC practice field. Football runs through her entire life, not just

Dana Dokmanovich spent fifty years with one of the greatest running backs in NFL history. She was with Franco Harris before the Immaculate Reception. She was with him through four Super Bowl championships, through the Hall of Fame induction, through decades of Pittsburgh business and community work. On December 21, 2022, he died unexpectedly at

Joy Murrath was married to Brian Piccolo for six years. She was 27 when he died. She had three daughters under the age of five. Fifty-five million people watched a movie about her husband’s life the following year, and the version of Joy they saw on screen was played by actress Shelley Fabares. That is

Brennan Carroll spent over two decades building a legitimate football coaching career. He won two national championships at USC. He developed NFL-caliber players. He turned the Arizona Wildcats into a 10-win team. By any reasonable measure, he earned his place on the sideline through real work, not just through his last name. Then came Las