On to one of my favorite months: July.
If you have ever wondered when your favorite athletes were born, which we all have at some point. FANTOM is putting together a list that is chalk full of athlete’s birthdays.
When I started looking for a list of Athlete’s birthdays imagine my surprise when I came cross an interesting fact. Finding a full, good list of athlete’s birthdays is more difficult than you would think. Especially in the age of Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram it should be an easier task, right? Well, it wasn’t.
Most lists I found were famous actors/actresses; along with “youtubers” and “instagram” famous people. When I googled “athlete birthdays” I usually found a top 10 or 15 list. That’s cool. Except, every list is practically the same. Boring.
We started with the month of June. You can check those lists here:
On to July, here is the list of athletes born during the first week of July.
July 1
- 1909 – Emmett Toppino, American sprinter (d. 1971)
- 1910 – Glenn Hardin, American hurdler (d. 1975)
- 1913 – Lee Guttero, American basketball player (d. 2004)
- 1915 – Boots Poffenberger, American Major League Baseball pitcher (d. 1999)
- 1920 – Harold Sakata, Japanese-American wrestler and actor (d. 1982)
- 1941 – Rod Gilbert, Canadian-American ice hockey player
- 1941 – Twyla Tharp, American dancer and choreographer
- 1952 – Steve Shutt, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
- 1961 – Carl Lewis, American long jumper and runner
- 1976 – Ruud van Nistelrooy, Dutch footballer and manager
- 1986 – Charlie Blackmon, American baseball player
- 1989 – Kent Bazemore, American basketball player
- 1991 – Michael Wacha, American baseball player
- 1995 – Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo, Belgian footballer
July 2
- 1904 – René Lacoste, French tennis player and businessman, created the polo shirt (d. 1996)
- 1933 – Kenny Wharram, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2017)
- 1937 – Richard Petty, American race car driver and sportscaster
- 1957 – Bret Hart, Canadian wrestler
- 1961 – Clark Kellogg, American basketball player and sportscaster
- 1962 – Neil Williams, English cricketer (d. 2006)
- 1964 – Jose Canseco, Cuban-American baseball player and mixed martial artist
- 1964 – Ozzie Canseco, Cuban-American baseball player, coach, and manager
- 1964 – Joe Magrane, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1971 – Troy Brown, American football player and actor
- 1974 – Sean Casey, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1979 – Joe Thornton, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1980 – Nyjer Morgan, American baseball player
- 1981 – Carlos Rogers, American football player
- 1984 – Johnny Weir, American figure skater
- 1985 – Chad Henne, American football player
- 1986 – Brett Cecil, American baseball player
- 1989 – Alex Morgan, American soccer player
- 1990 – Merritt Mathias, American soccer player
- 1990 – Danny Rose, English footballer
- 1990 – Bill Tupou, New Zealand rugby league player
- 1992 – Madison Chock, American ice dancer
- 1994 – Henrik Kristoffersen, Norwegian skier
- 1995 – Ryan Murphy, American swimmer
- 1996 – Julia Grabher, Austrian tennis player
July 3
- 1903 – Ace Bailey, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1992)
- 1916 – John Kundla, American basketball player and coach (d. 2017)
- 1920 – Paul O’Dea, American baseball player and manager (d. 1978)
- 1925 – Terry Moriarty, Australian rules footballer (d. 2011)
- 1939 – Coco Laboy, Puerto Rican baseball player
- 1940 – Lance Larson, American swimmer
- 1940 – César Tovar, Venezuelan baseball player (d. 1994)
- 1951 – Richard Hadlee, New Zealand cricketer and footballer
- 1964 – Tom Curren, American surfer
- 1966 – Moisés Alou, American baseball player
- 1970 – Teemu Selänne, Finnish ice hockey player
- 1977 – David Bowens, American football player
- 1983 – Edinson Vólquez, Dominican baseball player
- 1984 – Manny Lawson, American football player
- 1986 – Kisenosato Yutaka, Japanese sumo wrestler
- 1987 – Sebastian Vettel, German race car driver
July 4
- 1907 – John Anderson, American discus thrower (d. 1948)
- 1918 – Johnnie Parsons, American race car driver (d. 1984)
- 1918 – Alec Bedser, English cricketer (d. 2010)
- 1918 – Eric Bedser, English cricketer (d. 2006)
- 1920 – Norm Drucker, American basketball player and referee (d. 2015)
- 1926 – Alfredo Di Stéfano, Argentinian-Spanish footballer and coach (d. 2014)
- 1928 – Chuck Tanner, American baseball player and manager (d. 2011)
- 1929 – Al Davis, American football player, coach, and manager (d. 2011)
- 1930 – George Steinbrenner, American businessman (d. 2010)
- 1942 – Floyd Little, American football player and coach
- 1943 – Emerson Boozer, American football player and sportscaster
- 1950 – Philip Craven, English basketball player and swimmer
- 1962 – Pam Shriver, American tennis player and sportscaster
- 1963 – José Oquendo, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and coach
- 1965 – Horace Grant, American basketball player and coach
- 1967 – Vinny Castilla, Mexican baseball player and manager
- 1969 – Todd Marinovich, American football player and coach
- 1973 – Keiko Ihara, Japanese race car driver
- 1974 – La’Roi Glover, American football player and sportscaster
- 1979 – Josh McCown, American football player
- 1981 – Will Smith, American football player (d. 2016)
- 1982 – Jeff Lima, New Zealand rugby league player
- 1986 – Ömer Aşık, Turkish basketball player
- 1986 – Terrance Knighton, American football player
- 1990 – Jake Gardiner, American ice hockey player
July 5
- 1879 – Dwight F. Davis, American tennis player and politician, 49th United States Secretary of War (d. 1945)
- 1901 – Julio Libonatti, Italian Argentine footballer (d. 1981)
- 1911 – Haydn Bunton, Sr., Australian footballer and coach (d. 1955)
- 1915 – John Woodruff, American runner and commander (d. 2007)
- 1929 – Jimmy Carruthers, Australian boxer (d. 1990)
- 1951 – Goose Gossage, American baseball player
- 1956 – James Lofton, American football player and coach
- 1957 – Doug Wilson, Canadian-American ice hockey player and manager
- 1962 – Sarina Hülsenbeck, German swimmer
- 1972 – Robert Esmie, Canadian sprinter
- 1975 – Hernán Crespo, Argentinian footballer and coach
- 1982 – Beno Udrih, Slovenian basketball player
- 1983 – Marco Estrada, Mexican baseball player
- 1985 – Megan Rapinoe, American soccer player
- 1994 – Shohei Ohtani, Japanese baseball player
July 6
- 1887 – Annette Kellerman, Australian swimmer and actress (d. 1975)
- 1900 – Elfriede Wever, German Olympic runner (d. 1941)
- 1914 – Vince McMahon Sr., American wrestling promoter, founded WWE (d. 1984)
- 1918 – Francisco Moncion, Dominican-American ballet dancer, charter member of the New York City Ballet (d.1995)
- 1930 – George Armstrong, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1946 – Fred Dryer, American football player and actor
- 1954 – Willie Randolph, American baseball player and manager
- 1959 – Richard Dacoury, French basketball player
- 1981 – Nnamdi Asomugha, American football player
- 1982 – Brandon Jacobs, American football player
- 1992 – Manny Machado, American baseball player
- 1994 – Andrew Benintendi, American baseball player
July 7
- 1898 – Arnold Horween, American football player and coach (d. 1985)
- 1902 – Ted Radcliffe, American baseball player and manager (d. 2005)
- 1906 – Satchel Paige, American baseball player and coach (d. 1982)
- 1909 – Gottfried von Cramm, German tennis player (d. 1976)
- 1918 – Bob Vanatta, American head basketball coach (d. 2016)
- 1921 – Ezzard Charles, American boxer and bassist (d. 1975)
- 1955 – Len Barker, American baseball player and coach
- 1960 – Ralph Sampson, American basketball player and coach
- 1967 – Tom Kristensen, Danish race car driver
- 1969 – Joe Sakic, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1972 – Lisa Leslie, American basketball player and actress
- 1974 – Patrick Lalime, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
- 1975 – Adam Nelson, American shot putter
- 1978 – Chris Andersen, American basketball player
- 1980 – John Buck, American baseball player
- 1980 – Michelle Kwan, American figure skater
- 1989 – Landon Cassill, American race car driver
