Frank Robinson

Raised in Oakland, Frank Robinson was a baseball star at McClymonds High School before joining the Cincinnati Reds, where he was selected National League Rookie of the Year. A member of the Reds for 10 years and the Baltimore Orioles for six, Robinson holds the distinction of being the first player to win baseball’s MVP […]

Ollie Genoa Matson

A member of the 1952 Olympic team, Ollie Matson starred in football and track at San Francisco’s Washington High School, City College, and the University of San Francisco. A Silver Medal winner in the 1952 Olympic Games as a member of the U.S. 4×400 meters relay team, Matson also won a Bronze Medal, finishing third […]

Jack “Jackie” Eugene Jensen

Football and baseball great Jackie Jensen was born in San Francisco in 1927. An All-American halfback at the University of California, Berkeley, he also played on the UC baseball team as a pitcher-outfielder. Jensen began his professional career under Casey Stengel’s Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League, and, in 1949, was sold to the […]

Ann Curtis Cuneo

Olympic Gold Medal winner and native San Franciscan Ann Curtis Cuneo was a member of the San Francisco Crystal Plunge team. This extraordinary swimmer was coached by Charlie Sava. Curtis won her Gold Medal during London’s 1948 Olympic Games in the 400-meter freestyle competition. She received a second Gold Medal as anchor of the U.S. […]

James “Gentleman Jim” John Corbett

A boxing immortal, the late James J. Corbett won the heavyweight boxing title in 1892, when he knocked out the famed John L. Sullivan in New Orleans after 21 rounds. Known as “Gentleman Jim,” San Francisco-born Corbett weighed 178 pounds to Sullivan’s 212. A representative of San Francisco’s Olympic Club, Corbett was the first champion […]