Tiger Woods
Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Formerly the World No. 1, he is the highest-paid professional athlete in the world, having earned an estimated US$90.5 million from winnings and endorsements in 2010. 
Woods has won 14 professional major golf championships, the second highest of any male player (Jack Nicklaus leads with 18), and 71 PGA Tour events, third all time behind Sam Snead and Nicklaus. He has more career major wins and career PGA Tour wins than any other active golfer. He is the youngest player to achieve the career Grand Slam, and the youngest and fastest to win 50 tournaments on tour. Additionally, Woods is only the second golfer, after Jack Nicklaus, to have achieved a career Grand Slam three times. Woods has won 16 World Golf Championships, and won at least one of those events in each of the first 11 years after they began in 1999.
Woods held the number one position in the world rankings for the most consecutive weeks and for the greatest total number of weeks. He has been awarded PGA Player of the Year a record ten times, the Byron Nelson Award for lowest adjusted scoring average a record eight times, and has the record of leading the money list in nine different seasons.
On December 11, 2009, Woods announced he would take an indefinite leave from professional golf to focus on his marriage after he admitted infidelity. His multiple infidelities were revealed by over a dozen women, through many worldwide media sources. Woods returned to competition on April 8, 2010 for the 2010 Masters, after a break lasting 20 weeks.
In July 2010, Forbes announced Woods as the richest sportsman in the world, earning a reported $105m according to them and $90.5m according to Sports Illustrated.
On October 31, 2010, Woods lost the world number one ranking to Lee Westwood. As of September 12, 2011, Woods is ranked #46 in the world. This is his lowest rank since October 13, 1996, nearly 15 years ago, when he was ranked 61st; he had turned professional in late August 1996. He is currently the #19-ranked American golfer. Since mid-November 2009, shortly before the infidelity scandals began breaking in the media, Woods has been winless worldwide for 22 months, the longest streak without a title of his professional career.
Woods announced via his website on July 6, 2011 that he would miss the 2011 Open Championship, his second straight unplayed major championship, since he is taking time off from competitive golf to heal injuries to his left knee and ankle. On July 20, Woods announced via his website that he was firing his caddy Steve Williams, who had worked for him since 1999; the two had teamed for 13 of Woods' 14 major championships. Williams will now caddy for Australian star Adam Scott. On July 27, Woods announced via hisTwitter account that he would return to tournament play on August 4 for the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, following a break of 11 weeks, and that longtime friend and current employee Bryon Bell would caddy for him.
Bill Walton
William Theodore "Bill" Walton III (born November 5, 1952) is a retired American basketball player and television sportscaster. The "Big Red-Head", as he was called, achieved superstardom playing for John Wooden's powerhouse UCLA Bruins in the early '70s, winning three straight College Player of the Year Awards, while leading the Bruins to two Division I national titles. He then went on to have a prominent career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) where he was a league Most Valuable Player (MVP) and won two NBA championships. His professional career was significantly hampered by multiple foot injuries. Walton was inducted into theNaismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on May 10, 1993 and the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame that same year. He is the father of current Los Angeles Lakers forward Luke Walton.
Walton was born in La Mesa, California, the son of Gloria Anne (née Hickey) and William Theodore "Ted" Walton. His listed adult playing height was 6 feet 11 inches; it has been reported that Walton was actually taller (7 feet 2 inches, or more), but did not like being categorized as a seven-footer.
He played high school basketball at Helix High School. At the age of 17, Walton played for the United States men's national basketball team at the 1970 FIBA World Championship. He played college basketball for John Wooden at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1971 to 1974, winning the national title in 1972 over Florida State and again in 1973 with an 87–66 win overMemphis State in which Walton made an impressive 21 of 22 field goal attempts and scored 44 points. The Walton-led 1971–72 UCLA basketball team had a record of 30–0, in the process winning its games by an average margin of more than 30 points. He was the backbone of two consecutive 30–0 seasons and was also part of UCLA's NCAA men's basketball record 88-game winning streak. The UCLA streak contributed to a personal winning streak that lasted almost five years, in which Walton's high school, UCLA freshman (freshmen were ineligible for the varsity at that time), and UCLA varsity teams did not lose a game from the middle of his junior year of high school to the middle of his senior year in college.
Bill Walton was the 1973 recipient of the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States. Walton also received the USBWA College Player of the Year and Naismith College Player of the Year as the top college basketball player in the country three years in a row while attending UCLA, at the same time earning Academic All-American honors three times. Some college basketball historians rate Walton as the greatest who ever played the game at the college level. In Bill Walton's senior year during the 1973–74 season, the school's 88-game winning streak ended with a 71–70 loss to the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish. During the same season, UCLA's record seven consecutive national titles was broken when North Carolina State defeated the Bruins 80–77 in double overtime in the NCAA semi-finals. With Walton's graduation in 1974 and legendary Bruin coach John Wooden's retirement after UCLA's 1975 national title, the unprecedented UCLA dynasty came to an end.
Bo Jackson
Vincent Edward "Bo" Jackson (born November 30, 1962) is a former American baseball and football player. He was the first athlete to be named an All-Star in two major American sports, and also won the Heisman Trophy in 1985.
In football, he played running back for the Los Angeles Raiders of the National Football League. In baseball, he played left field anddesignated hitter for the Kansas City Royals, the Chicago White Sox, and the California Angels of the American League in Major League Baseball. While at Auburn University, he won the 1985 Heisman Trophy, the prize annually awarded to the most outstanding collegiate football player in the United States. He also ran a 40-yard dash in a blistering 4.12 seconds (hand-timed), which is still the fastest verifiable 40-yard dash time ever recorded at any NFL Combine. A hip injury severely impaired his professional baseball career, and ended his NFL career.
In 1989 and 1990, Jackson's name became known beyond just sports fans through the "Bo Knows" advertising campaign, a series of advertisements by Nike, that starred Jackson alongside Rock and Roll Hall of Fame musician Bo Diddley, promoting a cross-trainingathletic shoe named for Jackson.
Jackson, the eighth of ten children, was born in Bessemer, Alabama and named after Vince Edwards, his mother's favorite actor. His family described him as a "wild boar hog," as he would constantly get into trouble. The nickname was eventually shortened to "Bo."
Jackson attended McAdory High School, where he rushed for 1,175 yards (1,074 m) as a running back as a high school senior. Jackson also hit twenty home runs in twenty-five games for McAdory's baseball team during his senior season. He was also a two-time state champion in the 100 meter dash.
In June 1981, Jackson was selected by the New York Yankees in the second round of the MLB draft, but he instead chose to attend Auburn University on a football scholarship. He was recruited by head coach Pat Dye and then Auburn assistant coachBobby Wallace. At Auburn, he proved to be a tremendous athlete in both baseball and football. He shared the backfield withQuarterback Randy Campbell, Lionel "Little Train" James and Tommie Agee.
Jackson batted .401 with 17 home runs and 43 RBI in 1985. In a 1985 baseball game against the Georgia Bulldogs at Foley Field in Athens, Georgia, Jackson led Auburn to victory with a 4-for-5 performance, with three home runs and a double.
Greg Louganis
He received the James E. Sullivan Award from the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) in 1984 as the most outstanding amateur athlete in the United States.
Louganis is of Samoan/Swedish descent. He was raised in California by his adoptive parents, a Greek-American couple. He attended Santa Ana High School and Valhalla High School in El Cajon, California.
At sixteen Louganis took part in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, where he placed second in the tower event, behind Italian sport legend Klaus Dibiasi. Two years later, with Dibiasi retired, Louganis won his first world title in the same event. In 1978, he accepted a diving scholarship to the University of Miami where he studied theater, but in 1981 transferred to the University of California, Irvine, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts.
Louganis was a favorite for two golds in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, but an American boycott of the games prevented him from participating. Louganis won two world diving titles in 1982. In the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, with record scores and leads over his opponents, Louganis won gold medals in both the springboard and tower diving events.
After winning two more world championship titles in 1986, he repeated his 1984 feat in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, although not without difficulties: he suffered a concussion after hitting his head on the springboard during the preliminary rounds while performing a reverse 2½ pike. He completed the preliminaries despite his injury, and went on to repeat a similar dive during the finals, earning the gold medal. In the 10m finals he won the gold medal performing a 3.4 difficulty dive in his last attempt, earning in total 638.61 points, surpassing silver medalist Xiong Ni by only 1.14 points. His comeback earned him the title of ABC's Wide World of Sports "Athlete of the Year" for 1988.
Adrian Peterson
Adrian Lewis Peterson (born March 21, 1985), nicknamed "A. D." (for "All Day") and "Purple Jesus", is an American footballrunning back for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). Peterson was selected by the Vikings with the seventh overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft. He played college football at the University of Oklahoma.
While at Oklahoma, Peterson set the NCAA freshman rushing record with 1,925 yards as a true freshman during the 2004 season. As a First-team All-American, he became the first freshman to finish as the runner-up in the Heisman Trophy balloting behind USCquarterback Matt Leinart. Peterson finished his college football career as the Sooners' third all-time leading rusher.
Following his stellar first pro season in which he set an NFL record for most rushing yards in a single game (296), Peterson was named the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. He was then awarded the MVP award for his performance in the Pro Bowl and became only the fifth player in NFL history to have more than 3,000 yards through his first two seasons. In 2010, he became the fifth fastest player to run for 5,000 yards, doing so in his 51st game. Currently, Peterson has the third highest average rushing yards per game total in NFL history (min. 50 games) with an average of 97.1, trailing Jim Brown (104.3) and Barry Sanders (99.8).
Born in Palestine, Texas, to Bonita Brown and Nelson Peterson, who were also star athletes in college. His father was a shooting guard for Idaho State, however, his dream of an NBA career was derailed when a gun that his brother was cleaning discharged into his leg. His mother, a three time Texas state champion at Westwood High School, attended the University of Houston on an athletic scholarship and was a sprinter and long jumper. Peterson's best friend was his older brother, Brian, and was nicknamed "All Day," which was later shortened to A.D., by his father because he was a hyperactive kid.
When he was seven, he saw his older brother, Brian, 9, killed by a drunken driver, as he rode his bicycle. It was around that time that Peterson began to deal with his pain through sports and became interested in football; he began playing at the age of 7. He was the star of the Pee Wee football team coached by his father and played in the popular Pop Warner Football program when he was twelve. When Peterson was thirteen, his father was arrested for laundering money for a crack-cocaine ring.
Peterson continued his interest in athletics into high school, where he competed in track and field, posting a wind-assisted time of 10.33 seconds in the 100 meters, basketball, and football at Palestine High School. Peterson was most notable in football, which he played during his junior and senior years. During his sophomore year, he was not eligible to play for the Palestine High varsity football team until he was a junior. Peterson's 2002–2003 campaign as a junior ended with 2,051 yards on 246 carries, an average of 8.3 yards per carry, and 22 touchdowns. It was during his junior that he began to attract the attention of Division I recruiters and realized he would likely have his pick of colleges after his junior year.
As a senior in 2003–2004, he rushed for 2,960 yards on 252 attempts, an average of 11.7 yards per carry, and 32 touchdowns. After the game, players from the other team asked for his autograph. Following Maurice Clarett's unsuccessful attempt to sue the NFL over its age limit in 2004, there was considerable debate over whether any high school football player might be able to make the leap from the preps to the pro game. The player most frequently mentioned was Peterson.
After considering schools such as Texas, Texas A&M, UCLA, Arkansas, and Miami, he decided that he wanted to go to a school where he could be a difference-maker in a national championship run and narrowed his choices down to USC and Oklahoma. Concluding his high school football career at the annual U.S. Army All-American Bowl, he led the West squad with 95 yards on 9 carries and scored 2 touchdowns, and announced at the game that he would attend college at Oklahoma. Following the season, he was awarded the Hall Trophy as the U.S. Army National Player of the Year. In addition, he was named the top high school player by College Football News and Rivals.com.
Chris Zorich
Christopher Robert Zorich (born March 13, 1969) is a former American football defensive tackle in the National Football League for the Chicago Bears and Washington Redskins.
An only child of African American and Croatian descent, Zorich was raised by his mother on the South Side of Chicago, where he attended Chicago Vocational High School.
Zorich received a scholarship to play college football at the University of Notre Dame in 1987 and began as a linebacker but was moved to nose tackle early in the season and did not play. However, Zorich then earned All-American honors the following season. In his first game, he had one and a half sacks and ten tackles against the University of Michigan and finished the year third on the team in tackles as Notre Dame went undefeated and won the national championship. During his junior year, he followed his initial season with a consensus All-America year in 1989 and was also one of four finalists for the Lombardi Award. Also in 1989 he was voted the UPI Lineman of the Year award as the top lineman in college football. As a senior, Zorich won the Lombardi Award and was recognized as a unanimous All-America. In the final game of his college career he was the Defensive Most Valuable player of the 1991 Orange Bowl.
Zorich was drafted in the second round of the 1991 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears. He played for the Bears from 1991 until 1996, and he was named an alternate for the 1993 Pro Bowl. He also played one season (1997) for the Washington Redskins. In his NFL career, Zorich tallied 16.5 career quarterback sacks and scored one touchdown off a fumble.
Zorich earned a law degree at Notre Dame and established the Christopher Zorich Foundation in 1993 to assist disadvantaged families. He is a past recipient of USA WEEKEND's Most Caring Athlete Award and the Jesse Owens Foundation Humanitarian Award. Zorich has also worked as a motivational speaker.
On May 9, 2007, Zorich was announced as one of the specially selected inductees of the 2007 class at the College Football Hall of Fame.
On July 8, 2010, the Chicago Tribune reported that the Chris Zorich Foundation was in contravention of state and federal laws, having not filed tax returns and various forms for many years. The paper also reported that the charity was defunct, with $864,000 in funds unaccounted for. Zorich replied that he was in the process of locating bank statements and acquiring an accounting firm to audit the foundation's books.
Jeff Walz
Jeff Walz is the head coach of the women's basketball team at the University of Louisville. In his second year as a head coach, he guided his team to a National Championship appearance at the 2009 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament.
Walz completed his undergraduate studies at Northern Kentucky, attending on a basketball scholarship. He graduated in 1995, earning a bachelor of science in secondary education, and went on to complete a master at Western Kentucky in 1997.
When Sanderford moved to take the head coach position at the University of Nebraska, Walz followed him as an assistant. While at Nebraska, he helped the program go to a school record three consecutive NCAA appearances.
In 2002, Walz accepted a position as assistant to Brenda Frese (then Brenda Oldfield) at Minnesota. Frese won AP Coach of the Year honors after improving Minnesota from 8-20 to 22-8. The University of Maryland persuaded her to accepted the head coaching position and Walz also made the move. He spent five seasons at Maryland, helping them to become a national power, including a National Championship at the 2006 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament.
Walz made the transition to head coach in 2007, accepting an offer from the University of Louisville. The school moved into the top 15 in attendance in his first year, averaging 6,456 fans per game, and attacting a school record 19,123 at one game.
Matt Slauson
Matt Slauson (born February 18, 1986) is an American football guard for the New York Jets of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Jets in the sixth round of the 2009 NFL Draft. He played college football at Nebraska.
The New York Jets selected Slauson with their sixth round pick in the 2009 NFL Draft. The Jets offensive line coach Bill Callahan previously coached Slauson at Nebraska who was considered versatile, athletic and durable. Slauson was signed to a four year deal by the team in May. Slauson would appear in three regular season games in 2009 playing at theguard and center positions respectively.
Following the team's selection of Vladimir Ducasse in the 2010 NFL Draft, the Jets would release veteran guard Alan Faneca. During the team's training camp sessions, Slauson battled Ducasse to replace Faneca. On September 9, 2010, Slauson would be named the team's starting left guard.
Slauson was born to Nancy and Robert Slauson. His father is the current principal at Lincoln Southwest High School in Lincoln, Nebraska. Slauson has two other brothers, Nick and Chris, as well as a sister, Alli.
Slauson is married to his wife, Cami. The couple have a son, Montgomery James.
Sigi Schmid
Siegfried "Sigi" Schmid (born March 20, 1953) is a German-American soccer coach. Born in Tübingen, West Germany, he moved to the United States with his family when he was a child. He played college soccer from 1972 to 1975 at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he was a starting midfielder in each of his four years. He coached his former college team, the UCLA Bruins, between 1980 and 1999. During that period, he became one of the most successful collegiate coaches of all time, leading the Bruins to a record of 322–63–33 (wins–losses–draws). The team made 16 consecutive playoff appearances from 1983 to 1998, winning the national championship in 1985, 1990, and 1997. Schmid also worked with US Soccer throughout the 1990s.
Schmid has coached the Los Angeles Galaxy and the Columbus Crew in Major League Soccer (MLS). He became the head coach of Seattle Sounders FC in 2009. Despite never having played soccer at a professional level, he has the most coaching wins in MLS history, and was the recipient of the MLS Coach of the Year Award in 1999 and 2008. Throughout his career, Schmid has received praise from critics for his ability to identify new talent. His defensive tactics are also highly regarded in the press and often cited as a factor in his success. However, their deployment in his final two seasons with Los Angeles led directly to the termination of his contract.
With a Bachelor of Economics degree from UCLA and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Southern California, he was a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) before coaching full-time. Schmid and his wife have four children, and he has a younger brother.
Sigi Schmid was born in Tübingen, West Germany, on March 20, 1953. At the age of four, he moved with his family to the United States and took up residence in Torrance, California in 1962. Schmid's father, Fritz, a prisoner of war during World War II, worked at Pabst Brewing; his mother, Doris, ran a Los Angeles-based German deli, where Schmid worked on weekends. Schmid's family spoke German at home, making him feel German despite spending so much of his life in America. He began school in the United States with little understanding of English and a stuttering speech disorder he did not overcome until high school. In his youth, Schmid visited Germany every summer, playing soccer with the local children and watching Bundesliga clubs play exhibition matches in neighboring towns. In 1964, Schmid played for the inaugural American Youth Soccer Organization team, an achievement for which he was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1996.
Sigi Schmid was born in Tübingen, West Germany, on March 20, 1953. At the age of four, he moved with his family to the United States and took up residence in Torrance, California in 1962. Schmid's father, Fritz, a prisoner of war during World War II, worked at Pabst Brewing; his mother, Doris, ran a Los Angeles-based German deli, where Schmid worked on weekends. Schmid's family spoke German at home, making him feel German despite spending so much of his life in America. He began school in the United States with little understanding of English and a stuttering speech disorder he did not overcome until high school. In his youth, Schmid visited Germany every summer, playing soccer with the local children and watching Bundesliga clubs play exhibition matches in neighboring towns. In 1964, Schmid played for the inaugural American Youth Soccer Organization team, an achievement for which he was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1996. Despite Schmid's early soccer experience, his parents thought a career in the sport was unfeasible and encouraged him to pursue business. He enrolled at UCLA in 1972 and was a starting midfielder for the UCLA Bruins from 1972 to 1975. In his first two seasons, the Bruins were national runners-up in the championships, and advanced to the national semifinals in 1974. In his senior year, Schmid was selected to the 1975 All Far-West team. Schmid completed his playing career at UCLA ranked 11th in all-time assists at the school.
He received his Bachelor of Economics degree in 1976 before earning a Master of Business Administration from the University of Southern California. Between 1978 and 1984, he worked eight months of the year as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).
Ivo Karlović
Ivo Karlović (Croatian pronunciation: [ǐːv̞ɔ kâːrlɔv̞itɕ]; born 28 February 1979 in Zagreb, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia) is a Croatian tennis player. He has won four ATP singles titles: three in 2007 and one in 2008. Karlović is the tallest player ever on the ATP Tour at 208 cm (6 ft 10 in). He is a serve-and-volleyer, Karlovic holds the fastest serve recorded in professional tennis, measured at 251 km/h (156 mph) and he is considered one of the best servers on tour. His height enables him to serve with high speed and unique trajectory.
Karlović debuted for the Croatian Davis Cup team in 2000 against Ireland, when he won the dead rubber. Karlović appeared in a starting line-up for first time in 2002 against Argentina in Buenos Aires, but he lost to Juan Ignacio Chela in the second rubber and to Gastón Gaudio in fifth and decisive rubber. He has posted a 4–2 career record (2–2 in singles) in three ties since 2000.
Karlović caused a stunning upset at 2003 Wimbledon Championships when he beat defending champion Lleyton Hewitt in his first-ever match in a Grand Slam tournament. He finished the 2003 year in the Top 100 and as the No. 3 Croatian, behind Ivan Ljubičić and Mario Ančić. He also averaged an ATP-best of 17.6 aces per match.
He continued his success during the 2004 season, winning at Calabasas, California. He reached the round of sixteen in several tournaments, including Wimbledon.
In 2005, Karlović reached his first ATP final at the Queen's Club Championships, defeating Lleyton Hewitt and Thomas Johansson along the way. In the final he lost to Andy Roddick 7–6, 7–6. There were no breaks of serve in the match. Afterwards, Roddick said Karlović's serve is "probably the biggest weapon in tennis... you don't really get a feel for it unless you are on the other side. It was not fun at times."
In November 2005, he was a member of the Croatian team that won the Davis Cup. He did not play in the finals but played in a few dead rubbers in previous rounds.
On 26 February 2006, he won his first ATP Doubles Tournament with South African Chris Haggard, beating James Blake and Mardy Fish in the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships and the Cellular South Cup, Memphis, USA. On 10 April he reached a career high of #46 in doubles.
Karlović and Roger Federer were the only players who won titles on three different surfaces during the 2007 season.
At age of 28 he won his first ATP Singles Title at the 2007 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston, Texas, defeating Mariano Zabaleta in the final 6–4, 6–1.
On 29 May 2007 at the French Open he defeated 8th seeded James Blake in the first round 4–6, 6–4, 7–5, 7–5. In the next round he lost toJonas Björkman, 6–3, 6–3, 4–6, 6–7(2), 3–6.
On 23 June 2007, he won his second title of the year and his career at Nottingham, the last grass tune-up before Wimbledon, defeating #7 seed Stanislas Wawrinka, Gilles Simon, Juan Martín del Potro, #2 seed Dmitry Tursunov (a match played on indoor hard courts due to torrential rain), and Arnaud Clément. As a result, he surpassed his career high from May of last year and broke into the top 45 for the first time. Despite a first round loss at Wimbledon, he rose to #40, making his top 40 debut.
On 14 October 2007 he won his third title of the year by taking the Stockholm Open, defeating former Australian Open Champion Thomas Johansson in three sets, 6–3, 3–6, 6–1 in the final. Earlier Karlović had yet again met Frenchman Arnaud Clément in his quarter final, the pair having met 5 times this year alone including in the final of Nottingham earlier in the year where Karlović secured his second career title. Karlović edged past his rival after saving match point in the final set tiebreak and then went on to defeat German number 1 Tommy Haas in the semi-final.
Karlović has been absent from recent Croatian Davis Cup campaigns due to a dispute between himself and Croatian tennis chiefs. The reason for the dispute is unequal distribution of the money won by the tennis players. Also, Karlović had never received financial help as a young tennis player from the Croatian Tennis Federation, with all the money going to other players, because of the former president of the Croatian tennis federation, Suad Rizvanbegović.
It is worth noting that during Croatia's Davis Cup tie with Great Britain in September 2007, Goran Ivanišević, a formerly staunch supporter of the squad, was also absent, leading to rumours of a growth in the rift.
Karlović further strained his relations with the Croatian Tennis Association and the Croatian Olympic Committee by his last-minute withdrawal from the Olympic tournament in Beijing, communicated via an SMS message.
