Athletes & Sports Personalities Born In 1954 Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Talk about a child prodigy, as a young woman this golfer won the U.S. Junior Girls Championship three times - consecutively - before she was out of her teenage years. As a professional golfer, she won the U.S. Women's Open three times - in 1977, 1978 and 1984. Name the Savannah, Georgia native who was born March 16, 1954.

Answer: Hollis Stacy

Hollis Stacy has been quoted as giving credit to her birth order for her success as a professional golfer. She has commented that being the middle child of a family of ten gave her the "psychological warfare" necessary to win. Stacy continued to play professional golf into the 21st century - as a member of the LPGA and (later) Women's Senior Golf Tour. Since retiring she has served as an official at USGA events.

2. The Dallas Cowboys picked this Pennsylvania native in the first round - the number two pick overall - as a part of the 1977 NFL draft. Must have been a wise pick; he went on the win the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year (1977). That was just the beginning of an illustrious NFL career. Name the College Hall of Fame member - born April 7, 1954.

Answer: Tony Dorsett

Tony Dorsett spent his childhood years in a small town near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He attended The University of Pittsburgh where he achieved success as a running back for their football team - winning the Heisman Trophy as a senior in 1976. Highlights of his professional football career include: He was a four time Pro-Bowl participant, a member of the Super Bowl Championship team (Super Bowl XII - as a Dallas Cowboy) and he has been enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Dorsett has added his name to the growing list of professional athletes who fear they suffer from chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE - a brain disorder caused by repeated trauma or injury to the head.

3. Marvin Nathaniel Hagler was born May 23, 1954 and became known in his professional sport as "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler. He was originally from Newark, New Jersey but spent his teenage years in Massachusetts. What sport brought this natural "southpaw" world-wide fame?

Answer: Boxing

Marvelous Marvin Hagler won his first World Middleweight Championship in September of 1980. For the next seven years he was the undisputed World Middleweight Champion. He relinquished his title to (formerly retired) boxer, Sugar Ray Leonard, in April 1987. Leonard won in a split - and extremely controversial - decision. Hagler was named the "Fighter of Decade" (1980s) by "Boxing Illustrated Magazine".

4. It may seem inconceivable but this record breaking NFL player preferred participating in the marching band rather than playing football through most of his high school years. Name the "sweet" running back for the Chicago Bears (of the NFL) who was born on July 25, 1954.

Answer: Walter Payton

Walter Payton was an incredible athlete and one of the NFL's more admired players. He was drafted in 1975 by the Chicago Bears and long standing records were soon to be broken by him. At times he held the NFL records for Regular Season Rushing Yards, Most Rushing Touchdowns in a Regular Season and Most Regular Season Yards From Scrimmage - to mention only a few.

He was as hard-working as he was talented; he only missed one (NFL) game in his 13-year career. He exemplified success. Yet, what even years after his death, was most often mentioned about Walter Payton by those who knew him was that he was such a nice guy. "A good human being" was how his former coach, Mike Ditka, described him. Payton succumbed to rare liver disease at the age of 45.

5. He was born in Pineville, North Carolina on September 9, 1954. He became a stand-out basketball player for the University of North Carolina (Tarheels) and played with the U.S. Mens Basketball team at the 1976 Summer Olympics. Name this former Denver Nugget who was NBA Rookie of the Year (1978).

Answer: Walter Davis

The Denver Nuggets selected Walter Davis during the first round of the 1977 NBA Draft (the fifth overall pick) and for several years the partnership was a lucrative and symbiotic one. The 1987 season was marred by not only health problems for Davis but by his involvement with (and/or use of) illegal drugs.

Although Davis continued to play in the NBA for several more years, his career had taken a definite decline. The Nuggets suffered as well. Not totally spurned by his long time NBA "golden team", Davis had his jersey retired by the Denver Nuggets in 1994 and then ten years later (in 2004) he was enshrined into their Ring of Honor.

6. The native Californian who was born October 3, 1954 and nick-named "The Eck", was given the birth name Dennis Lee Eckersley. As a valuable member of more than one of his professional sport's teams, he earned success and recognition as a "starter" and as a "closer". Name the sport that brought fame to this flexible superstar.

Answer: Baseball

Dennis Eckersley looked the part of a California playboy when he took the baseball mound but his pitches and the winning records to which he contributed were soon more noticeable than his appearance. He was the first pitcher in MLB history to have both a 20-win season (as a starter) and a 50-save season (as a closer).

A six time member of the MLB All Star team, a Cy Young Award winner and he pitched one no-hitter game. We will not mention Kirk Gibson's home run in game one of the 1988 World Series, OK?

7. NASCAR can an exhilarating and dangerous sport, but even with those conditions, sometimes great tragedies occur away from the track. Name the NASCAR driver who lost his life when his plane crashed as it returned to an airport following a very short flight in Tennessee. Born December 14, 1954, he was only 38 years old. The majority of his NASCAR career he had driven the number 7 car.

Answer: Alan Kulwicki

Anyone who follows NASCAR racing will be able to identify the "Polish Victory Lap" - a Kulwicki instigation. To celebrate his first (then) Winston Cup win, Kulwicki turned his race car and drove around the track (his victory lap) in the opposite direction from which the drivers had raced.

Historically, winning drivers had taken their victory lap by continuing to drive in the direction in which they had raced. Kulwicki was considered methodical - even scientific - in his approach to racing. Given the success he had begun to earn for himself, we can only imagine what he may have achieved had his life not been tragically ended - too soon.

8. This tennis sensation was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on December 21, 1954. She was just sixteen years old when she became the youngest player to reach the semi-finals of the U.S. Open. Name the attractive blonde whose stony focal approach to her game earned her the nickname "Ice Maiden".

Answer: Chris Evert

During the 1970s and the (early) 1980s there were seven years when Chris Evert was ranked as the number one women's tennis player. During her career she won more 150 singles championships and played in thirty-four Grand Slam singles final games. In addition to her incredible professional career she has often been "in the news" for her choice of romantic partners.

She was engaged to fellow tennis star, Jimmy Connors. Later she married British tennis player, John Lloyd and Olympic downhill skier, Andy Mill and pro golfer, Greg Norman. Chris Evert's name can often be found on lists of "Famous Vegetarians".

9. Osborne Earl "Ozzie" Smith was born December 26, 1954 in Mobile, Alabama. During his professional baseball career he would earn a spot on fifteen (15) All-Star games and he played on the team that won the 1982 World Series. Smith began his MLB career with the San Diego Padres but name the MLB team for which he is most associated. He played with them between 1982 and 1996.

Answer: St. Louis Cardinals

As a shortstop, Ozzie Smith endeared himself to the Cardinals fans very quickly. Well known and well awarded for his excellent defensive play, between the years of 1980 and 1992 he earned thirteen (13) Golden Glove Awards. His #1 jersey has been retired by the St. Louis Cardinals and he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame during the first year of his eligibility.

After he retired from playing professional baseball, Smith continued to be a visible and well-respected resident of the St. Louis community.

His interests, activities, and investments were intriguing and diversified.

10. Susan Howlet Butcher was born December 26, 1954 near Boston, Massachusetts. From a very early age she knew she loved animals and being out-of-doors. It seemed very natural for her to pursue a career as a veterinarian technician, but her professional career became one of a well-respected and successful sportswoman. Name the sport in which she achieved her greatest fame.

Answer: Dog Sledding

By the mid-1980s, Susan had moved to Alaska to breed huskies and pursue her career as a professional dog musher. She became only the second woman to win the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race when she won in 1986 and would literally dominant the sport in the following years.

She won the Iditarod an incredible four years - 1986, 1987, 1988, and 1990. During those years, she broke existing speed records and/or broke records she, herself, had previously set. Susan had retired from dog sled racing but remained in Alaska when she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia in 2005.

In August of 2006, she would succumb to the cancer at the age of 51.

Source: Author cowboybluedog

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor stuthehistoryguy before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

I share something with all of the athletes who represent the correct answers. That one thing may, indeed, be the extent of what we have in common! We were all born in the calendar year 1954.

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