Frank Thomas

Notable Sports Figures
Rounding Third
In 1941 Williams hit .406 for the Red Sox. In the 55 years since then,
few players have come close to hitting .400, and the legend of The Kid’s
eyesight has only grown: He could follow the seams on a baseball as it rotated
toward him at 95 mph. He could read the label on a record as it spun
on a turntable. He stood at home plate one day and noticed that the angle to
first base was slightly off; measuring proved him right, naturally, by two
whole inches. In the ‘60s [Frank] Brothers—the son of Williams’s friend
Jack Brothers, a famous Florida Keys fishing guide—would show up on
Williams’s porch in Islamorada every Saturday morning to spend the day
helping Williams pole his skiff through the shallows. Each time, Williams
would bet Brothers one hour’s poling that he could cast his line and guess,
within six inches, how far the lure had flown. “I lost every time,” Brothers
says. “He’d cast 112 feet and say, ‘A hundred eleven feet, 10 inches.’ No
marks on the line.”
Source: Price, S.L. Sports Illustrated, November 25, 1996, p. 92.
Periodicals
“Bizarre Family Feud.” Maclean’s (July 22, 2002): 11.
Corliss, Richard. “A Little Respect for the Splendid
Splinter: Ted Williams, 1918-2002.” Time (July 15,
2002): 72.
“Red Sox Pride: Tributes—and a Family Feud—Follow
Ted Williams’s Death.” People (July 22, 2002): 92.
Stout, Glenn. “The Case of the 1947 MVP Ballot.”
Sporting News (December 20, 1993): 7.
Thomsen, Ian. “Boston Mourns Its Hero: The Fenway
Fans Paid Their Respects to Ted Williams, a Towering
Figure Who Fought the Good Fight.” Sports Illustrated
(July 17, 2002): 70.
Underwood, John. “Gone Fishing: His Baseball Days
behind Him, the Kid Took to the Waters off the Keys
with a Boatload of Yarns, a Few Friends and One
Mission: Bring in the Big Ones.” Sports Illustrated
(July 17, 2002): 46.
Verducci, Tom. “Splendor at the Plate: Over Two Brilliant
Decades, Ted Williams Proved He Was What
He Always Wanted to Be: The Best Hitter Who Ever
Lived.” Sports Illustrated (July 17, 2002): 10.
Williams, Ted. “ ‘Humility and Pride’.” (Speech on induction
into the Baseball Hall of Fame). Sports Illustrated
(July 17, 2002): 84.
Other
Baseball-Reference.com “Ted Williams.” http://www.
baseball-reference.com/ (November 26, 2002).
Bergen, Phil, and Mike Shatzkin. “Ted Williams.” BaseballLibrary.com.
http://www.pubdim.net/baseball
library.com/ (November 27, 2002).
Pope, Edwin. “Finally, a Time to Celebrate Baseball as
Wing Opens at Ted Williams Museum.” Knight Ridder/Tribune
News Service (February 9, 1995).
Sketch by Ann H. Shurgin
Venus Williams
1980-
American tennis player
Williams
Venus Williams’ route to superstardom in professional
tennis was quite unlike that of most of her fellow
players, the majority of whom learned the game from
pros at country clubs or expensive tennis academies.
Venus and younger sister Serena Williams practiced their
tennis basics in a city torn by gang warfare, Compton,
California, playing the game on municipal courts.
Coached by their father, Richard, the girls showed a natural
aptitude for the game and quickly advanced to amateur
competition. When Venus made her professional
debut in October 1994, Robin Flinn of the New York
Times called her “the most unorthodox tennis prodigy
her sport has ever seen.” Venus, older than sister Serena
by about 15 months, was the first to soar to the top of the
world women’s rankings, and she has stayed firmly entrenched
at the top of the game ever since. In the opening
years of the new millennium, the sisters were trading the
number one ranking back and forth. It became almost a
given that the sisters would face off against each other in
the finals of the major tournaments on the women’s tour.
Surprisingly, despite the increased competition between
the sisters, Venus and Serena remained as close as ever,
the winner comforting her losing sibling after every
major tournament in which they played against each
other. A striking figure, standing more than 6 feet tall,
Venus remains in firm control of her game. Despite a
flurry of rumors that she was considering pulling out of
the game, she continues to play and play well, handily
defeating most comers, except little sister Serena, who
has been on the winning side more often than Venus.
Compton Childhood
Williams was born in Lynwood, California, a suburb
of Los Angeles, on June 17, 1980, the fourth of five
daughters born to Richard and Oracene (nicknamed
Brandi) Williams. Sister Serena, the last of the five
Williams sisters, was born in September 1981. Her father
ran a private security firm in Compton and was a
dedicated fan of tennis, who became hooked on the
game by watching televised coverage of professional
tournaments, told his wife that he wanted to make tennis
stars out of his daughters. He had little luck with his
older girls—Isha, Lyndrea, and Yetunde—none of
whom showed any particular aptitude for the game. His
efforts proved far more successful with Venus and Serena,
both of whom turned out to be naturals on the court.
The girls learned the game on nearby Compton municipal
courts, frequently having to take cover to avoid
being hit by stray gunfire from the gang violence that
gripped the city. As Richard Williams schooled Venus
and Serena in the finer points of the game, their mother,
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