Baseball
- Larry Doby – the first black player in the American League
- Willie Mays – first black player to win the Gold Glove Award
- Satchel Paige – first black pitcher in the baseball Hall of Fame
- Frank Robinson – the first black major league manager
- Jackie Robinson – the first African American to play in Major League Baseball
- Bob Watson – the first black general manager to win a World Series.
Basketball
- Chuck Cooper – the first black player drafted into the NBA
- Bill Russell – NBA’s first black head coach
Boxing
- Jack Johnson – first African American world heavyweight boxing champion
- Rocky Johnson– first black Georgia Heavyweight Champion
Football
Golf
- Lee Elder – the first black golfer to play in the Masters
- Charlie Sifford – the first black player to earn a PGA Tour card in 1961
- Tiger Woods – first golfer of either African American or Asian descent to win the Masters Tournament
Gymnastics
Tennis
Tennis Cont.
- Lucy Diggs Slowe – the first African-American woman to win a major sports title
- Serena Williams – a player of many firsts
- Venus Williams – a player of many firsts
Track & Field
- David Donald Albritton – was one of the first high jumpers to use the straddle technique
- Alice Coachman – the first black woman to win an Olympic gold medal [high jump]
- DeHart Hubbard – first black American athlete to win an individual gold medal
- Jesse Owens – the first American track and field athlete to win four gold medals at a single Olympic Games
- Wilma Rudolph – the first American woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympic Games
- John Baxter Taylor – the first black athlete to represent the United States in the Olympics in the 1908
Winter Sports
- Shani Davis – first black athlete for Team USA to win an individual gold in the Winter Olympics [speed skating]
- Vonetta Flowers – first African-American to win a gold medal in the Winter Olympics [bobsledding]
Wrestling