Throughout sports history, there have been many “firsts.” These competitors represent athletic history and change our world for the better as they demonstrate the capabilities of the human body.

Let’s begin with two famous sisters, Venus and Serena Williams. Venus is the oldest of the two, born June 17, 1980, in Lynwood, California. She became one of the first unseeded Open U.S. finalists in the open era. Even though she had lost to Martina Hingis, she won both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2000. Venus was the first of the Williams to reach the No. 1 ranking in singles on February 25, 2002, and the first African-American woman to do so in the Open Era, and the second all-time since Althea Gibson.

Born on September 26, 1981, Serena Williams is the younger of the two. Britannica exemplifies her game as the first to, “revolutionize women’s tennis with her powerful style of play and who won more Grand Slam singles titles (23) than any other woman or man during the open era.” How revolutionary is that?

James Naismith is also a legendary athlete. “What is so important about him?” you might ask. He invented modern basketball. According to Wikipedia, James Naismith “studied and taught physical education at McGill University in Montreal before moving to Springfield, Massachusetts, United States, where in late 1891, he designed the game of basketball while he was teaching at the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts.”

On October 31, 1950, the first African-American broke the color barrier and got into the NBA. His name was Earl Lloyd, and he did some pretty cool things. According to NBA’s website, “In 1968, Lloyd became the first African-American assistant coach in the NBA, working for the Detroit Pistons. In 1971, he became the second African-American head coach and first African-American bench coach, again with the Detroit Pistons.” (Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics was the first ever head coach, but he was also a player-coach).

Now we can talk about the first hispanic female co-owner of a major league team! Her name is Linda G. Alvarado, and she is also in the National Women’s Hall of Fame. According to Sports Illustrated, “Alvarado is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Alvarado Construction and President of Palo Alto, Inc. Restaurant Company. After making her fortune in the business world, she turned to the sports world… (the) first woman ever involved in a formal bid for ownership of a major league baseball team, when she became co-owner of the Rockies. Alvarado was inducted in the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2003. She has long been a stout advocate for diversity in the workplace, especially involving Hispanics.” 

These extraordinary people tried something new and paved the way for more advances in the future. They were willing to be the first. We should all strive to do the same.