Some of the elite track star’s many honors were too big to fit inside his abode; in 1936, the Olympic gold medalist became the first Black American to be honored with an NYC ticker tape parade. Today, a statue, museum, and replica of his house commemorate the color-barrier-breaking athlete in his hometown of Oakville, Alabama, alongside a long jump pit where visitors can attempt to measure up against Owens’s gold-medal-winning jump distance. Pictured here in March 1980, the Olympian relaxes at home in Phoenix among his winnings.
Jackie Robinson
The baseball legend’s Colonial in Stamford, Connecticut, housed his young family as well as a trove of pennants and plaques from his time in the league. Number 42’s trophy room in his Cascade Road abode displayed Robinson’s winnings along wood paneled walls. The first Black player in Major League Baseball, Robinson is pictured here with his son Jackie Jr. in 1957, the year he retired—though he continued to push boundaries with his work in Civil Rights advocacy. “The game of baseball is great, but the greatest thing is what you do after your career is over,” the Dodger legend once told fellow baseball player Hank Aaron.
Gale Sayers
