Chuck Connors
From Brooklyn, New York, U.S. • 1921 - 1992
Kevin Joseph "Chuck" Connors (April 10, 1921 – November 10, 1992) was an American actor and professional basketball and baseball player. He is one of only 13 athletes in the history of American professional sports to have played in both the National Basketball Association (Boston Celtics 1946–1948) and Major League Baseball (Brooklyn Dodgers 1949, Chicago Cubs, 1951). With a 40-year film and television career, he is best known for his role as Lucas McCain on the ABC series The Rifleman (1958–1963). He had one sibling, a younger sister named Gloria Marie Connors Cole (1923–2020). Raised as a Catholic, Connors served as an altar boy at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Brooklyn. His father became a citizen of the United States in 1914 and was working in Brooklyn in 1930 as a longshoreman, and in 1917 his mother also attained her U.S. citizenship. Connors was a devoted fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers despite their losing record during the 1930s, and hoped to join the team one day. A talented athlete, he earned a scholarship to the Adelphi Academy, a preparatory school in Brooklyn, where he graduated in 1939. He received offers for athletic scholarships from more than two dozen colleges and universities. He attended Seton Hall University and played both basketball and baseball at the school. Since childhood, Connors had disliked his first name, Kevin, and sought another name. He tried using "Lefty" and "Stretch" before finally settling on "Chuck". The name derived from his time as a player on Seton Hall's baseball team. He would repeatedly yell to the pitcher from his position on first base, "Chuck it to me, baby! Chuck it to me!" The rest of his teammates and spectators at the university's games soon caught on, and the nickname stuck. Connors left Seton Hall after two years to accept a contract to play professional baseball. He played on two minor league teams (see below) in 1940 and 1942, then joined the United States Army following America's entrance into World War II. During most of the war, he served as a tank-warfare instructor at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and later at West Point in New York. (Via Wikipedia)
