Athletes and Sports Stars Born in October 1953

Grete Waitz (1953-2011)

Oct 1 Norwegian long distance athlete (9 x NYC Marathon titles; World C'ship gold 1983; 5 x gold World Cross Country; WR x 4), born in Oslo, Norway

Oct 9 Hank Pfister, American tennis star, born in Bakersfield, California
Oct 10 Gus Williams, American NBA guard (Golden State, Seattle, Washington), born in Mount Vernon, New York

Pat Day (70 years old)

Oct 13 American thoroughbred jockey (9 x winner of the American Triple Crown; 6 x US Champion in wins; 2 x US Champion in earnings; $298m career purses), born in Brush, Colorado

Oct 14 Roland Butcher, English cricket batsman (3 Tests; 1st cricketer of Caribbean descent to play for England; Middlesex CCC, Barbados, Tasmania, Suffolk CCC), born in Saint Philip Parish, Barbados
Oct 15 Joe Klecko, American Pro Football HOF defensive lineman (NFL Defensive Player of the Year 1981; First-team All-Pro 1981, 85; 4 × Pro Bowl; New York Jets), born in Chester, Pennsylvania
Oct 16 Paulo Roberto Falcão, Brazilian footballer
Oct 16 Susan Pedersen, American 4 X 100m medley swimmer (Olympic gold 1968)

Keith Hernandez (70 years old)

Oct 20 American MLB 1st baseman (St Louis Cardinals, NY Mets), born in San Francisco, California

Oct 24 James di Donato, open water swimmer, one of the Tiger Twins (world record for swimming the butterfly in 40.6 miles)
Oct 24 Jonathan di Donato, open water swimmer, one of the Tiger Twins (world record for swimming the butterfly in 40.6 miles)
Oct 25 Mark McNulty, Irish-Zimbabwean golfer (The Tradition 2007; 16 European Tour titles), born in Bindura, Zimbabwe
Oct 25 Muffin Spencer-Devlin, American golfer (3 LPGA Tour titles), born in Piqua, Ohio
Oct 28 Mark James, British golfer (Senior Players Championship 2004), born in Manchester, England
Oct 28 Phil Dwyer, Welsh soccer defender (10 caps; Cardiff City 471 games), born in Cardiff, Wales (d. 2021)