Athletes Born on December 29

  • 1859 Jack Simpson, Scottish golfer (British Open 1884), born in Earlsferry, Fife, Scotland (d. 1895)
  • 1869 Bill Howell, Australian cricket medium pace bowler (18 Tests, 49 wickets, BB 5/81; NSWCA), born in Penrith, Australia (d. 1940)
  • 1881 Jess Willard, American boxer (World heavyweight champion 1915-19), born in Pottawatomie County, Kansas (d. 1968)
  • 1902 Nels Stewart, Canadian Hockey HOF center (Stanley Cup 1925 Montreal Maroons; Hart Memorial Trophy 1926, 30), born in Montreal, Quebec (d. 1957)
  • 1915 Bill Osmanski, American College Football HOF fullback (Holy Cross; NFL C'ship 1940, 41, 43, 46; 3 × Pro Bowl; First-team All-Pro 1939; Chicago Bears), born in Providence, Rhode Island (d. 1996)
  • 1924 Dub Jones, American football halfback (Pro Bowl 1951, 52; First Team All Pro 1951; Cleveland Browns) and coach (Cleveland Browns 1963-68), born in Arcadia, Louisiana
  • 1924 Warren Amling, American College Football Hall of Fame guard (Ohio State), born in Pana, Illinois (d. 2001)
  • 1925 Pete Dye, American golf course designer (TPC at Sawgrass, Crooked Stick, Oakwood CC), born in Urbana, Ohio (d. 2020)
  • 1927 Andy Stanfield, American athlete (Olympic gold 200m, 4x100m relay 1952, silver 200m 1956; WR 200m: 20.60 1952), born in Washington, D.C. (d. 1985)
  • 1934 Benny Dees, American college basketball coach (U of New Orleans; U of Wyoming; Western Carolina Uni), born in Mount Vernon, Georgia (d. 2021)
  • 1935 Russell Watt, New Zealand rugby union wing (9 Tests; Otago, Southland, Wellington), born in Dunedin, New Zealand (d. 2022)

Ray Nitschke (1936-1998)

American Pro Football HOF linebacker (5 × NFL C'ship; Super Bowl 1967, 68; First-team All-Pro 1964, 66; Green Bay Packers), born in Elmwood Park, Illinois

  • 1938 Gianluigi Saccaro, Italian fencer (Olympic gold épée team 1960; silver épée team 1964; bronze épée 1968), born in Milan, Italy (d. 2021)
  • 1938 Wayne Huizenga, American businessman, CEO (Waste Management, Blockbuster), and sports team owner (Miami Dolphins, Florida Panthers, Florida Marlins), born in Evergreen Park, Illinois (d. 2018)
  • 1944 Rodney Redmond, New Zealand cricket batsman (1 Test, 1 x 100, HS 107; Auckland, Wellington), born in Whangarei, New Zealand

Laffit Pincay Jr. (77 years old)

1946 Panamanian jockey (Ky Derby 1984, Belmont 1982-84, Swale), born in Panama City, Panama

  • 1949 Syed Kirmani, Indian cricketer (Indian keeper after Engineer), born in Chennai, India
  • 1950 Géza Csapó, Hungarian sprint canoeist (6 x World C'ship gold; Olympic silver K-1 1000m 1976, bronze 1972), born in Szolnok, Hungary (d. 2022)
  • 1951 Nancy Darsch, American women's basketball coach (Ohio State Uni; assistant coach US Olympic gold 1984, 96; NY Liberty, Washington Mystics), born in Plymouth, Massachusetts (d. 2020)
  • 1952 Nikolai Andrianov, Soviet/Russian gymnast (Olympic gold 1972, 76, 80), born in Vladimir, Russia (d. 2011)
  • 1953 Kate Schmidt, American javelin thrower (Olympic bronze 1972, 76; WR 69.32m 1977), born in Long Beach, California
  • 1953 Thomas Bach, German lawyer (9th President International Olympic Committee 2013-present), born in Würzburg, West Germany
  • 1954 Glenn Myernick, American soccer player and coach (Olympic gold 1996), born in Trenton, New Jersey
  • 1960 Dave Gilbert, Australian cricketer (Aussie pace bowler in 9 Tests 1985-86), born in Darlinghurst, Australia

David Boon (63 years old)

1960 Australian cricket batsman (107 Tests, 7,422 runs @ 43.65; 21 x 100s; 181 ODIs), born in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia

  • 1962 Devon White, American baseball outfielder (MLB All-Star 1989, 93, 98; World Series 1992, 93 Toronto Blue Jays, 1997 Florida Marlins; 7 × Gold Glove Award), born in Kingston, Jamaica
  • 1963 Sean Payton, American NFL coach (Super Bowl 2009, New Orleans Saints; AP Coach of the Year 2006; 'Bountygate'), born in San Mateo, California
  • 1964 Craig Grebeck, American baseball infielder (Florida Marlins), born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania
  • 1966 Martin Offiah MBE, English rugby league winger (33 Tests GB, 5 England; 3rd on all-time try scoring list), born in London, England
  • 1966 Stefano Eranio, Italian footballer, born in Genoa, Italy
  • 1967 Henry Jones, American football Safety (Buffalo Bills, Minnesota Vikings), born in St. Louis, Missouri
  • 1967 Kevin Toth, American shot put athlete, born in Cleveland, Ohio
  • 1967 Tony Tolbert, American NFL defensive end (Pro Bowl 1996; Super Bowl 1992, 93, 95; Dallas Cowboys), born in Tuskegee, Alabama
  • 1968 Darren Perry, American NFL free safety (Pittsburgh Steelers), born in Chesapeake, Virginia
  • 1968 James Mouton, American baseball outfielder (Houston Astros), born in Denver, Colorado
  • 1969 Allan McNish, Scottish race car driver, born in Dumfries, United Kingdom
  • 1970 Hidetoshi Mitsusada, Japanese racing driver, born in Osaka, Japan
  • 1971 Jay Fiedler, American NFL quarterback (Amsterdam Admirals), born in Long Island, New York
  • 1971 Margot Thien, American synchronized swimmer (Olympic gold 1996), born in San Diego, California
  • 1971 Mark Montreuil, Canadian NFL cornerback (San Diego Chargers), born in Montreal, Quebec
  • 1973 Theo Epstein, American baseball executive and President of Baseball Operations, born in New York City
  • 1973 Tomas Perez, Barquisimeto Venezuela, infielder (Toronto Blue Jays), born in Lara, Venezuela
  • 1974 Brad Hodge, Australian cricketer (promising Victorian middle-order batsman), born in Sandringham, Australia
  • 1974 James Darling, American football linebacker (Philadelphia Eagles), born in Denver, Colorado
  • 1974 Richmond "Richie" Sexson, American baseball player, born in Portland, Oregon
  • 1975 Jaret Wright, American baseball player, born in Anaheim, California
  • 1976 Saqlain Mushtaq, British-Pakistani cricketer (Pakistan Test off-spinner 1995), born in Lahore, Pakistan
  • 1977 Jimmy Journell, American baseball player, born in Springfield, Ohio
  • 1978 Kieron Dyer, English football player, born in Ipswich, United Kingdom
  • 1979 Mitsuhiro Ishida, Japanese mixed-martial arts fighter, born in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan
  • 1988 Agnes Szavay, Hungarian tennis player, born in Kiskunhalas, Hungary
  • 1989 Kei Nishikori, Japanese tennis player (11 singles titles, only Japanese player ranked in top 10), born in Matsue, Japan
  • 1993 Travis Head, Australian cricket all-rounder (Test HS 175, BB 4/10; ICC ODI World Cup 2023 Final MVP 137 [120]; South Australia), born in Adelaide, Australia
  • 1995 Ross Lynch, American singer-songwriter (R5, The Driver Era) and actor (Teen Beach Movie), born in Littleton, Colorado