Athletes Born on May 18

  • 1882 Charles "Babe" Adams, American MLB baseball pitcher, 1906-26 (1 game with St. Louis Cardinals; Pittsburgh Pirates), born in Tipton, Indiana (d. 1968)
  • 1892 Ezio Pinza, Italian American operatic bass (NY Metropolitan Opera, 1926-48), and Tony Award-winning singer (South Pacific), born in Rome, Italy (d. 1957)
  • 1905 Hedley Verity, English cricket spin bowler (40 Tests, 144 wickets @ 24.37), born in Leeds, Yorkshire (d. 1943)

Fred Perry (1909-1995)

English tennis player (first to win "Career Grand Slam"; 8 x Grand Slam singles, 6 x Grand Slam doubles titles; Davis Cup 1933, 34, 35, 36) and broadcaster (BBC, ITV), born in Stockport, England

  • 1924 Jack Whitaker, American sportscaster (ABC, CBS), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 2019)
  • 1925 Nigel Howard, English cricket batsman and captain (4 Tests; Lancashire, MCC), born in Gee Cross, Hyde, Cheshire (d. 1979)
  • 1935 Arne Legernes, Norwegian soccer midfielder (41 caps; Molde FC, Larvik Turn), born in Molde, Norway (d. 2022)

Brooks Robinson (1937-2023)

American Baseball HOF third baseman (18 x MLB All Star; World Series 1966, 70 [MVP]; 16 × Gold Glove Award; Baltimore Orioles), born in Little Rock, Arkansas [1] [2]

  • 1939 Neil McCarthy, American college basketball coach (Weber State Uni 1974-85, New Mexico State Uni 1985-97), born in San Francisco, California (d. 2021)
  • 1940 Pat Trimborn, South African cricket fast bowler (4 Tests, 11 wickets), born in Durban, Natal, South Africa
  • 1942 Nobby Stiles, English soccer midfielder (28 caps; World Cup 1966; Manchester United 311 games) and manager (Preston NE, WBA), born in Manchester, England (d. 2020)

Reggie Jackson (77 years old)

1946 American Baseball HOF right fielder (14 x MLB All Star; World Series 1972, 73 [MVP], 74, 77 [MVP], 78; AL MVP 1973; Oakland A's, NY Yankees,), born in Wyncote, Pennsylvania

  • 1950 Rodney Milburn Jr, American athlete (Olympic gold 110m hurdles 1972), born in Opelousas, Louisiana (d. 1997)
  • 1951 Angela Voigt, German athlete (Olympic gold GDR long jump 1976), born in Weferlingen, Germany (d. 2013)
  • 1951 Jim Sundberg, American baseball player (Kansas City Royals), born in Galesburg, Illinois
  • 1951 Rodger Davis, Australian golfer (British Open runner-up 1997), born in Sydney, New South Wales
  • 1956 Naomichi 'Joe' Ozaki, Japanese golfer (32 Japan Tour titles), born in Tekushima, Japan
  • 1958 Ray Donaldson, NFL center (Dallas Cowboys), born in Rome, Georgia
  • 1959 Graham Dilley, English cricket fast bowler (41 Tests, 138 wickets; Kent CCC, Worcestershire CCC), born in Dartford, England (d. 2011)

Jari Kurri (63 years old)

1960 Finnish NHL right wing (Edmonton Oilers), born in Helsinki, Finland

Yannick Noah (63 years old)

1960 French tennis player (French Open 1983), born in Sedan, France

  • 1962 Mike Whitmarsh, American beach volleyballer (Olympic silver 1996), born in San Diego, California
  • 1963 Marty McSorley, Canadian ice hockey defenseman (Stanley Cup 1987, 88 Edmonton Oilers; NHL Plus-Minus Award 1991 LA Kings), born in Hamilton, Ontario
  • 1964 Will Wolford, American NFL tackle (Indianapolis Colts, Pittsburgh Steelers), born in Louisville, Kentucky
  • 1965 Rufus Porter, American NFL linebacker (Pro Bowl 1988-89; Seattle Seahawks), born in Amite, Louisiana
  • 1967 Heinz-Harald Frentzen, German F1 driver (Williams), born in Mönchengladbach, Germany
  • 1967 Karl Dunbar, American NFL defensive tackle (Arizona Cardinals), born in Opelousas, Louisiana
  • 1970 Clemens Zwijnenberg, Dutch soccer player (FC Twente)
  • 1970 Vicky Sunohara, Canadian ice hockey forward (Canada, Olympics 1998)
  • 1971 Ben Coleman, American guard/offensive tackle (Jacksonville Jaguars), born in South Hill, Virginia
  • 1971 Craig Hentrich, American football punter (Super Bowl XXXI Green Bay Packers; First-team All-Pro & Pro Bowl 1998, 2003), born in Alton, Illinois
  • 1971 Karyn Bye-Dietz, American ice hockey forward (Olympic Gold-1998 & Silver-2002), born in River Falls, Wisconsin
  • 1971 Nobuteru Taniguchi, Japanese racing driver
  • 1971 Rich Garces, Venezuelan MLB pitcher (Boston Red Sox), born in Maracay Venezuela
  • 1973 Dario Franchitti, Scottish racecar driver and commentator, born in Bathgate, Scotland
  • 1973 Darren Van Impe, Canadian NHL defenseman (Anaheim Mighty Ducks), born in Saskatoon
  • 1973 Donyell Marshall, NBA forward and coach (Golden State Warriors), born in Reading, Pennsylvania
  • 1973 Tory James, NFL defensive back (Denver Broncos-Super Bowl 32), born in new Orleans, Louisiana
  • 1974 Nelson Figueroa, American baseball player and analyst, born in Brooklyn, New York
  • 1975 John Higgins, Scottish snooker player (4-time world champion), born in Wishaw, Scotland
  • 1977 Danny Mills, English footballer (Leeds United), born in Norwich, England
  • 1977 Lee Hendrie, English footballer, born in Solihull, England
  • 1978 Ricardo Carvalho, Portuguese footballer (Chelsea, Real Madrid), born in Amarante, Portugal
  • 1979 Julián Speroni, Argentine footballer (Crystal Palace), born in Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • 1979 Mariusz Lewandowski, Polish footballer (Shakhtar Donetsk), born in Legnica, Poland
  • 1979 Milivoje Novakovič, Slovenian footballer, born in Ljubljana, Slovenia
  • 1981 Mahamadou Diarra, Malian footballer, born in Bamako, Mali
  • 1982 Jason Brown, English-born footballer, born in London, England
  • 1983 Gary O'Neil, English footballer (Portsmouth), born in Beckenham, England
  • 1983 Vince Young, American football player, born in Houston, Texas
  • 1984 Joakim Soria, Mexican baseball pitcher (MLB All Star 2008, 10; Kansas City Royals), born in Monclova, Mexico
  • 1984 Niki Terpstra, Dutch cyclist, born in Beverwijk, Netherlands
  • 1984 Simon Pagenaud, French auto racer (IndyCar champion 2016; Indianapolis 500 2019), born in Poitiers, France
  • 1992 Josh Phelps, Australian soccer player, born in Tamworth, Australia
  • 1993 Jiří Prskavec, Czech canoeist (Olympic gold K1 slalom 2020; 4 x World C'ship gold 2015, 17, 19), born in Mělník, Czech Republic