Although there is no permanent home yet, the National Black Sports and Entertainment Hall of Fame has will induct its first 24 members Aug. 29 at the Aaron Davis Hall at City College in New York. The Hall of Fame will eventually be built in Harlem, which organizers hope will include a memorial, a museum, and some sort of education entity that will become a tourist mecca. There will also be a walk of fame on 135th Street between St. Nicholas and Fifth Avenues.
The 24 initial inductees are Muhammad Ali, Louis Armstrong, Arthur Ashe, Tony Bennett, Wilt Chamberlan, Joe Cuba, Dorethy Dandridge, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Bill Gallo, Althea Gibson, Marty Glickman, Lionel Hampton, Johnny Isaacs, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Gloria Lynne, Earl Monroe, Lloyd Price, Tito Puente, Jackie Robinson, Sugar Ray Robinson, Wilma Rudolph, Frank Sinatra and Dionne Warwick.
There are four caucasian inductees: Bennett and Sinatra, for their support of civil rights causes; Glickman for campaigning for integration in sports; and Gallo for his sports cartoons.
Sue Simmons will get a special award as will Don King, who will also get a special tribute.
