Those We Lost — October 6

Honoring those we lost on October 6 — remembered for what they gave, and for what they left behind.

James E. Shepard

Born November 3, 1875 — died October 6, 1947

Pharmacist, educator, college founder, and civic leader

Shepard founded the National Religious Training School and Chautauqua for the Colored Race in 1910 and guided its growth into North Carolina College for Negroes, now North Carolina Central University. He built one of the South’s major Black public institutions of higher learning and created pathways into teaching, law, and public leadership.

Buck O’Neil

Born November 13, 1911 — died October 6, 2006

Negro Leagues first baseman and manager, major league coach and scout, baseball ambassador

O’Neil joined the Kansas City Monarchs as their first baseman in 1938 and became the club’s player-manager in 1948. In 1962 the Chicago Cubs made him the first Black coach on a major league staff, and as a scout he signed future Hall of Famers including Ernie Banks, Lou Brock and Lee Smith. He led the effort to establish the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City in 1990, served as its chairman, and reached a national audience through Ken Burns’s 1994 PBS documentary Baseball. He fell one vote short of the Hall of Fame in February 2006, eight months before his death, and was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022.

Connie Hawkins

Born July 17, 1942 — died October 6, 2017

Basketball forward, ABA and NBA star, Hall of Famer

Hawkins rose from the New York City playgrounds and, after the NBA barred him early in his career, became the ABA’s Most Valuable Player in 1968 while leading the Pittsburgh Pipers to the league title. He sued the NBA over the ban and reached a settlement of more than one million dollars, then joined the Phoenix Suns in 1969, averaging 20.5 points, 9.0 rebounds and 4.3 assists with the team through 1973 and making four straight NBA All-Star teams. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992; the Phoenix Suns, the team with which he spent his most productive NBA seasons, announced his death.

Johnny Nash

Born August 19, 1940 — died October 6, 2020

Singer, songwriter, actor, and record producer

Nash moved from pop and R&B into Jamaican-influenced music, recorded in Kingston, helped introduce reggae artists to wider U.S. audiences, and wrote and sang I Can See Clearly Now. His transnational career helped open American pop radio to reggae rhythms and supported the early international exposure of Bob Marley.