Dr. Roscoe Brown was born March 9, 1922 in Washington D.C to two college-educated parents which were something extremely rare for the era he grew up in. Brown attended Dunbar high school while it was still segregated. Brown’s dreams of becoming an aviator began upon seeing Charles Lindbergh’s spirit of St. Louis at the Smithsonian institution in his late teens. Brown went on to fulfill that dream becoming part of the well known Tuskegee airmen a pilot for the beginning of the first AA men allowed to join us military as airmen. It was long held belief by white Americans that black men couldn’t fly and as a result, there were many racially motivated rejections of AA recruits.

These unjust rejections sparked more than two decades of protest by AA recruits who wished to enlist and train to be aviators. Finally, In 1939 Appropriations Bill Public Law 18 passed containing an amendment from Senator Harry H Schwartz which would designate funds for training African American pilots. Brown accomplished many things during his residency as a Tuskegee airman, including flying 68 combat missions as a fighter squadron commander, rising to captain and being credited with being the first black fighter pilot to gun down a German fighter Jet during World War 2. Dr. Roscoe Brown went on to join the sports foundation inc as the second chair.

Though growing up in more fortunate circumstances than other members of the board brown still felt a massive need to give advocating for NYU outreach to African American students interested in the stem fields through the middle to high school. Dr. Brown was an active member of several organizations including the boys & girls clubs of America, the Jackie Robinson Foundation, and libraries of the future.  He was not only a military man but also an academic having graduated from Springfield College where he was valedictorian of the class of 1943. After the war, Captain Brown resumed his education at NYU Steinhardt where he earned his M.A in 1949 and his Ph.D. in 1951. After several years of serving both his country, his community, and African Americans brown passed away on July 2, 2016, at 94.

Claude “Buddy” Young was a professional American football player born January 5th, 1926 in Chicago Illinois.  Young was one of nine children raised by a single working class mother attempting to take care of her family despite mass poverty. Most likely as a result of growing up impoverished young only managed to grow to be 5’4.  Despite his short height buddy had immense athletic ability and was leagues above of his peers. His first coach at Englewood high refused to let him play due to his small height and almost short-sighted his dreams but as buddy was determined he switched to rival school Philips High.

Funnily enough, he scored 4 touchdowns in their first game against Englewood more than proving his prior coach wrong. At Philips he had an outstanding record, excelling in track as well as football. Several colleges offered him admission as a result of his athleticism but Young decided on the University of Illinois rejecting more flattering offers citing his mother reminding him he was an Illinois boy and that being where he belonged. In 1945 Buddy was drafted into the US NAVY as it was wartime he and many other talented young athletes were called to service. He didn’t let this small disturbance stop him from playing the game he loved joining the Blue Jackets one of the Navy’s coast teams. His performance on the Blue Jackets won him numerous amounts of praise some going as far as saying he was easily the greatest college athlete ever.

Buddy eventually went on to be a star player in the NFL joining the Baltimore Colts after a short stint playing Baseball for the New York Yankees. Buddy advocated for NFL players to be more than a showcase for paid consumers and attempted to get as many players as possible to be involved in the civil rights movement that was currently taking shape at the time. During his time playing for New York Yankees many fans would show up in black face to taunt him but he did not allow this to harden his heart. His passion for social advocacy did not stop there as he eventually went on to be one of the founding chairmen of SFI. As someone who grew up in Chicago’s less favored neighborhoods, he felt the need to give children from similar backgrounds the tools they would need for social mobility. Before his untimely passing Buddy managed to become the first African-American executive hired by the NFL working as director of player relations for the NFL up until his departure.

SFI’s mission wouldn’t be possible without its founder Robert William’s and his strong love for his community. Williams was a strong advocate of learning social responsibility through teamwork. According to Cedric Mcclester  Director of Communication and Community Outreach at SFI he felt sports and a teamwork mentality would show the Bronx youth how to choose the right path. The community activist was born and raised in the Bronx attending Theodore Roosevelt High School in his adolescence, a school known as one of the worst in the Bronx.

Despite this circumstance, Williams went on to continue his education at New York University one of the most prestigious academic institutions in the country receiving a B.S in education from the NYU School Of Education in 1963 and later obtaining a masters degree in administration from Wagner in 1974. By the age of 26 years old Williams, a now well-traveled professional athlete with a large wealth of experiences due to his professional basketball career leading him to play in Europe was readying himself to bring his dreams of creating opportunities for young people from the destitute community such as his own. Williams went on to become one of the major founders of SFI in March of 1969 and served as its head until his retirement in December of 2003.