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Nothing came easy for Philip Henry Niekro, better known as "Knucksie." At 19, he tried out for a pitching job with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

This being the month of the Masters, thoughts turn to 90-year-old Charlie Yates who attended 68 consecutive tournaments, played in 11 and was low amateur in five.

Tommy Nobis may be the only football player nearly recruited from outer space. In 1965, when he was drafted No. 1 in the NFL draft by the Atlanta Falcons and No. 1 in the old AFL draft by the Houston Oilers, Astronaut Frank Borman, command pilot of the Gemini 7 spacecraft, radioed word from space encouraging Nobis to sign with the Oilers. The message was relayed to Nobis, who opted to sign with the Falcons and became the finest football player in the franchise's history.

The first time I saw George Hamilton Brodnax III play a football game, he was a 175-pound end for the old Atlanta Boys' High School. He was running across the pitcher's mound at Atlanta's Ponce de Leon Park, site of all the Tech High and Boys' High home games. With outstretched hands, his body leaning forward at a 45-degree angle, he raced over the mound, pulled in the ball with his fingertips and carried it across the goal line to bring his team back from almost certain defeat to a 13-13-tie with arch-rival Tech High.

Ninety-one-year-old Natalie Cohen is one of a kind. She played competitive tennis for 73 years, winning 13 Georgia State Women's Open Doubles Championships. At age 42, she won both the Atlanta City and Georgia State women's singles and doubles championships, equivalent to the state's Grand Slam.