Dan Marino's Life

Daniel Constantine Marino, Jr. was born on September 15, 1961 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Dan always loved sports, and his family helped him play as much as possible. His dad worked nights, but he coached Daniel's Little League baseball team. He also spent some afternoons playing catch with his son Dan. Dan's grandpa lived only a few blocks away, right next to Pittsburgh Pirates star Willie Stargell. Willie sometimes would play wiffle ball with his grandson. In high school Marino starred as shortstop and pitcher. The Major League Baseball team the Kansas City Royals tried to sign Dan, but he wanted to play a different sport rather than baseball. Dan began playing in tackle football leagues in the fourth grade. He always played QB. By his senior year in high school, Dan also started as punter and place kicker. But his best work in football was being a quarterback. That season, he threw 16 touchdown passes. One of the reasons why Dan decided not to play baseball was because he wanted to go to college. He had received a scholarship to play football for his hometown school, which was the University of Pittsburgh. The school was called "Pitt" and he football team was called the Panthers. As a star football player, Marino was a local hero. Even before his first game Dan was big news at college. He grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was playing for the hometown school. In the middle of his 1st year, Marino earned the position of starting quarterback. That season, the team finished with 11 wins and 1 loss. Dan led the Panthers to 4 bowl championship games, or post season games, in four seasons. Each bowl game was on TV so people watched Dan play across the United States. When he finished college, Pitt retired his jersey number. No player at Pitt was allowed to wear #13 on their jersey ever again. The NFL team, the Miami Dolphins, used its first college pick to choose Marino. As a first round choice and as quarterback, fans and reporters thought Dan should be a star right away. He started only 9 games that year, but threw 20 touchdown passes. Dan helped Miami get to the playoffs. In his second season, Dan played like a veteran. he tossed forty-eight touchdown passes, the highest ever in his football career. Marino added another 1,001 yards to his total in the 3 playoff games that the Dolphins played in 1984. This passer from Pennsylvania gave the Dolphins its first conference title in more than ten years. The Dolphins won the American Football Conference (AFC) in 1984. They went on to play the winners of the National Football Conference (NFC), the San Francisco Forty-Niners, in Super Bowl XIX (19) on January 20, 1985. But the 49ers won with a score of 38 to 16. More than 10 years later, Marino would still be waiting for a chance to earn a Super Bowl winner's ring. For the first four years after the Super Bowl, the Miami Dolphins could not even win enough games to get to the playoffs again, let alone to the Super Bowl. Dan's outstanding passes alone couldn't make the Dolphins champions. Fans remember when the Miami Dolphins won the Super Bowl two years in a row, 1972 and 1973, ten years before Dan went to the Dolphins. They wanted him to help them win even more Super Bowls. At Dolphins games, some fans would boo Marino for making mistakes. Since quarterbacks are in charge of calling plays, Dan would be blamed for bad plays or mistakes more than his other teammates. When fans think of his career, they think of it as the best career ever. He is a wonderful football player. He is still living and is currently fifty-one.

John Elway's Life

John Albert Elway, Jr. was born on June 28, 1960 in Port Angeles, Washington. His parents are Janet Elway and John Elway, Sr. In 1979, he led the Granada Hills High School baseball team to the Los Angeles city championship. Elway had a .491 batting average and a 4-2 pitching record. He was the most highly recruited high school athlete in the United States. John made the following All-America teams: Parade, Scholastic Coach, Football News and National Coaches Association. He was selected by the Kansas City Royals in the summer baseball draft. and signed a letter of intent to attend college at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. In 1981, Elway played his final season of college baseball, batting .349 with nine homers and fifty runs batted in. He was the first selection of the New York Yankees in the summer baseball draft. In 1982, John played baseball for the New York Yankees' Class A. It was a farm club in Oneonta, New York. He had .318 average and 24 RBI. He went to football in the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association). Then, Elway ended his college football with five major NCAA Division 1-A records and nine major Pac-10 records. He finished in second place in the Heisman Rrophy balloting. In 1983, he earned his degree in ecomonics from Stanford University. John was the first to be selected in the NFL (National Football League) draft. He played for the Baltimore Colts (now the Indianapolis Colts) then played for the Denver Broncos. John Elway has won some Super Bowls with the Denver Broncos. He retired in 1997 and in 2011 he became the Executive Vice President of Football Operations for the Broncos. he is still living and is currently fifty-two.

Tiger Woods' Life

Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods was born on December 30, 1975 in Cypress, California. He was a beautiful baby with dark brown skin. Growing up in Cypress, he had neighbors that had white skin. The neighbors did not want Tiger and his family to stay in the neighborhood. They wanted the Woods family to leave. But Tiger's dad and Tiger's mom refused. They stayed in Cypress to raise their little baby boy. Tiger's dad had a love for golf. Sometimes, he would not be aloud to play on the golf course where people with white skin play. So he just swung some golf balls in the garage. He would sometimes bring along baby Tiger to watch him. But Tiger wanted to swing golf balls, too. One day, the little baby picked up the giant golf club while his dad was around. Then he swung that ball! It was amazing. Tiger was very proud of himself, and his dad was very impressed and surprised. Mr. Woods bought the boy a set of little golf clubs just for him. By the time Tiger was three, he played as well as many adults. When he was five, he went to school. On his first day, he got teased, made fun of, name-called, and beat up. Later, he learned to ignore what others think about him. Years later, he went to Stanford University. Tiger's parents said that school comes first, then golf is second. One time, he went to a tournament and he was the youngest one on the course. Some kids thought that Tiger had no chance of winning the tournament. But they were wrong. To everybody's surprise, he won. He also won the Amateur Golf Tournament in 1994. He was the youngest to ever win that tournament. But then Tiger realized that he had never played as a professional, meaning that he never won a money prize. At age twenty, he joined the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA). Tiger's parent thought that he was ready. But in his first game, he ended up in sixtieth place. Next, he ended up in third place. Then, he played again and won and got placed in first place. He once made a hole in one at the Milwaukee Open. Tiger is still living and is still playing golf. His name is Eldrick, but he was known as the great Tiger Woods.

Roald Dahl's Life

Roald Dahl was born on September 13, 1916 in Cardiff, Wales in the United Kingdom. He was born to Harald Dahl and Sofie Dahl. They were both born in Norway. He would always think that he lived in Norway because they visit Norway each and every single year. Harald's first wife had died before he had married Sofie. Roald's siblings were Ellen Dahl and Louis Dahl, but they were his half brother and half sister. The rest of his siblings were Astri Dahl, Alfhild Dahl, and Else Dahl. Tragedy struck the Dahl family when Roald was four years of age. His older sister Astri had died of appendicitis and his father Harald had died of pneumonia two months after Astri's death. Soon after that horrific tragedy, his mother Sofie Dahl had given birth to Asta, Roald's Little baby sister. Now Sofie had to take care of all of her six children by her own self. When Roald was young, he loved playing outside. He would look at the birds and the butterflies. One time he had eaten a buttercup bulb but he eventually found it very hot. Sometimes he would his tricycle so speedy that he would ride on two wheels. His mother would often tell young Roald stories about trolls and witches. But something strangely weird happened. After he had one of the stories his mom had told him, he forgot the book. His writing experiences happened later on in his life. Once at a sweet store, they were two women that Roald and his friends would think were witches. So they hid a dead mouse in one of the candy jars. Eventually the boys were severely punished. At the age of nine, Sofie sent Roald to boarding school. Before he died, his father had thought that the English schools were the best schools on the planet of Earth. Afterward, Sofie sent all of her children to school. Roald went to St. Peters Prepratory School in Weston-super-Mare in England. That is where he stayed for four years. The staff in St. Peters were super strict. If a student had misbehaved or had broken the rules, they would get beaten with a cane. Later, he wrote a autobiography about his boarding school days so-called Boy.  So after attending St. Peters he attended Repton. When he was twenty-two he began to get bored with his job after attending Repton. He decided to join the war effort. Before that, he worked with Shell Oil Company. He traveled to Kenya later in the same year. He worked with RAF. He enjoyed it. Although, while in the desert, the plane crashed before they even started to fight. Afterwards, he flew to Syria and Greece. The Royal Air Force (RAF) sent Roald to Washington, D.C. In the capital of the United States of America, that is where he met C.S. Forester, a writer. In 1953, he married Patricia Neal after they met in New York City. They had five children. They were named Olivia Dahl, Tessa Dahl, Theo Dahl, Ophelia Dahl, and Lucy Dahl. In his stroller, Theo was hit by a taxi. He eventually suffered from multiple head injuries. Fortunately, baby Theo recovered. In 1961 his first book  James and the Giant Peach was published. In 1962 some unfortunate tragedy occurred. His seven-year-old daughter Olivia died of complications from the measles. After her death, it was very hard for Roald to write. In 1964 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was published. With Lucy in her stomach, Patricia suffered three strokes. Eventually, she got better. Roald Dahl wrote much more such as Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, The Magic Finger, The Twits, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Matilda. Matilda was published in 1988. On November 23, 1990 sadly passed away of a rare blood disease. He will never be forgotten.

Bill Murray's Life

Bill Murray was born William James Murray on September 21, 1950 in Wilmette, Illinois. He is the fifth of nine children to Edward and Lucille Murray. Bill and most of his siblings worked as caddies, which paid his tuition to Loyola Academy, a Jesuit school. He played sports and did some acting while in Loyola, but in his own words, he said was screwed off, as a metaphor. He enrolled at Regis University in Denver, Colorado to study pre-med but dropped out after being arrested for marijuana possession. He then joined the National Lampoon Radio Hour with fellow members Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner,and John Belushi. However, while Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, and John Belushi became the original actresses and actors in the 1975 American late-night live television sketch comedy, Saturday Night Live, he joined Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell, which also premiered in 1975. After the show was cancelled, he later got the opportunity to join Saturday Night Live. He was an actor and soundtrack in Lost in Translation (2003), and acted in Groundhog Day (1993) and Ghostbusters (1984). He is still living.

Robin Gibb's Life

Robin Hugh Gibb was born on December 22, 1949 in Douglas, United Kingdom, about thirty minutes before his twin brother Maurice Gibb. His parents, Barbara and Hugh Gibb, were both musicians. Barbara sang and Hugh was a drummer and bandleader. Gibb had four siblings, older brother and sister, Lesley and Barry Gibb, twin Maurice, and younger brother Andy Gibb. The Gibb family moved for some time to Manchester, England before emigrating to Australia in 1958. During his childhood, Maurice, Andy, and Robin began a band which went by several names, but finally settled on The Bee Gees. It was in Australia where they first tasted success, topping the charts there in 1965 with Spicks and Specks. In 1966 they relocated back to the UK and landed a recording contract with Polydor. Chart success followed in the United States and the UK. In the late 1960s, tensions arose in the band. Robin briefly left to pursue a solo career but the group reunited and continued to become more successful, including switching to a more disco tone. In  1977 The Bee Gees wrote and produced five songs for the soundtrack of Saturday Night Fever. The film was a hit and the soundtrack album went on to become one of the biggest selling of all time, elevating the band to superstar group status. Robin and the rest of the group also became known for penning hit records for other song artists such as Dolly Parton, Barbra Streisand, Kenny Rogers, and Diana Ross. In 2003 Maurice Gibb died. In 2011 it was announced that Robin was suffering with cancer. After a battle with the disease, Gibb died on May 20, 2012. His only surviving sibling is his younger brother, Andy Gibb. He was 62 at the time of his death.

Ozzy Osbourne's Life

Ozzy Osbourne was born John Michael Osbourne on December 3, 1948 in Birmingham, United Kingdom. After Osbourne left school and had odd occupations, he ended up in a band with Geezer Butler. this band then split leading Ozzy and Butler to join Tony Iommi and Bill Ward in a new group that went under several names (including Earth) that ended up being called Black Sabbath after a song of the same name that appeared on their first album (released 1969/1970). He recorded many more albums with Black Sabbath despite the decline of his relationship with Tony Iommi, which after several break-ups led him to being fired from the band in 1979. After a short time, he launched a solo career with a line up behind him that varied immensely from album to album and tour to tour. During the 1980s he was treated several times for alcoholism and was sued twice for suicide of some of his young fan (cleared completely). Following his No More Tears album, he declared his world tour for the last time. In 1991 on his last date, he reformed briefly on stage with Black Sabbath for three songs. However a much talked about reformation tour fell through and Ozzy seemed in retirement. His bassist (Mike Inez) joined Alice in Chains and his lead guitarist (Zakk Wylde) made his own band, Pride and Glory. Now however he recorded a new album and he has said to intend to tour. The album came in Summer 1995 and tour happened to be right after. Geezer Butler has now quit Black Sabbath again, and rejoined Osbourne (Ozzy played bass guitar for him on tour during the mid to late 1980s) and the group was able to perform in the next album. He is currently married to Sharon Osbourne and is still alive.