PORT ARTHUR, Texas — The Museum of the Gulf Coast at 700 Procter Street in Port Arthur is home to three galleries with notable Southeast Texas personalities.
The Music Hall of Fame has more than 80 musicians representing a wide array of genres. The Notable People Gallery contains more than 40 individuals who have achieved national and/or international recognition in a professional endeavor. Plus, the Sports Legends Gallery features more than 75 area athletes.
While there aren't any Southeast Texas athletes competing in the 2022 Beijing Games, the region is home to many talented athletes. 12News worked with the Museum of the Gulf Coast to learn about the Olympians who call the region home.
Sidney Bowman
1907-1986
Hometown: Hammond, Louisiana
Olympics attended: Amsterdam (1928), Los Angeles (1932)
Sports: Track and Field
Highlights: Bronze Medal (1932)
Sidney Bowman graduated from Louisiana State University, where he was the national champion in the hop-step-and-jump. At the National A.A.U. games in Palo Alto, Bowman won the event with a 48' 11½" jump.
Bowman went on to the 1932 Olympics, held in Los Angeles. He failed to qualify for the finals in the hop-step-and-jump, but the U.S. team as a whole won several medals, including teammate Mildred 'Babe' Didrikson Zaharias' three medals.
Bowman's first wife Martha Ferguson’s father owned the Brown Derby in Port Arthur, a popular night spot after the repeal of Prohibition in 1933. The couple moved to Port Arthur in 1932, and Bowman worked as a bartender at the club. After divorcing, Bowman moved back to Louisiana and got a job as a government tobacco inspector under Governor Huey P. Long. Bowman later was appointed State Fire Marshal in New Orleans.
Mildred 'Babe' Didrikson Zaharias
1911-1956
Hometown: Port Arthur
Sport: Track and Field, Basketball, Baseball
Olympics attended: Los Angeles (1932)
Highlights:
- Two gold medals and one silver medal
- Bob Jones Award for distinguished sportsmanship
Mildred "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias is widely considered to be the greatest female athlete of all time. She was born in Port Arthur and her family moved to Beaumont when she was 4 years old. The Port Arthur Historical Society was successful in placing a historical marker on the site of her childhood home in Port Arthur.
Babe came from a working-class background and was a self-promoter, delighting in the kind of publicity stunts which challenged the public's idea of women as the weaker sex.
Babe's second nickname became the "Texas Tomboy." In 1934, she played for the men's baseball team, the New Orleans Pelicans, against the Cleveland Indians, pitching two scoreless innings. Didrikson is still recognized as the world record holder for the farthest baseball throw by a woman.
Morris Carona
1918-1997
Hometown: Port Arthur
Sports: Boxing
Highlights:
- 2x National Golden Glove Champion
- 5x Texas State Golden Glove Champion between 1939-1943
- 2x Tournament of Chicago winner
- 11th Naval District Championship winner
Morris Carona was born in Port Arthur, where he began his boxing career at a small gym. Carona was voted the Captain of the 1940 Olympic Boxing Team, but due to the war, the Olympics were canceled.
His amateur record from March 12, 1936, to Dec. 3, 1944, consisted of 72 fights won by decision, 43 won by knock out, three draws and 12 defeats. After turning professional, Carona had 25 professional fights, winning 15. After winning the 11th Naval District Championship in 1944, he returned to civilian life.
Richard 'Dick' Menchaca
1921-2005
Hometown: Piedras Negras, Mexico
Sports: Boxing
Highlights:
- 2x Golden Glove champion
- European theatre boxing champion
- American Red Cross boxing champion
Richard 'Dick' Menchaca knew no English when he came to Port Arthur at age 10. He began boxing when he was 13.
At 118 pounds, Menchaca was a bantamweight in the Golden Glove competition. Continuing his streak of firsts, he knocked out his opponent, Dick Byrd of Bloomington, Illinois, in the first round. Menchaca successfully defended his title in 1941.
He was selected to the Olympic boxing team in 1940, but the games were not held because of World War II. Instead, Menchaca boxed in the Army.
Menchaca returned to Port Arthur following the war and began coaching boxing while working for Texaco. He worked for Texaco for 35 years. For more than 45 years, Menchaca has coached boxers for free, using donations to buy gloves and equipment for Manchaca's Boxing Academy in Port Arthur.
Walter 'Buddy' Davis
1931-2020
Hometown: Nederland
Sports: Track and Field, Basketball
Olympics Attended: Helsinki (1952)
Highlights:
- Gold Medal
- 3x All-District player
Walter “Buddy” Davis overcame tremendous obstacles to become a world-class athlete. Both of his legs and his right arm were paralyzed from polio when he was a child. He was unable to walk for three years but eventually recovered.
He entered Nederland High School in 1944. Davis lettered as a forward in basketball. Standing 6’7' as a junior, he was the team’s starting center. Growing another inch by the time he was a senior, he tallied more than 60% of his team’s points, producing 648 in 21 games.
Davis also participated in track, winning the high jump at a district track meet with a leap of 5’8”, without the benefit of any previous practice. As a senior, he won district with a 6-foot leap and the regional meet with a jump of 6’ 1 ½”. He passed up the state track meet to play baseball on a team that won the district title.
Davis enrolled at Texas A&M in 1948 on a basketball scholarship. He led the freshman basketball team in scoring with 162 points in 12 games.
In his first varsity season, he scored 237 points. He also led the nation in fouls, collecting 101 in 24 games.
As a college senior, he set a Texas Relays record by clearing 6’9”, tied for the NCAA title at 6’8”, and set a new Amature Athletic Union mark at 6’10 ½”. Davis then won the gold medal in the 1952 Olympics at Helsinki, Finland, with a record-setting leap of 6', 8.32".
The Philadelphia Warriors selected Davis in the second round of the 1952 NBA Draft. He spent five seasons with the Warriors and St. Louis Hawks, averaging 4.8 points and 4.3 rebounds per game.
Barbara Jacket
1934- 2022
Hometown: Port Arthur
Sports: Softball, Basketball, Track and Field
Olympics Attended: Barcelona (1992)
Highlights:
- Her women's team won four Gold Medals, three Silver Medals, and three Bronze Medals
- Her 1965 to 1991 teams claimed eight National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) outdoor titles and two indoor titles
- National titles in the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women and the U.S. Track and Field Federation
- Eight Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) cross country titles
- Nine indoor titles
- Five outdoor SWAC titles
- 23x SWAC Coach of the Year
- 5x NAIA Coach of the Year
Barbara Jean Jacket began her athletic career playing softball with high school students at age 10 in 1944. She was a 1954 graduate of Lincoln High School, in Port Arthur where she participated in basketball and track. After graduating from Tuskegee Institute in 1958, Jacket began coaching track and field.
In 1990, she became the only women athletic director in the SWAC when she was named to the position at Prairie View. As coach of the 1992 U.S. Women's Olympic Track Team, Jacket had the enviable task of coaching such greats as long jumper Jackie Joyner-Kersee and sprinters Gwen Torrance, Gail Devers, and Evelyn Ashford.
Jacket was the second Black female to coach an Olympic team. The first was her track coach at Tuskegee, Dr. Nell Jackson, who coached in 1956.
Bubba Busceme
1952
Hometown: Beaumont
Sports: Boxing
Olympics attended: Munich (1972)
Highlights:
- 5x state Golden Gloves champion
- 4x Golden Gloves national champion
- Pan American Games Gold Medal
Olympian and Golden Glove boxer, James Anthony "Bubba" Busceme graduated from South Park High School in 1970, where he lettered in track. He began boxing in Beaumont and entered his first Golden Gloves competition in 1959 at the age of seven.
Busceme boxed professionally from 1974 to 1976, and after a short hiatus, he again entered the ring in 1979. His career peaked when he brought a world championship title fight to Beaumont against Alexis Arguello on February 13, 1982.
He retired permanently from boxing in 1983 with an amateur record of 47-2 and a professional boxing record of 31-6.
Busceme is currently a manufacturing representative for a Beaumont sportswear company. He resides in Nederland and spends three months each year in Belize teaching children the boxing skills that brought him so much acclaim. Bubba Busceme is still the only amateur boxer to have won four Golden Gloves national titles.
Ronnie Shields
1958
Hometown: Port Arthur
Sports: Boxing
Olympics Attended:
- Highlights: National Junior Olympics Featherweight champion
- 2x National Golden Gloves titles in light welterweight division
- Trainer of the Year by the World Boxing Hall of Fame
In 1975, Ronnie Shields represented the U.S. in an Amateur Athletic Union boxing tour in Germany. After making the transition from amateur to professional boxing in 1980, Shields earned a record of 26-6-1 as a light welterweight contender.
During his career as a professional boxer, Shields twice challenged for a world title and was ranked in the top 10 for five consecutive years by all of boxing’s sanctioning bodies. Shields retired from professional boxing in 1988 but continues to be involved in the sport as a successful trainer.
He has trained John Molina, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and many others. He currently works out of the Plex Boxing Gym in Stafford, Texas.
Mark Henry
1971
Hometown: Silsbee
Sports: Weightlifting, Powerlifting
Olympics Attended: Barcelona (1992); Atlanta (1996)
Highlights:
- Pan American Games gold, silver and bronze medal
- World Drug-Free Powerlifting Federation World Champion
- 2x U.S. National Champion
- 3x U.S. National Weightlifting Champion, American Open winner
- 2x U.S. Olympic Festival Champion
- NACAC champion
- Arnold Strongman Classic winner
- WWF European Champion winner
- 2x WWF World Champion
- ECW Championship
- WWE's World Heavyweight Championship
Mark Henry was born in Silsbee. As a child, he was a big wrestling fan, and André the Giant was his favorite wrestler. While attending a wrestling show in Beaumont, young Henry tried to touch André as he walked down the aisle, but tripped over the barricade. André picked him up out of the crowd and put him back behind the barrier.
Personal bests for Henry in competition are a squat of 953.5 pounds, a deadlift of 903.9 pounds, a powerlifting total of 2,336.9 pounds, a snatch of 396.8 pounds, a clean and jerk of 485.0 pounds and a weightlifting total of 881.8 pounds. His unofficial records outside of competition are a squat of 1,006 pounds, a bench press of 585 pounds and a deadlift of 925 pounds.
Chanda Rubin
1976
Hometown: Lafayette, Louisiana
Sports: Tennis
Olympics Attended: Atlanta (1996); Athens (2004)
Highlights:
- Age 12 and Under National Tennis Championship
- Age 14 and Under National Tennis Championship
- Wimbledon Girls’ Singles Championship winner
- Athlete of the Year by the American Tennis Association
- Female Athlete of the Year by the USTA
- Grand Slam Title at Australia Open
- 3x Grand Slam singles quarterfinalist
Chanda Rubin attended the Episcopal School of Acadiana in Cade, Louisiana. She began learning the game of tennis when she was only 5 years old. At 14, Rubin was chosen for the national team by the U.S. Tennis Association, making her the youngest player ever to be selected.
She also became the only player without a National Championship win to be granted a U.S. Open wild card draw. She's been honored with her own day on September 12, 1995, “Chanda Rubin Day.”
Multiple injuries slowed her career, but after a second knee surgery in 2002, Rubin came back at Wimbledon and at the U.S. Open, defeating top players Lindsay Davenport, Jelena Dokic, and Serena Williams. Rubin represented the United States in the 2004 Olympic games, reaching the third round.
Known as a caring athlete, Rubin is involved in a number of charities including her own Chanda Rubin Tennis Foundation which raises money for tennis programs in several Louisiana schools.
