The entertainer’s life was so full of starring roles and sporting endeavors that it’s hard to imagine that one person did it all.
Sammy Davis Jr. was not only a popular entertainer, but also an avid sports fan. He is probably best remembered in the sporting realm for lending his name to a major PGA golf tournament, The Hartford Open. He spiced up the yearly celebration by inviting many of his friends, including Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, and Jerry Lewis, to play in the Pro-Am day held before the tournament started.
Graphic courtesy GolfSpy
Davis began his 15-year run in 1973 as the tournament’s celebrity host and namesake, the first Black celebrity to have a PGA Tour event named after him. He stepped down as host in 1988 because of the demands associated with his busy entertainment career.
Davis was also passionate about boxing. He was a talented amateur boxer and later remained close friends with Muhammad Ali. After watching Davis’s surprisingly sharp, lightning-fast hands during their amusing gym sessions, Ali gave him the nickname “The fastest man outside the ring.”
Davis sometimes took a comedic approach to sports, and perhaps the most notable occasion was when he tried to “fight” Wilt Chamberlain during a 1971 episode of Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. It wasn’t much of a match, though: Davis stood about 5-5, and Chamberlain towered at 7-1.
Photo courtesy of Good Ole Days on Facebook
Of course, fans most remember Sammy Davis Jr.’s entertainment career, which spanned six decades. He was one of the most notable and durable entertainers of the 20th Century, nicknamed “Mr. Entertainment.”
He began his career in vaudeville at the age of two with his father, Sammy Davis Sr., and Will Mastin, and the three performed as the Will Mastin Trio. He began his film career at the tender age of seven with the musical short Rufus Jones for President (1933). He then went on to star in multiple films, including Porgy and Bess (1959), Ocean’s 11 (1960), Sergeants 3 (1962), The Three Penny Opera (1963), Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964), A Man Called Adam (1966), Sweet Charity (1969), The Cannonball Run (1981), Cannonball Run II (1984), and Tap (1989).
Davis was also a familiar face on television, featured on many programs like The Rifleman, The Patty Duke Show, Batman, I Dream of Jeannie, Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, The Mod Squad, All in the Family, Chico and the Man, The Carol Burnett Show, Charlie’s Angels, Archie Bunker’s Place, General Hospital, The Jeffersons, Fantasy Island, and The Cosby Show.
Davis in Golden Boy (photo courtesy Sammy Davis, Jr. Collection)
Davis also appeared in Broadway musicals, which include Mr. Wonderful (1956), Golden Boy (1964), and Stop the World – I Want to Get Off (1978). In the musical Golden Boy, Davis played a young Black boxer from Harlem who tries to escape the Ghetto. The musical was a poignant reflection during the Civil Rights Era.
Davis rounded out his multi-talented career as a notable singer. Hits included Something’s Gotta Give, What Kind of Fool Am I, Gonna Build a Mountain, I’ve Gotta Be Me, The Candy Man, and Mr. Bojangles.
It’s hard to think of another entertainer who did so much, did it all so well, and did it at a young age. Perhaps even more astonishing is that Davis lived a relatively short life. A lifelong and heavy smoker, he died in 1990 at 64 from complications associated with throat cancer.
