Athletes who were/are jazz fans

[T.D.]

Found this interesting passage in the Dexter bio Sophisticated Giant (p.125):

Torben Ulrich, the Danish writer, musician, filmmaker, painter, director, performer, and former champion professional tennis player, was also there at Jazzhus Montmartre on Dexter's first night in Copenhagen...Ulrich and Dexter became very good friends, and Torben asked Dexter to be godfather to his son, Lars Ulrich, who grew up to become one of the founding members of the heavy metal band Metallica.

[musichub]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Show
 

Eric Show, pitcher for the San Diego Padres, was a strong bebop guitarist I was fortunate to meet playing in a San Diego club.

[Ken Dryden]

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a well-known jazz fan with a sizeable colleciton, presuming he replaced the one he lost in a home fire.

 

 

[jk666]

Bernie Williams plays a mean 'smooth jazz' guitar. He used to live near me and played at a couple of town events.

 

[Tom in RI]

Long time sports writer from the Boston Globe, Bob Ryan, is somewhat of a jazz fan. I remember he mentioned in an article from the 1980’s that then Red Sox lefty Bruce Hurst was a jazz fan

[sonnymax]

Clipped from Billboard magazine, June 22, 2002, p. 57:

[DMP]

I saw the great Browns running back Leroy Kelly at Leo”s Casino (on Euclid Ave., Cleveland), maybe early 1965. (Get this - the show was Roland Kirk and Ramsey Lewis, and the emcee was Flip Wilson! Those were the days!) (Kirk, with Horace Parlan, was plugging his upcoming all flute album on Mercury.)

[medjuck]

1. I saw Don Newcom at a jimmy Smith club show.  I thought  it was Sonny Rollins till Jimmy introduced him.  

[Larry Kart]

 

That should be Don Newcombe.