Introducing Andre and Andreana "Suki" Horton....

Tennis has Venus, Serena, James Blake, Mashona Washington and Jamea Jackson.

Hockey has Jarome Iginla.

Golf has Tiger Woods.

But who does skiing have, one might ask?

(From left to right: Suki Horton and Andre Horton)


Well, looks like Andre and Suki have been doing it big for a while now and the mainstream sports press is just now taking notice.

Born three years apart (big brother in 1979 and little sister in 1982) mom Elsena is white and dad Gerry is an African American in Alaska due to his military career. Andre's achievements include:

• Alaska State Champion, 1998
• 1st African-American skier selected to the U.S. Ski Team Development Program, 2000
• 9th place overall finish in the U.S. Alpine National Championships, 2001
• first African-American to win an FIS race in Europe, 2001
• 4th place, NorAm Competition, 2001
• 1st place, Mt. Bachelor's Northwest Cup Finals, 2001.

Suki's achievements include:

• Alaska State Champion, 1998
• U.S. Ski Team's Junior Development Group, 1997
• Selected to compete in the U.S. Alpine National Championships three years in a row
• 2nd place, Western Region Downhill FIS series, 2001.

Source

Stuff I don't understand about Venus Williams

So, Venus Eboni Starr Williams is a legendary tennis player, right? There is no doubt she will make it into the US and International Halls of Fame. She's won titles from Wimbledon, the US Open, countless Tier I, II, and III events, etc.

She's phenomenal.

But.

She's been sucking often lately.

I know she's got other interests, and frankly I think they makes a more well rounded invidual and sportswoman, when they have other things than the main goal to focus on, as it creates perspective when they do finally get to focus on the goal at hand.

But.

Something has to be done. She was recently knocked out of the Miami event when some thought she might go all the way (those "some" were like 4 people, but thats still a good amount, right?). and very recently, she was knocked out of the Amelia Island in straight sets to Tatiana Golovin, 6-2, 6-3.

Here's the thing, Venus is not getting any younger (she's 26 now) and while there are some great athletes playing at a high level even though they are well over the average age of a successful player, I don't know if Venus can have the same type of success she once did.

I'm hoping she does though. She's always been my favorite, I even made a website AGES ago back when they first started. See:

http://www.geocities.com/african_american_athletes/

Anyway, I want to see Venus claim her rightful trophies eventually, it's not a coincidence that Wimbledon trophy, the tournament she envisioned winning when she was a kid, is named the Venus Rosewater dish.

I want to see her looking back like this: