Sports Heroes Who Served: Author, Runner, Comedian, Civil Rights Activist Was Also a Soldier

View Online Sports Heroes Who Served: Author, Runner, Comedian, Civil Rights Activist Was Also a Soldier Dec. 28, 2021 | By David Vergun Sports Heroes Who Served is a series that highlights the accomplishments of athletes who served in the U.S. military. Dick Gregory led a full life: cross-country champion, Army veteran, presidential hopeful, prolific author, civil rights activist and comedian. Gregory, born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1932, had a penchant for running. In 1950, he won the Missouri state cross-country championship. That helped earn him a track scholarship to Southern Illinois University, where he set school records as a half-miler and miler. His studies and running were interrupted in 1954, when he was drafted into the Army. He served two years at Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Lee, Virginia; and Fort Chaffee, Arkansas. Gregory got his start in comedy while serving in the Army, where he entered and won several talent shows.  After his Army service, he moved to Chicago, where he began a career in comedy. "Playboy" magazine editor Hugh Hefner hired him to perform comedy sketches at the Chicago Playboy Club in 1961. Gregory was active in the civil rights movement. On October 7, 1963, he came to Selma, Alabama, and spoke for two hours on a public platform two days before the voter registration drive known as "Freedom Day," Oct. 7, 1963. In 1964, Gregory's autobiography, "Nigger," was published, and it has been so popular that it is still in print. He published 16 other books and appeared in many films and TV shows. Beginning in 1965, Gregory became a vegetarian and fasting activist. His 1973 book, "Dick Gregory's Natural Diet For Folks Who Eat: Cookin' With Mother Nature," told how fasting and going on a vegetarian diet leads to a dramatic weight loss. Gregory was number 82 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of all time and had his own star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame. Gregory began his political career by a failed run against Richard J. Daley for mayor of Chicago in 1967.  Undeterred, he ran for president of the United States in 1968 as a write-in candidate of the Freedom and Peace Party, which had broken off from the Peace and Freedom Party. He garnered 47,097 votes. As a peace activist, Gregory spoke at the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam demonstration in Washington, D.C. in 1969. He was also an outspoken feminist and joined other activists in trying to get ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution.  In 1980, he traveled to Tehran, Iran, in an attempt to negotiate the release of U.S. hostages. In 1984, he founded Health Enterprises, Inc., a company that distributed weight-loss products. Through this company, Gregory endeavored to improve the life expectancy of African Americans, which he believed was being hindered by poor nutrition and drug and alcohol abuse. In 2003, Gregory took on animal rights, in cooperation with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Gregory died from heart failure at a hospital in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 19, 2017, at the age of 84. More Sports Heroes Who Served

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