Ray Arcel (August 30, 1899 – March 6, 1994) was a boxing trainer who was active from the 1920s through the 1980s. He trained eighteen world champions.

Arcel was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, but moved to New York City before he was six years old. He grew up in Harlem and graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1917. He began training fighters at Stillman's Gym, near the old location of Madison Square Garden on 8th Avenue, in the 1920s. The champions he trained were Benny Leonard, Ezzard Charles, Jim Braddock, Barney Ross, Bob Olin, Tony Zale, Billy Soose, Ceferino Garcia, Lou Brouillard, Teddy Yarosz, Freddie Steele, Jackie Kid Berg, Alfonso Frazier, Abe Goldstein, Frankie Genaro, Sixto Escobar, Charley Phil Rosenberg, Roberto Durán and Larry Holmes.

After some disputes with Jim Norris and the International Boxing Club in the 1950s, Arcel retired from training until returning in the 1970s to work with Alfonso Frazier and Roberto Durán. After Durán quit in his second fight against Ray Leonard, Arcel helped prepare Larry Holmes for his fight against Gerry Cooney. He retired from training after that fight.

Donald Jefferson Dewey (March 27, 1922 – March 4, 2002) was a professor of economics at Duke University and Columbia University.

Dewey was best known for his antitrust studies and his work on industrial organization. His books included Monopoly in Economics and Law, Modern Capital Theory, The Theory of Imperfect Competition, Microeconomics, and The Antitrust Experiment 1890-1990. He also published thirty articles and about seventy-five book reviews.

Dewey was born in Solon, Ohio. His father, Ralph Dewey (1901–1959), was professor of economics and department chair at the Ohio State University. A graduate of the University of Chicago (A.B., 1943) and the University of Iowa (M.A., 1947), Donald Dewey's education was interrupted by service in the United States Army during World War II. After the war, he did additional graduate work at Cambridge University, the London School of Economics, and Chicago before joining the faculty of Duke University in 1950. He moved to Columbia in 1960, where he remained until he reached mandatory retirement age in 1992. He served as department chair in economics at Columbia from 1973 to 1976.

Charles L. "Sonny" Liston (Unknown – December 30, 1970) was an American professional boxer known for his toughness, punching power and intimidating appearance, who became World Heavyweight Champion in 1962 by knocking out Floyd Patterson in the first round. Liston failed to live up to his fearsome reputation in an unsuccessful defense of the title against Muhammad Ali; underworld connections and an early death—along with his unrecorded date of birth—added to the enigma. He is ranked number 15 in Ring Magazine's 100 Greatest Punchers of All Time.

There is no record of Liston's birth, he once gave an age compatible with his being born in 1928, but is said to be absent from the 1930 United States Census; it has been suggested he may not have known what year he was born. Liston settled on a date of birth of May 8, 1932 for official purposes but by the time he won the world title an aged appearance added credence to rumors that he was several years older than claimed.

Guglielmo Papaleo (September 19, 1922 – November 23, 2006) was an American professional boxer, better known as Willie Pep. Pep boxed a total of 1956 rounds in the 241 bouts during his 26 year career, a considerable number of rounds and fights even for a fighter of his era. His final record was 229-11-1 with 65 knockouts. Pep, known for his speed and finesse, is considered to be one of the best fighters of the 20th century and was inducted to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. Pep was voted as the #1 featherweight of the 20th Century by the Associated Press and ranked the #1 featherweight of all-time by the International Boxing Research Organization in 2005.

Pep first fought as an amateur in 1937. At the time, amateur boxers from Connecticut were allowed to fight for money. It was during the Great Depression hit and Pep's father was earning $15 per week at the Works Progress Administration. Willie was soon earning more in one night of fighting each week. When his parents found out he was boxing, his mother was worried for him, but his father said that if he was making so much fighting on Fridays, maybe he should see about fighting on Tuesdays as well. "My old man, he was a sports fan" Pep later quipped.

Sugar Ray Leonard (born May 17, 1956) is an American retired professional boxer and occasional actor. He was named Ray Charles Leonard, after his mother's favorite singer, Ray Charles. Leonard was the first boxer to earn more than $100 million in purses, won world titles in five weight divisions and defeated future fellow International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees Wilfred Benítez, Thomas Hearns, Roberto Durán and Marvin Hagler. Leonard was named "Boxer of the Decade" for the 1980s.

Leonard, the fifth of seven children, was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina to Cicero and Getha Leonard. He grew up in Wilmington, N.C. When he was three, the family moved to Washington, D.C. When he was ten, they settled permanently in Palmer Park, Maryland. His father worked as a supermarket night manager, his mother was a nurse.

Leonard was a shy child, and aside from the time he nearly drowned in a creek during a Seat Pleasant flood, his childhood was uneventful. He stayed home a lot, reading comic books and playing with his dog. "He never did talk too much," his mother said. "We never could tell what he was thinking. But I never had any problems with him. I never had to go to school once because of him."