Michael Nelson Trout (born August 7, 1991 in Millville, New Jersey) is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Major League Baseball. He debuted with the Angels in 2011.

Trout was considered to be one of the top prospects in all of baseball and was named the second best overall prospect by Baseball America, during their midseason update in July 2010. Prior to the 2011 season, Trout was ranked #1 by ESPN's Keith Law in his 2011 top 100 prospects list. MLB's Jonathan Mayo also named Trout the #1 prospect in all of baseball during MLB Network's airing of MLB's Top 50 Prospects.

Trout's father, Jeff Trout, was a fifth round draft pick by the Minnesota Twins in 1983. Trout began playing baseball in Little League.

Trout attended Millville Senior High School in Millville, New Jersey. Initially a shortstop, Trout shifted to the outfield during his senior year. That year, he hit 18 home runs, a New Jersey high school record.

Trout committed to attend East Carolina University on a baseball scholarship. Though scouted by MLB teams, Trout was passed over by teams in the draft as players from New Jersey typically do not play baseball throughout the year, as they do in warmer states such as California, Texas, and Florida.

Bryce Aron Max Harper (born October 16, 1992) is an American professional baseball outfielder with the Washington Nationals of Major League Baseball. Harper was selected by the Nationals with the first overall pick in the 2010 Major League Baseball Draft. He stands at 6 feet 3 inches and weighs 225 lbs.

Harper won the 2010 Golden Spikes Award, awarded annually to the best amateur baseball player. Going into the 2012 season, baseball prospect-watchers, including Baseball America, MLB.com, and Baseball Prospectus routinely ranked Harper as a top #3 prospect. He made his MLB debut with the Nationals on April 28, 2012.

Harper earned his General Educational Development after his sophomore year at Las Vegas High School in December 2009, making him eligible for the June 2010 amateur draft in order to begin his professional baseball career earlier. For the 2010 college season, 17-year-old Harper enrolled at the College of Southern Nevada of the Scenic West Athletic Conference (SWAC) in National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). An advantage for Harper in his eventual transition to his professional career was that the SWAC, like MLB, uses wooden bats in conference play. In 66 games, he hit 31 home runs, 98 RBI, hitting .443/.526/.987 (AVG/OBP/SLG). His 31 home runs shattered the school's previous record of 12. He was named the 2010 SWAC Player of the Year. The next day, in a doubleheader, he went 2-for-5 with a three-run double in the first game, and in the second game went 6-for-6 with 4 home runs, a triple, and a double.

Anthony "Tony" La Russa, Jr. ( /ləˈruːsə/; born October 4, 1944) is a former Major League Baseball manager and infielder, best known for his tenures as manager of the Chicago White Sox, Oakland Athletics, and St. Louis Cardinals. La Russa managed teams to six league championships and three World Series titles, and ranks third in all-time major league wins by a manager, behind Connie Mack and John McGraw.

As a player, La Russa made his major league debut with the Kansas City Athletics in 1963. After a shoulder injury the following off-season, he spent most of his career in the minor leagues. He spent parts of five other seasons in the major leagues, playing for the Kansas City/Oakland Athletics, Atlanta Braves, and Chicago Cubs. His final big-league appearance came in 1973 with the Cubs, but he continued to play in the minor leagues until 1977. Following the end of his playing career, he earned a Juris Doctor degree from Florida State University College of Law.

La Russa was named manager of the White Sox in the middle of the 1979 season. In 1983 he led the White Sox to an American League West division title; however, the White Sox fired him during the 1986 season. Less than three weeks later, La Russa was hired to manage the Athletics, and led the team to three American League championships and the 1989 World Series title. He left Oakland following the 1995 season to manage the Cardinals, and led the team to three National League championships and the 2006 and 2011 World Series titles. On October 31, 2011, he announced his retirement three days after winning the 2011 title and after 33 seasons as a major league manager.

Rick Pitino (born September 18, 1952) is an American basketball coach. Since 2001, he has been the head coach at the University of Louisville. He has also served as head coach at Boston University, Providence College and the University of Kentucky, leading that program to the NCAA championship in 1996. He has coached on the professional level for the NBA's New York Knicks and Boston Celtics with mixed results.

Pitino holds the distinction of being the only men's coach in NCAA history to lead three different schools (Providence, Kentucky, and Louisville) to a Final Four. (John Calipari did the same, but two of his Final Four appearances were later vacated by the NCAA.) Pitino is also only one of three coaches ever to take his school to the Final Four in four separate decades. In addition, Pitino has achieved a measure of success as an author and a motivational speaker.

Pitino, a Sicilian American and native of New York City, grew up in the Village of Bayville and was captain of the St. Dominic High School basketball team in nearby Oyster Bay, Long Island. He enrolled at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1970. He was a standout guard for the Minutemen basketball team. His 329 career assists rank tenth all-time at UMass, as of the 2009–10 season. He led the team in assists as a junior and senior. The 168 assists as a senior is the eighth-best single season total ever there. Pitino was a freshman at the same time future NBA legend Julius Erving spent his junior (and final) year at UMass, although the two never played on the same team because freshmen were ineligible to play varsity basketball at the time. Other teammates of Pitino's include Al Skinner, who also went on to become a successful college coach, and baseballer Mike Flanagan, who went on to pitch in the major leagues and win the AL Cy Young Award in 1979. Pitino earned his degree from UMass in 1974.

Nick Mangold (born January 13, 1984) is an American football center for the New York Jets of the National Football League. He was drafted in the first round (29th overall) in the 2006 NFL Draft. He played college football at Ohio State University. He is widely regarded as one of the best centers in the NFL.

Mangold attended Archbishop Alter High School in Kettering, Ohio, where he was a letterman in football, wrestling, and track & field. In football, he was a three-year starter on both offense and defense and as a senior, he garnered All-Ohio honors. He played in the 2002 U.S. Army All-American Bowl.

At Ohio State University, Mangold was a three-year starter, taking over for injured Alex Stepanovich in his sophomore year, and earned All-Big Ten honors as both a senior and junior.

After a "tremendous performance" at the 2006 Senior Bowl, Mangold was widely regarded as the top center available in the 2006 NFL Draft, ahead of 2005 Outland and Rimington Trophy winner Greg Eslinger. He was selected in the first round (29th overall) by the New York Jets, who had just prior used their No. 1 pick on offensive tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson in an effort to rebuild their offensive line. It marked the first instance of a team drafting two offensive linemen in the first round following the 1975 NFL Draft, when the Los Angeles Rams took Dennis Harrah and Doug France. Mangold was the only center selected in the first round of the 2006 NFL Draft, and the highest pick among Ohio State Buckeye centers since Gordon Appleby went 26th overall in 1945.