Larry Doby was born on December 13, 1923, in Camden, South Carolina. He began playing professional baseball with the Newark Eagles in 1942, and enlisted in the U.S. Navy at Newark, New Jersey, on July 27, 1943. Doby attended basic training at NTC Great Lakes, Illinois, from August to October 1943, and then remained at NTC Great Lakes as a Physical Education Instructor from October 1943 to January 1945. He briefly served at San Francisco, California, from January to February 1945, at Tooele, Utah, during February 1945, and then at San Bruno, California, from February to April 1945. S1c Doby served on Guam from May to November 1945, and then transferred to Lido Beach, New York, for processing for discharge. S1c Doby was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy on January 15, 1946. After leaving active duty, Larry Doby returned to playing professional baseball with the Newark Eagles from 1946 to 1947, and he then played professional Major League Baseball with the Cleveland Indians from 1947 to 1955, winning the 1948 World Series with that team. He played for the Chicago White Sox from 1956 to 1957, and then with the Cleveland Indians again for the 1958 season. He then played for the Detroit Tigers in 1959, finishing the 1959 season with the Chicago White Sox. Doby came out of retirement to play baseball in Japan with the Chunichi Dragons for the 1962 season, and later was a manager for the Chicago White Sox during the 1978 season. Larry Doby was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998. He died on June 18, 2003, and chose to be cremated. He was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal on December 13, 2023.