Tom Gola is recognized as a champion at every level of basketball, known as Mr. All Around, and a legend of Philadelphia. In his four years as a La Salle Explorers college player, he would win 102 of his 121 games, be the first player to score 2000 points, and was the most valuable player of the NIT championship in 1952 and NCAA Championship in 1954. After an 11-year career as a pro, he would return to his alma mater in 1968 as a coach and lead the Explorers to a 23-1 record and be ranked as the number 2 team in the country! Gola was later inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1976.

Gola has two immigrant connections. His mother, Helena Mielecka, immigrated from Germany when she was 6 months old with her mother in 1907. His grandfather, Franz/Frank, immigrated with his mother and siblings in 1883, also from Germany.

Tara VanDerveer had a coaching career that spanned 45 seasons, known predominantly as the head coach for Stanford for 38 years, and retired in 2024 at the top of the list for most winningest college basketball coach for men and women. With her at the helm, the Stanford basketball program that was originally thought to be “too brainy” would consistently make deep playoff runs, 15 visits to the Final Four, and winning the national championship three times. While turning the school into a powerhouse for women’s college basketball, she would also coach the USA Women’s National Team to 3 Gold Medals.

The VanDerveer family are longtime residents of NJ but Tara’s grandmother, Marie Charrassier is from France immigrating in 1914.

Native of Arp, Texas and Veteran Flight Instructor during WWII, Guy Lewis would make his mark on college basketball as Head Coach of his alma mater University of Houston. He was a pioneer for racial integration in the 1960s with the recruitment of Elvin Hayes and Don Chaney and coached the 1980s team dubbed the Phi Slama Jama, consisting of high-flying Hall of Famers Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler. His Cougars would make it to the Final Four tournament 5 times in his career, always falling short of the championship but reinvigorating and influencing what the game of basketball would become.

You can find a manifest of Lewis traveling on a trip organized by Boy Scouts of America, presumably for the 5th World Scout Jamboree, in our Passenger Search online.

A 3-time state champion in high school basketball, Elena Delle Donne initially joined UCONN’s basketball program but pulled out to help care for her older sister who has cerebral palsy, autism, and other impairments. While visiting her sister’s school she met a woman that also had cerebral palsy and used a wheelchair that urged her to “do everything you can with your abilities just like we do.” Making the decision to redshirt (a way to extend eligibility to play) for the Delaware Blue Hens, she would lead the team to great success with high scoring performances.

Recognized as a superstar athlete, she would continue playing at the professional level getting picked second in the 2013 WNBA Draft. Delle Donne also competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where she helped Team USA win the gold medal for Women’s Basketball. She will be returning to the Olympics in 2028 as the Basketball 3×3 Women’s National Team Managing Director for Team USA.

Delle Donne’s paternal grandparents, Ernesto and Rosolina Delle Donne, came through Ellis Island from Italy in 1910. Her maternal grandmother, Giueseppina Di Menco, came through Ellis Island from Italy as well, but later in 1920. Delle Donne’s maternal grandfather in Francesco Calvarese, also came from Italy but entered the US through Philadelphia.