Charlotte

The Billy Graham Library is a public museum and library documenting the life and ministry of Christian evangelist Billy Graham. The... 40,000-square-foot complex opened to the public on June 5, 2007. The library is located on the grounds of the international headquarters of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in Charlotte, North Carolina, a few miles from where Billy Graham grew up. The library is styled after a dairy barn to reflect Graham's childhood on a farm. The main galleries within the library showcase numerous presentations, pictures, music, artifacts, and voices from throughout Graham's ministry. One gallery is entirely devoted to Ruth Bell Graham, the late wife of the evangelist. There is a dairy bar café and bookstore called "Ruth's Attic." All visitors enter the Library through doors at the base of a 40-foot glass cross. Also located on the Library grounds is the Prayer Garden, where Ruth Graham was buried on June 17, 2007. She was against being buried there, and preferred her home in the mountains to be her final resting place until just before she died. In March 2009 the wife of long time music director for Rev.
more

The Bojangles' Coliseum is a 9,605-seat multi-purpose arena and sports venue in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is operated by... the Charlotte Coliseum Authority, which also oversees the Ovens Auditorium and the Charlotte Convention Center. The title sponsor is Bojangles' Famous Chicken 'n Biscuits.
more

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was born in October 10, 1974 in Kannapolis, NC and is a  professional race car driver. He comes from a family of NASCAR... drivers, his father was Dale Earnhardt a well known NASCAR racer who was a 7 times Cup Champion and winner of many races; his grandfather was Ralph Earnhardt, both of them were selected among NASCAR´s 50 greatest drivers of all-time of 1999. Dale is the 1998-1999 Nationwide Series Champion and he´s one of NASCAR´s most popular drivers.
more

Robert Benedic "Ben" Browder is an American actor and writer, best known for his roles as John Crichton in Farscape and Cameron Mitchell in Stargate... SG-1. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Browder grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina. His parents were race car owners and operators. He attended Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina and graduated with a degree in psychology. He was a star player on the Furman football team. Browder met his wife, actress Francesca Buller, while studying at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. Browder appeared as a recurring guest on the U.S. television show Party of Five as Sam Brody in its 3rd season in 1997. Browder and Buller moved with their two children to Australia during the production of Farscape , on which Browder starred as American astronaut John Crichton. Buller played several guest roles on the show. The two returned to the United States in 2003 following the cancellation of Farscape. He has received two Saturn Awards for Best Actor In A Television Role for his acting in Farscape. He appeared in the 2004 movie A Killer Within, co-starring C. Thomas Howell and Sean Young.
more

Tamara Faye LaValley Bakker Messner was an American Christian singer, evangelist, entrepreneur, author, talk show host, and television personality.... She was married from 1961 to 1992 to televangelist, and later convicted felon, Jim Bakker. She co-hosted with him on The PTL Club . She was a participant in the 2004 season of the reality show The Surreal Life. The eldest of eight children, Tammy Faye was born Tamara Faye LaValley in International Falls, Minnesota, to Pentecostal preachers Carl and Rachel Fairchild LaValley. Her parents were married in 1941, one year before Tammy Faye was born. Shortly after she was born, a painful divorce soured her mother against other ministers, alienating her from the church. After the divorce, Tammy Faye continued living in a strict atmosphere with her mother and brother. In 1948, when she was six, her mother married Fred Grover, who worked in paper mills. His salary increased their income, but the marriage also added six children to the household.
more

Jeffery Michael "Jeff" Gordon is an American professional stock car racing driver. He drives the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger/DuPont Chevrolet Impala... for Hendrick Motorsports in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. He is a four-time series champion and a three-time Daytona 500 winner. He is third on the all-time wins list, with 85 career wins, and has the most wins in NASCAR's modern era . In 2009, Gordon became the first driver to reach $100 million in career winnings in the Cup series. Gordon, along with Rick Hendrick, are the co-owners of the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet, driven by Jimmie Johnson, who won five consecutive Cup championships from 2006 to 2010. Gordon also has an equity stake in his own No. 24 team. He was born in Vallejo, California, raised in Pittsboro, Indiana, and currently resides in Charlotte, North Carolina. Gordon began racing at the age of five, racing quarter midgets. The Roy Hayer Memorial Race Track in Rio Linda, California is noted as the first track Gordon ever competed on. By the age of six Gordon had won 35 main events and set five track records.
more

Richard Morgan Fliehr is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Ric Flair. Also known as "The Nature Boy", Flair is... considered to be one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time with a professional career that spans 40 years. He is currently working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling , and is noted for his lengthy and highly decorated tenures with the National Wrestling Alliance , World Championship Wrestling , and the World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment . Flair is officially recognized by WWE, TNA and PWI as a 16-time World Heavyweight Champion although his actual tally of World Championship reigns varies by source—Flair considers himself a 21-time world champion. In World Championship Wrestling , he also had two stints as a booker—in 1989–1990 and 1994. Flair also became the first and only man to have won the WWF Championship in a Royal Rumble match, when he accomplished this in the 1992 edition of the event.
more

Kwame Jackson is an American entrepreneur who appeared on NBC's The Apprentice, a reality series where contestants compete for a chance to work... under real estate mogul Donald Trump. Prior to being selected to compete on The Apprentice, Jackson worked for the Wall Street investment house Goldman Sachs. Jackson was born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina. Jackson holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Kenan-Flagler Business School and a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School. Jackson became a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity in Fall 1993. Jackson is the Chairman of Legacy Holdings, a holding company for his entrepreneurial ventures. Among these "Krimson by Kwame", a line of neckwear that was once suggested as a Father's Day gift pick by O: The Oprah Magazine. Jackson was one of the two final candidates on the first season of The Apprentice.
more

Patricia Ann "Patsy" Pease is an American soap opera actress. She is most known for her role as Kimberly Brady on Days of our Lives . Pease was born... in Charlotte, North Carolina. She attended the North Carolina School of the Arts four year bachelor's program in theater arts. She was awarded the governor's scholarship for her junior and senior years. She is an accredited teacher for the American Film Institute and S.A.G. Conservatory, dance teacher and fitness consultant. Pease's first soap opera role was as waitress Cissie Mitchell Sentell on Search for Tomorrow, a role she played from 1979 until 1983. In 1984 Pease debuted as Kimberly Brady on Days of Our Lives. She was half of a popular supercouple in her love affair and eventual marriage to Charles Shaughnessy's character, Shane Donovan. She won "Best Actress" in the Soap Opera Digest Awards in 1986 and the "Best Super Couple Award" the same year with Charles Shaughnessy. She was nominated again in 1988 for Best Actress, but won for "Best Super Couple" again the same year.
more

Altovise Davis was an American entertainer, best known as Sammy Davis, Jr.'s third wife. Born in Charlotte, North Carolina as Altovise Joanne Gore,... she was raised in Brooklyn, New York and worked during the 1960s as a chorus-line dancer in various musical shows both in London and on Broadway. Her relationship with Sammy Davis, Jr. started in 1968 while they were working in the same show. They were married in a Philadelphia courthouse by the Rev. Jesse Jackson on May 11, 1970 and adopted a son, Manny, in 1989. After Sammy and Altovise married, she became active with several philanthropic organizations in Los Angeles. She performed at many benefit programs, particularly for SHARE Inc., a nonprofit group that raises money for developmentally disabled, abused and neglected children. Sammy Davis, Jr. died from throat cancer on May 16, 1990, five days after their 20th wedding anniversary. In the 1970s and 1980s Altovise Davis made a few guest appearances in major TV series such as Charlie's Angels and CHiPs and minor roles in films such as Kingdom of the Spiders , Boardwalk , and Can't Stop the Music .
more

Virginia Dale was an American film actress. She was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. She appeared in a number of movies in the 1930s and 1940s,... including Holiday Inn, and became particularly associated with musicals. She left the movie business for almost three decades before returning to the silver screen for a few films in the 1980s. She died in Burbank, California.
more

James William Nantz, III is an American sportscaster, known primarily for his work with CBS Sports television. Born in Charlotte, North Carolina,... Nantz grew up in Colts Neck, New Jersey and attended Marlboro High School. In high school, he was co-captain of the basketball team and co-captain and number one player on the golf team. He was a member of Bamm Hollow Country Club. Nantz then went to the University of Houston in Texas, where he majored in broadcasting and played briefly on the Houston Cougars men's golf team, rooming with future professional golfers Fred Couples and Blaine McCallister. Nantz worked as an anchor and sportscaster for KSL TV in Salt Lake City. Nantz joined CBS in 1985, initially working as a studio host for the network's college football and basketball coverage, and as an on-course reporter for PGA Tour golf, as well as calling NFL games on Westwood One. Nantz has anchored CBS' coverage of the Masters tournament since 1989. He has teamed with Billy Packer to call the NCAA Final Four men's basketball finals continuously since 1991. Since the 2008-09 season, Clark Kellogg has been his analyst.
more

Chyler Leigh West is an American actress, best known for her portrayal of Dr. Lexie Grey on ABC's Grey's Anatomy. She also portrayed Janey Briggs in... Not Another Teen Movie. Leigh was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. She is the daughter of Yvonne Norton and Robert Potts. Leigh was raised in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where her parents ran a weight-loss business. However, when Leigh was eight, the business went bankrupt and at the age of twelve, following the break-up of her parents' marriage, Leigh moved with her mother and brother Christopher Khayman Lee to Miami, Florida where her mother re-married her first husband. Following her parents' divorce, Leigh was estranged from her father for many years, but the two have since reconciled. While in eighth grade, she started modeling. She soon began acting by appearing in local television commercials and a syndicated teen news show called Hall Pass. In 1999, Leigh and her mother relocated to Los Angeles, California in order for Leigh to develop a career in acting. At age 16, Leigh took and passed the California High School Proficiency Exam.
more

David Alexander Vincent , also known as Evil D, is an American musician who is best known as the lead vocalist and bassist for the death metal band... Morbid Angel as well as the bassist for Genitorturers. His early influences are Kiss and Alice Cooper. He left Morbid Angel after the 1995 album Domination to join his wife's industrial metal band, Genitorturers. David's first contribution to the band was backing vocals on the song, "House of Shame", from their major label debut 120 Days of Genitorture. Vincent rejoined Morbid Angel in 2004. Vincent also played bass on the album World Downfall by the influential grindcore band Terrorizer, with Pete Sandoval and Jesse Pintado. Vincent contributed lead vocals on the opening song, "Blood Fire War Hate", on Soulfly's 2008 album Conquer.
more