Editing 1940s (section)

===Sports===
During the 1940s, sporting events were disrupted and changed by the events that engaged and shaped the entire world. The 1940 and 1944 [[Olympic Games]] were cancelled because of [[World War II]]. During [[World War II]] in the United States [[List of Heavyweight Champions|Heavyweight Boxing Champion]] [[Joe Louis]] and numerous stars and performers from American baseball and other sports served in the armed forces until the end of the war. Among the many baseball players (including well known stars) who served during World War II were [[Moe Berg]], [[Joe DiMaggio]], [[Bob Feller]], [[Hank Greenberg]], [[Stan Musial]] (in 1945), [[Warren Spahn]], and [[Ted Williams]]. They like many others sacrificed their personal and valuable career time for the benefit and well-being of the rest of society. The Summer Olympics were resumed in 1948 in [[London]] and the Winter games were held that year in [[St. Moritz]], [[Switzerland]].

In 1947, [[Wataru Misaka]] of the [[1947–48 New York Knicks season|New York Knicks]] became the first person of color to play in modern professional basketball, just months after [[Jackie Robinson]] had broken the color barrier in [[Major League Baseball]] for the [[Brooklyn Dodgers]].<ref>{{cite news|title=New York Times|date=22 November 2019|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/21/sports/basketball/wat-misaka-dead.html|access-date=November 26, 2019|last1=Goldstein|first1=Richard}}</ref>

====Baseball====
[[File:Baseball. Jack Robinson BAnQ P48S1P12829 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Jackie Robinson]] with the [[Montreal Royals]] in July 1946]]
{{See also|History of baseball in the United States#The war years|All-American Girls Professional Baseball League}}
During the early 1940s [[World War II]] had an enormous impact on Major League Baseball as many players including many of the most successful stars joined the war effort. After the war many players returned to their teams, while the major event of the second half of the 1940s was the 1945 signing of [[Jackie Robinson]] to a players contract by [[Branch Rickey]] the general manager of the [[Brooklyn Dodgers]]. Signing Robinson opened the door to the [[Racial integration|integration]] of Major League Baseball finally putting an end to the professional discrimination that had characterized the sport since the 19th century.
*[[Roy Campanella]]
*[[Joe DiMaggio]]
*[[Bill Dickey]]
*[[Larry Doby]]
*[[Bob Feller]]
*[[Josh Gibson]]
*[[Hank Greenberg]]
*[[Monte Irvin]]
*[[Buck Leonard]]
*[[Johnny Mize]]
*[[Stan Musial]]
*[[Satchel Paige]]
*[[Branch Rickey]]
*[[Jackie Robinson]]
*[[Ted Williams]]

====Boxing====
[[File:Joe Louis by van Vechten.jpg|right|upright|thumb|[[Joe Louis]] in 1941, world [[List of Heavyweight Champions|heavyweight boxing champion]]]]
{{See also|Ring Magazine fighters of the year|List of The Ring world champions}}
During the mid-1930s and throughout the years leading up to the 1940s [[Joe Louis]] was an enormously popular Heavyweight boxer. In 1936, he lost an important 12 round fight (his first loss) to the German boxer [[Max Schmeling]] and he vowed to meet Schmeling once again in the ring. Louis' comeback bout against Schmeling became an international symbol of the struggle between the US and democracy against Nazism and Fascism. When on June 22, 1938, Louis knocked Schmeling out in the first few seconds of the first round during their rematch at [[Yankee Stadium (1923)|Yankee Stadium]], his sensational comeback victory riveted the entire nation. Louis enlisted in the [[U.S. Army]] on January 10, 1942, in response to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Louis' cultural impact was felt well outside the ring. He is widely regarded as the first [[African American]] to achieve the status of a nationwide hero within the United States, and was also a focal point of anti-Nazi sentiment leading up to and during [[World War II]].<ref name=matters>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kC4qYeafQzMC&pg=PA64 |location=New York |title=Sports Matters: Race, Recreation, and Culture |editor=John Bloom |editor2=Michael Nevin Willard |year=2002 |publisher=New York University Press |isbn=978-0-8147-9882-9 |pages=46–47 |author1=Bloom, John |author2=Willard, Michael Nevin}}</ref>
*[[Buddy Baer]]
*[[Ezzard Charles]]
*[[Billy Conn]]
*[[Rocky Graziano]]
*[[Joe Louis]]
*[[Sugar Ray Robinson]]
*[[Max Schmeling]]
*[[Jersey Joe Walcott]]
*[[Tony Zale]]

====Track and Field====