Zeke Bonura

First baseman

Born: September 20, 1908
New Orleans, Louisiana

Died: March 9, 1987 (aged 78)
New Orleans, Louisiana

Batted: Right

Threw: Right

MLB debut

April 17, 1934, for the Chicago White Sox

Last MLB appearance

September 26, 1940, for the Chicago Cubs

MLB statistics

Batting average

.307

Home runs

119

Runs batted in

704

Teams

Henry John (Zeke) Bonura (September 20, 1908 – March 9, 1987) was a first baseman in Major League Baseball. From 1934 through 1940, he played for the Chicago White Sox (1934–1937), Washington Senators (1938, 1940), New York Giants (1939) and Chicago Cubs (1940). Bonura batted and threw right-handed. He was born in New Orleans.

In a seven-season career, Bonura posted a .307 batting average with 119 home runs and 704 RBI in 917 games played.

One of Zeke Bonura's more noteworthy athletic accomplishments has nothing to do with the sport of baseball. In June 1925, at the age of sixteen, Bonura became the youngest male athlete ever to win an event at the National (AAU) Track and Field Championships. Young Zeke threw the javelin 65.18 meters (213-10) to claim the title. Bonura's winning effort was a meet record by nearly twenty-feet; a prodigious mark that remained on the books until 1930.^[1]

During World War II, Bonura was posted to Oran, Algeria.^[2]^[3] He organized large-scale baseball operations, consisting of 150 teams in 6 leagues.^[2] Playoffs among the teams narrowed them to two finalists – the Casablanca Yankees, consisting of medics, and the Algiers Streetwalkers, consisting of MPs.^[2]^[3] The North African World Series was a best two-out-of-three-game championship played on October 3 and 4, 1943, at Eugene Stadium in Algiers, Algeria, between the two teams.^[3]^[4] The Casablanca Yankees won the series in two straight games.^[2]^[5] The winners were presented with baseballs autographed by General Eisenhower, and the winning team received a trophy made from an unexploded Italian bomb.^[2]^[3]

Bonura received the Legion of Merit award while serving in the US Army during World War 2, for his work as athletic director for the Army in Algeria in 1943 in 1944.^[6]

Highlights

Hit .300 or more in four of his seven major league seasons, with a career-high .345 in 1937, fourth in the American League, behind Charlie Gehringer (.371), Lou Gehrig (.351) and Joe DiMaggio (.346).
Averaged 17 home runs per season, with a career-high 27 in his 1934 rookie season, setting a White Sox team record. The record was tied by Joe Kuhel in 1940 and surpassed by Gus Zernial in 1950 with 29.
Is a member of the Italian American Sports Hall of Fame

References

↑ http://www.usatf.org/statistics/champions/USAOutdoorTF/men/mJT.asp
1 2 3 4 5 "S. Derby Gisclair on the Wartime Contributions of Zeke Bonura". BaseballLibrary.com. February 2004. Archived from the original on November 9, 2013. Retrieved November 28, 2015.
1 2 3 4 Bullock, Steven R. (2004). Playing for Their Nation: Baseball and the American Military During World War II. University of Nebraska Press. p. 53. ISBN 0-8032-1337-9.
↑ "Asia Baseball Championship". Baseball-fever.com. 2007-11-26. Retrieved November 7, 2013.
↑ "Page 2". Statesville Record & Landmark. October 5, 1943. Retrieved November 7, 2013.
↑ Wakefield, Wanda Ellen (1997). Playing to Win: Sports and the American Military, 1898-1945. USA: State University of New York Press. p. 216. ISBN 9780791433133.

External links

Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
Baseball Library
List of National Champions: Men's Javelin Throw
Zeke Bonura at Find a Grave

Loyola Wolfpack men's basketball head coaches

Abe Goldberg (1923–1924)
Robert Erskine (1924–1925)
Nat Tycher (1925–1926)
Fred Walker (1926–1927)
Zeke Bonura (1927–1928)
Tad Gormley (1928–1930)
Zeke Bonura (1930–1931)
No team (1931–1933)
Robert Erskine (1933–1939)
Jack Orsley (1939–1949)
Jim McCafferty (1949–1950)
Tom Haggerty (1950–1953)
Jim McCafferty (1953–1957)
Jim Harding (1957–1958)
Hank Kuzma (1958–1959)
Bill Gardiner (1959–1966)
Ron Greene (1966–1968)
Bob Luksta (1968–1972)
No team (1972–1991)
Jerry Hernandez (1991–2004)
Michael Giorlando (2004–2014)
Stacy Hollowell (2014– )

US National Championship winners in men's javelin throw

1909–1979 Amateur Athletic Union	1909: Ralph Rose 1910: Bruno Brodd 1911: Ollie Snedigar 1912: Harry Lott 1913: Bruno Brodd 1914–19: George Bronder 1920–21: Milton Angier 1922: Flint Hanner 1923: Harry Hoffman 1924: John Leyden 1925: Zeke Bonura 1926: John Kuck 1927: Charles Harlow 1928: Creth Hines 1929: Jess Mortensen 1930–31: James DeMers 1932: Malcolm Metcalf^Note 1933: Lee Bartlett 1934: Ralston LeGore 1935: Horace Odell 1936: John Mottram 1937: William Reitz 1938: Nick Vukmanic 1939–42: Boyd Brown 1943–44: Martin Biles 1945: Earl Marshall 1946: Garland Adair 1947–48: Steve Seymour 1949: Bud Held 1950: Steve Seymour 1951: Bud Held 1952: Bill Miller 1953–55: Bud Held 1956: Cy Young 1957: Bob Voiles 1958: Bud Held 1959–60: Al Cantello 1961: John Fromm 1962: Dan Studney 1963: Larry Stuart 1964: Frank Covelli 1965: Bill Floerke 1966: John Tushaus 1967: Delmon McNabb 1968: Frank Covelli 1969: Mark Murro 1970–71: Bill Skinner 1972: Fred Luke 1973: Cary Feldmann 1974: Sam Colson 1975: Richard George 1976: Fred Luke 1977: Bruce Kennedy 1978: Bill Schmidt 1979: Duncan Atwood

1980–1992 The Athletics Congress	1980: Duncan Atwood 1981: Bruce Kennedy 1982: Bob Roggy 1983: Rod Ewaliko 1984: Curt Ransford 1985–86: Tom Petranoff 1987: Duncan Atwood 1988: Dave Stephens 1989: Mike Barnett 1990: Vince Labosky 1991: Mike Barnett 1992: Tom Pukstys

1993–onwards USA Track & Field	1993: Tom Pukstys 1994: Todd Riech 1995: Tom Pukstys 1996: Todd Riech 1997–99: Tom Pukstys 2000–07: Breaux Greer 2008: Bobby Smith 2009: Chris Hill 2010: Sean Furey 2011: Mike Hazle 2012: Sam Humphreys 2013: Riley Dolezal 2014–15: Sean Furey 2016: Cyrus Hostetler

Olympic Trials	The 1920, 1928, 1932, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 championships incorporated the Olympic Trials, otherwise held as a discrete event.

Notes	Ken Churchill had the longest throw in the 1932 competition (which doubled as the Olympic Trials), ahead of Malcolm Metcalf. However, Churchill qualified for the final only due to a late rule change by the U.S. Olympic Committee, allowing eight rather than five finalists. As this rule change applied only to the Olympic Trials, Churchill is considered to have won at the Trials and Metcalf at the national championships, even though they were the same meet.

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Zeke Bonura

Highlights

See also

References

External links