a glitzy downtown New York hotel, the recently founded Black Athletes Hall of Fame was holding its annual ceremony.
It was March 1976 and the host was giving a speech about the latest inductee. You probably won't know her name.
Ora Washington was a champion, a star of two sports, but prejudice stopped her competing for the biggest prizes of the day. Her sporting career spanned three decades of change in her native United States, but change didn't come quickly enough.
Washington retired from tennis and basketball in the 1940s. In the mid-1970s a new generation started to dig deeper into her story. Hence the gathering in New York.
As the host finished introducing Washington to those gathered for that glamorous occasion, they started on something new: an apology.
Washington wasn't there. There was a chair placed out on the stage for her, empty. The host said they were sorry but they hadn't been able to track her down.https://www.bbc.com/sport/63066765