37 years ago, on this day, Metta World Peace, the American basketball player who represented the Los Angeles Lakers in National Basketball Association (NBA), was born. He was formerly known as Ron Artest, before changing his name in September 2011.
“Changing my name was meant to inspire and bring youth together all around the world,” he said.
World Peace became one of NBA’s best defenders, clinching the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2004. He even went on to be named an NBA All-Star and earned All-NBA honors.
Here are the other stars who are celebrating:
1985: Asdrubal Cabrera, Venezuelan baseball player for the MLB’s New York Mets and two-time All-Star (31).
1985: Michael Bennett, American defensive lineman for the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks and 2015 Pro Bowler (31).
1987: Dana Vollmer, American competitive swimmer, Olympic gold winner, former world record holder (29).
