Players Club Hall of Fame: Florence Griffith-Joyner

Florence Griffith-Joyner is not just the most iconic track and field athlete of the '80s, she's still the fastest woman in the world at the 100 and 200 meters. And that's posthumously, twenty four years later. She had clean drug tests all the way until the very end, so the haters are just gonna have to hate or train harder.

Even as she was running faster than was believed physically possible, Flo-Jo was styling on the whole planet every time she stepped into the blocks. The hair, the nails and the custom one-legged outfits are forever emblazoned on sports culture.

Flo-Jo, it is an honor to include you in the Axel F Players Club. May you rest in peace, may your world records push athletes to higher level of achievement, and may your lasting influence continue to allow women athletes to be fly girls as well as elite competitors.

 

Players Club Hall of Fame: A.C. Green

 

A.C. Green (no relation to Mitch) once possessed the most distinguished jheri curl in NBA history, but his honors go far beyond maintaining glycerin lubricated lustrous lucks while battling it out on the hardwood night after night.

Green holds the record for 1,192 straight games played and anchored the 1987 and 1988 NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers along with Hall Of Famers Magic Johnson, James Worthy and Kareem Adbdul Jabbar.

A.C. Green, the Axel F Players Club salutes your iconic jheri curl as well as your supreme resilience, rebounding stats and playmaking prowess. We're also glad that you and your Lakers buds helped us to say no to drugs.

Players Club Hall of Fame: Cheryl Miller

Cheryl Miller, you are everything that Title IX ever meant to accomplish. And during the early part of your career, you did it with a jheri curl.

You crushed it at USC and the 1984 Olympics, and even hooped it up against men in the USBL before injuries forced you to leave the court.

Over the course of your post playing career, you've continued to make your mark in the game through coaching in the NCAA and WNBA and broadcasting for the NBA.

Cheryl Miller, we're proud to recognize your achievements representing the ladies in the Axel F Players Club.

Players Club Hall of Fame: Mitch Green

Mitch Green, you were a four time Golden Gloves champ and wrapped up your professional career with 19 wins, 12 KO's, 6 losses, 1 draw and 1 no contest. That's more than respectable. It's too bad that the 1980 US boycott of the Olympics kept you from going for gold.

You took Mike Tyson to a 10 round decision in 1986, never backing down even when Iron Mike sent your gold tooth flying. That's a champion's fortitude. In an era where Tyson was destroying heavyweights in one or two rounds, losing to him by decision can be considered a win.

You also caught a fat eye jammy from Tyson in a street fight in front of Dapper Dan's. Again, considering how difficult it must be to survive multiple Tyson punches to the head, we can't even clown for that. It's now part of legend.

Ultimately, we salute the confidence it must have taken to wear a jheri curl/perm hybrid in a boxing ring. Mitch Green, welcome to the Axel F Players Club.

Axel F Presents: The Players Club, Sat. 9/22

Sports and music go hand in hand, and we're not talking about the unfortunate trend of singing boxers.

We're talking about the style that the athletic and sporting worlds trade with each other, the comraderie between the best athletes and entertainers, and also the amazing fact that in the '80s, athletes actually performed at peak competition level while wearing jheri curls.

This is amazing and should be celebrated. That's why we're Axel F.

Here in DC, RGIII may not have a curl but he's is already lighting bammas up out the gate, and the Washington faithful are delirious with excitement.

Let's take it back to some classic Axel F era Redskins love real quick. This is what we're on this month.