Nadia Comaneci, Montreal Olympics

Leroy Neiman was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1921. Following World War II Neiman studied at St. Paul School of Art, then at the School of The Art Institute of Chicago. After graduating, Neiman served on the Art Institute faculty for ten years. During this time he met Hugh Hefner while doing fashion illustration, and Hefner invited Neiman to contribute to the nascent Playboy magazine. Neiman contributed countless illustrations over the next fifty years while also building a career as a painter of social activities and athletic competitions. Neiman sponsored several artistic and educational programs, including the LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies at Columbia University in New York and the LeRoy Neiman Campus Center at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He received numerous awards and five honorary doctorates. His work is in the permanent collections of many important public institutions including the Smithsonian, the Whitney Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Hermitage Museum (Russia). LeRoy Neiman died in New York in 2012 at the age of 91.