Later Life
Sport moved to Massachusetts, where he worked in the state courts as an affirmative action officer, helping to ensure equal access for African-Americans. He also served on the boards of such notable organizations as the NAACP, the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society. His son-in-law would later recount, "I think the experience of being with the Tuskegee Airmen prepared him to be a leader."
Sport retired and moved to Conyers, Georgia in 1988, but that didn't stop him from helping others. He worked with an Atlanta-area charity, the Angels of Mercy, which provided food and support to homeless persons, for many years. In 2007, Sport, along with the other Tuskegee Airmen, would receive the Congressional Gold Medal for their service.
Vernon Sport died in Conyers, Georgia on September 8, 2008, of complications from Alzheimer's Disease. He was survived by his wife, three sisters and four children.
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Famous quotes containing the word life:
“Our life seems not present, so much as prospective; not for the affairs on which it is wasted, but as a hint of this vast- flowing vigor.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“To approach a city ... as if it were [an] ... architectural problem ... is to make the mistake of attempting to substitute art for life.... The results ... are neither life nor art. They are taxidermy.”
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