Zeke Bonura

Who was Zeke Bonura?

Henry John Bonura was a first baseman in Major League Baseball. From 1934 through 1940, he played for the Chicago White Sox, Washington Senators, New York Giants and Chicago Cubs. Bonura batted and threw right-handed. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.

In a seven-season career, Bonura posted a .307 batting average with 119 home runs and 704 RBI in 917 games played.

One of Zeke Bonura's more noteworthy athletic accomplishments has nothing to do with the sport of baseball. In June 1925, at the age of sixteen, Bonura became the youngest male athlete ever to win an event at the National Track and Field Championships. Young Zeke threw the javelin 65.18 meters to claim the title. Bonura's winning effort was a meet record by nearly twenty-feet; a prodigious mark that remained on the books until 1930. Bonura received the Legion of Merit award while serving in the US Army during World War 2, for his work as athletic director for the Army in Oran, Algeria in 1943 in 1944.