Famous people from Liberia – October 2022

George Weah, Jr.

President/Soccer Midfielder

George Tawlon Manneh Oppong Ousman Weah is a Liberian politician and former professional footballer who is serving as the president of Liberia, in office since 2018. Prior to his election to the presidency, Weah served as Senator from Montserrado County.

George Tawlon Manneh Oppong Ousman Weah ( born 1 October 1966) is a Liberian politician and former professional footballer who is serving as the president of Liberia, in office since 2018. Prior to his election to the presidency, Weah served as Senator from Montserrado County. He played as a striker in his prolific 18-year professional football career, which ended in 2003. He is the first African former professional footballer to become a head of state.

After beginning his career in his native Liberia, Weah spent 14 years playing for clubs in France, Italy and England. Arsène Wenger first brought him to Europe, signing him for Monaco in 1988. Weah moved to Paris Saint-Germain in 1992 where they won the Ligue 1 in 1994 and became the top scorer of the 1994–95 UEFA Champions League. He signed for AC Milan in 1995 where he spent four successful seasons, winning the Serie A twice. He moved to the Premier League towards the end of his career and had spells at Chelsea and Manchester City, winning the FA Cup at the former, before returning to France to play for Marseille in 2001. He ended his career with Al Jazira in 2003. FourFourTwo named Weah one of the best players never to win the UEFA Champions League.

Weah represented Liberia at international level, winning 75 caps and scoring 18 goals for his country and playing at the African Cup of Nations on two occasions. He also played an international friendly in 2018, where his number 14 jersey was retired. Regarded as one of the best players never to have played at the World Cup, Scott Murray in The Guardian refers to Weah as “hamstrung by hailing from a global minnow”.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest African players of all time, in 1995, Weah was named FIFA World Player of the Year and won the Ballon d’Or, becoming the first and only player to win these awards while representing an African country internationally. In 1989, 1994 and 1995, he was also named the African Footballer of the Year, and in 1996, he was named African Player of the Century. Known for his acceleration, speed, and dribbling ability, in addition to his goalscoring and finishing, Weah was described by FIFA as “the precursor of the multi-functional strikers of today”. In 2004, he was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world’s greatest living players.

Weah became involved in politics in Liberia following his retirement from football. He formed the Congress for Democratic Change and ran unsuccessfully for president in the 2005 election, losing to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in the second round of voting. In the 2011 election, he ran unsuccessfully for vice president alongside Winston Tubman. Weah was subsequently elected to the Liberian Senate for Montserrado County in the 2014 elections. Weah was elected President of Liberia in the 2017 election, defeating the incumbent vice president Joseph Boakai and was sworn in on 22 January 2018.

Charles Taylor

Former President/Politician

Charles McArthur Ghankay Taylor is a former Liberian politician who was the 22nd President of Liberia, serving from 2 August 1997 until his resignation on 11 August 2003. Born in Arthington, Montserrado County, Liberia, Taylor earned a degree at Bentley College in the United States before returning to Liberia to work in the government of Samuel Doe. After being removed for embezzlement, he eventually arrived in Libya, where he was trained as a guerilla fighter. He returned to Liberia in 1989 as the head of a Libyan-backed resistance group, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia, to overthrow the Doe regime, initiating the First Liberian Civil War. Following Doe’s execution, Taylor gained control of a large portion of the country and became one of the most prominent warlords in Africa. Following a peace deal that ended the war, Taylor coerced the population into electing him president in the 1997 general election. During his term of office, Taylor was accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity as a result of his involvement in the Sierra Leone Civil War. Domestically, opposition to his regime grew, culminating in the outbreak of the Second Liberian Civil War. By 2003, he had lost control of much of the countryside and was formally indicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone. That year, he resigned as a result of growing international pressure and went into exile in Nigeria. In 2006, the newly elected President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf formally requested his extradition, after which he was detained by UN authorities in Sierra Leone and then at the Penitentiary Institution Haaglanden in The Hague, awaiting trial. He was found guilty in April 2012 of all eleven charges levied by the Special Court, including terror, murder and rape. In May he was sentenced to 50 years in prison. Reading the sentencing statement, Presiding Judge Richard Lussick said: “The accused has been found responsible for aiding and abetting as well as planning some of the most heinous and brutal crimes recorded in human history.”

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Former President/Politician

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was the 24th President of Liberia. She served as Minister of Finance under President William Tolbert from 1979 until the 1980 coup d’état, after which she left Liberia and held senior positions at various financial institutions. She placed second in the 1997 presidential election won by Charles Taylor. She won the 2005 presidential election and took office on 16 January 2006, and she was a successful candidate for re-election in 2011. Sirleaf is the first elected female head of state in Africa. Sirleaf was awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, jointly with Leymah Gbowee of Liberia and Tawakel Karman of Yemen. The women were recognized “for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.” Sirleaf was conferred the coveted Indira Gandhi peace prize by President of India Pranab Mukherjee on 12 sept 2013.

Shooting of Amadou Diallo

Deceased Person

Amadou Diallo was one of four children born to Saikou and Kadiatou Diallo, and part of a historic Fulbe trading family in Guinea. He was born in Sinoe County in Liberia on September 2, 1975, while his father was working there, and while growing up followed his family to Togo, Singapore, Thailand, and back to Guinea.

Amadou Bailo Diallo was a 23-year-old immigrant from Guinea who was shot and killed in New York City on February 4, 1999 by four New York City Police Department plain-clothed officers: Sean Carroll, Richard Murphy, Edward McMellon and Kenneth Boss, who fired a combined total of 41 shots, 19 of which struck Diallo, outside his apartment at 1157 Wheeler Avenue in the Soundview section of The Bronx. The four were part of the now-defunct Street Crimes Unit. All four officers were acquitted at trial in Albany, New York. Diallo was unarmed at the time of the shooting, and a firestorm of controversy erupted subsequent to the event as the circumstances of the shooting prompted outrage both within and outside New York City. Issues such as police brutality, racial profiling, and contagious shooting were central to the ensuing controversy.

Ola John

Soccer Midfielder

Ola John is a Liberian-born Dutch footballer who currently plays as a winger for Benfica in the Portuguese Primeira Liga.

Leymah Gbowee

Peace activist

Leymah Roberta Gbowee is a Liberian peace activist responsible for leading a women’s peace movement that helped bring an end to the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003. Her efforts to end the war, along with her collaborator Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, helped usher in a period of peace and enabled a free election in 2005 that Sirleaf won. This made Liberia the first African nation to have a female president. She, along with Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Tawakkul Karman, were awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize “for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.” An article on Gbowee in O: The Oprah Magazine painted this backdrop: The Liberian civil war, which lasted from 1989 to 2003 with only brief interruptions, was the result of economic inequality, a struggle to control natural resources, and deep-rooted rivalries among various ethnic groups, including the descendants of the freed American slaves who founded the country in 1847. The war involved the cynical use of child soldiers, armed with lightweight Kalashnikovs, against the country’s civilian population. At the center of it all was Charles Taylor, the ruthless warlord who initiated the first fighting and would eventually serve as Liberian president until he was forced into exile in 2003.”

Collins John

Soccer Forward

Collins John is a Liberian-born Dutch footballer who plays as a forward for Piast Gliwice in the Ekstraklasa. John notably played in the Premier League for Fulham where he notched up 20 goals in 92 appearances in a five-year stay at Craven Cottage. He also played in the English football league for Leicester City, Watford, and Barnet, in the Eredivisie for FC Twente and NEC Nijmegen, in Belgium for K.S.V. Roeselare, the United States for Chicago Fire, Azerbaijan for Gabala FC and in Iran for Mes Sarcheshmeh F.C..

Tamba Hali

American Football Player

Tamba Boimah Hali is a Liberian-born American football outside linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League. He played college football for Pennsylvania State University, and earned All-American honors. The Kansas City Chiefs chose him with the 20th overall pick of the 2006 NFL Draft, and he has been selected for the Pro Bowl three times.

Sekou Oliseh

Soccer Midfielder

Sekou Jabateh Oliseh is a Liberian international footballer who last played professionally for Greek club PAOK, on loan from Russian side CSKA Moscow, as a midfielder.

Francis Doe

Soccer Forward

Francis Doe is a Liberian footballer who is currently playing for Selangor FA in the Malaysia Super League.

Massimo Pigliucci

Philosopher

Massimo Pigliucci is the chair of the Department of Philosophy at CUNY-Lehman College and the editor in chief for the journal Philosophy & Theory in Biology. He is an outspoken critic of pseudoscience and creationism, and an advocate for secularism and science education. Pigliucci was born in Monrovia, Liberia, and raised in Rome, Italy.

Alex Nimely

Soccer

Alex Tchuimeni-Nimely, commonly known as Alex Nimely, is a Liberian-English footballer who plays for Manchester City.

William R. Tolbert, Jr.

Deceased Person

President/Politician

William Richard Tolbert, Jr. was the 20th President of Liberia from 1971 until 1980, when he was killed in a coup d’état. Trained as a civil servant, he entered the country’s House of Representatives in 1943 for the True Whig Party, then the only established party in the country. He was elected Vice president to William Tubman in 1952 and served in that position until Tubman’s death in 1971.

Darlington Nagbe

Soccer Midfielder

Darlington Nagbe is a Liberian footballer currently playing for the Portland Timbers in Major League Soccer.

Prince Johnson

Politician

Prince YormieJohnson (born 6 July 1952) is a Liberian politician and the current Senior Senator from Nimba County. A former rebel leader, Johnson played a prominent role in the First Liberian Civil War. Serving as leader of the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia, he captured, tortured and executed President Samuel Doe, who had himself overthrown and murdered the previous president William R. Tolbert Jr.   Prince Yormi Johnson appeared in the The Redemption of General Butt Naked documentary film.

Christopher Wreh

Soccer

Christopher Wreh is a retired Liberian international footballer. He was a member of the Arsenal side which won the Premier League and FA Cup double in 1997–98. He won 36 caps for Liberia, scoring 11 goals, and was in their squad for the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations.

Ziad Fazah

Man

Ziad Youssef Fazah is a Liberian-born Lebanese polyglot. Fazah himself claims to speak 59 languages and maintains that he has proved this in several television shows, where he “successfully” communicated with native speakers of a large number of foreign languages. The Guinness Book of World Records, up to the 1998 edition, listed Fazah as being able to speak and read 58 languages, citing a live interview in Athens, Greece July 1991. However, in Viva el lunes, a Chilean TV program featuring Ziad Fazah, he failed to understand beginner-level phrases in Finnish, Russian, Chinese, Persian, Hindi, and Greek, such as the Greek question “Πόσες μέρες θα μείνετε εδώ στη Χιλή;”. He also mistook Russian for Croatian upon hearing “Какой сегодня день недели?”. Also he failed to understand the Chinese phrase of “在月球上,能夠看到唯一的地球上的人造工程是甚麼”. Fazah claims he can speak, read and understand the following languages:

William V. S. Tubman

Deceased Person

Former President/Politician

William Vacanarat Shadrach Tubman was a Liberian politician. He was the 19th President of Liberia from 1944 until his death in 1971. He is regarded as the “father of modern Liberia”; his presidency was marked by the influx of foreign investment in his country and its modernization. During his tenure, Liberia experienced a period of prosperity. He also led a policy of national unity in order to reduce the social and political differences between his fellow Americo-Liberians and the indigenous Liberians. However, further into his years in power, his way of governing became increasingly authoritarian.

Omega Roberts

Soccer

Omega Alamadine Roberts is an Liberian football player who plays for Serbian SuperLiga club Red Star Belgrade and the Liberian national football team. He most often plays as a marking central defender, and is occasionally referenced as Robert Omega or Omega in some sources.

Zah Rahan Krangar

Soccer Midfielder

Zah Rahan Krangar is an Liberian footballer currently playing for Persipura Jayapura. He is also a member of the Liberia national football team. Made his international debut with a goal away to host Equatorial Guinea in his side 2-1 loss.

Dulee Johnson

Soccer Midfielder

Dulee Johnson is a professional footballer who plays for Swedish Superettan club IK Brage as a midfielder. Before that he had his contract with AmaZulu terminated. He is the son of former Liberian player and manager Josiah Johnson.

Lawrence Doe

Soccer Defender

Lawrence Sokota Doe is a naturalized Equatoguinean footballer who plays as a central defender for Al-Shabab in the Omani League.

Charles D. B. King

Deceased Person

Former President/Politician

Charles Dunbar Burgess King was a politician in Liberia of Americo-Liberian and Freetown Creole descent. He was a member of the True Whig Party, which ruled the country from 1878 until 1980. He served as the 17th President of Liberia from 1920 until 1930. King was Attorney General from 1904 until 1912, and Secretary of State of Liberia from 1912 until he was elected president in 1919. In this capacity he attended the 1919 Paris Peace Conference and the accompanying First Pan-African Congress. Though a moderate supporter of reform, he continued to support the patronage machine and dominance of the True Whig party. He was challenged in the presidential election of 1927 by Thomas J.R. Faulkner. According to an official statement King had received 234,000 votes; however, at the time Liberia had only 15,000 registered voters. This won King the dubious achievement of being listed in the Guinness Book of Records 1982 for the most fraudulent election reported in history. After losing the election, Faulkner accused many members of the True Whig Party government of recruiting and selling contract labor as slaves. A report by the League of Nations by a commission under the leadership of British jurist Cuthbert Christy supported many of Faulkner’s allegations, and implicated many government officials, including vice president Allen Yancy. Yancy and King resigned over the scandal in December 1930.

Kirat Bhattal

Actor

Kirat Bhattal professionally known as Kirat or Keerath in South India is an Indian film actress. She debuted in modelling roles and then made a breakthrough in the Tamil film industry.

Sio Moore

American Football Player

Snorsio Alston “Sio” Moore is an American football linebacker for the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League. He played college football for the University of Connecticut. The Oakland Raiders selected him in the third round of the 2013 NFL Draft.

Dioh Williams

Soccer Forward

Dioh Williams is a Liberian football striker, who is currently playing in the Swedish premier division Allsvenskan for BK Häcken. He is also a member of the Liberia national football team. His only goal for the Liberia came in the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualification against Namibia in a 1-0 win.

Patrick Ronaldinho Wleh

Soccer Forward

Patrick Wleh is a Liberian international footballer who currently plays as a striker for PKNS FC in the Malaysia Super League. Patrick previously played for local club Gedi & Sons FC, Israeli club Hapoel Petah Tikva FC and also LISCR Monrovia.

Cheryl Dunye

Film Director

Cheryl Dunye is a film director, producer, screenwriter, editor and actress. Dunye is a lesbian and her work often concerns themes of race, sexuality and gender, particularly issues relating to black lesbians. Dunye was born in Liberia, and grew up in Philadelphia. Dunye has taught at the University of California Los Angeles, UC Riverside, Pitzer College, Claremont Graduate University, Pomona College, California Institute of the Arts, The New School of Social Research, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is currently an associate professor at Temple University and a mother of two children.

Ashton Youboty

American Football Cornerback

Ashton Youboty is an American football cornerback who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the third round of the 2006 NFL Draft. He played college football at Ohio State University. He has also played for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Matee Ajavon

Basketball Player

Matee Ajavon is a Liberian American player in the WNBA for the Washington Mystics. A 5’8″ guard, Ajavon was chosen by the Houston Comets as the fifth overall draft pick in the 2008 WNBA Draft.

Alex Nimo

Soccer Midfielder

Alexander “Alex” Frank Nimo is a Liberian-born American soccer player.

Edward Junior Wilson

Soccer Forward

Edward Junior Wilson is a Liberian footballer playing currently for Semen Padang FC. He is also a member of the Liberia national football team. Made his international debut. He was the top scorer in Liga Indonesia Premier Division 2009-2010 with 20 goals.

Oliver Makor

Soccer Midfielder

Oliver Makor is a Liberian football midfielder for Persik Kediri. He was playing for Panachaiki, Proodeftiki, Egaleo FC and Ionikos FC in Greece. Makor is also a member of the Liberia national football team.

Moses Blah

Deceased Person

Former President/Politician

Moses Zeh Blah was a Liberian politician. He served as Vice President of Liberia under President Charles Taylor and became the 23rd President of Liberia on 11 August 2003, following Taylor’s resignation. He served as President for two months, until 14 October 2003, when a United Nations-backed transitional government, headed by Gyude Bryant, was sworn in.

Erick Weeks Lewis

Soccer Midfielder

Erick Weeks Lewis is a Liberian footballer who is a Attacking midfielder for Barrack Young Controllers.

James Debbah

Soccer Forward

James ‘Salinsa’ Debbah is a Liberian football striker currently a free agent. He also plays in the Liberia national football team.

Mass Sarr, Jr.

Soccer Forward

Mass Sarr Junior is a former Liberian football player. A forward, Sarr Jr. is a former player with Selangor FA. He was also a Liberia national football team player from 1989-2002. Upon moving to Philadelphia, PA he became a leading trainer for several youth athletics clubs in the tri-state area, but he worked primarily in South Jersey with the Cohansey Soccer Club in Cumberland County, New Jersey. He coached the U17 and U18 youth club team, Cohansey Hornets SC.

Jimmy Dixon

Soccer

Jimmy Dixon is a Liberian international footballer who plays professionally for Turkish club Boluspor. as a central defender.

Frank Seator

Deceased Person

Soccer Forward

Frank Jean Seator was a Liberian striker who spent most of his football career in Asia. He died on 12 February 2013 at the Firestone Medical Hospital in Harbel, Liberia.

Paddy John

Soccer Forward

Paddy John is a Dutch professional footballer who is currently without a club. He usually plays as a striker.

George Scott

Professional Boxer

George Kelly Scott, earlier George Cramne, is a retired Swedish professional boxer of Liberian descent. He won the Swedish championship five years in a row, took a silver medal in the Olympic games in Seoul 1988. He became a pro boxer and trained for the legendary Angelo Dundee and won the world champion belt for WBO. He never lost his belt in the ring but because of disagreement with his manager and the title was taken from him.

Theo Lewis Weeks

Soccer Midfielder

Theo Lewis Weeks is a Liberian international footballer who currently plays as a midfielder for C.S. Marítimo in the Primeira Liga.

Helene Cooper

Journalist

Helene Cooper is a Liberian-born American journalist who is a White House correspondent for the New York Times. Before that, she was the paper’s diplomatic correspondent in Washington, D.C. She joined the Times in 2004 as assistant editorial page editor. At the Wall Street Journal, Cooper wrote about trade, politics, race, and foreign policy at the Washington and Atlanta bureaus from 1992 to 1997. From 1997 to 1999, she reported on the European Monetary Union from the London bureau. From 1999 to 2002, she was a reporter focusing on international economics; then assistant Washington bureau chief from 2002 to 2004. In 2008 she published The House at Sugar Beach, a memoir published by Simon & Schuster about the Liberian coup of 1980 and its effect on the Coopers, who were socially and politically elite descendants of American freed slaves who colonized Liberia in the 19th century. The book received critical acclaim and was a National Books Critics Circle Award finalist in 2008 for autobiography.

Teeboy Kamara

Soccer Forward

Teeboy Kamara is an Australian football player who plays as a forward. He currently plays for Adelaide United in the A-League.

Louis Crayton

Soccer

Louis Crayton is a Liberian footballer who plays for NSC Minnesota Stars in the USSF Division 2 Professional League.

Tonia Tisdell

Soccer Midfielder

Tonia Tisdell is a Liberian footballer who plays for Şanlıurfaspor.

James Koko Lomell

Soccer Midfielder

James Koko Lomell is an Liberian footballer, who currently plays for Persiram Raja Ampat.

Zizi Roberts

Soccer Forward

Kolubah “Zizi” Roberts is a former Liberian football player. Roberts began his professional career in 1996 at the age of 17 and has since played for eight different teams in Liberia, Switzerland, Greece, and Italy.

Boima Karpeh

Soccer Forward

Boima Karpeh, aka Jerry Karpeh, is a Liberian-Australian professional football who plays for SC Goa in I-League.

Boakay Eddie Foday

Soccer Forward

Boakay Eddie Foday is a retired Liberian footballer who last played for Sriwijaya after he previously played seven seasons for Persiwa Wamena.

Thomas Kojo

Soccer Defender

Thomas Kojo is a Liberian former football defender. He currently coaches FC AK, and is also a member of the Liberia national football team. Kojo attended Lindsey Wilson College. He was a 1996 first team All NAIA soccer player. Kojo was an assistant coach with FC AK. On July 9, 2008, Kojo was appointed interim coach of FC AK after the surprise resignation of Ali Akan.

Johnny Menyongar

Soccer Forward

Johnny Menyongar is a retired Liberian footballer who last played for Bengaluru FC in India’s I-League.

Daniel Edward Howard

Deceased Person

Former President/Politician

Daniel Edward Howard was the 16th President of Liberia, serving from 1912 to 1920. Born in the town of Buchanan, Grand Bassa County, he worked his way up through the civil service to become secretary of the True Whig Party, the country’s only political party at the time. Howard was elected president in 1911 and assumed office on January 1, 1912. With the outbreak of World War I, he attempted to maintain the country’s neutrality, though he tended to support the Allies, whose colonial territories in Africa surrounded Liberia. Despite German protests, he allowed the French to operate a wireless station in the capital, Monrovia. Realizing that their complaints were in vain, the Germans sent a submarine to attack the city in 1917, forcing the reluctant Howard to side with the Allies and declare war on Germany. Howard remained in office for two years after the war’s end. He died in Monrovia in 1935.

Ansu Toure

Soccer Midfielder

Ansu Toure is a Liberian footaller who currently is a freeagent after having played for FCV Vikings in the Danish 1st Division.

Joe Nagbe

Soccer Midfielder

Joe Thunder Armstrong Nagbe is a Liberian former professional footballer. He has had at least ten years playing in Europe, starting off like George Weah with Monaco then on to Nice. He played in Greece for three years.

Chris Gbandi

Soccer Defender

Chris Gbandi is a retired Liberian footballer.

Jehuu Caulcrick

American Football Fullback

Jehuu Caulcrick is an American football coach and former fullback. He was signed by the New York Jets as an undrafted free agent in 2008. He played college football at Michigan State. Caulcrick has also been a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and San Francisco 49ers. Caulcrick was a member of the Buffalo Bills practice squad until he was called up to the regular roster which was announced on November 19, 2010.

Prince Daye

Soccer Midfielder

Prince Daye is a Liberian former footballer who played at both professional and international levels as a striker.

Hilary R. W. Johnson

Deceased Person

Former President/Politician

Hilary Richard Wright Johnson served as the 11th President of Liberia from 1884 to 1892. He was elected four times. He served as Secretary of State before his presidency, under the administration of Edward James Roye. An Americo-Liberian, Johnson was the first Liberian president born in Africa. His father was Elijah Johnson, one of the original African-American settlers who founded the colony at Cape Mesurado. His son Frederick Eugene Richelieu Johnson was Liberia’s longest serving Chief Justice. Nominated by both the Republican Party and True Whig parties, Johnson ran unopposed in his first election and then declared himself a True Whig after winning the election. The endorsement of Johnson by the two political parties — which stood on opposite sides of the color divide — signaled a truce regarding colorism between mulatto Americo-Liberian settlers and darker-skinned Americo-Liberian settlers and was replaced on concentrating overall Americo-Liberian political power and economic wealth.

Kimmie Weeks

Organization founder

Kimmie Weeks is a Liberian inspirational speaker and human rights activist.

Anthony Laffor

Soccer Midfielder

Anthony Snoti Laffor is Liberian international footballer who last played as a winger for South African Side Chippa United..

Michael Butler

Football player

Michael Butler is a Liberian retired professional soccer player.

Amadaiya Rennie

Soccer Forward

Amadaiya Rennie is a Liberian football player, who plays as a forward for Degerfors IF.

Nuzohn Zidenmaro Kulala

Soccer Midfielder

Nuzohn Zidenmaro Kulala is an Liberian footballer playing currently for FC Fassell. He is also a member of the Liberia national football team. Kulala had a trial with Safa Beirut SC of the Lebanese Premier League in 2007, but did not join the club.

Ruth Perry

Deceased Person

Interim President/Politician

Ruth Sando Fahnbulleh Perry was Chairwoman of the Council of State of Liberia from 3 September 1996 until 2 August 1997, following the First Liberian Civil War. The Council of State consisted of a civilian chair, as well as members: Charles Taylor, United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy-K leader Alhaji Kromah, Liberia Peace Council leader George Boley, and two other civilians. She is known for being the first female president of Liberia. Liberia also has the distinction of electing Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as the first female African leader in modern times. Following elections held in July 1997, Perry handed power to Charles Taylor on 2 August.

Harry Moniba

Deceased Person

Former Vice President/Politician

Dr. Harry Fumba Moniba was a politician in Liberia hailing from the northwestern county of Lofa. He was the vice-president of Liberia from 1984 to September 1990 under the banner of the National Democratic Party of Liberia and ran for president in 1997. He planned to run in the 2005 Liberian presidential election but was killed in a 2-car accident in Michigan on 24 November 2004. He was afforded one of the largest state funerals in Liberian history. He left behind his wife Minita, and their five children. His burial site was contested with several groups of Liberians threatening violence were he not buried in his home county, while others advocated his burial on the grounds of the national gravesite. His family decided to place his remains in the compound of their suburban Monrovia home. Two funerals were held in honor of Dr. Moniba: one in the United States and one in his home country of Liberia. At the U.S. funeral, Dr. Moniba’s widow was presented with the United States flag by Congressman Nick Smith. The flag had been flown at half mast over the U.S Capitol, making him the only Liberian in history to receive such an honor. The Congressman stated, “Dr. Moniba loved his country, and worked tirelessly to establish peace and prosperity for Liberia. He understood well the true role of a politician in a democratic society.” A room was dedicated in Dr. Moniba’s honor at the Liberian Embassy in Washington D.C. in February 2007. He also has a primary school named in his honor in Monrovia, Liberia.

Thomas Tapeh

American Football Fullback

Thomas Teah Tapeh is a former American football fullback who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the fifth round in the 2004 NFL Draft. He played college football at Minnesota. Tapeh has also played for the Minnesota Vikings.

Antoinette Sayeh

Politician

Antoinette Monsio Balaji Ming Sayeh is a Liberian economist. Guru Sayeh began an appointment as the Director of the African Department at the International Monetary Fund on July 7, 2008. Prior to that, she served from January 2006 as Minister of Finance in the cabinet of Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the second woman in Liberia’s history to hold that position, the first being Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Sayeh is a graduate of Swarthmore College and The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, where she received her MA and Ph.D in International Economic Relations. Sayeh has also worked for the World Bank as country director for Benin, Niger, and Togo and worked on public finance management and civil service reform in Pakistan. According to the BBC, Sayeh  “delighted international financial institutions” as Minister of Finance when she worked in the Liberian government.

Antoinette Sayeh is presently Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Sayeh served as the Director of the African Department at the IMF from July 14, 2008, to August 31, 2016. She also was a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Center for Global Development.

Robert Dennis

Athlete

Robert Henry Dennis III is a former Liberian sprinter. Dennis was once the Liberian National Record holder in the 200 meter Fairfax, Virginia in 1998. He is currently an attorney in Washington, DC.

Harrison Kennedy

Soccer Forward

Harrison Kennedy in Monrovia is an Liberian footballer, who is currently playing for Mark Professionals.

Pewou Bestman

Soccer

Pewou Bestman is a retired Liberian professional football goalkeeper who represented Liberia national football team between 1988 and 2002.

Samuel Kaboo Morris

Deceased Person

Missionary Samuel Kaboo Morris was a Liberian prince who converted to Christianity around the age of 14. Around age 18, he left Liberia for the United States to achieve an education and arrived at Taylor University in December 1891. There is now a residence hall at Taylor University bearing his name. He died in 1893 from complications of a respiratory infection. Morris’s life has been the subject of five novels, over a dozen biographies, a 1954 film, and a 1988 documentary. Taylor University has named numerous buildings, scholarships, and a society in his honor. His story helped to inspire other people to go to Africa to preach the gospel.

Marcus Andreasson

Soccer Defender

Marcus Andreasson is a Swedish former professional footballer. He last played for Lierse. He previously has played for Norwegian club Molde FK, Swedish clubs Kalmar FF and Östers IF, English club Bristol Rovers, and Norwegian club Bryne FK.

Wilton G. S. Sankawulo

Deceased Person

Politician

Wilton Gbakolo Sengbe Sankawulo, Sr. was a Liberian politician and author.

Winston Tubman

Politician

Winston A. Tubman is a Liberian diplomat and politician of Americo-Liberian descent. He is a former justice minister and diplomat for the nation, as well as having been the standard bearer of the Congress for Democratic Change.

Bhawoh Jue

American Football Safety

Bhawoh Papi Jue is a former American football safety. He was originally drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the third round of the 2001 NFL Draft. He played college football at Penn State. He has also been a member of the San Diego Chargers, St. Louis Rams, Arizona Cardinals, and Florida Tuskers.

Angie Brooks

Deceased Person

Angie Elizabeth Brooks was a Liberian diplomat and jurist. She is notable for being the only African female President of the United Nations General Assembly. She was also the second woman from any nation to head the U.N. In 1954 she became Liberia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, where much of her work involved the transformation of former colonial states into independent countries. In 1969, she was chosen as the President of the General Assembly and took office in 1970. She also served as Assistant Secretary of State of Liberia. Her tenure as Permanent Representative ended in 1977, when she was appointed an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia. Nominated by President Tolbert on 4 May and taking office two days later, she was the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court of Liberia.

John Tarkpor Sonkaliey

Soccer Midfielder

John Tarkpor Sonkaliey is a Liberian footballer who last played for Pelita Jaya. He is also a member of the Liberia national football team.

Solomon Carter Fuller

Deceased Person

Dr. Solomon Carter Fuller was a pioneering African-American psychiatrist who made significant contributions to the study of Alzheimer’s disease. He was born in Liberia, the son of a previously enslaved African who had purchased his freedom and emigrated there. Fuller graduated with an MD in 1897 from Boston University School of Medicine, which as a homeopathic institution was open to both African-American and women students. He pursued further research at the psychiatric clinic of the University of Munich, Germany. He spent the majority of his career practicing at Westborough State Mental Hospital in Westborough, Massachusetts. While there, he performed his ground-breaking research on the physical changes to the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. When the Veterans Administration opened the Tuskegee Veterans Administration Medical Center after World War I with an entirely black staff, Fuller was instrumental in recruiting and training black psychiatrists for key positions. In the early 1970s, the American Psychiatric Association established a Solomon Carter Fuller award lecture at its annual meetings. For most of his life, Fuller lived in nearby Framingham, Massachusetts, with his wife, the famous sculptor Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller.

Kelvin Sebwe

Soccer Midfielder

Kelvin Sebwe is a retired Liberian footballer who played as a midfielder. Sebwe was also a member of the Liberia national football team. His brother is Dionysius Sebwe. He made his international debut against the Eagles of Mali on home soil in the 1988 African Nations Cup Qualifiers which his side lost 1–0 as a result of an early minute goal conceded.

Willis Forko

Deceased Person

Soccer Defender

Willis Forko was a Liberian-American professional footballer who played as left-back.

Adam Smarte

Soccer Defender

Adam Smarte is a Liberian soccer player who last played for Ventura County Fusion in the USL Premier Development League.

George Gebro

Soccer Midfielder

George Gebro is a retired Liberian footballer player. He was a member of the Liberia national football team and now serves on the coaching staff of the youth team.

Sackie Doe

Soccer Defender

Sackie Doe is a Liberian professional footballer playing as a midfielder for Liga 2 club Gresik United. He formerly represented the Liberia national team, and obtained Indonesia citizenship through naturalization.

Brownie Samukai

Politician

Brownie Samukai was the Minister of National Defence of Liberia. He took office on January 16, 2006, as part of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s Cabinet. In the 1980s he worked within the Liberian Ministry of National Defense. In 1986-87 he was working within the G-4 Branch of the AFL. In 1991, according to biographical details issued at a 2007 U.S. Institute of Peace briefing, he was appointed as Deputy Minister of Defence for Operations. The biographical details said that he ‘was responsible for reestablishing civilian control over the Liberian army and established an urban response team to counter urban terrorism.’ He served in this position until 1994. In 1993-94, he served as commander of the ‘Black Berets,’ a paramilitary police force in the Monrovia enclave of Amos Sawyer’s Interim Government of National Unity. The International Crisis Group also notes that the Black Berets also fought alongside ECOMOG at times, notably during Charles Taylor’s 1992 assault on Monrovia. ‘They and the AFL were accused of killing some 600 civilians in the June 1993 Camp Carter massacre, which, testimony at the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission has indicated, was perpetuated by Taylor’s NPFL fighters, who may have orchestrated it to put blame on the Armed Forces of Liberia.’ Brownie Samukai is still active in Liberian politics.

Kia Davis

Athlete

Kia Davis is a Liberian-American sprinter. She is a multiple-time national record holder in the sprint and hurdles, a three-time USA Track & Field national indoor finalist for the 60 m hurdles, and holds a dual citizenship for Liberia and the United States in order to compete internationally for her categories. She also won the silver medal, as a member of the U.S. team, in the women’s 4×400 m relay at the 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Moscow, Russia. Davis represented her nation Liberia at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where she competed in two sprint categories. For her first event, 400 metres, Davis ran in the fifth heat against six other athletes, including American sprinter Sanya Richards, who eventually won the bronze medal in the final. She finished the race only in last place by sixty-three hundredths of a second behind Kazakhstan’s Olga Tereshkova, with a time of 53.99 seconds. Three days later, Davis competed for her second event, 200 metres, where she finished the first heat in sixth place by fifteen hundredths of a second ahead of Suriname’s Kirsten Nieuwendam, outside her personal best time of 24.31 seconds. Davis, however, failed to advance into the next round for all of her participating events.

Liva Saryee

Olympic athlete

Liva Saryee is a Liberian judoka.

Jackie Arklöv

Mercenary

Jackie Banny Arklöv is a Swedish convicted criminal, born in Liberia. Arklöv is an ex-neo-Nazi and former mercenary in the Yugoslav wars, who murdered two police officers during a botched robbery in 1999.

Mansfield Wrotto

American Football Guard

Mansfield Chell Wrotto, Jr. is an American football guard who last played for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the fourth round of the 2007 NFL Draft. He played college football at Georgia Tech.

Clarence Kparghai

Professional Ice hockey Player

Clarence Kparghai is a Swiss-Liberian professional ice hockey defenseman. On December 22nd Clarence bit an NHL player John Tavares who was playing in the Swiss league during the NHL lockout. The assault led to a $975 fine for Kparghai. http://www.newsday.com/sports/hockey/islanders/john-tavares-bitten-in-swiss-league-player-fined-1.4411343

Doc Lawson

Soccer

Aldophus “Doc” Lawson is a former American soccer defender best known for his long indoor career. Lawson played the third most games in the history of the original MISL. He also spent four seasons in the North American Soccer League. Known for his tenacious defending, Doc earned the nickname, The Indoor Warrior. Lawson earned three caps with the U.S. national team in 1979, was a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic soccer team and was with the U.S. Futsal team when it took third place in the 1989 FIFA Futsal World Championship.

Anthony Allison

Soccer Forward

Anthony Allison is a Liberian – born American soccer player who currently plays for Philadelphia Lone Star FC in the National Premier Soccer League.

Johnnie Lewis

Deceased Person

Politician

Johnnie N. Lewis is a Liberian lawyer and politician. A native of Sinoe County, Lewis was educated at the University of Liberia in Monrovia and at Yale Law School in the United States. He was the 18th Chief Justice of Liberia, serving from 2006 to 2012. Before his appointment to the Supreme Court, he served as a judge in Liberia’s circuit court system.

Isaac Pupo

Soccer Midfielder

Isaac Pupo is an Liberian footballer who currently plays for who plays for Watanga FC. He also played for Liberia national football team. 

Gyude Bryant

Deceased Person

Interim President/Politician

Charles Gyude Bryant is a Liberian politician and businessman. He served as the Chairman of the Transitional Government of Liberia from 14 October 2003 to 16 January 2006. The installation of the transitional government was part of the peace agreement to end the country’s second civil war, which had raged since the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy rebelled against President Charles Taylor in 1999. Bryant was previously a businessman and was chosen as chairman because he was seen as politically neutral and therefore acceptable to each of the warring factions, which included LURD, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia, and loyalists of former President Taylor. He is a prominent member of the Episcopal Church of Liberia, and was critical of the governments of Samuel Doe and Taylor. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf won the 2005 elections and took office in January 2006, succeeding Bryant.

Saylee Swen

Soccer

Saylee Swen is a Liberian footballer playing currently for LPRC Oilers. He is also a member of the Liberia national football team.

Charlie Smith

Deceased Person

Charlie Smith was a centenarian noted for claiming to be the oldest person in the United States, although his claim has since been debunked. Smith stated that he had been born in Liberia in 1842 and kidnapped to the United States at age 12 and sold into slavery in Louisiana to a Texas rancher. Later research indicated that he had been born circa 1874 or even later. In particular, his marriage certificate, issued January 8, 1910, listed him as being 35 years old at the time. He died in Bartow, Florida in 1979, at the age of 105 or 137. Later subsequent research showed Mr. Smith listed in the 1900 census as 21, suggesting he could have been only 100 years old. It is possible that he was given the birth name Mitchell Watkins and adopted at an early age in the years right after the Civil War with his “memories” embellishments from stories told by older ex-slaves; but evidence of this is spotty and it is unlikely that such an adoption would be verifiable, with records quite unreliable right after the Civil War. Smith became a minor celebrity in Central Florida after news articles were published about his alleged longevity. He was invited to view the launch of Apollo 17 in 1972 from the VIP area at the Kennedy Space Center. He amused reporters with his skeptical comments, asserting that “th’ ain’t nobody goin’ t’ no moon. Me, you, or anybody else” and, after the launch, “I see they goin’ somewhere, but that don’t mean nothin’.”

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