Tony Peyton

Charles Anthony "Tony" Peyton (March 3, 1922 - July 23, 2007) was a member of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team. In the early 1940s, the Globetrotters played and defeated many of the country's top professional basketball teams.

Tony was born in Elyria, Ohio. He graduated from Scott High School in Toledo, Ohio, where he played basketball, football and ran track and field. At the age of 19 he was asked to join the Harlem Globetrotters, long before the team became known primarily for its comical antics. His basketball success would now be considered unusual in that he was only six feet in stature. Tony also played briefly for the Chicago Studebaker Flyers later known as Chicago Studebaker Champions, a former professional team in the National Basketball League. As a part of the Studebaker Champions, He was a member of the first professional basketball team that included both black and white players. He retired from basketball in 1956.

After his basketball career, Tony worked for twenty-eight years in the beverage industry.

In 1988, Peyton moved to Lubbock, Texas, where he was active in youth basketball. He was a High Priest The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 2001, he moved to Midland, Texas, where he died at the age of eighty-six.

Tony was married three times. The former Trellie Mae Hutchinson bore him two children, Leonard Peyton of San Antonio, Texas and Marilyn Dale of Toledo. Marlowe Ann Goins him with a daughter, Antia Peyton of Florida. His last marriage to the former Neville Diane Cyrus, produced two sons, Tyler Anthony Peyton and Terrance Anthony Peyton, both of Midland Texas. There were also nine grandchildren, sixteen great-grandchildren, and five great-great-grandchildren.

A memorial service was held on July 28, 2007, at an LDS meetinghouse in Midland.