Many can identify Chuck Connors as the “The Rifleman” but perhaps not nearly as many know he was once a Dodger and always remained a Dodger in his heart.
Chuck Connors, christened Kevin Joseph Aloysius Connors, was born in Brooklyn, New York on April 10, 1921. His parents of Irish descent, Allan and Marcella Connors, had emigrated to the United States from what was then the Dominion of Newfoundland and now the Province of Newfoundland in Canada. Chuck had a sister Gloria who early on learned he did not like his first name. As he got older and taller he looked for a nickname, trying “Stretch” and “Lefty” but those didn’t really seem to fit.