Pay: $61.2 million
Sport: Golf
One of the most successful golfers if not the most successful golfer ever, Woods remains on the list as one of the highest-paid black athletes for the past several years. He went pro in 1996; he won his first major in the 1997 Masters, earning $486,000 for his dominating performance. From August 1999 to September 2004 and from June 2005 to October 2010, he was ranked No. 1. Because of his marital problems and the massive media scrutiny over his infidelity in 2010, Woods stumbled professionally but later regained his No. 1 ranking in March 2013.