Top N. American athletes of the 20th century

TheGeneral+ · Jun 29, 2003

Rank:

1. Michael Jordan
2. Babe Ruth
3. Muhammad Ali
4. Jim Brown
5. Wayne Gretzky
6. Jesse Owens
7. Jim Thorpe
8. Willie Mays
9. Jack Nicklaus
10. Babe Didrikson
11. Joe Louis
12. Carl Lewis
13. Wilt Chamberlain
14. Hank Aaron
15. Jackie Robinson
16. Ted Williams
17. Magic Johnson
18. Bill Russell
19. Martina Navratilova
20. Ty Cobb
21. Gordie Howe
22. Joe DiMaggio
23. Jackie Joyner-Kersee
24. Sugar Ray Robinson
25. Joe Montana
26. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
27. Jerry Rice
28. Red Grange
29. Arnold Palmer
30. Larry Bird
31. Bobby Orr
32. Johnny Unitas
33. Mark Spitz
34. Lou Gehrig
35. Secretariat
36. Oscar Robertson
37. Mickey Mantle
38. Ben Hogan
39. Walter Payton
40. Lawrence Taylor
41. Wilma Rudolph
42. Sandy Koufax
43. Julius Erving
44. Bobby Jones
45. Bill Tilden
46. Eric Heiden
47. Edwin Moses
48. Pete Sampras
49. O.J. Simpson
50. Chris Evert
51. Rocky Marciano
52. Jack Dempsey
53. Rafer Johnson
54. Greg Louganis
55. Mario Lemieux
56. Pete Rose
57. Willie Shoemaker
58. Elgin Baylor
59. Billie Jean King
60. Walter Johnson
61. Stan Musial
62. Jerry West
63. Satchel Paige
64. Sammy Baugh
65. Althea Gibson
66. Eddie Arcaro
67. Bob Gibson
68. Al Oerter
69. Bonnie Blair
70. Dick Butkus
71. Roberto Clemente
72. Bo Jackson
73. Josh Gibson
74. Deion Sanders
75. Dan Marino
76. Barry Sanders
77. Cy Young
78. Bob Mathias
79. Gale Sayers
80. A.J. Foyt
81. Jimmy Connors
82. Bobby Hull
83. Honus Wagner
84. Man o' War
85. Maurice Richard
86. Otto Graham
87. Henry Armstrong
88. Joe Namath
89. Rogers Hornsby
90. Richard Petty
91. Bob Beamon
92. Mario Andretti
93. Don Hutson
94. Bob Cousy
95. George Blanda
96. Michael Johnson
97. Citation
98. Don Budge
99. Sam Snead
100. Jack Johnson

http://msn.espn.go.com/sportscentury/athletes.html

SunDevil · Jun 29, 2003

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>48. Pete Sampras
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

What a joke. Win a match on clay in your career and then we can talk about being a great athlete. If he had to play Connors, Borg, Johnny Mac, et al on grass or hardcourt with the racquets they had to use (Connors' had about the surface area of a ping pong paddle) he never would have won a slam - yet he's ranked ahead of these people. Christ, even Agassi's career slam is more impressive.

lander · Jun 29, 2003

Who is this?

10. Babe Didrikson

That's the one athlete in the top 50 that I'm not familiar with.

Also, why is a horse included in this??

Journeyman · Jun 29, 2003

Connors was f`ing awesome!

I loved watching this guy fly around the court..

And that great run he had back in `91 when he lost in the semi`s to Courier , that may have been his brightest moment! JIMMY C was

HABSMAN · Jun 29, 2003

Wayne Gretzky
Mario Lemieux

Journeyman · Jun 29, 2003

Two horses actually Lander...see Citation..

Babe was a great golfer and Track star, from what i heard she played just about any sport , she was probably the greatest female all around athlete, similar to Jim Thorpe.

HacheMan · Jun 29, 2003

Larry Bird.....Barry Sanders......and Dan Marino should rank higher....Barry Sanders much higher.....

lander · Jun 29, 2003

Are these only retired athletes?

Barry Bonds should be on here.

Journeyman · Jun 29, 2003

this list was made right before the Bonds craze..

Elway is one omission that stands out to me...

Sanders should be ranked much higher for sure.

soccerbob · Jun 29, 2003

Barry Sanders is lucky to be ranked at all. He's the most overrated athlete in the history of team sports. They should have called him the "magic man" because he disappeared in big games.

He won 1 playoff game in his career. He couldn't play on grass or in bad weather. The Lions actually took him out in some goal line situations and he was absolutely no threat at all catching a pass out of the backfield. He was stopped far too often behind the line of scrimmage to put his team in 2nd and 3rd and long. Sure, he broke some nice runs with a few fancy moves but he was an average NFL running back.

Journeyman · Jun 29, 2003

Soccerbob, that was the offense the Lions ran ..it wasn`t his fault...If him and Emmitt Smith switched teams do you think this would even be a debate? NO WAY!

Barry Sanders did the things OJ and Sayers did in the SPEED ERA..Where every position on the field has great speed...You`ll never see slow white guys running around backwards trying to chase a runningback like back in the 60`s 70`s..

HacheMan · Jun 29, 2003

soccerbob.....what are you smoking today??.......

with the comment Barry Sanders is the most overrated athlete in history.

WildBill · Jun 29, 2003

This is overall an excellent list I think, for the time. Since then I think you have to put Tiger in there somewhere with the effect he has had on the game. And while I don't think Barry Sanders is that underrated, Prime Time is above him??? Come on! And Gordie Howe not making the Top 20 is pretty bad, how many athletes could match his longevity and mark on the game?

Also we have to see that this is a list that has off the field overtones too. I mean Jim Brown was a great and so was Ali, but I think they got here almost for their bigger than life reputations, not necessarily for what they accomplished in sports alone. I don't think anyone could say Brown was a more accomplished performer than Gretzky, that one isn't even close. Gretzky set records that could stand for decades, if not all time with the way hockey is played now, but on top of that he made it a game that gets top billing in all of North America. I remember before Gretzky that the Stanley Cup playoffs weren't even covered in LA if the Kings were out, I mean you wouldn't even see a score on the sports report of the news. You had to watch ESPN to just see the game or the highlights because the local news wouldn't even act like it mattered unless someone won the cup. After the Oilers and Gretzky that all changed and next thing you know its covered everywhere, all kinds of middle market cities want a team and you see kids from really unusual places like Korea and central California making it to the NHL and I think we can put that credit to Wayne. I would have made him number 2 or 3, but why quibble with a couple of spots?

max1234 · Jun 29, 2003

Railbird, leave this one to me"

HOW IN THE HELL IS BILL LAMBIEER NOT ON THIS LIST????? WHAT SCUM MADE UP THIS LIST AND DIDN'T PUT THE GREATEST WHITE CENTER THAT COULDN'T JUMP A LICK ON IT??????

There, Rail, I saved you the trouble.

PS... I think Lambieer sucked, IMO.

EveryGamblersDream · Jun 29, 2003

Joe Montana should be in the top 3 period!

ppeter · Jun 29, 2003

Lou Gehrig should have been top 10. Amazing numbers, no telling how far he would have gone but for the disease.

Carl Lewis is way, overated. He was juiced on roids the whole time, only got caught in the end when the doper police improved the technology.

Guest · Jun 29, 2003

CITATION,

at least the smartest

Railbird · Jun 30, 2003

This list has an east coast bias, you can see the espn jewishness all the way.

They have 4 horseracing and zero volleyball players,

Elway
Moon
Flutie
Gwynn
Karch Kirlay
Randy sToklos
Misty May
Agassi
Mia Hamm
Tony Hawk
Jeremy Mcgrath

mathguru · Jun 30, 2003

Greg Norman The White Shark

this guy was great wan't he?

max1234 · Jun 30, 2003

Rail,

Since when did you start supporting wife beaters? Wasn't Moon arrested for domestic assualt a few years ago?

Top N. American athletes of the 20th century

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