
Ironslave
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Inspired by Line's thread on movies, I thought I'd start this. It would be great if a bunch of other people got involved and made a list of their own as well. It's only 10 athletes, so it shouldn't be nearly as time consuming as Line's 100.
Who would be your top 10 athletes to have ever lived? The way you do the list is subjective, for example, someone like Bo Jackson could make the list because he was a dominant athlete in many sports, or you could just go with an athlete who dominated one sport (ie, Michael Jordan). Other things to consider are their impact on the sporting and world in general, ability to change/transcend the game, name value, etc etc.
Here are a list of names taken from ESPN's top 100.
Edit: These names are North American athletes from the 20th century. For further clarification, this means athletes from Canada, the United States and Mexico, who participated in sport from the January 1, 1900 and January 1, 2000.
clear?
Alphabetical
Aaron, Hank
Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem
Ali, Muhammad
Andretti, Mario
Arcaro, Eddie
Armstrong, Henry
Baugh, Sammy
Baylor, Elgin
Beamon, Bob
Bird, Larry
Blair, Bonnie
Blanda, George
Brown, Jim
Budge, Don
Butkus, Dick
Chamberlain, Wilt
Citation (horse)
Clemente, Roberto
Cobb, Ty
Connors, Jimmy
Cousy, Bob
Dempsey, Jack
Didrikson, Babe
DiMaggio, Joe
Erving, Julius
Evert, Chris
Foyt, A.J.
Gehrig, Lou
Gibson, Althea
Gibson, Bob
Gibson, Josh
Graham, Otto
Grange, Red
Gretzky, Wayne
Heiden, Eric
Hogan, Ben
Hornsby, Rogers
Howe, Gordie
Hull, Bobby
Hutson, Don
Jackson, Bo
Johnson, Jack
Johnson, Magic
Johnson, Michael
Johnson, Rafer
Johnson, Walter
Jones, Bobby
Jordan, Michael
Joyner-Kersee, Jackie
King, Billie Jean
Koufax, Sandy
Lemieux, Mario
Lewis, Carl
Louganis, Greg
Louis, Joe
Man O' War
Mantle, Mickey
Marciano, Rocky
Marino, Dan
Mathias, Bob
Mays, Willie
Montana, Joe
Moses, Edwin
Musial, Stan
Namath, Joe
Navratilova, Martina
Nicklaus, Jack
Oerter, Al
Orr, Bobby
Owens, Jesse
Paige, Satchel
Palmer, Arnold
Payton, Walter
Petty, Richard
Rice, Jerry
Richard, Maurice
Robertson, Oscar
Robinson, Jackie
Robinson, Sugar Ray
Rose, Pete
Rudolph, Wilma
Ruth, Babe
Russell, Bill
Sampras, Pete
Sanders, Barry
Sanders, Deion
Sayers, Gale
Secretariat
Shoemaker, Willie
Simpson, O.J.
Snead, Sam
Spitz, Mark
Taylor, Lawrence
Thorpe, Jim
Tilden, Bill
Unitas, Johnny
Wagner, Honus
West, Jerry
Willimas, Ted
Young, Cy
The results!
10 - Eddie Merckx
9 Pele
8 Muhammad Ali
7 Michael Jordan
6 Babe Ruth
5 Babe Zaharias
4 Jim Thorpe
3 Wayne Gretzky
2 Jim Brown
1 Tiger Woods
Who would be your top 10 athletes to have ever lived? The way you do the list is subjective, for example, someone like Bo Jackson could make the list because he was a dominant athlete in many sports, or you could just go with an athlete who dominated one sport (ie, Michael Jordan). Other things to consider are their impact on the sporting and world in general, ability to change/transcend the game, name value, etc etc.
Here are a list of names taken from ESPN's top 100.
Edit: These names are North American athletes from the 20th century. For further clarification, this means athletes from Canada, the United States and Mexico, who participated in sport from the January 1, 1900 and January 1, 2000.
clear?
Alphabetical
Aaron, Hank
Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem
Ali, Muhammad
Andretti, Mario
Arcaro, Eddie
Armstrong, Henry
Baugh, Sammy
Baylor, Elgin
Beamon, Bob
Bird, Larry
Blair, Bonnie
Blanda, George
Brown, Jim
Budge, Don
Butkus, Dick
Chamberlain, Wilt
Citation (horse)
Clemente, Roberto
Cobb, Ty
Connors, Jimmy
Cousy, Bob
Dempsey, Jack
Didrikson, Babe
DiMaggio, Joe
Erving, Julius
Evert, Chris
Foyt, A.J.
Gehrig, Lou
Gibson, Althea
Gibson, Bob
Gibson, Josh
Graham, Otto
Grange, Red
Gretzky, Wayne
Heiden, Eric
Hogan, Ben
Hornsby, Rogers
Howe, Gordie
Hull, Bobby
Hutson, Don
Jackson, Bo
Johnson, Jack
Johnson, Magic
Johnson, Michael
Johnson, Rafer
Johnson, Walter
Jones, Bobby
Jordan, Michael
Joyner-Kersee, Jackie
King, Billie Jean
Koufax, Sandy
Lemieux, Mario
Lewis, Carl
Louganis, Greg
Louis, Joe
Man O' War
Mantle, Mickey
Marciano, Rocky
Marino, Dan
Mathias, Bob
Mays, Willie
Montana, Joe
Moses, Edwin
Musial, Stan
Namath, Joe
Navratilova, Martina
Nicklaus, Jack
Oerter, Al
Orr, Bobby
Owens, Jesse
Paige, Satchel
Palmer, Arnold
Payton, Walter
Petty, Richard
Rice, Jerry
Richard, Maurice
Robertson, Oscar
Robinson, Jackie
Robinson, Sugar Ray
Rose, Pete
Rudolph, Wilma
Ruth, Babe
Russell, Bill
Sampras, Pete
Sanders, Barry
Sanders, Deion
Sayers, Gale
Secretariat
Shoemaker, Willie
Simpson, O.J.
Snead, Sam
Spitz, Mark
Taylor, Lawrence
Thorpe, Jim
Tilden, Bill
Unitas, Johnny
Wagner, Honus
West, Jerry
Willimas, Ted
Young, Cy
The results!
10 - Eddie Merckx
9 Pele
8 Muhammad Ali
7 Michael Jordan
6 Babe Ruth
5 Babe Zaharias
4 Jim Thorpe
3 Wayne Gretzky
2 Jim Brown
1 Tiger Woods
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