Calling all heroes (Top 10 sports heroes of all time)

ESPN ^ | April 26, 2003

[Mr. Mulliner]

Calling all heroes

They're the best of the best, exemplifying all the courage and nobility and genius and hard work and modesty and ambition and humility and grace that can be displayed in modern American sports. They're the ones we really want to be like when the going gets tough, they're the ones we want to show our sons and daughters and say, "See? See?" They all had flaws, we know -- they were, despite some signs to the contrary, human. And they're Page 2's greatest sports heroes of all time.

1. Jackie Robinson

It wasn't what Jackie did as much as the way Jackie did it -- bearing up under the pressure of breaking baseball's color barrier with dignity and class and some damn great ballplaying. And, like few others before or since, he became bigger than the game itself, an American treasure in his own right. Said AL President Gene Budig in 1997, "He led America by example. He reminded our people of what was right and he reminded them of what was wrong. I think it can be safely said today that Jackie Robinson made the United States a better nation."

2. Babe Ruth

Babe was, quite simply the American sports icon of The American Century, a mythic hero who would have had to be invented had he not been flesh and blood. Out of the mouth of Pete Rose, in 1992, came the truth: "If Babe Ruth had been a soccer player, soccer would be our national pastime."

3. Vince Lombardi

Lombardi was voted the greatest coach of all time by ESPN's SportsCentury panel, but he was so much more. During the turbulent 1960s, he became a symbol of all that was right with the old-fashioned, "square" ways. A tough guy, an emotional man, one who inspired great loyalty among his players. Quite simply, the best boss there ever was.

4. Muhammad Ali

Ali was "The Greatest" during his boxing career, but it was after his boxing days were done that he secured his legend as a great American man. Was there ever a more moving moment in sports than when he lit the flame to open the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta? Ailing with Parkinson's, Ali has faced his long physical decline with the kind of courage and grace and humor that have made him not just admired, but truly beloved. Said Pres. Bill Clinton to Ali after the torch-lighting ceremony, "They didn't tell me who would light the flame, but when I saw it was you, I cried.'"

5. Johnny Unitas

A great quarterback, we all know. The greatest ever, probably. But more simply, an admirable man who honored the sports world by being part of it. "He was the kind of man," said Cardinal William H. Keeler at Unitas' funeral, "who would shake the hand of a homeless person and say to that person it was an honor to shake his hand."

6. Nile Kinnick

We're reminded of the legacy of a young man who died too young at the start of every Big 10 football game. The coin that's tossed bears Kinnick's likeness, and it's only one of many tributes to the great Iowa football star and war hero that are scattered around his home state. When he won the Heisman in 1939, he said, famously, "I thank God I was warring on the gridirons of the Midwest and not on the battlefields of Europe." A few years later, Kinnick was killed on a training flight, serving his country in that same war. He had turned down a lucrative pro contract from the NFL's Brooklyn Dodgers to attend law school, and many expected him to eventually become president.

"This country is O.K. as long as it produces Nile Kinnicks," wrote Bill Cunningham in the Boston Globe, shortly after Kinnick took home the Heisman. "The football part is incidental."

7. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird

These men made their pro basketball homes on opposite coasts -- one in glamorous L.A., the other in old, work-a-day Beantown, but the 3,000 miles didn't separate them in our minds. Take your pick -- Magic's infectious good humor and enthusiasm and, when it all came crashing down, courage. Larry's hard-scrabble, Midwest, get-it-done can-do everyman attitude. It's impossible. They're heroes bound together by time, and by a sport, and by exhibiting complementary qualities that added up to greatness both on and off the court.

8. Joe DiMaggio

"Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you … " Would any other player, in any sport, have worked in that great line from Simon and Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson"? No way. Even though lots of ugly things about Joe's life have come out lately, his fame and heroic stature may be equaled, but never topped. DiMaggio, wrote Page 2's David Halberstam in "Summer of '49, " was "the perfect Hemingway hero, for Hemingway in his novels romanticized the man who exhibited grace under pressure, who withheld any emotion lest it soil the purer statement of his deeds."

9. Billie Jean King

She was the best tennis player of her time, and one of the all-time greats. She fought for equal prize money -- and got it. She created an entirely new format for tennis competition -- World Team Tennis -- and it worked. And she creamed Bobby Riggs in the "Battle of the Sexes," a more important event than the circus-like atmosphere surrounding it foretold. Wrote Neil Amdur of the New York Times after King defeated Riggs, "Most important perhaps for women everywhere, she convinced skeptics that a female athlete can survive pressure-filled situations."

10. 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team

At a time when things looked pretty bleak for the U.S. -- mind-boggling inflation, hostages in Iran, a seemingly endless "energy crisis," and a president who spoke of a "national malaise" -- this team made everything look brighter, at least for a while. By beating the Soviets in the "Miracle on Ice" and going on to win the Gold Medal against the longest odds, the young team of amateurs reminded lots of folks what the best of America was all about.

"It made you want to pick up your television set and take it to bed with you," wrote E.M. Swift in SI, of the team's medal run. "It really made you feel good."

[Mr. Mulliner]

I'm sure that many freepers have also been wondering about the absence of Phidippides on this list, but were afraid they'd misspell it. You got it right, though. I just checked.

[freedumb2003]

That is laughably off base about Jordan. Seems as if you only followed his career for a year or two.

By the time the Bulls started winning, there were no more competitors left. MJ was a shark in a league of guppies. But he never really made the people around him better, not like Magic.

[Peter Libra]

I like your query Dr Luv. Of course most sports fans are completely insular. No harm in that of course, anymore than the exhibitionists who try to get in on the various sports, a la T/V. The camera panning on them at intervals might be their moment.

Hope you do not mind this homily, but you gave me an opportunity to put in other names- thanks.

Nominating London's East-End all time hero, Ted (Kid) Lewis. Welterweight champion of the World. Born 1895. Real name, Gershon Mendelhoff,from Whitechapel's Jewish community. Also Sydney Wooderson of England, worlds mile and half mile champion.(1930's).

Poorly and sparsly backed as an amateur, he used to run to work instead of taking a bus, as training. Ok. Anyway, for American sensibilities, one name. DEMPSEY .

[glasseye]

I feel a little out of your 'loop' too.....these MEN were/are legendary,,,,,imo

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

Me, too. I found him inspiring. :)

[Texas2step]

"get rid of the politically correct entries--#s 1, 4 and 9, then you have room for Jim Thorpe, Jesse Owens and THE GREAT ONE."

37 posts before anyone even mentions The Great One, and another 20+ before he's named?

Yes, Bobby Orr was good, but if we're putting a hockey player on the list, it's got to be Wayne Gretzky!

I also agree with others that Lance Armstrong and Tiger Woods are musts on the top ten.

[DaGman]

Didn't the Cowboys draft him then trade him to Seattle?

[xp38]

1. Bob Uecker

2. Jerry Rice

3. Bill Russell

4. Wayne Gretzky

5. David Pearson

6. Jack Nicklaus

7. Secretariat

8. Rod Laver

9. Lennox Lewis

10. Shirley Muldowney

[The Lone Ranger]

He's not really a sports hero of mine, but I have a lot of respect for Pat Tillman of the Arizona Cardinals. He's the guy who after 9/11 hung up his football uniform and joined the Army. Even went Ranger from what I understand.

As far as sports goes, I'd have to say Emmitt Smith amd Bill Bates from the Cowboys. Just from the fact that they gave 110% every time they suited up and played their hearts out.

[MCH]

Here's a second to Cal Ripken Jr.

[T'wit]

I'd like to second the motions for Jim Thorpe, Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig and Michael Jordan... and add a nomination for nominate Bobby Jones.

One woman athlete stands so tall that no other comes close -- certainly not Billie Jean King. I give you Mildred "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias: gold medalist and world record holder in several Olympic events (high jump, long jump, hurdles), but best known as one of the finest golfers of either sex who ever played the game (at one point she won 17 straight amateur titles). More astonishing is that Babe came late to golf and learned it only after competing in track and field and mastering many other sports (tennis, bowling, skating).

[PhilipFreneau]

Dominators like
Nolan Ryan
Christy Mathewson
Pete Maravich in college
Roberto Clemente
Sandy Koufax
Bob Gibson

You forgot Jim Brown, Bob Feller, Babe Ruth, Wilt Chamberlain, and Jack Nicklaus. They were truly dominating. And Byron Nelson won 11 PGA tournaments in a row in 1945.

[BOBWADE]

Rob Leatham is an incredibly nice person not to mention very talented. I have officated over some of his matches and he is a real class act!

[SamAdams76]

I think we can bump out Muhammed Ali (the draft dodger) and put in Ted Williams who served our nation's military not once, but twice, in the prime of his career. One can only imagine the statistics Ted Williams would have rolled up had his career not been interrupted for two significant stretches while he flew airplanes for the U.S. Marine Corps in WW2 and in Korea.

Then (my Boston roots are showing) I think we should mention Bobby Orr, who almost singlehandedly brought two Stanley Cups to the Boston Bruins who were simply awful before he came on the scene in 1967 and mostly awful since he left in 1975. While one might argue that Orr did not have to overcome many obstacles (his natural talent was so great), most of his professional career was spent hobbled by knee injuries because even though he was probably the greatest hockey player ever, he never shirked his duty on defense. It would have been easy for Orr to be sloppy on defense in order to concentrate on his offense. But even after his knee was shattered, he'd still dive to the ice to block slapshots and do all the little things that a defenseman is expected to do. Orr revolutionized the game of ice hockey. I had the privilege of seeing him play in person as a child during the early 1970s. He would literally skate circles around everybody on the ice. The only other athlete that came as close to dominating his sport was Michael Jordan.

[Mr. Mulliner]

Cal was one of my heroes even in his early years and I had plans to name a son after him. Alas, I had all girls, but what Cal accomplished in his career made him an even greater hero in my eyes.

[Fred Mertz]

Hiya T'wit. I just re-read the title. What the heck is a sports hero?

We've been thinking of the best athletes of all time.

[rightofrush]

I'll take your Lance Armstrong if you'll take my Ted Williams. Ted was not only a sports hero, but a patriotic war hero as well.

[xp38]

I remember Orr and agree with you although having Phil Esposito with the Bruins didn't hurt Boston either. Bobby Orr had way too short of a career.

[Travis McGee]

Johnny Unitas and Brooks Robinson.

(Hey, I'm from Baltimore.)

[rightofrush]

Being an American Indian I have to put Jim Thorpe All American in there somewhere.

He should easily replace Billy Jean King. I'd put him in the the top five at least.