Greatest Athletes of All Time

[mdh88]

This my favorite question on the site, however, it is also the hardest question to answer. What do you think?

[dgerman]

It sure is fun question to answer, but it is just a guess since it is so hard compare different generation AND sports.

[hoags]

led the nation in rushing as a tailback.(football)
led the nation in scoring as a point guard.(basketball)
100 yard national champion
200 yard national champion
400 yard national champion
800 yard national champion
long jump national champion
First and still only student in UCLA history to letter in four sports.
Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year
Major League Baseball MVP
6 world series teams.

Point of interest- In the 1936 Olympiad Jackie's brother Mack Robinson won the silver medal in the 200 yard dash, finishing .04 seconds behind winner Jesse Owens. Here is a quote from Mack about his brother Jackie.
"In 22 years of playing together every single day, I have never, ever come close to beating Jackie in a footrace. If Jackie would have run in the Olympics no one in the world would have ever heard the words Jesse Owens"

PS. As far as life or death situations are concerned, every time Robinson took the field during his storied pro baseball career he did so under threat of death.

[mdh88]

With all due respect, hoags, the quote from Jackie Robinson's brother is completely inaccurate and just plain silly. After all, when Jackie ran in college they had stop watches and he never set a world record. In 1936, Jesse Owens tied the world record in the 100 (10.3 seconds), set the world record in the relay and set Olympic records in the 200 (20.7 and had previously set the world record in 1935 in 20.3) and the long jump (26' 51/4' compared to only 25' 6'1/2" for Jackie in 1940 when he won the NCAA's) and they stood for over 20 years. Hence, Jackie would not have beaten Jesse in 1936 in any of the 4 events, so how is it that we would have never heard of Jesse Owens? You and Mack need to get your facts straight before you make such outlandish statements. Admittedly, it is unfortunate that there were no Olympics in 1940 and 1944 because Jackie was only 17 when Jesse won his 4 gold medals in 1936. I put Jackie Robinson number 25 on my greatest athletes of all time list (men and women; number 20 on my men's list), but you could convince me he should be higher (which I wrote in the article, "Gee, maybe he should be higher."). By the way, he also won a tennis tournament when he was 17. Jim Brown and Deion Sanders had similiar multi-sport resumes in both high school and college (see my article (past articles -- bottom page of current article) for details).

[ridler2013]

No doubt it's Michael Jordan! Michael Jordan is the King of Sports!
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[mdh88]

I agree -- Jordan rules!

[jaxter]

There are so many Athletes who has done exceptionally well in their fields. I personally think Asafa Powell is all time greatest Athlete. As he is performing so well that no doubt he will break all the world records.So hope for the best and lets see what happens.
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