Top Ten Male Athletes of All Time

[MylesBAstor]

This ought to be interesting

Here's mine in no particular order:

Michael Jordon
Vasily Alexeyev
Al Oerter
Wilt Chamberlain
Babe Ruth
Usain Bolt
Lance Armstrong
Rod Laver
Bob Hayes
Pele

Can't wait to see other people's choices

 

[Gregadd]

Michael Jordan

 

[Steve Williams]

Premature as it might be

Kobe
LeBron

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

Wayne Gretzky - Best Hockey Player that ever was! If you include him I'd say you're list was better! LOL!

 

[Ron Party]

If Muhammad Ali and Jim Brown aren't on the list, then something is wrong with the list.

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

How could any of us have missed those two so far!

 

[MylesBAstor]

If Muhammad Ali and Jim Brown aren't on the list, then something is wrong with the list.

OK I'd replace Bob Hayes with Jimmy Brown. I kinda think Ali was overrated.

 

[Ron Party]

Ali is universally rated as either the # 1 or # 2 greatest boxer of all time; some rate Sugar Ray # 1. And Ali missed 3 years in what otherwise would have been the prime of his career.

Honorable mention to Bo Jackson - what an utter stud.

And forgot to include Jim Thorpe - he absolutely belongs on the list.

 

[MylesBAstor]

Ali is universally rated as either the # 1 or # 2 greatest boxer of all time; some rate Sugar Ray # 1. And Ali missed 3 years in what otherwise would have been the prime of his career.

Honorable mention to Bo Jackson - what an utter stud.

And forgot to include Jim Thorpe - he absolutely belongs on the list.

OK so who would you eliminate from the list?

 

[JackD201]

I'd swap Ali for Bolt. A bit too early for Usain IMO. If he can get more kids around the world to take up his sport then that means he is more than the sum of his WRs. If it happens then he becomes a game changer and thus the equal of the others on your list, all of whom did exactly that. I'd put Bolt with Manny Pacquiao in that very short "we'll see" list of the current potential all time greats.

I might put Wilt the Stilt on the top of your list. He is different because I can't think of any other athlete whose sport governing body opted to change so many rules because of just one person and his unique abilities. Basketball today is a direct result of Wilt. Even His Highness can't compare in that respect.

I have a feeling that until he met a Nike 9-iron, somebody might have been on the list too on the basis of dominance and growth. Too bad.

 

[MylesBAstor]

I'd swap Ali for Bolt. A bit too early for Usain IMO. If he can get more kids around the world to take up his sport then that means he is more than the sum of his WRs. If it happens then he becomes a game changer and thus the equal of the others on your list, all of whom did exactly that. I'd put Bolt with Manny Pacquiao in that very short "we'll see" list of the current potential all time greats.

I might put Wilt the Stilt on the top of your list. He is different because I can't think of any other athlete whose sport governing body opted to change so many rules because of just one person and his unique abilities. Basketball today is a direct result of Wilt. Even His Highness can't compare in that respect.

I have a feeling that until he met a Nike 9-iron, somebody might have been on the list too on the basis of dominance and growth. Too bad.

Jack-there was no order to the list

Re: Wilt. People don't realize how great an athlete he was. He high jumped 7 ft. Ran a 10.9 100 yd dash. Threw the shot 56 ft. Amazing explosiveness! Revolutioned basketball like you said while at Kansas and forced a rules change (like the idiots who changed the dunk rule when Alcindor was at UCLA).

 

[RogerD]

I would add Willie Mays to the list, speed,power,agility and a SF Giant to boot.

 

[Steve Williams]

In baseball I would have to add Joe DiMaggio (no one IMO will ever equal his game hitting record) of 56 games

 

[Ron Party]

You know, it's really hard to have such a fun discussion like this over the internet. I mean, no pitchers of beer, no trash talking, just mere respectful dialogue.

Myles, I'm taking your discus thrower, Al Oerter, and your weightlifter, Vasily Alexeyev, off the list. Bolt gets de-bolted, and Laver (as much as I enjoyed his game), gets Samprased and Federered.

OK, so I keep, in no particular order:

1. Michael
2. Wilt
3. The Babe
4. Pele
5. Lance (unless it turns out he was steroiding)

(You know, when an athlete needs only 1 name, then that athlete already has a leg up.)

5 more to go.

The first three are easy:

6. Ali
7. Thorpe (who already was voted the # 1 male athlete of the first half of the 20th century)
8. Jim Brown

Then it gets more difficult. RogerD just posted that he'd include Mays. Great choice. If we're looking to the sport of baseball, then what about Aaron?

Or what about Dave Winfield? Seriously. Not only did he hit for power, he could run (finished in the top 8 in triples 3 times, and 4 times he stole more than 20 bases), and field (7 time Gold Glove winner). OK, if that's not enough, he was the starting forward at U of Minnesota, which won the Big 10 championship, and was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks. Not enought? He was drafted in 1973 by the Minnesota Vikings. No other person has ever been drafted in all three major professional sports (excluding hockey).

Me, though, I'm not picking Winfield. Psyche! I'm picking:

9. Jackie Robinson

What he did in pro baseball, under the conditions he did it in, well, 'nuff said. Oh, it doesn't hurt to bolster his inclusion on the list that at UCLA two times he led the Pac-10 in scoring, was an all-american running back, and won a NCAA championship in the long jump.

Last one.

I'm really tempted to go with Bo Jackson. I am not sure. I'm equivocating. But *Bo knows*. (Remeber that?) What he did on the football field was just sick. I mean the dude won the Heisman, arguably ran the fastest 40 yard sprint in the history of football, and was an incredible combination of power and speed. But that wasn't enough. He was a capable pro baseball player, hitting 32 HR and 105 RBI in his best season, who, after prosthetic hip surgery, still hit for power. He is the only person named an all star in 2 major professional sports.

But I'm not taking Bo. I'm taking:

10. Gordie Howe

Score, pass, skate, fight, he could and did do it all. And he did it until age 52. Named an all star 29 times. 7 time MVP. Unbelievable.

 

[MylesBAstor]

In baseball I would have to add Joe DiMaggio (no one IMO will ever equal his game hitting record) of 56 games

I agree-it would be amazingly hard. Very different times. In JDs time, didn't have to face five pitchers in a game. The starter went the whole game

But in the end, I'm also talking about whose the greatest athlete, physical talent and what they did in their sport. In other words, we're also talking about natural genetic talent.

For me, someone like Al Oerter is arguably the best athlete of all time. The only four time gold medalist -56-60-64-68 in Olympic history in the shot put. Pyros Dimas almost did it in Olympic weightlifting with three gold and a bronze as did Suleymanoglu of Turkey. Suleymanoglu probably was the worlds strongest, most explosive athletes who at 5 ft tall and around 130 pounds, clean and jerked 3X his body weight, a record that stands today. Everyone made fun of Alexeyev's stomach at the '76 Olympics but the man was an incredible athlete too who at 300 lbs had a 44 inch vertical jump (most NBA players top out in the high 30s-with the best I think being David Thompson at around 41 inches). The man was a freak of nature.

 

[Steve Williams]

I'm really tempted to go with Bo Jackson. I am not sure. I'm equivocating. But *Bo knows*. (Remeber that?) What he did on the football field was just sick. I mean the dude won the Heisman, arguably ran the fastest 40 yard sprint in the history of football, and was an incredible combination of power and speed. But that wasn't enough. He was a capable pro baseball player, hitting 32 HR and 105 RBI in his best season, who, after prosthetic hip surgery, still hit for power. He is the only person named an all star in 2 major professional sports.

But I'm not taking Bo. I'm taking:

10. Gordie Howe

Score, pass, skate, fight, he could and did do it all. And he did it until age 52. Named an all star 29 times. 7 time MVP. Unbelievable.

Had Bo not developed avascular necrosis of his hip I agree about his occupying a spot in the top 10

Gordie Howe was amazing because he played in the NHL for 5 decades. That is a feat which won't ever be equalled. But if we're talking hockey you have to think of Maurice (The Rocket) Richard and perhaps even Bobbie Hull and how about Bobby Orr as one of (if not the greatest) defencemen of all time

 

[Ron Party]

Steve, on the list of all time hockey greats I put The Rocket right behind Howe.

 

[Steve Williams]

sorry Ron I missed that

Great to have a list of all time greats but maybe a list of the top 10 in each sport and then take the top 10 of all of these
I don't see any female athletes listed

Billie Jean King comes to mind in tennis as do some other greats in that sport

 

[Ron Party]

David Thompson. Awesome leap. Sad what happened to him in the *old-times* game during all-star weekend. I'm curious what Shannon Brown's vertical leap is. Did you see his dunk over J-Rich?

 

[Steve Williams]

Did you see his dunk over J-Rich

I did. That's why he was in the Slam Dunk contest