Greatest Athletes of the Century

It is hard to define what a “great” athlete is considering the different expectations in different sport. Every sport is different so criteria such as ability, dominance, character, public adulation and social impact may be different depending on the sport. What I have decided to do is find 10 of the most popular sports are and decide what athletes dominated, set a historical mark, was the face of the sport or helped the sport grow. The 10 sports that will be observed are NHL, golf, tennis, motorsports, soccer, college football, NFL, NBA, baseball and Olympics. After deciding which the greatest athletes in these sports were I then ranked them according who meant the “greatest” to that sport.

#10- Tennis- Billie Jean King
Tennis will be a hard sport because many men and woman had made an impact on this sport. After taking my history of sport class though I will have to choose Billie Jean King as the greatest tennis player. She impacted the sport of tennis greatly not only for woman but for men too. After defeating Bobby Rigs in the battle of the sexes it helped make a stance for woman sports across the country, not only in tennis but in other sports too. I selected her primarily on her public adulation. She was a positive role model to many.

#9-Hockey- Wayne Gretzky
The first sport is NHL, the national hockey league. This is almost an obvious choice it is Wayne Gretzky. He fulfilled every criterion to make him a “great” player. He played for many years and had many accomplishments in the sport. He set 40 regular-season records, 15 playoff records, and six All-Star records, won four Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers, and won nine MVP awards and ten scoring titles. Wayne Gretzky is the face of hockey, if anyone asked someone who does not follow hockey that much “name a person who played hockey” most of the time the answer would be Wayne Gretzky. He had a huge impact on the sport. After retirement he coached the Phoenix Coyotes and also part owned them. He became a hall of fame player and was the 10th person to be inducted before the 3 year waiting period. The impact he made on the sport is what makes him so great.


#8-Golf- Arnold Palmer
Next is the greatest sport from golf. Golf is a hard one because there have been many great golfers. The obvious choice in many eyes would be Tiger Woods but I am not going to choose him, no not because of his recent drama in the news. I did not select him because yes he is the riches athlete but he got there with some help. This would be the help of Arnold Palmer. I selected him primarly on his ability, character traits and historical impact. Arnold Palmer made the sport popular, with help from 2 other guys Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player. He has received many other honors one being athlete of the decade during the 60s. Palmer was a great for many people he shined in the business world and in family life. He was a tremendous golfer. He was one of the most popular and accessible figures in history.


#7- Motorsports- Dale Earnhardt
Motorsport is hard to choose because there are many different styles of racing. What I am going to look at though is the one that is growing here in the United States and that would be NASCAR. The most dominant and the greatest driver to date has been Dale Earnhardt. He impacted the sport greatly, after his passing during a Daytona 500 race to this day there are still Earnhardt #3 flags all around the infield. He has 76 wins and 7 championships, tied with Richard Petty. He was a great leader for NASCAR and his sudden death impacted the sport enormously. He was a charitable and generous man off the track but on the track considered the “intimidator.” He truly was the greatest NASCAR driver in the past century.


#6- College Football- Red Grange
College football greatest player was someone we learned about in class. This would be Red Grange. He was an early player of the sport but dominated in it. He led the University of Illinois to a Nation Title. Rader said in his book “Grange was admired for both his practice of traditional virtues and his sudden break runs on the field of play.”A sports reporter labeled him the “galloping ghost.” Grange is most known for his 4 touchdown quarter against the University of Michigan. He was a great player and did incredible things for the sport.


#5- Olympics- Jesse Owens
Olympics greatest athlete is hard because Olympics are made for greats. The one that made a political impact and was great at the sport he competed would be Jesse Owens. Jesse Owens was a track runner he won four gold medals in the 100 meters, the 200 meters, the long jump, and as part of the 4x100 meter relay team. His determination in the sport he competed and the strength through the raising problems in Berlin made him great. Even though I could name a few other athletes that made more of a competitive mark on the Olympics none made a mark like Jesse did, that alone made him great.


#4- Soccer- Mia Hamm
Soccer will be easy for me because I am a soccer player and I had one player that I idolized when I played. This would be Mia Hamm. She was a great player and did many things in the community. She was the face for women soccer for awhile and many girl soccer players looked up to her and saw her as an inspiration. Hamm was also a dominant player in her sport scoring the most international goals (158), male or female. She won many championships with different teams she also won an Olympic gold medal. She also played in most-attended women's sports event in history with an official attendance of 90,185. There is no doubt that she changed the sport of woman’s soccer and possibly even soccer as a whole.



#3- NFL- Jim Brown
NFL’s greatest football player of the century would be Jim Brown. He has been labeled the greatest pure runner in the NFL. He set many records in his nine year stint. When he departed the NFL he held records in single season rushing with 1,863 yards and a career rushing yards with 12,312. He also holds many other dominant records too. He was a leader on and off the field. He established the Amer-I-Can program and was a big social activist. His overall dominance in the sport is what made him be one of the greatest athletes.


#2-NBA- Michael Jordan
NBA’s greatest player is Michael Jordan. He was great player on the court and also is a great business professional off the court. He has received many awards a few being 2 Olympic Gold Medals 1984, 1992, 6-time NBA Champion , 6-time NBA Finals MVP, 5-time NBA MVP and countless others. He was a role model for many including basketball greats that play today like LeBron James and Dwayne Wade. He made a huge impact on the basketball world. His impact makes him the greatest hands down NBA basketball player of the century.


#1- Baseball- Babe Ruth
Baseball greatest player is Babe Ruth. Ruth along with the other chosen athletes made a big impact on the sport of baseball. Ruth had a 21 year long baseball career. He also has many all time records 3rd all-time homerun leader (712), 4th all-time run leader (2,174) and 1st all-time slugging leader (0.690) these records are only a few of his many. Many considered him “the sultan of swat” or “the bambino”. Rader wrote “he never struggled for successin baseball.” The public adored him, people admired him and he dominated baseball so there is no doubt that he is the greatest baseball player of the century.