Greatest Athlete of All Time, Round 1: Denver Region

[bigblue_dl]

In alphabetical order:

Hobey Baker (Hockey, Football): He never played professional sports and was killed while serving in World War I. He made enough of an impact on hockey that the Hobey Baker award carries his name and he is also a member of the college football hall of fame. He turned down an offer from the Montreal Canadiens to play professional hockey.

Larry Bird (Basketball): 3 time NBA champion, 3 time NBA MVP, 12 time NBA all star, 2 time finals MVP. Bird scored 21,791 points in his NBA career, had 5,695 assists and had 8,974 rebounds.

Brian Boitano (Figure Skating): Won one Olympic gold medal, and 2 word championship gold medals. Turned professional, after 1988, which he dominated, winning 10 straight competitions.

Dan Gable (Wrestling): Gold medal winner at the 1972 Olympic games, in which he did not surrender a single point to his opponents, and 2 time NCAA champion.

Ricky Henderson (Baseball): MLB's all time stolen bases leader, with 1,406 stolen bases. Also had 3,055 hits, 297 home runs and 2,295 runs scored. 10 time all star, 2 time World Series champion, 1 time Gold Glove winner, 1 time MVP. He led off a game by hitting a home run 81 times in his career. He had a record 130 stolen bases in the 1982 season.

Magic Johnson (Basketball): 5 time NBA champion, 3 time NBA MVP, 12 time NBA all star, 3 time NBA finals MVP. He scored 17,707 points in his career, along with 6,559 rebounds and 10,141 assists. Won an NCAA championship in 1979.

Walter Johnson (Baseball): All time leader in shutouts with 110, second in wins with 417, had 517 complete games, a career ERA of 2.17 and 3,509 strikeouts (a record that stood for 50 years). 2 time MVP and 1 time World Series champion. He pitched in a different era, but was dominant at what he did.

Jackie Joyner-Kersee (Track and Field): 3 time Olympic gold medalist in the Heptathalon and and long jump and 4 time world champion. She also played basketball for UCLA, where she scored 1,167 career points.

Karl Malone (Basketball): Known as The Mailman. 2 time NBA MVP, and 14 time all star. He is second all time in career points scored with 36,928, and also had 14,968 career rebounds, including the most defensive rebounds in NBA history.

Rocky Marciano (Boxing): Former world heavyweight champion and the only boxer to ever hold the heavyweight belt and never lose and never tie in his career. His record was 49-0-0, with 43 knockouts.

Dan Marino (Football): 9 time Pro Bowler. 1 time MVP. Holds or held numerous passing records, including career passing yards, broken by Brett Favre, most passing yards in a season, broken by Drew Brees, most passing touchdowns in a season, broken by Peyton Manning and several others. Never won the Super Bowl.

Howie Morenz (Hockey): Played hockey in a different era, but was as good as it got for his time. 271 career goals and 201 career assists. Won the Hart Memorial trophy 3 times and the Art Ross trophy twice. He won the Stanley Cup 3 times during his career.

Stan Musial (Baseball): 24 time MLB all star, won the NL batting title 7 times, 3 time MVP and 3 time World Series champion. He is 4th all time in hits with 3,630, 6th all time in RBI's with 1,951 and hit 475 career home runs. He had a career batting average of .331.

Jesse Owens (Track and Field): He won 4 gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games, in Berlin, while being under the pressure of competing in Nazi Germany.

Jerry Rice (Football): Considered to be the greatest wide receiver of all time. 13 Pro Bowl selections, 3 time Super Bowl champion, all time NFL leader in touchdowns scored with 208, and the most receiving yards ever with 22,895.

Jackie Robinson (Baseball): Most well known for breaking MLB's color barrior, and playing under the pressure of being the league's first African American superstar. Only playing in MLB for 9 seasons, and had a batting average of .311, had 1,518 hits, 137 home runs, and 734 RBIs.

Honus Wagner (Baseball): 3,415 career hits, 1,732 career RBIs, and a career batting average of .327. He won the batting title 8 times during his career, and won 1 World Series. Also led the league in stolen bases 5 times. Is considered by some historians to be the greatest short stop of all time.

Chrissie Wellington (Triathalon): She has won 4 Ironman World Championships, and holds the world record time for the Ironman Triathalon.

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: Greatest Athlete of All Time, Round 1: Denver Region

Again, the top 4 vote getters move on to the head-to-head rounds.

edit: Also, just realized that I missed the "e" in Jesse Owen's name, sorry about that.

 

[FreshFish]

Re: Greatest Athlete of All Time, Round 1: Denver Region

Dan Gable (Wrestling): Gold medal winner at the 1972 Olympic games, in which he did not surrender a single point to his opponents, and 2 time NCAA champion.

I don't know if lobbying is frowned upon or encouraged.....one point to note is that in 1972 the Cold War was still a harsh and frightening reality, and the Soviet-bloc countries made it a special priority to beat Gable at the Olympics in order to score political points. Not sure how familiar people are with wrestling or how it is scored, not to allow a single point means not a single take-down against him, nor a single escape. That is an incredibly remarkable feat at the international Olympic level, an unmatched and unparallelled level of dominance....in one of the most difficult of all sports. I'm more exhausted after 2 minutes of wrestling than just about any other activity.

 

[mookie1995]

Re: Greatest Athlete of All Time, Round 1: Denver Region

sasha cohen! paging sasha cohen!!

(i have here in my room a gazillion signed stan musial items. he went to high school with my uncle ray and every five years stan would come back with boxes of stuff to share with his classmates) ((cock joe montana went to the same high school and would send an invoice back with his invitation asking for money if they wanted him to show up))

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: Greatest Athlete of All Time, Round 1: Denver Region

All regions have now been posted, be sure the vote in all 8 regions!

 

[jen]

Re: Greatest Athlete of All Time, Round 1: Denver Region

In alphabetical order:

Jackie Robinson (Baseball): Most well known for breaking MLB's color barrior, and playing under the pressure of being the league's first African American superstar. Only playing in MLB for 9 seasons, and had a batting average of .311, had 1,518 hits, 137 home runs, and 734 RBIs.

Jackie Robinson was also an outstanding football player (most say he was better at football than baseball) and track athlete at UCLA.

 

[jmh]

Re: Greatest Athlete of All Time, Round 1: Denver Region

"Oh, there they go. There they go, every time I start talkin 'bout boxing, a white man got to pull Rocky Marciano out they ***. That's their one, that's their one. Rocky Marciano! Rocky Marciano! Let me tell you something, once and for all--Rocky Marciano was good; but compared to Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano ain't ****."