Below are biographies of great athletes of the 20th century, as selected and profiled by ESPN as part of the SportsCentury retrospective:
| ESPN SPORTSCENTURY: GREATEST ATHLETES | ||
|
Rank: 1. Michael Jordan 2. Babe Ruth 3. Muhammad Ali 4. Jim Brown 5. Wayne Gretzky 6. Jesse Owens 7. Jim Thorpe 8. Willie Mays 9. Jack Nicklaus 10. Babe Didrikson 11. Joe Louis 12. Carl Lewis 13. Wilt Chamberlain 14. Hank Aaron 15. Jackie Robinson 16. Ted Williams 17. Magic Johnson 18. Bill Russell 19. Martina Navratilova 20. Ty Cobb 21. Gordie Howe 22. Joe DiMaggio 23. Jackie Joyner-Kersee 24. Sugar Ray Robinson 25. Joe Montana 26. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 27. Jerry Rice 28. Red Grange 29. Arnold Palmer 30. Larry Bird 31. Bobby Orr 32. Johnny Unitas 33. Mark Spitz 34. Lou Gehrig 35. Secretariat 36. Oscar Robertson 37. Mickey Mantle 38. Ben Hogan 39. Walter Payton 40. Lawrence Taylor 41. Wilma Rudolph 42. Sandy Koufax 43. Julius Erving 44. Bobby Jones 45. Bill Tilden 46. Eric Heiden 47. Edwin Moses 48. Pete Sampras 49. O.J. Simpson 50. Chris Evert 51. Rocky Marciano 52. Jack Dempsey 53. Rafer Johnson 54. Greg Louganis 55. Mario Lemieux 56. Pete Rose 57. Willie Shoemaker 58. Elgin Baylor 59. Billie Jean King 60. Walter Johnson 61. Stan Musial 62. Jerry West 63. Satchel Paige 64. Sammy Baugh 65. Althea Gibson 66. Eddie Arcaro 67. Bob Gibson 68. Al Oerter 69. Bonnie Blair 70. Dick Butkus 71. Roberto Clemente 72. Bo Jackson 73. Josh Gibson 74. Deion Sanders 75. Dan Marino 76. Barry Sanders 77. Cy Young 78. Bob Mathias 79. Gale Sayers 80. A.J. Foyt 81. Jimmy Connors 82. Bobby Hull 83. Honus Wagner 84. Man o' War 85. Maurice Richard 86. Otto Graham 87. Henry Armstrong 88. Joe Namath 89. Rogers Hornsby 90. Richard Petty 91. Bob Beamon 92. Mario Andretti 93. Don Hutson 94. Bob Cousy 95. George Blanda 96. Michael Johnson 97. Citation 98. Don Budge 99. Sam Snead 100. Jack Johnson |
Alphabetical Aaron, Hank (14) Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem (26) Ali, Muhammad (3) Andretti, Mario (92) Arcaro, Eddie (66) Armstrong, Henry (87) Baugh, Sammy (64) Baylor, Elgin (58) Beamon, Bob (91) Bird, Larry (30) Blair, Bonnie (69) Blanda, George (95) Brown, Jim (4) Budge, Don (98) Butkus, Dick (70) Chamberlain, Wilt (13) Citation (97) Clemente, Roberto (71) Cobb, Ty (20) Connors, Jimmy (81) Cousy, Bob (94) Dempsey, Jack (52) Didrikson, Babe (10) DiMaggio, Joe (22) Erving, Julius (43) Evert, Chris (50) Foyt, A.J. (80) Gehrig, Lou (34) Gibson, Althea (65) Gibson, Bob (67) Gibson, Josh (73) Graham, Otto (86) Grange, Red (28) Gretzky, Wayne (5) Heiden, Eric (46) Hogan, Ben (38) Hornsby, Rogers (89) Howe, Gordie (21) Hull, Bobby (82) Hutson, Don (93) Jackson, Bo (72) Johnson, Jack (100) Johnson, Magic (17) Johnson, Michael (96) Johnson, Rafer (53) Johnson, Walter (60) Jones, Bobby (44) Jordan, Michael (1) Joyner-Kersee, Jackie (23) King, Billie Jean (59) Koufax, Sandy (42) Lemieux, Mario (55) Lewis, Carl (12) Louganis, Greg (54) Louis, Joe (11) Man O' War (84) Mantle, Mickey (37) Marciano, Rocky (51) Marino, Dan (75) Mathias, Bob (78) Mays, Willie (8) Montana, Joe (25) Moses, Edwin (47) Musial, Stan (61) Namath, Joe (88) Navratilova, Martina (19) Nicklaus, Jack (9) Oerter, Al (68) Orr, Bobby (31) Owens, Jesse (6) Paige, Satchel (63) Palmer, Arnold (29) Payton, Walter (39) Petty, Richard (90) Rice, Jerry (27) Richard, Maurice (85) Robertson, Oscar (36) Robinson, Jackie (15) Robinson, Sugar Ray (24) Rose, Pete (56) Rudolph, Wilma (41) Ruth, Babe (2) Russell, Bill (18) Sampras, Pete (48) Sanders, Barry (76) Sanders, Deion (74) Sayers, Gale (79) Secretariat (35) Shoemaker, Willie (57) Simpson, O.J. (49) Snead, Sam (99) Spitz, Mark (33) Taylor, Lawrence (40) Thorpe, Jim (7) Tilden, Bill (45) Unitas, Johnny (32) Wagner, Honus (83) West, Jerry (62) Willimas, Ted (16) Young, Cy (77) |
By Sport Baseball (23*) Football (20*) Track/Field (12*) Basketball (11) Tennis (8) Boxing (7) Hockey (6) Golf (6*) Horse Racing (5) Auto Racing (3) Swimming/Diving (2) Speed Skating (2) * Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders counted as baseball and football. Babe Didrikson counted as track and field and golf. Jim Thorpe counted as baseball, football, and track and field. |
