Table Of ContentT H E 1 0 0
G R E A T E S T
A M E R I C A N
A T H L E T E S
T H E 1 0 0
G R E A T E S T
A M E R I C A N
A T H L E T E S
Martin Gitlin
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD
Lanham • Boulder • New York • London
Published by Rowman & Littlefield
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Copyright © 2018 by The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Gitlin, Marty, author.
Title: The 100 greatest American athletes / Martin Gitlin.
Other titles: One hundred greatest American athletes
Description: Lanham, Maryland : Rowman & Littlefield, [2018] | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018013101 (print) | LCCN 2018019838 (ebook) | ISBN
9781538110270 (ebook) | ISBN 9781538110263 (cloth : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Athletes—United States—Biography. | Athletes—Rating of. |
Sports—United States—Anecdotes. | Sports—United States—History.
Classification: LCC GV697.A1 (ebook) | LCC GV697.A1 G494 2018 (print) |
DDC 796.0922 [B] —dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018013101
™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
CONTENTS
Introduction ix
1 Jim Thorpe: The Sports Conqueror 1
2 Michael Jordan: His Airness 5
3 Bob Mathias: The Manchild 9
4 Jim Brown: The Indestructible 12
5 Michael Phelps: The Baltimore Bullet 16
6 Deion Sanders: Prime Time 20
7 LeBron James: The Chosen One 24
8 Jackie Joyner-Kersee: Magnificent Heptathlete 28
9 Rafer Johnson: Renaissance Man 32
10 Muhammad Ali: The Louisville Lip 36
11 Willie Mays: The Say Hey Kid 40
12 Babe Ruth: The Sultan of Swat 44
13 Ashton Eaton: Wheels 48
14 Babe Didrikson Zaharias: The Master of All 52
15 Wilt Chamberlain: Wilt the Stilt 55
16 Jackie Robinson: The Barrier Breaker 59
17 Rickey Henderson: The Man of Steal 63
18 Bo Jackson: The Freakish Talent 66
19 Jesse Owens: To Hell with Hitler 69
v
vi CONTENTS
20 Henry Aaron: Hammerin’ Hank 73
21 Tom Brady: Tom Terrific 77
22 Lawrence Taylor: L.T. 81
23 Carl Lewis: King Carl 84
24 Reggie White: The Minister of Defense 87
25 Bruce Jenner: Bruiser 90
26 Ray Robinson: Sugar 93
27 Don Hutson: The Alabama Antelope 96
28 Bob Hayes: Bullet Bob 99
29 Bill Russell: Mr. 11 Rings 102
30 Deacon Jones: The Secretary of Defense 106
31 Sandy Koufax: The Left Arm of God 109
32 Mickey Mantle: The Mick 113
33 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: The Big “A” 117
34 Lou Gehrig: The Iron Horse 121
35 Emlen Tunnell: Offense on Defense 125
36 Jerry West: Zeke from Cabin Creek 128
37 Anthony Munoz: The Great Protector 131
38 Oscar Charleston: The Black Ty Cobb 134
39 Earvin Johnson: Magic 137
40 Joe Louis: The Brown Bomber 140
41 Kobe Bryant: The Black Mamba 144
42 Serena Williams: Momma Smash 148
43 Honus Wagner: The Flying Dutchman 152
44 Julius Erving: Dr. J 155
45 Gale Sayers: The Kansas Comet 159
46 Mary Wambach: Abby 163
47 Jerry Rice: Flash 80 166
48 Pete Sampras: Pistol Pete 170
49 Eric Heiden: The Record Breaker 173
CONTENTS vii
50 Shaun White: The Flying Tomato 176
51 Simone Biles: Simoney 180
52 Stan Musial: Stan the Man 184
53 Willie Pep: Will-o’-the-Wisp 188
54 Walter Payton: Sweetness 191
55 Althea Gibson: The Tenacious One 195
56 Henry Armstrong: Homicide Hank 199
57 Joe Montana: Joe Cool 202
58 Mike Tyson: The Baddest Man on the Planet 206
59 Dick Butkus: The Maestro of Mayhem 210
60 Tracy Caulkins: The Medley Sensation 213
61 Michael Johnson: The Duck 216
62 Bob Beamon: Leap of a Lifetime 219
63 Oscar Robertson: The Big O 222
64 Mike Schmidt: Iron Mike 226
65 Larry Bird: The Hick from French Lick 229
66 Lindsey Vonn: Kildon 233
67 Karl Malone: The Mailman 236
68 Mike Trout: The Millville Meteor 239
69 Cheryl Miller: Big Sister 243
70 Mark Spitz: Mark the Shark 247
71 Tony Hawk: The Bird Man 250
72 Joe DiMaggio: The Yankee Clipper 253
73 Peggy Fleming: The Steel-Nerved Skater from San Jose 257
74 Walter Johnson: The Big Train 260
75 Barry Sanders: The Little Fella 264
76 Ty Cobb: The Georgia Peach 268
77 Bonnie Blair: The Blur 272
78 Secretariat: Big Red 275
79 Rocky Marciano: The Brockton Blockbuster 278
viii CONTENTS
80 Red Grange: The Galloping Ghost 281
81 Chris Chelios: The Godfather of USA Hockey 284
82 Chris Evert: The Ice Maiden 287
83 Al Oerter: He-Man Heave Man 290
84 Mary T. Meagher: Madame Butterfly 293
85 Lisa Leslie: Smooth 296
86 O. J. Simpson: The Juice 300
87 Billie Jean King: The Male Chauvinist Pig Tamer 303
88 Wilma Rudolph: The Tornado 307
89 Kelly Slater: King Kelly 310
90 Johnny Unitas: The Golden Arm 313
91 Ted Williams: The Splendid Splinter 316
92 Greg Louganis: Dynamite Diver 320
93 Josh Gibson: The Black Babe Ruth 323
94 Edwin Moses: The Bionic Man 327
95 Jack Nicklaus: The Golden Bear 330
96 Rogers Hornsby: The Rajah 333
97 Florence Griffith Joyner: Flo-Jo 337
98 Gabby Douglas: The Flying Squirrel 340
99 Lynette Woodard: The Globetrotter 343
100 Eldrick Woods: Tiger 346
Notes 351
Index 375
About the Author 385
INTRODUCTION
T
he debates have raged around the living rooms and water coolers and
bars across the United States. They are mostly friendly, sometimes heated.
The opinions are generally subjective, with tinges of objectivity. The argu-
ments revolve around the following question: Who are the greatest athletes
in American history?
Discussions on this topic have been played out for generations but have
intensified in more recent years as a greater number of worthy athletes
have added fuel to the fire and the proliferation of televised sports has
brought more awareness of their talents to a larger number of people.
Average fans are no longer experts only on players from their hometown
teams. Where once only the Game of the Week and postseason battles on
national television provided opportunities to witness performances from
athletes on other teams, now the internet offers previously unavailable in-
formation about athletic performances and achievements, and specialized
networks allow viewers to watch the best of the best in sports such as tennis
and golf. Such media attention provides an opportunity for fans to become
more knowledgeable about athletes than ever before, and they can debate
about who are the greatest with a higher level of expertise.
Some might claim that familiarity merely serves to muddy the waters.
One can argue that the abundance of statistical ammunition used in the
debate about the greatest American athletes of all time blurs their com-
parative credentials more than it separates them. After all, how do you
compare an NBA player who shot 47 percent from the field in the 1990s
with a baseball player who managed a plus-118 lifetime Wins Above Re-
placement (WAR) in the 1970s with a sprinter who ran a 10.3 in the 100
meters in the 1930s?
ix
