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 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 An imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 www.rowman.com Unit A, Whitacre Mews, 26-34 Stannary Street, London SE11 4AB 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 any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. 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