Hate to be the one to say this, but a working definition of "greatest pro athlete" is in order.
Yes... Lance Armstrong is arguably the greatest biker who ever lived. Babe Ruth or Ted Williams are arguably the greatest baseball players (although most sports/baseball people today will disagree with you and provide stats to back up their claim). Football? Take your pick from half a dozen. Tennis? Same with football ? more than one lay claim to greatest ever. Ditto basketball and hockey.
Within their particular sport, these people excelled above all others. But did they excel BEYOND THEIR SPORT? I say no. Like no other, Muhammed Ali did. He took on the greatest entity ever known to humanity ? the government of the United States ? and won. He lifted an entire sub-culture of people all over the world, becoming a giant for social change and cultural/racial pride. No other athlete of the modern era accomplished what Ali did inside and outside of his sport. Not even close.
Who Is The Greatest Sports Hero of All Time???
by minimus 61 Replies latest jw friends
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teejay
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minimus
Ali was not my pick because he took on the US government.
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teejay
Why *was* he your pick?
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Poztate
The problem of saying who is the greatest hero of "all time" is the fact that persons on the board come from all around the world and are of differing ages.
I might say Babe Ruth if I was an American of a certain age.I am Canadian...so I might say Wayne Gretsky.(hockey)
If I was a brit I am sure many soccer players will come to mind.
If I loved olympic sports I would only regard these as being the greatest.There are many"great ones"but in the end my opinion is no better than anyone elses.
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confusedjw
Good question, but I have one. What do you mean by "hero"?
Ted Williams greatest overall hitter hands down, but not a hero. Or was he? Two tours in the Marines as a pilot.
Babe Ruth was before his time and absolutely outside of his generation as a hitter, but he was also a great pitcher. Hero - not sure. No
Ali? Great - Yes, World Wide Fame - obviously, Hero?
Jesse Owens - getting closer. Very close. Loved what he did for 1936 Olympics
The 1980 Gold Metal Hockey Team. That would be as close to "heros" as I could get.
My answer is the 1980 Gold Metal Hockey team
.....Next to David Ortiz, Curt Schilling, Meuller, Dave Roberts,Manny, Damon, Pedro, Millar and the rest of the 2004 Red Sox!
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blondie
Ted Willams
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avishai
And Jim Thorpe has to have a mention...
That's it?!?
Jim Thorpe wowed the sporting world by winning gold medals in the pentathlon and the decathlon in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm. Later that year, against opponents like the fabled Army football team, he scored 25 touchdowns for the Carlisle Indian School. Then Thorpe played six years of professional baseball as an outfielder for the New York Giants, the Cincinnati Reds and the Boston Braves. In 1916 his football team, the Canton Bulldogs, won their first of three unofficial national championships, and Thorpe served as the first president of what is now the National Football League. Of mixed European and Native American background, Thorpe was a popular hero; his life story was dramatized in the 1951 film Jim Thorpe, All-American, starring Burt Lancaster. Although he never got rich because of it, Thorpe is considered one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century.
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WildHorses
Another vote for the Bambino, Babe Ruth.
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Special K
99 Wayne Gretsky !
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gumby
Ali for me.
Gumby