Thought Provoking Sports Question of the Day

[GiveMeSports]

“Who is your favorite athlete of all time and why?”

Mine would be Roberto Clemente. Great athlete, great role model, family man, very likable. Class act but a very sad ending to his life.

 

[Jimmy_Chitwood]

“Who is your favorite athlete of all time and why?”

Mine would be Roberto Clemente. Great athlete, great role model, family man, very likable. Class act but a very sad ending to his life.
View attachment 464771
View attachment 464770

THE END.


You nailed it.

 

[WillHaftawaite]

Jim Thorpe

 

[lg325]

Yes , I agree Roberto Clemente was A role model. With all the negative news about athletes its good to know some are good guys. I would add Roger Maris to the list. I agree with Jim Thorpe as well. He did all sports and did them well.

 

[Jimmy_Chitwood]

 

[DrLove]

“Who is your favorite athlete of all time and why?”

Mine would be Roberto Clemente. Great athlete, great role model, family man, very likable. Class act but a very sad ending to his life.
View attachment 464771
View attachment 464770

Yeah, very sad ending ... I had to refresh my memory

December 31, 1972

Clemente was involved in charity work in Latin American and Caribbean countries during the off-seasons, often delivering baseball equipment and food to those in need. On December 31, 1972, he died in a plane crash at the age of 38 while en route to deliver aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.

 

[Darkwind]

MILON OF CROTON

Milon, a pupil of the philosopher Pythagoras, was one of the most famous athletes in Antiquity. He came from the Greek city of Croton in southern Italy. He was six times Olympic wrestling champion. He first won in 540 B.C., in the youth wrestling event, and then five times in men's wrestling. This is a unique achievement even in today's competitive context. He also won seven times in the Pythian Games, nine times in the Nemean Games, ten times in the Isthmian Games, and innumerable times in small competitions. In the 67th Olympiad (512 B.C.), in his seventh attempt for the championship, he lost to a younger athlete, Timasitheus. There are many accounts of his achievements.

Always under-reported for his deeds for the Olympics!

 

[JoeMoma]

Earl Anthony, because he knocked 'em down.

 

[Jimmy_Chitwood]

“Who is your favorite athlete of all time and why?”

Mine would be Roberto Clemente. Great athlete, great role model, family man, very likable. Class act but a very sad ending to his life.
View attachment 464771
View attachment 464770

Yeah, very sad ending ... I had to refresh my memory

December 31, 1972

Clemente was involved in charity work in Latin American and Caribbean countries during the off-seasons, often delivering baseball equipment and food to those in need. On December 31, 1972, he died in a plane crash at the age of 38 while en route to deliver aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.

 

[Rambunctious]

Walter Payton...

 

[DrLove]

Growing up a Dodger fan, it's Sandy Koufax for me. Just a classy, modest man who didn't need the spotlight after retirement.
I saw him pitch when I was knee-high to a grasshopper. After that game (a 3 hitter as I recall) he hung out seemingly forever signing autographs.
He signed my program - Have it framed.
Beyond his obvious skills, he was a GREAT role model.
He's 85 years young today.

Cool read here:

Joe Torre Reflects On Sandy Koufax In Advance Of Dodger Legend's Pump Foundation Honor

The 22-year-old major league catcher sat alone on a Saturday night in a restaurant inside Milwaukee's Knickerbocker Hotel, doing his best to digest an

www.thepostgame.com

 

[DrLove]

MILON OF CROTON

Milon, a pupil of the philosopher Pythagoras, was one of the most famous athletes in Antiquity. He came from the Greek city of Croton in southern Italy. He was six times Olympic wrestling champion. He first won in 540 B.C., in the youth wrestling event, and then five times in men's wrestling. This is a unique achievement even in today's competitive context. He also won seven times in the Pythian Games, nine times in the Nemean Games, ten times in the Isthmian Games, and innumerable times in small competitions. In the 67th Olympiad (512 B.C.), in his seventh attempt for the championship, he lost to a younger athlete, Timasitheus. There are many accounts of his achievements.

Always under-reported for his deeds for the Olympics!

Interesting history, but I suspect Milon may have been gay

 

[Canon Shooter]

I had the opportunity to meet and become friends with many athletes while in San Diego. Guys like LaDanian Tomlinson, Junior Seau, Tim Flannery, Mike Piazza, Trevor Hoffman and Drew Brees were guys for whom my admiration grew the more I got to know them.

But my favorite, though, would have to be Tony Gwynn. "Mr. Padre" played his entire career with the Padres and, accordingly, enjoyed a relationship with the fans that few others on the team did. He was always approachable and never turned away a fan's request for a picture or an autograph.

What I admired most about him was his sense of commitment. He spent his entire career with San Diego, despite being offered some pretty huge sums of cash to play for larger market teams (Los Angeles and New York, specifically). As cool as it would've been to see him in Yankee pinstripes, it was nice to see that level of integrity in a player when so many others at the time simply opted to follow the money.

I met him briefly not long before he retired, and then again when he was inducted into the San Diego Hall of Champions. We had mutual friends, and that resulted in us often being in the same place at the same time over the years. We always took the time to talk and catch up on everything San Diego.

He was also a damn good ball player:

 

[LA RAM FAN]

Gotta go with Muhammad Ali. Not only because he was a unique boxer like no other boxer that boxed in the game being so animated as he was but also because he stood up to our corrupt government refusing to go to vietnam and went to prison having morals. He was a patriot when he told the truth asking why should he go to vietnam when the people of vietnam had not done anything to him,they never called him a ****** like he had been called here in america.America was the one that was trating him like shot not the people in vietnam.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

I had the opportunity to meet and become friends with many athletes while in San Diego. Guys like LaDanian Tomlinson, Junior Seau, Tim Flannery, Mike Piazza, Trevor Hoffman and Drew Brees were guys for whom my admiration grew the more I got to know them.

But my favorite, though, would have to be Tony Gwynn. "Mr. Padre" played his entire career with the Padres and, accordingly, enjoyed a relationship with the fans that few others on the team did. He was always approachable and never turned away a fan's request for a picture or an autograph.

What I admired most about him was his sense of commitment. He spent his entire career with San Diego, despite being offered some pretty huge sums of cash to play for larger market teams (Los Angeles and New York, specifically). As cool as it would've been to see him in Yankee pinstripes, it was nice to see that level of integrity in a player when so many others at the time simply opted to follow the money.

I met him briefly not long before he retired, and then again when he was inducted into the San Diego Hall of Champions. We had mutual friends, and that resulted in us often being in the same place at the same time over the years. We always took the time to talk and catch up on everything San Diego.

He was also a damn good ball player:

How'd you get to know those guys?

 

[Canon Shooter]

I was (and still am) a photographer in San Diego, and I would often do contract work for a local ad company which worked with a lot of the guys on the Padres and the Chargers; car dealerships, restaurants, etc. LaDanian Tomlinson did four different projects for four different merchants in San Diego, and I was involved in all four of them, simply by chance.

It's not like we're on each other's Christmas card lists but, when our paths cross, there's never the awkward "Don't I know you?" part...

 

[GiveMeSports]

GREAT ANSWERS EVERYONE!!! Thanks so much for sharing these amazing and wonderful stories! I’m happy I started this thread!

 

[DGS49]

Oh please, NOT Cassius Clay/M. Ali.

Dumb as a rock, totally taken in by Elijah Muhammad and that crew. Fathered scores of bastards all around the country.

No one can doubt his boxing skill and accomplishments, but as a human being, gimme a break.

 

[bluzman61]

Walter Payton...View attachment 464786

BINGO! MY favorite athlete, as well, "Sweetness" Walter Payton.................

 

[bluzman61]

GREAT ANSWERS EVERYONE!!! Thanks so much for sharing these amazing and wonderful stories! I’m happy I started this thread!

Welcome to the boards!