Thought Provoking Sports Question of the Day

[Anonymous519]

"Who is the greatest all-around athlete in the history of the NFL, Major League Baseball, NHL, NBA, professional boxing, MMA, professional soccer, PGA, and Tennis?"

My list:

1. NFL: By far ... a tie ... Jim Brown and Walter Payton
   
   
   
   
2. MLB: Babe Ruth-great pitcher and a great hitter
   
   
   
3. NHL: Gordie Howe but lots of close seconds
   
   
   
   
   
4. NBA: Wilt Chamberlain-if he was still playing today he would be just as dominant. He was a BEAST!
   
   
   
   
5. Boxing: Sugar Ray Robinson-dominant and a complete fighter
   
   
   
6. MMA-The sport does not have the long history the other sports do but considering fighters when they were in their prime, Anderson Silva but possibly I'd vote for Demetrius Johnson
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. Soccer: Not a big soccer fan here but the name that comes to mind first is the legendary Pele. I do know the legend of Diego Maradona as well.
   
   
   
8. PGA: With Tiger Woods' recent history, who knows if he plays again and if he does how competitive he will be but it's a shame he's had the accidents and off the course issues because take that away and he would have sprinted past Jack Nicklaus's records and be known as the greatest ever. For now it's a debate between the two.
   
   
   
   
   
   
9. Tennis: Has to be Roger Federer
   
   

 

[DGS49]

You kinda hafta define "athlete."

From what I have read, Wilt Chamberlain was probably the greatest ATHLETE who ever played professional sports. Could high jump over 6'. Bench press almost 600 lbs. 100 meter dash in less than 11 seconds. No one else is even close as an overall athlete.

As for someone who demonstrated superior talent in a number of different sports, there are a dozen Black guys who would have to be in the top ten: Bo Jackson, Michael Jordan, Jimmy Brown, Deion Sanders, etc.

What about Danny Ainge? Baseball, basketball, football...all state in three sports, could have played professionally in all three.

 

[ReinyDays]

Babe Didrikson Zaharias - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Anonymous519]

You kinda hafta define "athlete."

From what I have read, Wilt Chamberlain was probably the greatest ATHLETE who ever played professional sports. Could high jump over 6'. Bench press almost 600 lbs. 100 meter dash in less than 11 seconds. No one else is even close as an overall athlete.

As for someone who demonstrated superior talent in a number of different sports, there are a dozen Black guys who would have to be in the top ten: Bo Jackson, Michael Jordan, Jimmy Brown, Deion Sanders, etc.

What about Danny Ainge? Baseball, basketball, football...all state in three sports, could have played professionally in all three.

Well spoken DGS! I remember reading an article when I was growing up in the 1970s about who the "strongest man in the world" was and whoever wrote the article declared Chamberlain to be it. My fellow Pittsburgh native Bruno Sammartino was also at the top.

 

[Mac-7]

With Tiger Woods' recent history, who knows if he plays again and if he does how competitive he will be but it's a shame he's had the accidents and off the course issues because take that away and he would have sprinted past Jack Nicklaus's records and be known as the greatest ever. For now it's a debate between the two.

There is no debate

woods is the best golfer of his era and Nicklaus is the best of all time