Athletes with the most appropriate names

The newly-crowned Fastest Man in the World has what must be the best name for a sprinter ever: Bolt. How cool is that? I never heard that surname before. Maybe there’s a John Lightning or Mary Dash out there tearing up the track, but until they surface, Usain Bolt is the king of great athlete names.

What other oddly appropriate athlete names have you seen? Know of any weightlifters named Armstrong? Baseball players named Ball? Golfers named Green? I’m preferably looking for pros or Olympians, but that guy you knew in college will do too. There must be someone out there to rival the great name of Usain Bolt!

(I guess this belongs here because it’s about athletes, but if it’s more MPSIMSy, Mods, please shuffle it off at will.)

And in the more moderately-paced races, we have DeeDee Trotter.

When I was a kid, in the early Seventies, the Brewers had a so-so pitcher named Billy Champion.

Not a great pitcher, but a great sports name.

There have been many golfers named Green, including a guy who won 19 PGA tournaments.

Stirling Mortlock, an Australian Rugby player. I don’t know what it is, maybe the “lock” part in reference to holding the ball? But something there screams “rugby,” not to mention “I’m more of a man than you’ll ever be.”

Alge Crumpler. Not a defensive player, unfortunately, but an awesome American football name…

Joe

The US women’s soccer goalie is named Hope Solo. That’s an apt description.

Billy Sunday, especially when he quite MLB to be an evangelist.

Pitcher Rollie Fingers

Oh, that’s a good one. Also belongs on the list of Athletes with the Best Facial Hair.

If only there was a famous golfer called Woods!

:smack: That has never occurred to me.

To bad Jeremy Irons never took up golf.

Sort of the opposite of what you’re looking for, but chuckle-worthy nonetheless…

6’7" basketball player Purvis Short.

How could you be anything but a great American football player when you have the name Bronko Nagurski?

Or if you want something more literal, there was a boxer named Jimmy Thunder, who holds the record for the fastest victory by knockout in a professional fight (ten seconds, including the count).

Lock is a position usually played by the two tallest guys on the team, aptly named because they lock their legs out during a scrum.

Probably doesn’t count, and no cite, but I remember hearing that the Cleveland Browns went from 1960 to 1985 (or something like that) with only two years without a player named Brown.

According to BasketballReference.com, there have been five NBA players with the last name Long. The tallest was Art, who played with four teams between 2001 and 2003. (Also on the list: Grant, John, Paul and Willie. Paul was the shortest.) And Luc Longley was 7’2" but Bob Bigelow was only 6’5."

Along similar lines, it’s too bad Larry Bird wasn’t a great jumper. I don’t know how fast Bob Quick was.

Bobby Hooper had a short career, but a very appropriate name!

Since someone has to post it: the race car driver named Dick Trickle

<Dan Patrick>

Who finished 24th.

</Dan Patrick>

I’ve heard it said that the Turkish goalkeeper’s (in football, that is) name, Volkan Demirel, means Volcano Ironfist in Turkish.