Gerd Bonk is such a mellifluous name for a weightlifter.
As a hurdler, Lolo Jones could not jump high high enough.
I always preferred his older brother Carlester Crumpler.
I’m watching the volleyball final between Brasil and the US. The American team has a player named Lloy Ball.
I remember the time when Putz lost a game to the Yankees’ Chien-Ming Wang! Unfortunately, Wang’s name is pronounced “Wong”.
I just remembered Marco VELO. He placed 44th in the Tour de France. Velo is French for bicycle.
The Australian women’s basketball team in the just-concluded Olympics had a player named Jenny Screen. Two decades ago, an appropriate choice to set a screen was Carlton of the Providence College Friars.
There is a now-retired Israeli player named Anna Smashnova. She was married for a few years during her career, which temporarily changed her name to the less appropriate Pistolesi or Smashnova-Pistolesi. But at least she didn’t marry a guy named L’Oeuf or Long or anything.
I have a few.
Mack Strong - What better name could you possibly think of for a fullback? This is like straight out of a movie.
Webster Slaughter - The name ‘Slaughter’ on the back of an opposing jersey no doubt brought happy fuzzy feelings to quarterbacks everywhere.
Not an athlete but still a fantastic name. One of the reporters out here is named Wei Wong. At the end of her bit she’d go, “…and that’s the weather for today, I’m Wei Wong. Back to you”. Made me giggle every time.
I remember two friends of mine in college hooked up to play bridge one evening at a tournament. One was named Sari (Latvian) and the other was named Rong (Chinese), and they were both rather inexperienced. Being nice people at heart, rather than excoriating partner for making costly mistakes, each would instead apologize for making their own costly mistakes (a rare virtue among bridge players of any level of experience).
We joked that their conversations all went like this:
“I’m Sari, really I am…”
“No no, It was I who was Rong…”
Scott Speed is a racing driver. He has been in Formula One, GP2, A1GP, and now races in ARCA.
There was Triathlete Startrackrunner. He played baseball IIRC.
Just last night, the Oakland Athletics sent a pitcher named Josh Outman to face the Royals - he lived up to his name pretty well.
Then there was Johnny Givesupgrandslams. Wisely, he chose a career in football.
The Georgia men’s beach volleyball team at the Olympics were the duo of Geor and Gia.
My college had a cheerleader named Felicia Bumpass.
And Sybille Bammer is now highly ranked.
There was a pitcher for the Pirates, Mariners, and several other teams named Blas Minor. Not surprisingly, he spent a large portion of his career in the minors.
For the first season in which steals were an official NBA statistical category, the league leader was Portland’s Larry Steele.
Will Wynn happened to be a football player, but his name would have been appropriate for any sport.