Who is the best player to play the opposite sport, between football and basketball, at a college, based on the sport the school is known for? Examples I can think of:
Lawrence Taylor
Johnny Unitas
Gale Sayers
Glenn Rice
John Havlicek
Rick Barry
Troy Aikman
Kevin Durant
Howie Long
Shaquille O’Neal
You folks want to include the school they came from so we don’t have to look up dozens of names?
UCLA
Texas
Villanova
LSU
You didn’t ask about baseball…but Bo Jackson from Auburn would fit and not fit.
I didn’t include baseball, and hockey for that matter, because players are almost as likely to have not attended college as do.
BTW, Howie was another name I thought of.
For Munch:
UNC
Kansas
Michigan
Ohio St
Miami-FL
Robert Horry - Alabama
Jim Brown - Syracuse
Chauncey Billips - Colorado
Some of these don’t make much sense. LSU had a pretty good basketball team even before Shaq, and their football team at the time was terrible.
Best Football Players from "Basketball Schools"
Sonny Jurgensen
Pete Pihos (you’ve probably never heard of him, but he’s a Hall of Famer)
Gale Sayers or John Riggins (tie)
George Blanda
Johnny Unitas
Randy White
Randall Cunningham
Lawrence Taylor
Jim Brown
Don Maynard
Troy Aikman
Add a few:
Tony Canadeo & Max Krause (neither is famous, but both are Pro Football Hall of Famers)
Great Basketball Players From "Football Schools"
Charles Barkley - Auburn
Adrian Dantley - Notre Dame
Brad VanPelt of Michigan State. who played football (All Pro), basketball and baseball.
He came out of college before free agency. He was in the enviable position of having the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Giants bidding for his services.
There were a number of great players who starred in football and baseball. Probably a much longer list. After Bo, the first I’d add is Alan Page of Notre Dame.
You can add to the original list of football and basketball, but far down on it as to greatness, Charlie Ward of Florida State.
Nah, Sam Cassell was better, at least in overall career - I didn’t follow closely enough to say who was better in cbb.
Harold Minor - USC
Eddie House - Arizona State
Randall Cunningham - UNLV
Jimmer Fredette - BYU
Nebraska: Eric Piatk… Nope, I got nothing.
Is Blake Griffin the best NBA player ever from from the Univ. of Okalahoma?
Jim Brown
Ernie Davis
Larry Csonka
Floyd Little
Joe Morris
Donovan McNabb
or conversely
Carmelo Anthony
Derrick Coleman
Dave Bing
Rony Seikaly
John Wallace
(depending on if you see Syracuse University as a football school or basektball school )
or
Jim Brown (again)
Paul Gait
Gary Gait
Casey Powell
Ryan Powell
Mike Powell
Pat McCabe
(Syracuse may be best known as a lacrosse school)
Furious-Many people consider Brown the greatest lacrosse player of all time.
Indeed, he also was on the SU basketball and track teams, excelling at both.