Greatest Athlete by Decade

Cafe Society
1

Not necessarily “Who defined the decade”. but you can use that as part of your criteria. Championships and statistics probably will help you too. Impact on their sport and sports history would be helpful, I suppose.

It can be a player who participated in a team or individual sport. But it must be a single player. No “1927 Yankees.”

If you want to consider the Aughts (Jack Johnson?) or the Tens (Thorpe?) go ahead. My list starts with the 20’s. The era when sports became a national phenomenon rather than a regional diversion. (My lists are also Americacentric).

1920’s

Athlete of the Decade: Babe Ruth- Pretty Easy. Ruth saved baseball from the Blacksox Scandal and was probably the first media superstar. Before there was much of a media. Hell. Media was probably invented to cover this guy.

Honorable Mention: Lou Gehrig, Jack Dempsey

1930’s

Athlete of the Decade: Jesse Owens- I had to go to Historical significance for the tie-breaker. When I think of the 1930’s, one of the images is of Jesse Owens mooning Hitler at the closing ceremony. Of course, this never happened, but it might as well have. Take THAT, Adolph.

Honorable Mention: Joe Louis, Babe Didrickson (I wanted to put her because this is the only time a woman could have easily have been the choice.)

1940’s

Athlete of the Decade: Ted Williams- If he had played in New York, he’d be heralded by the East Coast media as the greatest athlete in history. His career stalled for a few years in this decade… so he could drop bombs on the Nazis! Perfection.

Honorable Mention: DiMaggio (a great winner, but probably the most overrated player in sports history), Jackie Robinson (greater in historical significance than as a player).

1950’s

Athlete of the Decade: Willie Mays- Wow. What a player. Can you imagine if they had had Sportcenter in his day?

Honorable Mention:Johnny U, Rocky Marciano (cue the barbershop scene from Coming to America), Mickey Mantle.

1960’s

Athlete of the Decade: Bill Russell- The most UNDERRATED superstar in history. More championships than ANYONE. In his 14 year career as a college and pro basketball player, he finished the season only THREE times with tears of defeat rather than tears of joy. Once in college, twice in the pros. He even won a gold medal along the way and became the first African-American head coach (while still playing) in any major sport.

Honorable Mention: Wilt (a close second), Jim Brown (in the pantheon of all-time greats in football), Koufax, Wilma Rudolph, Arnold Palmer…a great decade for superstars.

1970’s

Athlete of the Decade: Muhammad Ali- THE GREATEST! One of those oddities in sports history where talent and opportunity collide. There was a new capacity and desire by the media to cover sports in different way. But for one of the most charasmatic people ever to live, who had as much physical talent as you could possibly imagine, to come on the scene just when they needed someone to point the camera at? Pure Magic!
[sub](Plus I met him when I was 10 years old and he was SO incredibly nice to me!)[/sub]

Honorable Mention:Lew Alcindor, Jack Nicklaus, Hank Aaron (born in MOBILE, AL!), Dr. J (who I also think is vastly overrated!), Mark Spitz (needed to lose the porno 'stach though!

1980’s

Athlete of the Decade: Joe Montana- The greatest Football player ever. Had poor athleticism. Mediocre size. A decent arm. And a freaking GIGANTIC heart. Defined and dominated the decade. The only downside is that every time he goes on sports radio these days, he is pimping some sports cream instead of talking about “The Catch”!

Honorable Mention: Bird/Magic, Gretsky, Navratilova, and Carl Lewis (who I wanted to put in first place, but couldn’t because I figured I was just being a Houston homer.)

1990’s

Athlete of the Decade: Bill Wennington…Just Kidding…Michael Jordan- As easy a choice as Babe was in the 20’s. Pure dominance in every possible criteria. I would have voted for Ali for Athlete of the 20th Century, but MJ was in the top three. The first Multimedia, international icon.

Honorable Mention: Jerry Rice (though you may disagree with who the greatest QB or RB is, NO ONE disagrees about the greatest WR), Michael Johnson, Pete Sampras (his legacy is hurt because the Agassi rivalry was a little too one sided).

All of the 21st Century

Athlete of the Century So Far: Tiger Woods- I was at the Shell Houston Open this week. And even without Tiger, the event had a lot more average Joe types at the event. He changed the game of golf to an everyman sport. And he was a little bit of a pioneer as well.

Honorable Mention: Shaq/Kobe, Duncan, Barry Bonds (subject to removal), Randy Johnson, Tom Brady (premature…)

Your take?

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Well done - I actually don’t have any major quibbles, personally. About the only thing I note is the need to include Red Grange in the honorable mention column - in the 20’s? 30’s?

I might vote for Jackie Robinson - he was a top-few baseball player as an athlete…

3

Gretzky for the 80’s.

4

This decade: Lance Armstrong

Women need a separate category. I nominate Babe Dedrickson Zaharias. Whatever. A hell of an athelete. Great gal, despite rumors she was a he. :wink:

5

I have to agree with Carnac the Magnificent! on Lance Armstrong for this decade so far. Tiger’s decade has been more up and down, but he has more potential for the rest of the decade than Lance.

Going back to the 1910s – Jim Thorpe.

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Nobody ever dominated their sport the way that Gretzky did. It took him only 10 years and 780 games to break Gordie Howe’s record for career points. Howe played 1767 games in 26 seasons in the NHL.

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Re: Gretsky vs. Montana, watsonwil laid out some basic criteria, but taking an obviously America-centric view - noticing that we don’t have folks like Pele or sports like skiing, cricket, etc. represented - Hockey simply isn’t a popular enough sport to compete with football - so while Gretsky is truly “Great,” he doesn’t qualify vs. Montana on that basis, IMHO.

I can easily see adjusting the criteria and ending up with Gretsky…

8

Good one! :smiley:

As for the current decade Lance Armstrong doesn’t do anything for me. While he’s certainly a great athlete and his comeback from cancer is remarkable the Tour de France just isn’t important to me whether an American wins it 17 times in a row or not. Give me Roger Clemens over a bike racer anyday.

Overall I like the list as per the OP too. I’d add Cal Ripken Jr. as honorable mention for the 1990s, and toothless Jack Lambert of the Steelers as honorable mention for the ‘70s and Bart Starr of the Packers for the 60s’ but that’s about it.

9

I’d give honorable mentions to:
Don Hutson (1935-45) Who held the Packer point total until 2003(now held by Ryan Longwell) http://www.packers.com/team/players/hutson_don/
Bob Beaman (1960s) Held the long jump record for > 25 years

Brian

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For the 80s, I think we have to throw Herschel Walker into the mix. Heisman Trophy winner, Olympic track medalist, and hell, even an Olympic bobsledder.

Shame is that he spent his early professional years in the USFL. He’d be more highly regarded if he’d spent those years racking up yardage in the NFL.

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Oh, and might I suggest you begin your list in the 1910s? Because Jim Thorpe and Ty Cobb deserve a mention.

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Shouldn’t Pele be in the mix somewhere? And as long as we’re mentioning underrateds, STAN MUSIAL. You think Ted Williams got shafted because he wasn’t from New York? That’s nothing compared to Stan the Man.

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Yep. I opened the thread to say pretty much the same thing.

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[ul]I also met him once. Signing autographs at a department store at one of the malls in Mobile, AL. No lines around him. He seemed sad to be there. Nice to me, though. They had his distance marked out next to his table. He perked up when I gasped and asked him if he jumped “THAT FAR!?”

I had no idea who he was at the time. [/ul]

[ul]And Lance Armstrong is a wonderful choice. How could I forget him? I’d replace Tiger with him quite easily. If social impact is a criteria, just look at the wrists of our two presidential choices in 2004. You’ll see yellow. The fact that cycling is a stupid spectator sport really hasn’t hurt him. In fact, I can only name one other cyclist from ANY era. Yet, Armstrong has won two SI Athlete of the Year Honors. In fact, I retract Tiger and offer Lance as my guy so far.
[/ul]

[ul]Carnac, Diedrickson was prolly just a she that liked shes. My wife’s grandfather’s neighbor* played professional golf with her. Said she was not very nice.[/ul]

[ul]And I think Gretsky would easily fit under my criteria. He is a perfectly legitimate winner of the 80’s.[/ul]

[ul]Interestingly, there are some people who suffer in this list because of longevity. Their best work spans multiple decades (Carl Lewis had great accomplishments in the 80’s and 90’s). [/ul]

[sub]*Boy there’s a source for you. Some guy on the internet said his wife’s grandfather’s neighbor said…[/sub]

15

As someone who’s been maily sports illiterate his whole life, it makes me feel good that I can identify clearly most of the people on this list. Maybe I’m not such a lost cause after all.

I do have a quesiton. I’m confused about your take on Joe Montana (“Had poor athleticism. Mediocre size. A decent arm. And a freaking GIGANTIC heart. Defined and dominated the decade.”). Sounds like you’re painting a picture of a mediocre player people love to love. Is that Joe? Surely a ‘decent’ arm and a gigantic heart weren’t enough to rocket him to the fame he how enjoys.

16

I might be biased, but

1960s

Peter Snell (New Zealand)

Gold Medal 800m Olympics 1960
Gold Medals 800m and 1500m, Olympics 1964

In other news: you met Ali!?!?!?!?!? I would give near anything for that. I remember sitting with my Dad (as a very young tyke) in the early 70s and him telling me this:

Not only is that the best boxer you are ever likely to see but also the best man.

I never forgot that

17

And by Sampras’s personality, or perceived lack thereof. He was seen as a boring guy; he didn’t go for the trappings of stardom and showbiz like Agassi did (sometimes to the detriment of Andre’s playing). The guy had a ton of heart, in point of fact. I thought he always looked exhausted when he was playing :p, but there are a bunch of famous occasions where he dug deeper and kept going when a normal guy would have done the sensible thing and quit. Maybe he wasn’t a star athlete, but there’s a reason he stayed on top for so long in a time when there’s more talent out there than ever. None of which is to say he’s the athlete of the decade; it’s Jordan without question. No other athlete has ever brought me to tears. But Sampras was a great guy who didn’t get a fair shake for most of his career. Didn’t get his due from me either, since I’m an Agassi guy and always have been.

What could be really great, if you’re a tennis fan, is that Roger Federer might be better than Sampras was. He’s not a flashy personality either and Tiger Woods is, I think, unchallengeable as a media star, but he’s unbelievable. Hasn’t shown Sampras’s heart yet, but he hasn’t needed it since he’s just killing people.

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That’s just it. The big heart and decent arm translated into a football dynasty.

He went to 4 superbowls and won 4 times. 3 times the MVP of the Superbowl. He NEVER threw an interception in the Super Bowl!

He was known for his last second comebacks. One time, during a HUGE playoff game, his Niners were down and needed a long drive to score. During one of the huddles, Joe pointed to the stands and said, “Hey, look. It’s John Candy.” He was so cool under pressure that instead of worrying about the next play, he was scoping the crowd for A-Listers.

That’s Joe Cool.

19

Joe Montana for the 1980s?

Joe Montana?

In a decade with two of the greatest NBA players ever in Bird and Magic. The greatest hockey player ever in Gretzky. And one of the greatest Olympians in Carl Lewis. And probably 10 or 12 other guys.

Joe Montana?

I would have to disagree with Bob Beamon making any list. He had a great single achievement. I was miraculous. But his overall career, aside from one humongous leap at Mexico City, was really good, but not the stuff of legend.

Joe Montana?

20

I would have thought that Jackie Robinson was arguably the greatest US athlete of last century. He would have been in the Olympics as an athlete if not for the war, was regarded as both a better football and basketball player than baseball player and still managed a very good major league career while under ridiculous pressure.