True. Of course at the time there were few chances to make a living as an athelete.
If you mean well-known athletes at the time they joined the service, I would strike Spahn. He had two short stints in the major leagues prior to his service, but he wasn’t well known at the time.
Keith Miller,
Inaugural Australia Cricket Hall of Fame and RAF pilot during the Battle of Britain
“Pressure is having a Messerschmitt up your arse, playing cricket is not”.
He served his country by refusing to serve in the military.
Jack Lummus. Played football for the New York Giants. Enlisted after Pearl Harbor. Fought and died at Iwo Jima and won the Medal of Honor “for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as leader of a Rifle Platoon attached to the 2d Battalion, 27th Marines, 5th Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands, 8 March 1945.”
Pro Golfer Lloyd Mangrum, the 1946 US Open Champion. From his wiki bio
He won 42 Golf tournaments in the Snead, Hogan, Nelson era.
Then there was Christy Mathewson, dying seven years on from the aftereffects of “kindly chlorine” in the first World War.
If I have to cast a vote, I think it’s for Williams so far.
To clarify, I mean if there is an index weighting athletic accomplishment equally with military.
I think that’s what is known as burying the lead, since Snead and Hogan also served. Snead was in the Navy, and got an early discharge when he hurt his back. Hogan had a cushy stateside job as the golf pro at a military course, so I’m not sure that should count, but I guess that’s where his talents fit. And he did lose most of three years of his prime, since he could only play a PGA event when he got leave.
Hogan served until the war ended in mid-August, 1945. By an amazing coincidence, Byron Nelson, who was 4-F, and who compiled records that will never be broken by consistently beating fields consisting mostly of other 4-Fs, ended his 11-event winning streak that same week.
And something that surprises people, since they thought he was in a wheelchair by then, but Bobby Jones participated in the invasion of Normandy, although not in the awful fight to establish the beachheads.
MMA fighter Brian Stann played linebacker for Navy, made Captain in the Marines, and was awarded a Silver Star for his actions in Iraq.
Ted Williams was the only elite athlete that served in both wars, although, he originally caught flack in 1942, when he used a deferment (supporter of a single parent) to play out the '42 season.
Williams did serve with distinction, flying in John Glenn’s squadron during the Korean war. Glenn spoke highly of Williams’ skill and accomplishments.
Star Japanese pitcher Eiji Sawamura, who pitched three no-hitters, was killed in WWII. The Japanese version of the Cy Young Award is named the Sawamura Award.
Between his defensive-line careers for the Air Force Academy and the Dallas Cowboys, Chad Hennings flew support missions in the A-10 in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
I’m glad I started this thread if only for this one post. Sort of broadens your scope.
But, of course, I think we’ve learned, or been refreshed, on a lot of details.
There was a time when many top European athletes were also in their country’s military at the same time, and the military gave them the resources to train for their sport (as a bonus, this allowed them to preserve their amateur status.) A good example is the Soviet Red Army hockey team of the 70s-80s, considered one of the greatest teams ever. I’ve heard that this used to be a very common profile for competitors in Winter Olympics events (biathlon, etc.)
As someone else noted, there’s a big difference between being a top-notch athlete who served in the military in some capacity and being a pro athlete of some kind who served with special heroism or distinction in the armed forces.
Ted Williams was the greatest baseball player who sacrificed several years of his career for his country. But the most decorated soldier who ever played major league ball was probably Ralph “The Major” Houk, who won a Purple Heart and a Silver Star for his service at the Battle of the Bulge.
Ralph was never a baseball star, but he was Yogi Berra’s backup catcher for several years during the peak of the Yankee dynasty.
In your opinion. But certainly not the subject of this thread.
Williams did not leave the states during WWII.
I weighed their accomplishments in the War, more than their accomplishments on the golf course.