# What performer was the best athlete? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 10, 2021, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performer-was-the-best-athlete/954139 "2021-11-10T18:19:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2021, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performer-was-the-best-athlete/954139/1 "2021-11-10T18:19:14Z")
I’m specifically putting this in CS and not the Game Room because I’m curious about performers who primarily became famous for acting, music etc but coincidentally were very good to great athletes. So no Caitlyn Jenner despite the fact that many who watched reality TV don’t remember the 1976 Olympics. No O.J. Simpson despite his Oscar worthy performance in _The Naked Gun._ Bonus points if you were surprised to find out their hidden athletic prowess. I can’t think of a better example than Paul Robeson. He was one of the best collegiate athletes of his time. The NFL was in its infancy so there wasn’t much opportunity there to make a living there. And he was black so there was no opportunity at all when he graduated. He became world famous because of his voice and activism. Mark Harmon was the quarterback at UCLA but was more famous for being Tom Harmon’s son at the time. Chuck Connors was not good enough to be a star pro athlete but was good enough to make it briefly to the big leagues in baseball and to be in the NBA. Acting made him famous. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2021, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performer-was-the-best-athlete/954139/2 "2021-11-10T18:26:39Z")
Terry Crews? Alex Karras? Tony Danza? ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2021, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performer-was-the-best-athlete/954139/3 "2021-11-10T18:29:33Z")
Singer Johnny Mathis was a basketball and track star at San Francisco State University. [https://lca.sfsu.edu/lcanews/2017/09/27/817277-alum-johnny-mathis-was-star-athlete-sf-state-music-industry-discovered-him](https://lca.sfsu.edu/lcanews/2017/09/27/817277-alum-johnny-mathis-was-star-athlete-sf-state-music-industry-discovered-him) Mathis says, “My big claim to fame as a high jumper is that I broke (the record) of Bill Russell — the fabulous, great Bill Russell, the greatest basketball player, I think, who ever lived. “I broke his high-jump record at a track meet that he and I went to in Reno. They made a big deal of it, because I was about half as tall as he was. Anyway, that was my big claim to fame in college as a high jumper. But I loved my athletics. It gave me a good start as far as keeping myself physically fit in order to sing.” Mathis wasn’t at SF State for long before a record contract lured him away to New York, where he recorded a self-titled jazz album that was released in 1956. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2021, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performer-was-the-best-athlete/954139/4 "2021-11-10T18:33:28Z")
Bud Spencer was an olympic swimming champion. Johnny Weissmuller too, of course. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2021, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performer-was-the-best-athlete/954139/5 "2021-11-10T18:35:04Z")
I’m pretty sure that George Thorogood was a baseball player at some more-than-high-school level. But since I can’t say how good he was, that probably answers the question of how good he was. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2021, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performer-was-the-best-athlete/954139/6 "2021-11-10T18:36:31Z")
Actor Bernie Casey was a track star at Bowling Green State University – he was an All-American in the hurdles, and was a finalist in the 1960 Olympic trials. He was also a star football player at Bowling Green, and had an eight-year NFL career as a wide receiver, before turning to acting in the late '60s. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2021, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performer-was-the-best-athlete/954139/7 "2021-11-10T18:36:46Z")
Alex Karras played for over a decade and is in the HOF if I’m not mistaken. I think he was more like an OJ. Mark Harmon had a couple of good years at UCLA ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2021, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performer-was-the-best-athlete/954139/8 "2021-11-10T18:40:34Z")
Do Dick Butkus and Terry Bradshaw count as “performers” in this sense? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2021, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performer-was-the-best-athlete/954139/9 "2021-11-10T18:41:15Z")
> [@sitchensis](#): > > Alex Karras played for over a decade and is in the HOF if I’m not mistaken. I think he was more like an OJ. I was, for years, surprised that Karras was _not_ in the Hall of Fame, but he did finally get elected last year. He was a three-time All-Pro for the Lions, and was on the All-Decade Team for the 1960s. I agree, he’s more on the par of OJ, translating his fame in football into an acting career, though he was substantially more successful as an actor than Simpson was. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2021, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performer-was-the-best-athlete/954139/10 "2021-11-10T18:42:46Z")
Honorable mention to Burt Lancaster, who had been a circus performer and did a lot of his own stunts in Trapeze. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2021, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performer-was-the-best-athlete/954139/11 "2021-11-10T18:46:48Z")
Ed Marinaro was runner up for the Heisman trophy and had a long acting career. His fellow _Hill Street Blues_ cast member, Michael Warren, won three national basketball championships with UCLA. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar didn’t do a lot of acting, but was memorable in _Airplane!_ (where former teammate Warren was an extra). He’s been mentioned, but I’ll add that Johnny Weismuller was considered the greatest swimmer of his era before moving into film. Buster Crabbe won two Olympic medals before moving into being Flash Gordon. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2021, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performer-was-the-best-athlete/954139/12 "2021-11-10T19:11:04Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > I’m pretty sure that George Thorogood was a baseball player at some more-than-high-school level. But since I can’t say how good he was, that probably answers the question of how good he was. He played semi-pro ball, so, no, not even on the level of Chuck Connors. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2021, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performer-was-the-best-athlete/954139/13 "2021-11-10T19:11:42Z")
Canada Lee was considered the best Black actor on Broadway (after Robeson) after his careers as a jockey and a boxer were cut short. He grew to big for horseracing (and there was a movement to ban black jockeys) and had to quit boxing after suffering a detached retina. His best-known role was in Hitchcock’s _Lifeboat_, but the blacklist ended his acting career. Slapsy Maxie Rosenbloom was light heavyweight champion and retired to be a character actor. Buddy Baer was another boxer turned actor. His brother, Max Baer was heavyweight champion and also became an actor (and father to Jethro Bodine). ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2021, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performer-was-the-best-athlete/954139/14 "2021-11-10T19:20:22Z")
Dolph Lundgren was a European karate champion in Kyokushin Karate for 1981-2 [not sure if that is one or successive titles]. He’s a 4th dan blackbelt in that style. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2021, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performer-was-the-best-athlete/954139/15 "2021-11-10T19:20:45Z")
Harold Sakata (“Oddjob” in _ **Goldfinger** _) won a Silver Medal for the US in Weightlifting at the 1948 Olympics in London. > **[Harold Sakata](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Sakata)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > Toshiyuki Sakata (坂田 敏行, Sakata Toshiyuki, July 1, 1920 – July 29, 1982), better known as Harold Sakata, was an American Olympic weightlifter, professional wrestler, and film actor of Japanese descent. He won a silver medal for the United States at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London in weightlifting, and later became a popular professional wrestler under the ring name Tosh Togo, wrestling primarily for various National Wrestling Alliance territori... ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2021, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performer-was-the-best-athlete/954139/16 "2021-11-10T19:25:18Z")
Not sure if dancing counts, but Emmitt Smith won _Dancing with the Stars._ Michael Jordan acted in that one _Space Jam_ movie. Does directing count? Kobe Bryant won an Oscar for directing a short film. ---
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2021, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performer-was-the-best-athlete/954139/18 "2021-11-10T19:27:28Z")
Jason Statham. " Statham began practising [Chinese martial arts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_martial_arts), [kickboxing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kickboxing), and [karate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karate) recreationally in his youth while working at local market stalls. An avid [footballer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_football) and [diver](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diving_(sport)), he was a member of [Britain’s national diving team](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Swimming_(organisation)) and competed for [England](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England_at_the_Commonwealth_Games) in the [1990 Commonwealth Games](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquatics_at_the_1990_Commonwealth_Games)." ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2021, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performer-was-the-best-athlete/954139/19 "2021-11-10T19:29:53Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Emmitt Smith won _Dancing with the Stars._ Professional athletes have often done well on that show; in addition to Smith, former NFL players Donald Driver and Hines Ward have won, as well as auto racer Helio Castroneves and speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno. Three other NFL players (Jerry Rice, Warren Sapp, and Jason Taylor) have come in second. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2021, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performer-was-the-best-athlete/954139/20 "2021-11-10T19:37:01Z")
No love for Chuck Norris? He has a black belt in Tang Soo Do, Brazilian jiu jitsu, and judo. After serving in the United States Air Force, he won many martial arts championships and later founded his own discipline, Chun Kuk Do. He’s also had one helluva film career. > **[Chuck Norris](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Norris)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > > > Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris (born March 10, 1940) is an American martial artist and actor. He is a black belt in Tang Soo Do, Brazilian jiu jitsu and judo. After serving in the United States Air Force, Norris won many martial arts championships and later founded his own discipline Chun Kuk Do. Shortly after, in Hollywood, Norris trained celebrities in martial arts. Norris went on to appear in a minor role in the spy film The Wrecking Crew (1969)... ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2021, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performer-was-the-best-athlete/954139/21 "2021-11-10T19:56:37Z")
Bruce Lee, of course. Johnny Weissmuller was an Olympic swimmer who many world records and won five gold medals in 1924 and 1928, who made a bunch of Tarzan movies. His Tarzan yell is the one imitated by Carol Burnett. Esther Williams was another star swimmer who set national and regional records before becoming an actor. She actually spent several months swimming with Weissmuller before being “discovered”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performer-was-the-best-athlete/954139.md?page=2)