Best Athlete of all-time

[Gary]

Who was the greatest all-around athlete of all-time?Bob Richards,Bruce Jenner,Bob Seagren,Bob Mathias and Kyle Rote Jr.Who else is on the list?

 

[surfsider]

Not that I think he's the greatest athlete ever but as far as success in the context of American sports, how about Danny Ainge? A high school all-american in basketball, baseball and football. Three years of "Major" league baseball while an All-american basketballer and then 14 years in the NBA with three championships and six finals appearances. I think I've heard he's a pretty fair golfer also.

 

[Gary]

I remember Danny when he played baseball for the Toronto Blue Jays.John Elway was very good at baseball and football,if I remember right he could have played baseball for the Yankees.Leo Nomellini was all-pro tackle with the 49'ers and a top notch wrestler.Tom Harmon was not only a great football player for Michigan but an all-around athlete-plus a war hero in WW2{talk about a role model}!!

 

[White Lightning]

How about a young guy right now coming out of college.
Matt Jones of Arkansas.He was their starting qb and also
was a star on the basketball team.He used to run track
and I hear he can play baseball too.He is probably going
to switch to wide receiver or tightend in the nfl.The
absolute greatest though in my opinion might just be
Bruce Jenner.He at least is in the mix.

 

[IceSpeed]

I am going to have to pick a non-white, Jim Thorpe. He could play any sport he ever tried at the professional level. He could kick a fifty yard field goal.
There are others though many who are white. Jenner is up their. John Riggins, John Lynch, Alexander Karelin, Borsov, Mennea, and many others.

 

[Gary]

Thorpe was great but Bob Mathias was just as good and maybe better.Not only a great track man he played football for Stanford.Was an officer in the Marines and Congressman-maybe the best athlete ever!

 

[IceSpeed2]

What about Russian Alexander Karelin? He was a
record setting wrester. I think he symbolizes brute
strength.. Larry Csonka anybody? Rocky Marciano, Wayne
Gretzky, Ty Cobb, Rocco Baldelli(give him a chance), Steve
Dalkowski(110 mile per hour fastballer who threw his arm out).
Larry Bird represented the concept of team sports.



Lance Armstrong beats them all however. He wins time and time again.



Wait. I forgot Ken Shamrock. He could be up there too.



Who knows.

 

[Gary]

Shamrock was a great athlete-I believe he would be a superstar in any sport he choose.Karelin was unbeatable for years in wrestling.Ken Patera was a good wrestler,great weightlifter and could slam dunk a basketball at 300lbs,he could also press 500lbs overhead!

 

[White_Savage]

Tank Abbott, for nearly winning the UFC several times despite a training regime of beer and brawling, including once when he literally got off his barstool to step into the Octagon against Maurice Smith, managed to ground him and land punches from the dominant position for awhile before the ref stood them back up.

 

[Bart]

Does anyone remember the Superstar competitions? It was interesting to see world class athletes compete against each other in several events. I realize it was strictly for fun and not exactly the Olympics but it was entertaining. We in America usually think a football player or track man would do well whichof course makes sense. But once in a while a skier or soccer player would do quite well. Kyle RoteJr. was a great soccer playerand he won the competition three timesover four years, if I remember correctly.

 

[SteveB]

It is interesting that you bring up the Superstars. In the last 5 or 6 years, it has been won by three skiers, Jeremy Bloom, Bode Miller, and Herman Maier.

My vote for greatest of all time would have to be Jim Thorpe and Roman Seberle.

 

[Gary]

Kyle Rote Jr,Bob Richards,Bob Mathias and Bob Seagren in my opinion were the best.

 

[JayDukes]

I'm at a toss-up between Muhammad Ali and Willie Mays.

 

[White Shogun]

I'm at a toss-up between Muhammad Ali and Willie Mays.

Okay, okay, you got me. I'm laughing out loud over here. You troll you. You can stop now. You made your point.

Those guys aren't even the best in their respective sports, let alone the best afflete in the world.

 

[jaxvid]

I'm at a toss-up between Muhammad Ali and Willie Mays.

Willie Mays was a GREAT baseball player and no doubt a good athlete, however baseball cannot be considered a good test of athleticism as it involves a set of very specific learned skills.

Muhammad Ali was a boxer and it is difficult to describe boxers as "athletic" although they usually are in great shape. No one has any idea how fast he could run, how high he could jump, or how strong he was. At the end of his career he was a fat slob and he allowed himself to take so much punishment that he is now a virtual vegetable.

I think you would have to only consider decathaletes as the greatest athletes as they are the only ones that perform a measureable amount of athletic events over the spectrum of physical ability.

 

[Gary]

Ali and Mays!!

These two clowns don't even deserve an honorable mention. But a truly great athlete was Randy Matson-the World's Greatest Shot Put Champion, 2 Gold Medals[1964&1968]. He was drafted to play both pro football and pro basketball. He was also a discus thrower. This 6'7 245lb man was a Truly Great Athlete!Ali and Mays?

That is a real joke

.

 

[GWTJ]

jaxvid wrote:
"baseball cannot be considered a good test of athleticism as it involves a set of very specific learned skills."


I think you have been influenced by John Kruk here.


I need the posters to clarify something for me here. Can anyone be considered the best athlete if he doesn't actually compete against anyone?Can you be considered the best athlete if your only competition is a stopwatch, tape measureor an object(like abowling alleyor golf course)? Can we seperate the sports between ball sports and non ball sports? A good friend of mine is a gymnast, has a black belt in karate, he's a good mountain climber and a good skier, but throw a ball at him and it will bounce off his head. He has no hand-eye coordination at all. Lance Armstrong may or may not be this kind of athlete. What would be some of the accomplishments of the best athlete ever?

 

[White_Savage]

GWTJ:
Good point. There is "athletic" as in the bodie's ablility to do different kinds of work (run fast, run far, jump high, lift heavy weights or throw far) and then there is the skill component for consideration. But the former is probably easier to measure than the latter.

BTW, this is not a remark, but how do you block a punch if you can't catch a ball?

 

[White Shogun]

BTW, this is not a remark, but how do you block a punch if you can't catch a ball?

WS, is this a rhetorical question? I'm not sure if you actually wanted to talk about blocking or ...?

"Blocking" punches, as in karate and tae kwon do-like styles, is highly ineffective anyway. You can cover, smother, and parry, but those "left outside block" type techniques are worthless, IMO.

Nor is actually blocking a punch necessarily a requirement to earn a black belt. Usually, its how many forms you know, and the execution of myriad techniques in the air.

And blocking, or not blocking a punch, doesn't mean a person can or cannot be an effective fighter or take a punch. See: Lamon Brewster. That guy needs every bit of his 10 ozs of leather to even cover his face, let alone throw a 'block.'

 

[Spooge]

The strong man competitions are usually won by white males (of European
descent) so I lodge a collective vote for all of them to continue
carrying the banner of elite white superstars.

 

[White_Savage]

WS: I probably should of said "parry". But most people call practically any defensive cover or movement a block.

 

[White Shogun]

Didn't mean to come across as picking on your comments, WS, I just wanted to grab the opportunity to open a discussion about one of my pet peeves, which is some of the archaic techniques taught as 'self-defense' these days.

And those blocks are a prime example!

 

[GWTJ]

It's BJJ all the way!

 

[white is right]

How about Stu Unger three time poker playing champion.........

 

[Gary]

Randy Matson the Greatest Shot Put Champion of All Time-by the way black men can't throw

!!! Matson could star in track, football, baseball and basketball

!!