Barry could sing ok, but he couldn't hit. :D

He had a few hits...

Can't deny Gretzky's unbelievable impact in his sport, but hockey is such a 4th tier sport in America. Really don't see him being that iconic a national figure.

If you showed his picture to 1000 Americans how many would even know who he was?

Gretzky is Canada’s most beloved maybe, but we need an American here. I guess I would vote for Joe Montana or John Madden ( yes, I have a Bay Area bias). Maybe Jack Nicklaus too.

Has Canada seceded from North America? If so, when?

Personally I'm 25% Canadian, but 100% American.

Ah, so it depends on what we mean by “American” - United States of America or North America or even South America. If it’s not United States, then I would say Pele ( or Charo)

http://williamgregory.net/images/laughing.gif

In the Boston area, maybe. Outside of Boston? Not a chance in hell.

We've lost a lot of truly beloved legends, of late. Bart Starr, Stan Musial, Ernie Banks.

Brett Favre's back on the adored list in Wisconsin. Hank Aaron's way up there. Robin Yount, too.

Bob Uecker is pretty loved nationally, up there with Vin Scully. Ueck used to go on Carson a heck of a lot.

Don't overlook how adored Roger Staubach is in Texas, and elsewhere.

Gretzky, along with Jordan, Ruth and Ali are the quintessential representatives of the best of the best for their respective sport.
There are literally only a few individuals in the history of sport, dead OR alive, that have reached Gretzky's level of supremacy.
Football doesn't even have as iconic an individual.
You mentioned Shaq?? He doesn't even register as one of the best basketball players, never mind an icon of the sport.
And yes, many Americans know the name Wayne Gretzky, let's not be daft.
The average American would recognize his visage over someone like Pele... without question.

I guess that depends on your definition of beloved. Beloved to me means they transcend sports and everyone generally likes them and has a feel for who they are as a person. I'm not really sure what kind of opinions the average person has on Gretzky given that he's never been all that public of a person. Same goes for a lot of the suggestions. That's why I think Shaq is a good choice. He has a public persona that people relate to.

Maybe we just don't do the national icon thing anymore. Days of Bob Hope and Mark Spitz are long gone.

I think it's just gotten more cyclical like someone said about the Olympians. On your average day to day level I think this most beloved living legend is either going to come from a sports booth where you hear their voice every weekend or from your television set when you see their face during the big games.

As beloved as someone like Roger Staubach might be in Texas, I know nothing about who he is as a person.

True. Jeter is in the same category and not far behind Jr.

Coach K.

Woods certainly had the potential to reach that level of supremacy, but as it turned out he wound up still short of Nicklaus, and despite his Masters' win it seems relatively unlikely he has enough left to get there.

As for football, I think Brady will end up as a near-consensus GOAT, although interestingly USA Today just recently ranked him 2nd, behind Jerry Rice.

Most beloved would probably have to be someone with all of the following characteristics:

overtly patriotic but not partisan
no real scandal or skeletons in the closet
probably overcame some great personal hardship
probably some underdog story about making it to the top
preaches self-reliance and
has an affable personality

If I had the power to turn back time (to 4 years ago), my most beloved living legend is Yogi Berra.

My Daughter Debbie lived in Montclair, NJ on the same street (4 houses away) as did the Berra Family. We met Yogi and his wife, Carmen, several times.
They were the most delightful people that you would ever meet and have a conversation with.


http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...BreadBerra.jpg . http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...nYogiBerra.jpg
1947 Bond Bread …………………………………………….….. 2012 Cooperstown



TED Z

T206 Reference
.

As the song from Camelot goes,
Where in the world
Is there in the world
A man [or woman] so extraordinaire?

50 years ago, people didn't want to know the dirt on celebrities. Didn't want to know their foibles. Today we have Twitter reports about some player cheating on his wife with the babysitter. Different times. People wanted to imagine John Wayne was the guy he played in movies, Bob Hope was the guy you saw on the tonight show, and Mickey Mantle didn't have a failing anyone knew about. We don't live in that world anymore. For good or for bad.

Ted, all true 100 times over. We lived in Montclair for 25 years. Met Yogi and Carmen at many charitable events. The nicest people you would ever met. And Dale and other son (name slipping my mind) is a great guy too. They said yes to every charity in town. Many times over. Never said no to any local charity that I ever heard of. I have some great Yogi signed Christmas ornaments I will always cherish. Really nice people. Rumor was for many year they handed our signed baseball cards on Halloween.

First year we lived in town a local charity had as an auction item "watch a world series game with Yogi and 20 of your closest friends" at the theatre at his museum. Still kicking myself in the ass for not grabbing that. Sure at the time the price was some outrageous amount like $2000. Uggh.

Betty White

Definitely not Hank Aaron (to me, anyway). I grew up in the Houston area and loved Hank Aaron as a kid, so his comments about racist Texans made me do a 360 on him years ago.

I like your George Foreman idea - I wouldn't have thought of him. Shaq is certainly loveable. I think Peyton Manning may be working his way into the conversation, but perhaps he is too regional (Denver and Indy?).

Good question as most of the truly loveable sports icons have passed away in the last 10-20 years.

Such a great point. Celebrities are constantly under our eye these days and TMZ and the rest are salivating for the next story about someone famous slipping up even the tiniest bit. Back in the day people wanted their heroes to measure up to our image of them but it seems like today, everyone is just waiting for that other shoe to drop so we can gather our pitchforks. People, even famous ones, are people, the difference is definitely the heavy doses of media exposure today's celebrities are subject to.

White Sox hall of famer Frank Thomas should be considered on this list. The others that come to mind are Shaq, Manny Pacquiao, Emmitt Smith and Rafael Nadal.

Tiger Woods. Michael Jordan and Derek Jeter should be loved by all, but at the end of the day they are not friendly to the fans.

Tim Tebow. Absolutely beloved with a capital B by a lot of people. Is he a great football player? No. Is he a great baseball player? No. Would CNN and FOX broadcast his funeral live and shut everything else down anyone is talking about? Yep. Would he be mobbed in Times Square at 1 am? Yep. Would he great a huge ovation at a theater or boxing match or patriotic event. Yep. After he gives up the baseball thing can basically write his own ticket for the rest of his living doing whatever he pleases.

There's your winner. Bring on the haters. Line forms to the left. Be sure to take a number.

Has to be Tiger Woods. Just ask any porn star or hooker and they'll tell you the same.

Do you really think Tiger is beloved? I think he's probably the top golfer all time performance wise but beloved?

double post

Ted -- Steve, Beautiful posts on Yogi Berra and his family.

Betty White might have been in jest, but she is just right there at the top of beloved television personalities.

Shaq is a great choice too; everyone loves Shaq.

This has been a swell thread--- a happy place.:) --- Brian Powell

Yogi was good people.

Casey Stengel said, "I never play a game without my man." He was talking about #8. And Berra was one guy whose impact on the game(s) he played in transcended WAR. You look at BBR, and they'll tell ya that Berra's lifetime contribution was 59.8 wins.

BS.

Yogi was Casey's general on the field, and Yogi saw freaking everything. Anybody that looked at him, and his between game antics, and underestimated him was a fool. He was every bit as important to the Yankees as Mantle or Ford.

This guy is #1 worldwide:

http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibit...ela%20Pele.jpg

OJ Simpson???

Betty White was not in jest.

Bobby Hull
Hank Aaron & Willie Mays
Gale Sayers ( his health is deteriorating)
Ditka
Bill Russell
Mario Andretti

I vote Aaron and Mays. Brady is on his way. Nicklaus is not as famous as you might think. When you say his name, most people think you are talking about the guy from The Shining.

I don't see how y'all can talk about Shaq and Barkley and leave out Kenny "The Jet" Smith

honorable non-sport mentions... Phil Collins, Sting