Here today, forgotten tomorrow
 

Who do you think was the hugest, massive, biggest deal in their day in any sport -- I'm taking major cultural icon, known to every man, woman and child -- since 1900 that is essentially forgotten today by sports fans. I'd have to say Jack Dempsey. He was huge in his day. Huge. And today? Almost in obscurity.
Any bigger examples?

If you're including any sport, how about Dan Patch?

He was definitely bigger that Jack Dempsey, technically speaking... :)

Never heard of him! Will look him up.

Dempsey is a good choice, but mine would be Jack Johnson. After becoming the first black man to win the world heavyweight boxing championship in 1908, he was easily the most recognized athlete on the planet for the next decade. Both Dempsey and Johnson are still revered by hardcore ring enthusiasts, but IMHO the latter is today more "forgotten" by the general public.

I think Mike Kelly is another one. No one talks about King Kelly even though he was a huge star, even outside of baseball. If some yahoo on ESPN brings up the name its only to add some kind of antiquity to whatever they're talking about.

There were a few great hoopsters in the 50s...if talking about people who people didnt see in their lifetime thats a much larger list than anyone people had watched today

I still think 100 years from now, the average person on the street will know who jackie robinson is over Mickey Mantle

I've always been troubled with the cross-over nominations of animals as Sportsman of the Year and other awards.

True, OP did not specify but, perhaps, it should have been assumed to mean sports icons of the human variety.

A horse? Not around here.

George Mikan?

Major Taylor - in his day one of the biggest sports celebrities, now remembered, but only by people into what's become a bit of a fringe sport.


Same idea, there were a lot of famous cyclists between the late 1800's and the start of WWII. Especially the ones who rode the 6 day races during the depression. Now they're pretty much entirely forgotten.
One of the guys I met did a lot of work meeting the few left and interviewing them. I think he did a documentary. All of them were surprised and grateful to be remembered at all, more than one of them had family that didn't know how good they'd been or that they'd been famous at all.


That's probably true for most of the top players in any sport that's not one of the big four in the US now.

Steve B

I'll leave it to others to pick the best candidates, but I agree that boxing and horse racing are the first places I'd look.
I certainly don't think this would be the source of the answer, but I think it's interesting that my father grew up in the 40s in Greenpoint Brooklyn and says many people could name the top matadors in those days.

Red Grange
 

Does the average football fan today know who he was let alone the average person?

How about Goose Tatum? The Harlem Globetrotters' "Clown Prince of Basketball". A multi-sport athlete, Tatum was a teammate of Satchel Paige on the baseball diamond. He was very recognizable in his day. Not exactly a household name any longer (took until 2011 to induct him into the NBA Hall of Fame). Died very young (45?).

I think too many are thinking US only. Mikan and Grange were huge, but would someone in Asia had been a fan at the time?

I think Dempsey is a good guess as boxing was a huge world sport. I would toss Bobby Jones in that mix with golf maybe, and due to the Olympic aspect, I would think Thorpe would be more recognizable outside the U.S. and I doubt many would be able to tell you much about him in the general population.

I thought of Dempsey because he was a movie star as well as an athlete. Sort of Muhammad Ali and Arnold Schwarzenegger in one in his day.

Jim Creighton?





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There was this guy named Tiger Woods that won like 14 or so Major golf tourneys by the time he was 32 and just faded away and now cant make he cut...he was the best player by far over every golfer and his popularity crossed over the golf world into many other areas and was all over the news.

10 years from now he may be the top answer on this thread.

Most of the answers given have been great choices. Some of the first names that popped into my head were Jim Thorpe, Jack Johnson and George Mikan.

In 1950, Thorpe beat Babe Ruth in an AP poll for who was the greatest athlete of the half century. IMO, Ruth is now miles and miles ahead of Thorpe when it comes to familiarity among the general public.

A couple other names that came to mind are Christy Mathewson and Grover Cleveland Alexander. Sure, both of them are iconic names on this board and in the hobby. But I think you would be hard pressed to find many in the general public today who are familiar with either of them.

...or Walter Johnson

Mark Spitz comes to mind for me.

Bruce Jenner - only because of the name change

Thats true with many olympians and swimmers like Greg Loguanis who however you spell it or many figure skaters

Howard hopalong cassidy