OT: Who would you put on your sports Mt. Rushmore. This is harder than it sounds...

[the 'stache]

I searched to see if this idea had been done on Net 54 before, figuring that everything sports (or, more specifically, baseball) related has been discussed at one time or another. While the Mt. Rushmore of baseball, and baseball cards, immediately popped up, imagine my surprise when I did not find this particular idea expanded to all sports.

So, here's my question to you fine folks of Net 54: who would you put on your personal Mt. Rushmore to represent the very best of sports? This does not necessarily mean the greatest player in any particular sport, but men (or women) that achieved excellence in their sport, either as a player, or a coach (or, maybe both). Maybe these men and women never stepped on a field, but changed their sport (and their country) for the better with their vision. There are many ways we can take this. If baseball is in your blood, to the exclusion of all sports, you can choose four legends associated with the diamond. But, if you're like me, even though baseball will always be my first love, I am an enthusiastic fan of several sports. Including all sports in the selection process makes it infinitely more difficult, in my opinion, to choose only four. You can include professionals, as well as those that achieved their fame in the college ranks. Maybe a broadcaster, or a sports journalist might make your list. Do you make this a list of excellence from a performance standpoint, or do you choose men and women who led by example. Many great men and women have roamed the sidelines, their names synonymous with the word class. There have also been athletes who have made great sacrifices.

This should be a very interesting discussion. When you select the four people you would honor, tell me why you choose them above the others you might have considered. Just have fun, and remember, there is no right or wrong answer.

[iwantitiwinit]

Eddie Lee Whitson, Kei Igawa, Carl Pavano, Hideki Irabu

They got PAID!!!!

[EvilKing00]

ruth, gretzky, Jordan, Payton Manning

The first 3 were easy, the best ever in their sports, no one will ever be better.

As for football, that was hard. not easy to pick the best from so many diff positions. Manning / Montana / Elway / marino / rice / taylor / munoz / there are so many diff players in so many diff eras, but I think when its all said and done mannings numbers will be the ones that look the most mount rushmoric.

[rats60]

Babe Ruth
Michael Jordan
Johnny Unitas
Muhammad Ali

The first two are pretty obvious. Johnny U and the 58 nfl championship game was the transcendent event in football's rise to the #1 sport. Ali is the one athlete who transcends beyond sport itself.

[TUM301]

Ruth, Ali, Jordan, Jesse Owens.

[granite75]

Ruth, Jordan, Brady, Gretzky

Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk

[bbsports]

Babe Ruth, Wilt Chamberlain, Jim Thorpe, & Vince Lombardi. The football choice is the toughest one, so I went with the greatest coach in the game. There were so many great players. Jim Thorpe was I feel overall the greatest athlete. Ruth & Chamberlain changed the game in their sports. Honorable mention to Bobby Orr, Ali, & Jordan. They are great players that changed their sport as well.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by EvilKing00

ruth, gretzky, Jordan, Payton Manning

The first 3 were easy, the best ever in their sports, no one will ever be better.

As for football, that was hard. not easy to pick the best from so many diff positions. Manning / Montana / Elway / marino / rice / taylor / munoz / there are so many diff players in so many diff eras, but I think when its all said and done mannings numbers will be the ones that look the most mount rushmoric.

Did you ever hear of a guy named Brady?

[bnorth]

Ted Williams, Earvin Johnson, Muhammad Ali, Emmitt Smith

I picked those 4 because Ted is the best player to ever play baseball and the other 3 are all-time greats and my favorite players in their sport that I watched growing up.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Ruth, Ali, Pele, Jordan.

[KCRfan1]

Great topic Bill!

My four are, in no particular order: Jackie Robinson, Oscar Robertson, Jim Thorpe, and Gordie Howe.

Each player stands on their own merit, and has their place in history in their respective sport.

Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in MLB.

Oscar Robertson is the only player in the NBA to average a triple double for a season, and has a trophy named after him given to the top college player by the US Basketball Writers Association.

Jim Thorpe has been recognized as the greatest athlete of the 20th Century. He won 2 gold medals in the olympics ( pentathlon and decathlon ) and played professional football, baseball, and basketball.

Gordie Howe is the " Babe Ruth " of hockey.

[jbhofmann]

Babe Ruth- mythical
Usain Bolt- 9.58 and 19.19 in the 100M/200M may never be broken...we may look back and realize that he pushed the human body to its absolute limits. All this and he never really competed in his "best" event, the 400M.
Tiger Woods- I know about Jack and his 18 majors, but this guy made golf what it is today. The sheer number of guys that are threats every single week on the tour is a direct result of Tiger's influence on the game. His dominance and ability to just embarrass fields is unreal.
Michael Jordan- I'm a Lebron guy. I think Lebron is a better "player". He understands the game better, plays more positions, defends more guys, and went many years without the cast that Michael had. That being said, Jordan is a juggernaut. The legacy that he will leave on athletic footwear alone may be enough to put him on this mountain.

[Joshchisox08]

Cobb - Jordan - Howe - Marciano

[clydepepper]

Ruth, Pele, Jordan, & Ali (all have or had global appeal)

...a very close sixth thru eighth: Jackie Robinson, Jim Brown, & Wayne Gretzky
.
.

[chipperhank44]

Ruth, Thorpe, Jordan, Pele

[egri]

Tom Brady, Ted Williams, Herb Brooks, and Jack Nicklaus.

[Bocabirdman]

Jackson, Jones, Brown, Johnson

[pawpawdiv9]

WHAT!!! No mention of Mickey Mantle. only need 1 word here: ICON!!!!!

[chipperhank44]

Originally Posted by pawpawdiv9

WHAT!!! No mention of Mickey Mantle. only need 1 word here: ICON!!!!!

I'm guessing there are a lot of people who would leave Mantle off of their baseball Mt. Rushmore, so sports Mt. Rushmore is a hard sell.

[t206blogcom]

Bryce Harper

[packs]

If we're talking about an American monument:

Babe Ruth
Jackie Robinson
Jim Brown
Joe Louis

[Rookiemonster]

Mays , Sugar Ray Robinson , Jordan , Gretzky, Lawrence Taylor

[cubsfan-budman]

Ruth, Ali, Messi, Gretzky

[Stonepony]

Ruth, Ali, Thorpe....Jenner

[the 'stache]

I think I would go with these four. Obviously my thinking is different from that of everybody else.

John Wooden
Jackie Robinson
Vince Lombardi
Billie Jean King

These were tough decisions for me. Very tough. I couldn't just go with Ruth, Gretzky, Jordan and Walter Payton, or choices of a similar nature. I wanted winners, but I wanted winners that were worthy of immortalizing for more than their accomplishments within the game. These four are immortal not only because of their titles, but for the impact they made on the lives of those around them.

[Jobu]

I agree with clydepepper, I think this has to be Ruth, Jordan, Pele, and Ali. All four of those guys have a strong case as the best ever, not to mention that they also transcend their sports and are international cultural icons.

[wolf441]

Too hard to choose from the all time greats, but how about this mountain:

Belichick
Brady
Popovich
Duncan

Four guys who quietly go about their business with the motto "Do you job".

...and now let the cheating references begin...

[the 'stache]

Originally Posted by EvilKing00

ruth, gretzky, Jordan, Payton Manning

The first 3 were easy, the best ever in their sports, no one will ever be better.

As for football, that was hard. not easy to pick the best from so many diff positions. Manning / Montana / Elway / marino / rice / taylor / munoz / there are so many diff players in so many diff eras, but I think when its all said and done mannings numbers will be the ones that look the most mount rushmoric.

If you're looking purely at statistics for football, nobody has ever dominated the game like Don Hutson. He played 11 years, led the league in catches eight times, in yards receiving seven times, in touchdown catches nine times. He led the league in all three categories at once five times. The record of 99 receiving touchdowns he scored stood for 44 years until Steve Largent broke it in 1989. Hutson scored 99 times in 116 games. It took Largent 198 games to score 100. Don Hutson was the Babe Ruth of the NFL. Besides catching 488 passes for 7,991 yards and 99 TD, Hutson ran for 284 yards and 3 TD, kicked 172 extra points, 7 field goals, and intercepted 30 passes for 389 yards and a TD. He was first team All Pro each of his last eight seasons!

Cold Hard Football Facts nicely summarizes why Hutson, not Rice, is the best receiver to ever play the game.

[packs]

I would argue Jim Brown was much more dominant than just about anyone at any single sport with the exception of perhaps Babe Ruth.

[bn2cardz]

Babe Didrikson Zaharias - Best All-Around Woman's Athlete at a time when woman were not expected to be athletic or outside the kitchen

Jim Thorpe - Best All-Around Men's Athlete and while dealing with racism against Native Americans

Ronda Rousey - 59 Years after the death of Babe Didrikson female athletics still don't get the respect the male counterparts do (read the previous posts, how many females do you see). This isn't true in MMA/UFC in my mind. There is only one name I know as a non-follower of the sport and that is Ronda Rousey. With even her picture being the dominant center image for the Topps boxes between two males and her cards showing at the top of the highest price paid for 2015 UFC topps search on ebay. She stands out in what typically would be considered a male dominant sport.

Babe Ruth - He is the first real ICON of American Sports. hobbyists and historians can argue about if other Athletes were better, we can even argue if there were other players that effected pop culture prior to Ruth. Yet you ask any person that doesn't follow sports who the most famous athlete is of all time and Babe Ruth still comes to mind.

[Sean]

I'm limiting my picks to team sports, and American sports, so no Pele:

Babe Ruth, Wayne Gretzky, Michael Jordan (easy choices), and Jerry Rice.

[BengoughingForAwhile]

Bonds... A Roid... Lance Armstrong... Rosie Ruiz....on the backside of Rushmore...

[Bruinsfan94]

Ruth, Jordan, Brady,Gretzky .

[jbhofmann]

Originally Posted by packs

I would argue Jim Brown was much more dominant than just about anyone at any single sport with the exception of perhaps Babe Ruth.

Tiger from 2000-2008?

However, Dick Schaap once called Brown the greatest Lacrosse player ever too.

[OldEnglishD]

Haven't finalized my list yet, but my initial reaction was to have Scotty Bowman on it. I'm thinking Ali wold be a shoo in for my list as well.

[PolarBear]

Theagenes of Thasos

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by packs

I would argue Jim Brown was much more dominant than just about anyone at any single sport with the exception of perhaps Babe Ruth.

8 titles in 9 years, and I believe he still is the all time leader in yards per carry.

[Peter_Spaeth]

if you need to put a woman up there, Serena seems the obvious choice.

[CardboardCollector]

The Fathers of Football, Baseball and Basketball

Walter Camp, Andrew Cartwright, James Naismith

[cardsfan73]

Stan Musial, Wayne Gretzky, Jim Brown & Bill Russell.

[Eric72]

Rusty Kuntz, Pete LaCock, Dick Cox and Bock Hooker...

Oh wait, wrong thread...

Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan, Jim Thorpe, Wayne Gretzky.

Jim Thorpe may have been the greatest athlete from 1900-Present, and the other three are usually mentioned in discussions regarding the greatest player of all-time within their respective sports.

[jrlebert]

Very surprised that nobody has brought up this name, and he's not even done yet:

Michael Phelps.

There are swimmers right now who are training 6-8 hours a day in just one event. Whether it is the IM, or butterfly, or freestyle, or a particular distance of any of those, they are training in just ONE event, hours a day, years at a time.

In the 2008 Olympics, Phelps won GOLD medals in EIGHT events, either setting the World Record (7 events) or Olympic Record (1 event) in all eight. That's akin to Usain Bolt winning the gold in the 100, 200, 400, 100 relay, 400 relay, 110 hurdles and 400 hurdles, and one other event just for good measure.

There is simply no comparison in the history of sport. He is the all-time leader in medals won, 22, with the closest competitor 4 behind, and the closest American 10 (!) behind. He also has the most gold medals of all time, 18, with the closest competitor at 10.

What Phelps has done is simply unreal, and he is going to add to his total, hopefully, next year in his swan song Olympics.

Phelps has to be on there.

My Rushmore:

Michael Phelps, Barry Sanders, Michael Jordan, and Nolan Ryan.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Phelps doubtless is the best swimmer ever, but I don't think a sport where the participants' faces are mostly in the water and are otherwise obscured by goggles is ever going to really capture the public the way other sports do. I would put Carl Lewis on the same tier in terms of Olympians by the way.

And NOLAN RYAN? You mean the guy Bill James ranks the 24th best pitcher ever?

[packs]

I don't think Phelps will ever be an American icon. He has too much baggage and makes dopey decisions between the 4 years of the Olympics. People just aren't going to think of him when they think of sports. I don't think Gretzky really makes the cut either. Hockey and soccer aren't going to enter a lot of people's minds in America.

Of course if this is just a "sports" monument, then yes Gretzky all the way.

[glynparson]

Ruth, Brown, Gretzky, Jordan for female I tink Diedrikson Didrickson whichever way it was correctly spelled is the no brainer.

[drmondobueno]

A monument to a time gone by.......

Oh, sorry, this is a baseball site....naw, will stick with these guys

[egbeachley]

Babe Ruth
Wayne Gretzky
Bo Jackson
Jim Thorpe

[VoodooChild]

Roberto Clemente, Mario Lemieux, Bill Russell, and Bo Jackson.

[Wahoowa]

Ruth, Jordan, Gretzky, Brady

Although my personal Mt. Rushmore would be different:
WaJo, Ripken, Woods, Ovechkin

Jackie Robinson, Ray Dandridge, Ty Cobb , Pete Rose ALL AMERICAN CITIZENS