Settle bet - most famous US athlete, all time

[bnorth]

I would say Jordan by a mile. Everyone knows who he is. Besides baseball people almost nobody knows who Babe Ruth is. Sure many have heard the name but couldn't give you a singe fact about him beside at one time he played baseball. I owned a commercial greenhouse and set up in 3 different towns every week selling at markets for around 5/6 years. Just wearing a pair of Jordans would get comments. We had a Net54 T-Shirt with Babe Ruth on it. I had exactly one person the entire time mention the shirt that I wore many times.

[jingram058]

It's Babe Ruth. Bet settled, period, end of discussion. Even idiots know about Babe Ruth; anyone, any age.

[Peter_Spaeth]

I think the discussion has revealed the ambiguity of the original question. Perhaps the OP may wish to clarify it.

[JollyElm]

And a card...

jackdempsey2.jpg

[gonefishin]

The period in history is very relevant, but here are my top 5 - put in any order you desire.

Ali
Ruth
Thorpe
Jordan
Jesse Owens

[Ulidia]

Originally Posted by gonefishin

The period in history is very relevant, but here are my top 5 - put in any order you desire.

Ali
Ruth
Thorpe
Jordan
Jesse Owens

Hard to argue against this list. That said, I’m confident if those 5 names were given to well-informed sports enthusiasts here in the UK with at least a basic level interest in sports history that 90% /95%+ would know of Ali, Ruth, Jordan and Jesse Owens.

However, I suspect well less than 50% (actually less than 10%) would know of Jim Thorpe. That’s not to disrespect his legacy. Awareness globally is a different thing than awareness within USA or wider Americas.

[Belfast1933]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I think the discussion has revealed the ambiguity of the original question. Perhaps the OP may wish to clarify it.

Thx Peter - it was a pretty loose discussion so the question was not super well defined.

But I’ll try now:

If we polled all US adults today and asked them “who is the most famous US athlete in history, who would you say it is?”

Or may be better ways to tighten the question… it’s just for fun, but I think the question above is close to the spirit of my casual family bet.

[nebboy]

Biggest sport in the world by far is football ( soccer to you and me.
So I’ll enter into the discussion

Pelé - widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was among the most successful and popular sports figures of the 20th century.

[icurnmedic]

US-Ruth
Worldwide-Jordan, think shoes!

[bk400]

If we are talking about who US adults today think is the most famous US athlete in history, I'm going with Michael Jordan.

[timber63401]

Jordan. There is more people under 25 that don't know who Babe Ruth is then you think.

[Casey2296]

Originally Posted by bk400

if we are talking about who us adults today think is the most famous us athlete in history, i'm going with michael jordan.

100%

[Carter08]

Originally Posted by nebboy

Biggest sport in the world by far is football ( soccer to you and me.
So I’ll enter into the discussion

Pelé - widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was among the most successful and popular sports figures of the 20th century.

He’s not a US athlete