Settle bet - most famous US athlete, all time

[packs]

For a brief period of time it was Tony Hawk.

[Writehooks]

I'm a Canadian who worked as a sportswriter in China from 2010-20 -- a job that included extensive travel all over Asia and the Pacific Rim. During a week-long trip to North Korea in 2017, I had a rare opportunity to interact with fellow sports journalists from the DPRK, Mongolia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and several other countries. The one American athlete they ALL knew and wanted to learn more about was Ali. The same was true in Japan, where baseball is king. Ruth, Jordan and Woods weren't even on their radar.

[philliesfan]

I would think this order:

Ruth
Ali
Jordan

[jp1216]

I went down this path with a 20 something year old 'sports guy' I worked with last month. His last name was Cobb - so naturally I asked him if he was related to Ty Cobb. Blank Stare. Ok maybe he didn't grow up in a sports family... I asked if ANYONE had ever asked him this question - 'yeah a few times but I don't know why'....

That led me to dig deeper. Babe Ruth - not a clue. I didn't strike gold until I mentioned Griffey and Jordan. So anything pre-1980 was dinosaurs and cavemen to this guy. He does know his sports though - just nothing more than 40 years ago. He did know every NFL, MLB, NBA champion, MVP, #1 pick etc from the past 15 years.

I didn't mention Ali - but I'd bet he didn't know.

He did also know Jackie - but only from the movie 42...

So to settle this kind of bet - I'd vote Jordan.

[Mark17]

Originally Posted by jp1216

I went down this path with a 20 something year old 'sports guy'...

Anyone who has never heard of Cobb or Ruth does not meet my definition of a "sports guy."

But then, paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for shiny, newly printed cardboard doesn't meet my definition of "investment."

[Republicaninmass]

Caitlyn Jenner. Over 15 million "followers"

[Carter08]

Originally Posted by Republicaninmass

Caitlyn Jenner. Over 15 million "followers"

Michael Jordan does not do social media I believe but one of his sneakers has 28 million followers.

[D. Bergin]

I might be biased, but I gotta go with Ali on this one.

[D. Bergin]

Is the question:

"The most famous US athlete, in the US?"

or

"The most famous US athlete, in the World?"





If it's the 1st one, maybe we can consider some baseball, football players....if it's the 2nd one, Babe Ruth might have a hard time cracking the Top 10.

[Ulidia]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

Is the question:

"The most famous US athlete, in the US?"

or

"The most famous US athlete, in the World?"





If it's the 1st one, maybe we can consider some baseball, football players....if it's the 2nd one, Babe Ruth might have a hard time cracking the Top 10.

If it is from a World context, and you ignore more recent decades where globalisation has made that World smaller in terms of stars (so discounting Tiger Woods, Williams, even Jordan etc), then the most famous US sportsperson through the ages globally, or at least in Europe, is likely Jesse Owens.

Owens and the 1936 Olympics story transcends sport. I’m late 40s and, here in British Isles, everyone of my vintage would certainly know of Jesse Owen’s irrespective of whether they had any knowledge or interest in sports.


As an aside, in terms of baseball, when we talk about sports (mainly soccer) in the UK and when occasionally US sports have come up, I’ve sometimes referenced vintage baseball. Babe Ruth is the one common name that everyone appears to know. Very few of these people would know of Mickey Mantle.

In fact, a number of years ago I asked my mother (in her 70s) and my partner (in her 40s) which baseball players they could name. Neither has any interest in sport but both named Babe Ruth. The only other name referenced was Joe DiMaggio. Again, there is a recognition here partly for non-sport reasons i.e. the Marilyn Monroe connection and then Simon & Garfunkel song.



Interestingly, notwithstanding the Jesse Owens reference to transcending sport, very few people with an interest in sport on this side of the pond would have heard of Jackie Robinson.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Most famous world-wide, or in the US?

I think I lean towards Ali for global fame.