The best American athlete
-
The best American athlete
posted at 8/15/2008 11:01 AM EDT
- BostonDotCom
- Posts: 5856
- First: 10/7/2004
- Last: 4/9/2013
The Beijing Olympics got us thinking: www.boston.com/sports/specials/galleries/Best_American_athletes_in_history/">Just who exactly is the greatest American athlete in history? Who do you think is the best? Why? -
The best American athlete
posted at 8/15/2008 11:13 AM EDT
- kayfbee
- Posts: 10
- First: 7/14/2005
- Last: 5/6/2011
Ali took a forced 3-year hiatus and came back and reclaimed glory. (Bill Russell did more to change the game of basketball than did Michael Jordan.) -
The best American athlete
posted at 8/15/2008 11:16 AM EDT
- opack
- Posts: 0
- First: 7/14/2005
- Last: 5/6/2011
Eric Heiden HAS to be on this list. Five golds in the only 5 Speedskating events, all in World Record time.
Spitz already did what Phelps is accomplishing. NOBODY ever did what Heiden did, before or since. Todays speedskaters don't even skate all the distances, only their specialty. -
The best American athlete
posted at 8/15/2008 11:18 AM EDT
- noname99
- Posts: 0
- First: 7/14/2005
- Last: 5/6/2011
Bo Jackson, Bill Russell, Carl Lewis, Jesse Owens should be on the list.
Roberto Clemente, Ted Williams should not.
Wilt Chamberlain ? Basketball and volleyball.
What Tiger Woods did on a double broken leg and torn ACL may be the single greatest sporting feat ever by a US athlete.
A 'great' athlete is one who made the game change the rules because he/she was tood good. Lew Alcindor, Jim Brown, Wayne gretzky(Canada), etc. -
The best American athlete
posted at 8/15/2008 11:22 AM EDT
- crazyjane70
- Posts: 0
- First: 7/14/2005
- Last: 5/6/2011
Only one woman on the list? I think you could have left off Babe Ruth (great baseball player and sports figure but athelete?) and added Billie Jean King...or Kersee? -
The best American athlete
posted at 8/15/2008 11:27 AM EDT
- marcel81
- Posts: 0
- First: 7/14/2005
- Last: 5/6/2011
Tiger Woods - please - Lance Amstrong in my opinion - Golf is not even a sport - Boston.com - do some research and come back Monday. Happy Friday. -
The best American athlete
posted at 8/15/2008 11:28 AM EDT
- stowe
- Posts: 8
- First: 1/21/2007
- Last: 2/28/2011
The best athlete ever was Jim Thorpe. His versatility and enormous prowess was never fully tested or recognized due to being limited by "professional" status, which now is not an exclusion. -
The best American athlete
posted at 8/15/2008 11:30 AM EDT
- hartounian
- Posts: 0
- First: 1/21/2007
- Last: 2/28/2011
An impossible argument as always but you can immediately discount Clemente who might not even be one of the top 10 players in his own sport.
A few others I would add:
Jesse Owens
Bob Mathias
Rafer Johnson
Carl Lewis
Dave Winfield - drafted to play professonal baseball, basketball, and football. -
The best American athlete
posted at 8/15/2008 11:34 AM EDT
- PabloHiminez
- Posts: 3
- First: 8/15/2008
- Last: 11/9/2010
Lance Armstron won 7 Tours, not 6.
And the Globe wonders why their readership is down. -
The best American athlete
posted at 8/15/2008 11:34 AM EDT
- aylwards
- Posts: 0
- First: 8/15/2008
- Last: 11/9/2010
What about Bill Russell? Carl Lewis? Edwin Moses? Hank Aaron? Willie Mays? The boston.com list is alarmingly incomplete and wrongheaded. -
The best American athlete
posted at 8/15/2008 11:43 AM EDT
- healthyoutrage
- Posts: 3
- First: 12/22/2012
- Last: 2/19/2013
If you're talking "athlete," you need to look at someone who excelled in several sports, and few of your choices have done that. Jordan, the best in B'ball; Woods, in golf; Brown, football; Phelps, swimming; Ali, boxing; Clemente and Robinson, Ruth and Williams, you can argue about baseball. Didrickson indeed had multiple talents. But The Best ATHLETE - Thorpe - decathlon and pentathlon, football, baseball, etc. No contest.
-
The best American athlete
posted at 8/15/2008 11:45 AM EDT
- alleb
- Posts: 0
- First: 12/22/2012
- Last: 2/19/2013
Lance Armstrong without a doubt. To be able to win 6 times. I don't believe anyone will ever be able to do that again. The training he put in even while he was going through his cancer treatment was super human. -
The best American athlete
posted at 8/15/2008 11:45 AM EDT
- liljess
- Posts: 0
- First: 12/22/2012
- Last: 2/19/2013
Bruce Jenner?
-
The best American athlete
posted at 8/15/2008 11:55 AM EDT
- 58-Bobcat
- Posts: 0
- First: 12/22/2012
- Last: 2/19/2013
Bill Russell. 11 Championships in 13 years as a Pro. Olympic and College Champs as well. -
The best American athlete
posted at 8/15/2008 11:57 AM EDT
- koolaidman
- Posts: 0
- First: 12/22/2012
- Last: 2/19/2013
This is a no brainer. Armstrong all the way. -
The best American athlete
posted at 8/15/2008 11:58 AM EDT
- Aileron Don
- Posts: 13
- First: 4/29/2005
- Last: 9/24/2012
I have just one question:
Why do we have to determine who is best? -
The best American athlete
posted at 8/15/2008 12:11 PM EDT
- brokenbil
- Posts: 16
- First: 4/15/2008
- Last: 5/3/2011
Jim Thorpe, of course. Times may have changed, but he is still peerless. -
The best American athlete
posted at 8/15/2008 12:15 PM EDT
- davidnh28
- Posts: 6
- First: 11/9/2007
- Last: 12/19/2010
You forgot Roger Clemens. A legend in his own mind. -
The best American athlete
posted at 8/15/2008 12:45 PM EDT
- eimarr
- Posts: 0
- First: 11/9/2007
- Last: 12/19/2010
bobby orr changed the face of hockey, drafted at the age of 14, married to the same women for 30 years, able to change the course of a game with a few passes behind the net, survived botched surgeries and retiring at the tender age of 30, never getting paid like today's elite athletes, and ever the consummate show up guy for every fund raiser and working for local businesses in boston while shunning the spotlight in boston never once complaining about what could of been. -
The best American athlete
posted at 8/15/2008 1:06 PM EDT
- loyalsoxfan
- Posts: 0
- First: 11/9/2007
- Last: 12/19/2010
Bob Mathias, two time Olympic champion in the decathlon (1948 and 1952)which is undoubtedly the truest test of an athlete's abilities. Also, Mathias was an All-American football player (running back) at Stanford. -
The best American athlete
posted at 8/15/2008 1:07 PM EDT
- loyalsoxfan
- Posts: 0
- First: 11/9/2007
- Last: 12/19/2010
Bob Mathias, two time Olympic champion in the decathlon (1948 and 1952)which is undoubtedly the truest test of an athlete's abilities. Also, Mathias was an All-American football player (running back) at Stanford. -
The best American athlete
posted at 8/15/2008 1:19 PM EDT
- zorceres
- Posts: 0
- First: 11/9/2007
- Last: 12/19/2010
[Quote] For starters...Roberto Clemente was not American[/Quote]
You are a tool! Puertoricans have been US Citizens since 1918... and since he was from PR he was American!!
Please check your facts before posting!
And Lance have won 7 Tours not 6.. and he gets my vote for the best too... -
The best American athlete
posted at 8/15/2008 2:08 PM EDT
- PK
- Posts: 0
- First: 11/9/2007
- Last: 12/19/2010
You can't possibly have presented this list with just one woman, could you? Martina Navratilova? Billie Jean King? Jackie Joyner Kersee? Jenny Thompson? Chris Evert? Michelle Kwan?
And where is Eric Heiden, Pete Sampras, Jack Nicklaus, Bill Tilden, Mark Spitz, Greg Louganis? -
The best American athlete
posted at 8/15/2008 2:12 PM EDT
- JoanValdez
- Posts: 26
- First: 6/13/2008
- Last: 3/17/2009
You're all insane. Pete Sampras? Tiger Woods? Babe Didrickson Za-whositnow? Yawn. Jim Brown is BY FAR the greatest American athlete in history. Apart from a brilliant and record setting football career, he was a 2x All American in lacrosse. If you have ever seen clips of him play, you'd get religion quickly. If he didn't run you over, he just ran right past you. Awesome to watch. Hell, he looks like he could still play today. Brown set standards that lasted until the technology caught up and gave today's athlete an edge no one had 50 years ago. The only ones that come close on the list are Jordan and Thorpe.
-
The best American athlete
posted at 8/15/2008 2:15 PM EDT
- paulangi
- Posts: 4
- First: 8/15/2008
- Last: 5/10/2011
Just damn nice to see Lance Armstrong so prominently mentioned. And Jim Thorpe.