Famous American Athletes

Muhammad Ali

Cassius Clay was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, and began training as an amateur boxer when he was 12 years old. At age 18, he won a gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome and turned professional later that year. At age 22 in 1964, he won the WBA, WBC, and lineal heavyweight titles from Sonny Liston in a big upset. Clay then converted to Islam and changed his name from Cassius Clay, which he called his "slave name".

Jack Nicklaus

Nicknamed The Golden Bear, he is a retired American professional golfer. He is widely regarded as the greatest golfer of all time, winning a record 18 career major championships, while producing 19 second-place and 9 third-place finishes, over a span of 25 years. He focused on the major championships (Masters Tournament, U.S. Open, Open Championship and PGA Championship), and played a selective schedule of regular PGA Tour events, yet still finished with 73 victories, third on the all-time list behind Sam Snead (82) and Tiger Woods (79).

George Foreman

After a troubled childhood, he took up amateur boxing and won a gold medal in the heavyweight division at the 1968 Summer Olympics. Having turned professional the next year, he won the world heavyweight title with a second-round knockout of then-undefeated Joe Frazier in 1973. Two successful title defenses were made before his first professional loss to Muhammad Ali in "The Rumble in the Jungle" in 1974. Unable to secure another title opportunity, he retired after a loss to Jimmy Young in 1977.

Kobe Bryant

The son of former NBA player Joe Bryant, he enjoyed a successful high school basketball career at Lower Merion High School in Pennsylvania, where he was recognized as the top high school basketball player in the country. He declared for the NBA draft upon graduation, and was selected with the 13th overall pick in the 1996 NBA draft by the Charlotte Hornets, who traded him to the Lakers. As a rookie, he earned himself a reputation as a high-flyer and a fan favorite by winning the 1997 Slam Dunk Contest, and he was named an All-Star by his second season. Despite a feud between them, he and Shaquille O'Neal led the Lakers to three consecutive championships from 2000 to 2002.

Barry Sanders

a former American football running back who spent his entire professional career with the Detroit Lions of the National Football League. A member of both the college and professional football halls of fame, he was ranked by NFL Top 10 as the most elusive runner in NFL history, and also topped their list of greatest players never to reach the Super Bowl. Averaging over 1,500 rushing yards per season, he is regarded as one of the best running backs of all time. He also left the game 1,457 yards short of breaking the NFL all-time rushing record at the time.

Bo Jackson

a former baseball and American football player. He is one of the few athletes to be named an All-Star in two major sports, and the only one to do so in both baseball and football. He is widely considered one of the greatest athletes of all time. While at Auburn University, he won the 1985 Heisman Trophy, annually awarded to the outstanding collegiate football player in the United States.

Carl Lewis

an American former track and field athlete who won nine Olympic gold medals, one Olympic silver medal, and 10 World Championships medals, including eight gold. His career spanned from 1979 to 1996 when he last won an Olympic event and subsequently retired. He is one of only three Olympic athletes who won a gold medal in the same event in four consecutive Olympic Games.

Martina Navratilova

born Martina Šubertová, she is a Czech and American retired tennis player and coach. In 2005, Tennis magazine selected her as the greatest female tennis player for the years 1965 through 2005. She was World No. 1 for a total of 332 weeks in singles, and a record 237 weeks in doubles, making her the only player in history to have held the top spot in both singles and doubles for over 200 weeks. She was year-end singles No. 1 seven times, including a record five consecutive years, as well as year-end doubles No. 1 five times, including three consecutive years during which she held the ranking for the entire year.

Wayne Gretzky

a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played twenty seasons in the NHL for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "The Great One", he has been called "the greatest hockey player ever" by many sportswriters, players, and the league itself. He is the leading scorer in NHL history, with more goals and assists than any other player. He garnered more assists than any other player scored total points, and is the only NHL player to total over 200 points in one season - a feat he accomplished four times. In addition, he tallied over 100 points in 16 professional seasons, 14 of them consecutive. At the time of his retirement in 1999, he held 61 NHL records: 40 regular-season records, 15 playoff records, and six All-Star records. As of 2014, he still holds 60 NHL records.

Delon Sanders

a former American football and baseball player who works as an analyst for CBS Sports and the NFL Network. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011. He played football primarily at cornerback, but also as a kick returner, punt returner and occasionally wide receiver. He played in the NFL for the Atlanta Falcons, the San Francisco 49ers, the Dallas Cowboys, the Washington Redskins and the Baltimore Ravens, winning the Super Bowl with both the 49ers and the Cowboys. An outfielder in baseball, he played professionally for the New York Yankees, the Atlanta Braves, the Cincinnati Reds and the San Francisco Giants, and participated in the 1992 World Series with the Braves. He attended Florida State University, where he was recognized as a two-time All-American in football, and also played baseball and ran track.

Peyton Manning

a former American football quarterback who played 18 seasons in the NFL, primarily with the Indianapolis Colts. Considered to be one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, he spent 14 seasons with the Colts and was a member of the Denver Broncos in his last four seasons. He played college football for the University of Tennessee, leading the Tennessee Volunteers to the 1997 SEC Championship in his senior season. He is the second son of former NFL quarterback Archie Manning and older brother of New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning.

Wilma Rupolph

She was an American sprinter from Clarksville, Tennessee, who became a world-record-holding Olympic champion and international sports icon in track and field following her successes in the 1956 and 1960 Olympic Games. She competed in the 200-meter dash and won a bronze medal in the 4 × 100-meter relay at the 1956 Summer Olympics at Melbourne, Australia. She also won three gold medals in the 100- and 200-meter individual events and the 4 x 100-meter relay at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy. She was acclaimed the fastest woman in the world in the 1960s and became the first American woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympic Games. Due to the worldwide television coverage of the 1960 Summer Olympics, she became an international star along with other Olympic athletes such as Cassius Clay (later known as Muhammad Ali), Oscar Robertson, and Rafer Johnson who competed in Italy.

Tiger Woods

Following an outstanding junior, college, and amateur career, he turned professional at the age of 20, at the end of the summer in 1996. By April 1997 he had already won his first major, the 1997 Masters. He won this tournament in a record-breaking performance, winning by 12 strokes while pocketing $486,000. He first reached the number one position in the world rankings in June 1997, after less than a year as a professional. Throughout the 2000s, he was the dominant force in golf; from August 1999 to September 2004 (264 weeks) and from June 2005 to October 2010 (281 weeks), he was the top-ranked men's golfer in the world.

Alex Rodriguez

He is a Dominican-American former professional baseball shortstop and third baseman. He played 22 seasons in MLB for the Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, and New York Yankees. Rodriguez was one of the sport's most highly touted prospects and is considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time. During his 22-year career, Rodriguez has amassed a .297 batting average, 696 home runs, over 2,000 runs batted in (RBI), over 2,000 runs scored, and over 3,000 hits. He is a 14-time All-Star and has won three American League (AL) MVP Awards, ten Silver Slugger Awards, and two Gold Glove Awards. He is the career record holder for grand slams with 25. However, he has led a highly controversial career due to signing two of the most lucrative sports contracts in history while incurring criticism from the media for his behavior and use of illegal performance-enhancing drugs.

Jerry Rice

He is the all-time leader in most major statistical categories for wide receivers, including receptions, touchdown receptions, and receiving yards, once being the leader for total yards in a season. Rice was selected to the Pro Bowl 13 times (1986-1996, 1998, 2002) and named All-Pro 12 times in his 20 NFL seasons. He won three Super Bowls with the 49ers and an AFC Championship with the Oakland Raiders. As of 2016, he holds over 100 NFL records, the most of any player by a wide margin.

Michael Jordan

He played three seasons for coach Dean Smith at the University of North Carolina. As a freshman, he was a member of the Tar Heels' national championship team in 1982. He joined the Bulls in 1984 as the third overall draft pick. He quickly emerged as a league star, entertaining crowds with his prolific scoring. His leaping ability, demonstrated by performing slam dunks from the free throw line in slam dunk contests, earned him the nicknames Air Jordan and His Airness.

Jesse Owens

He specialized in the sprints and the long jump and was recognized in his lifetime as "perhaps the greatest and most famous athlete in track and field history". His achievement of setting three world records and tying another in less than an hour at the 1935 Big Ten track meet in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has been called "the greatest 45 minutes ever in sport" and has never been equaled. At the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, he won international fame with four gold medals: 100 meters, 200 meters, long jump, and 4 × 100 meter relay. He was the most successful athlete at the games and, as a black man, was credited with "single-handedly crushing Hitler's myth of Aryan supremacy", although he "wasn't invited to the White House to shake hands with the President, either".

Jim Brown

a former professional American football player and actor. He was a fullback for the Cleveland Browns of the NFL from 1957 through 1965. Considered to be among the greatest football players of all time, he was a Pro Bowl invitee every season he was in the league, was recognized as the NFL Most Valuable Player several times, and won an NFL championship with the Browns in 1964. He led the league in rushing yards in eight out of his nine seasons, and by the time he retired, he had shattered most major rushing records. In 2002, he was named by The Sporting News as the greatest professional football player ever.

Jim Thorpe

an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist. A member of the Sac and Fox Nation, he became the first Native American to win a gold medal for his home country. Considered one of the most versatile athletes of modern sports, he won Olympic gold medals in the 1912 pentathlon and decathlon, and played American football (collegiate and professional), professional baseball, and basketball. He lost his Olympic titles after it was found he had been paid for playing two seasons of semi-professional baseball before competing in the Olympics, thus violating the amateurism rules that were then in place. In 1983, 30 years after his death, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) restored his Olympic medals.

Babe Didrikson Zaharias

an American athlete who achieved a great deal of success in golf, basketball, baseball and track and field. She won two gold medals in track and field at the 1932 Summer Olympics, before turning to professional golf and winning 10 LPGA major championships.

Lou Gehrig

an American baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons in MLB for the New York Yankees, from 1923 through 1939. He was renowned for his prowess as a hitter and for his durability, a trait that earned him his nickname "The Iron Horse". He was an All-Star seven consecutive times, a Triple Crown winner once, an American League (AL) Most Valuable Player twice, and a member of six World Series champion team. He had a career .340 batting average, .632 slugging average, and a .447 on base average. He hit 493 home runs and had 1,995 runs batted in (RBI). In 1939, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame and was the first MLB player to have his uniform number (4) retired by a team.

Wilt Chamberlain

an American basketball player. He played for the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, the Philadelphia 76ers, and the Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA; he played for the University of Kansas and also for the Harlem Globetrotters before playing in the NBA. The 7 foot 1 inch person weighed 250 pounds as a rookie before bulking up to 275 and eventually to over 300 pounds with the Lakers. He played the center position and is widely considered one of the greatest and most dominant players in NBA history.

Tom Brady

an American football quarterback for the New England Patriots of the NFL. He is one of only two players to win five Super Bowls (the other being Charles Haley), the only quarterback to win five and the only player to win them all playing for one team. After playing college football for the University of Michigan, he was drafted by the Patriots in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft. In his 15 seasons as a starter, he has quarterbacked the Patriots to seven Super Bowl appearances, the most for any player in history.

Eli Manning

an American football quarterback for the New York Giants of the NFL. He played college football at the University of Mississippi. He was drafted as the first overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft by the San Diego Chargers and immediately traded to the Giants who in return gave up a package, highlighted by fourth overall selection Philip Rivers. He is the son of former NFL quarterback Archie Manning and the younger brother of former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning.

Billie Jean King

an American former World No. 1 professional tennis player. King won 39 Grand Slam titles, including 12 singles, 16 women's doubles, and 11 mixed doubles titles. She won the singles title at the inaugural WTA Tour Championships. She often represented the United States in the Federation Cup and the Wightman Cup. She was a member of the victorious United States team in seven Federation Cups and nine Wightman Cups. For three years, she was the United States' captain in the Federation Cup.

Michael Phelps

an American former competitive swimmer and the most decorated Olympian of all time, with a total of 28 medals. He also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold medals (23), Olympic gold medals in individual events (13), and Olympic medals in individual events (16). In winning eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games, Phelps broke fellow American swimmer Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven first-place finishes at any single Olympic Games. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, he won four gold and two silver medals, and at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, he won five gold medals and one silver. This made him the most successful athlete of the Games for the fourth Olympics in a row.

Mark Splitz

an American former competitive swimmer, nine-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in 7 events. He won seven gold medals at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich West Germany, an achievement surpassed only by Michael Phelps, who won eight golds at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He set new world records in all seven events in which he competed in 1972. He holds more medals than any other Jewish athlete in the history of the Olympics.

Derek Jeter

an American former professional baseball shortstop who played 20 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees. A five-time World Series champion, he is regarded as a central figure of the Yankees' success of the late 1990s and early 2000s for his hitting, baserunning, fielding, and leadership. He is the Yankees' all-time career leader in hits (3,465), doubles (544), games played (2,747), stolen bases (358), times on base (4,716), plate appearances (12,602) and at bats (11,195). His accolades include 14 All-Star selections, five Gold Glove Awards, five Silver Slugger Awards, two Hank Aaron Awards, and a Roberto Clemente Award. He became the 28th player to reach 3,000 hits and finished his career sixth all-time in career hits and the all-time MLB leader in hits by a shortstop.

Mike Tyson

an American former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 2005. He reigned as the undisputed world heavyweight champion and holds the record as the youngest boxer to win a heavyweight title at 20 years, 4 months and 22 days old. He won his first 19 professional fights by knockout, 12 of them in the first round. He won the WBC title in 1986 after stopping Trevor Berbick in two rounds, and added the WBA and IBF titles after defeating James Smith and Tony Tucker in 1987. This made him the first heavyweight boxer to simultaneously hold the WBA, WBC and IBF titles, and the only heavyweight to successively unify them.

Lance Armstrong

an American former professional road racing cyclist. He is the 1993 professional world champion, and won the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times from 1999 to 2005. However, in 2012, he was banned from sanctioned Olympic sports for life as a result of long-term doping offenses. As part of those sanctions, all results going back to August 1998, including his seven Tour wins, were voided.

Babe Ruth

an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "The Bambino" and "The Sultan of Swat", he began his MLB career as a stellar left-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, but achieved his greatest fame as a slugging outfielder for the New York Yankees. He established many MLB batting (and some pitching) records, including career home runs (714), runs batted in (RBIs) (2,213), bases on balls (2,062), slugging percentage (.6897), and on-base plus slugging (OPS) (1.164); the latter two still stand today. He is regarded as one of the greatest sports heroes in American culture and is considered by many to be the greatest baseball player of all time. In 1936, he was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame as one of its "first five" inaugural members.

Jackie Robinson

an American professional baseball second baseman who became the first African American to play in MLB in the modern era. He broke the baseball color line when the Brooklyn Dodgers started him at first base on April 15, 1947. The Dodgers, by signing him, heralded the end of racial segregation in professional baseball that had relegated black players to the Negro leagues since the 1880s. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.

LeBron James

an American professional basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has won three NBA championships, four NBA Most Valuable Player Awards, three NBA Finals MVP Awards, two Olympic gold medals, an NBA scoring title, and the NBA Rookie of the Year Award. He has also been selected to 13 NBA All-Star teams, 12 All-NBA teams, and six All-Defensive teams, and is the Cavaliers' all-time leading scorer.

Kevin Durant

an American professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors of the NBA. He has won an NBA Most Valuable Player Award, four NBA scoring titles, the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, and two Olympic gold medals. He has also been selected to six All-NBA teams and eight All-Star teams.

Stephen Curry

an American professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors of the NBA. Many players and analysts have called him the greatest shooter in NBA history. In 2014-15, he won the NBA Most Valuable Player Award and led the Warriors to their first championship since 1975. The following season, he became the first player in NBA history to be elected MVP by a unanimous vote and to lead the league in scoring while shooting above 50-40-90. That same year, the Warriors broke the record for the most wins in an NBA season.

James Harden

an American professional basketball player for the Houston Rockets of the NBA. He played college basketball for Arizona State, where he was named a consensus All-American and Pac-10 Player of the Year in 2009. He was selected with the third overall pick in the 2009 NBA draft by the Oklahoma City Thunder. In 2012, he was named NBA Sixth Man of the Year with the Thunder and helped the team reach the NBA Finals.

Rocky Marciano

an American professional boxer who competed from 1947 to 1955, and held the world heavyweight title from 1952 to 1956. He went undefeated in his career and defended the title six times, against Jersey Joe Walcott, Roland La Starza, Ezzard Charles (twice), Don Cockell and Archie Moore. Known for his relentless fighting style, stamina and an iron chin, he has been ranked by many boxing historians as one of the best heavyweight boxers of all time. His knockout-to-win percentage of 87.75 remains one of the highest in heavyweight boxing history.

Sugar Ray Robinson

an American professional boxer. Frequently cited as the greatest boxer of all time, his performances in the welterweight and middleweight divisions prompted sportswriters to create "pound for pound" rankings, where they compared fighters regardless of weight. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990.

Danica Patrick

an American professional stock car racing driver, model, and advertising spokeswoman. She is the most successful woman in the history of American open-wheel racing—her win in the 2008 Indy Japan 300 is the only women's victory in an IndyCar Series race and her third place in the 2009 Indianapolis 500 is the highest finish there ever by a woman. She competed in the series from 2005 to 2011. In 2012, she competed in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and occasionally in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Venus Williams

an American professional tennis player who is generally regarded as one of the all-time greats of women's tennis and who, along with younger sister Serena Williams, is credited with ushering in a new era of power and athleticism on the women's professional tennis tour.

Serena WIlliams

an American professional tennis player. The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) has ranked her world number one in singles on seven occasions, from 2002 to 2017. She became the world number one for the first time on July 8, 2002, and achieved this ranking for the eighth time on April 24, 2017. On the sixth occasion, she held the ranking for 186 consecutive weeks, tying the record set by Steffi Graf for the most consecutive weeks as world number one by a female tennis player. In total, she has been world number one for 319 weeks, which ranks her 3rd in the Open Era among female tennis players. Williams' accomplishments and success in professional tennis have led some commentators, players, and sports writers to regard her as the greatest female tennis player of all time.

Magic Johnson

an American retired professional basketball player and current president of basketball operations of the Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA. He played point guard for the Lakers for 13 seasons. After winning championships in high school and college, he was selected first overall in the 1979 NBA draft by the Lakers. He won a championship and an NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award in his rookie season, and won four more championships with the Lakers during the 1980s. He retired abruptly in 1991 after announcing that he had contracted HIV, but returned to play in the 1992 All-Star Game, winning the All-Star MVP Award. After protests from his fellow players, he retired again for four years, but returned in 1996, at age 36, to play 32 games for the Lakers before retiring for the third and final time.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

an American retired professional basketball player who played 20 seasons in the NBA for the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers. During his career as a center, he was a record six-time NBA MVP, a record 19-time NBA All-Star, a 15-time All-NBA selection, and an 11-time NBA All-Defensive Team member. A member of six NBA championship teams as a player and two as an assistant coach, he twice was voted NBA Finals MVP. In 1996, he was honored as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. NBA coach Pat Riley and players Isiah Thomas and Julius Erving have called him the greatest basketball player of all time.

Bill Russell

an American retired professional basketball player. He played center for the Boston Celtics of the NBA from 1956 to 1969. A five-time NBA Most Valuable Player and a twelve-time All-Star, he was the centerpiece of the Celtics dynasty, winning eleven NBA championships during his thirteen-year career. He holds the record for the most championships won by an athlete in a North American sports league (tied with Henri Richard of the National Hockey League). Before his professional career he led the University of San Francisco to two consecutive NCAA championships (1955, 1956), and he captained the gold-medal winning U.S. national basketball team at the 1956 Summer Olympics.

Jackie Joyner-Kersee

an American retired track and field athlete, ranked among the all-time greatest athletes in the heptathlon as well as long jump. She won three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals, in those two events at four different Olympic Games. Sports Illustrated for Women magazine voted Joyner-Kersee the Greatest Female Athlete of All-Time.

Althea Gibson

an American tennis player and professional golfer, and the first black athlete to cross the color line of international tennis. In 1956, she became the first person of color to win a Grand Slam title (the French Open). The following year she won both Wimbledon and the U.S. Nationals (precursor of the U.S. Open), then won both again in 1958, and was voted Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press in both years. In all, she won 11 Grand Slam tournaments, including six doubles titles, and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame.

Hank Aaron

nicknamed "Hammer", or "Hammerin' Hank", is a retired American Major League Baseball (MLB) right fielder who is currently the senior vice president of the Atlanta Braves. He played 21 seasons for the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves in the National League (NL) and 2 seasons for the Milwaukee Brewers in the American League (AL), from 1954 through 1976. He held the MLB record for career home runs for 33 years, and he still holds several MLB offensive records. He hit 24 or more home runs every year from 1955 through 1973, and is one of only two players to hit 30 or more home runs in a season at least fifteen times. In 1999, The Sporting News ranked him fifth on its "100 Greatest Baseball Players" list.

Joe Montana

nicknamed "Joe Cool" and "The Comeback Kid", he is a former American football quarterback who played in the NFL for 16 seasons, primarily with the San Francisco 49ers. He also briefly played for the Kansas City Chiefs. After winning a college national championship at Notre Dame, he started his NFL career in 1979 with San Francisco, where he played for the next 14 seasons. Traded before the 1993 season, he spent his final two years in the league with the Kansas City Chiefs. While a member of the 49ers, he started and won four Super Bowls and was the first player ever to have been named Super Bowl Most Valuable Player three times,

Jow DiMaggio

nicknamed "Joltin' Joe" and "The Yankee Clipper", he was an American Major League Baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career for the New York Yankees. He is perhaps best known for his 56-game hitting streak (May 15 - July 16, 1941), a record that still stands.

Willie Mays

nicknamed "The Say Hey Kid", is an American former MLB center fielder who spent almost all of his 22-season career playing for the New York and San Francisco Giants, before finishing with the New York Mets. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979, his first year of eligibility.

Phil Mickelson

nicknamed Lefty, he is an American professional golfer. He has won 42 events on the PGA Tour, including five major championships: three Masters titles (2004, 2006, 2010), a PGA Championship (2005), and an Open Championship (2013).

Shaquille O'Neal

nicknamed Shaq, he is an American sports analyst on the television program Inside the NBA. He had previous careers as a basketball player and rapper. Listed at 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) tall and weighing 325 pounds (147 kg), he was one of the heaviest players ever to play in the NBA, where he played for six teams throughout his 19-year career.