1966- American football player Star quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys for more than a decade, Troy Aikman led "America's team" to three Super Bowl victories before the toll of multiple injuries finally took him out of the game. In April 2001, rather than risk a potentially disabling injury, Aikman at the age of thirty-four left professional football to launch a new career as a…
1948- American football coach Mike Holmgren has been a NFL head coach since 1992. During his time with the Green Bay Packers, he earned a reputation as one of the game's great strategists, leading the Packers to two Super Bowls, winning the big game in 1997. He is now the coach of the Seattle Seahawks, where he has been unable to repeat his winning performance in Green Bay. Address: c/o Sea…
1929- American football executive As owner of the National Football League's (NFL) Oakland Raiders, Al Davis has been both vilified and admired by his colleagues. Davis has created a team in his own image, both arrogant and mysterious, determined and successful. His unorthodox approach to the game on the field, and the equally interesting one played in the league's back rooms, has wo…
1972- American football player Terrell Davis's exuberant seven year NFL career was marked by record-breaking accomplishments and debilitating migraines and injuries. Davis's speed and tenacity helped John Elway and the Denver Broncos win two consecutive Super Bowl titles, first in 1998, then again in 1999. Among his many feats are an amazing 2,008 rushing yard season in 1998 and a Su…
1943- American football player Joe Namath's bold guarantee before Super Bowl III made him an instant legend in the world of professional Joe Namath football, but it was his glamorous image off the field that made him a celebrity and an icon to the rest of the world. In the sporting world of the 1960's, Namath represented the counterculture in a way that no athlete had before. …
1930- American football coach The winningest coach in professional football, Don Shula compiled an unparalleled record of 347-173-6 over thirty-three seasons coaching in the National Football League (NFL). On November 14, 1993, as coach of the Miami Dolphins, Shula broke the record of 324 wins set by the legendary George Halas. Shula went on to extend Don Shula his record of wins to 347 bef…
1913-1970 American football coach More than three decades after Vince Lombardi's death, books about this legendary and inspiring football coach are still making the best seller list. These books cover not only the details of his life and career but also his philosophy and practical approach to winning, which remains relevant today. His reputation as one of the most consistently successful c…
1954-1999 American football player Walter Payton, nicknamed "Sweetness" in college for his sweet and graceful moves on the football field, never lost that sweetness, even after he left the game. Never were Payton's qualities of grace and dignity more evident than in his final days, as he struggled unsuccessfully against a rare liver disease that progressed to the cancer of the…
1895-1983 American football coach George Halas Among the winningest coaches in the history of the National Football League (NFL), George "Papa Bear" Halas amassed 324 career victories. As owner of the Chicago Bears for over sixty years, he coached for more than forty of those years and played with the team for a decade. Prominent at the organization of the American Professiona…
1948- American football player The Steel Curtain. Franco Harris. Lynn Swann. Mean Joe Greene. These names are all indelibly imprinted in the psyches of football fans who lived through the early 1980s, as well as struck a special fear into the Dallas Cowboy fans who lost not one, but two Super Bowls to the Pittsburgh Steelers. But there is one name who stands behind them all. A small-town boy with …
1935- American football player Paul Hornung Star running back Paul Hornung led the great Green Bay Packer teams of the early 1960s to four National Football League (NFL) championships. One of the most versatile football players ever, in addition to being a tenacious rusher—especially within the ten-yard line—Hornung also kicked field goals and extra points for the Packers, he …
1947- American football player O.J. Simpson O.J. Simpson's squeaky clean image and rags to riches story was the type of "only in America" success story that the sports world holds up as an example of how much can be achieved in athletics. His electrifying career with the Buffalo Bills and the endless opportunities it led to after his retirement were an inspiration to hi…
1960- American football player Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Allen came to be admired for his intelligence and quiet determination as much as for his skill in gaining yardage. An all-around athlete with a winning smile and boyish charm, Allen's appearance concealed a mature team player. As a senior at the University of Southern California (USC), he was a first-round draft pick, taken by the …
1907-1998 American football coach Weeb Ewbank was small in stature, and could often get lost on the sideline among the players he coached. But he had a large heart and was well liked by most everyone he encountered. As head coach with the Baltimore Colts (1954-1962) and then with the New Weeb Ewbank York Jets (1963-1973), he would mentor some of the great names in professional football. He …
1968- American football player One of football's greatest running backs of all time, Barry Sanders is a bundle of contradictions. His sudden departure from professional football in the summer of 1999 still has observers scratching their heads. He left the game less than 1,500 yards short of eclipsing the career rushing yardage of the late Walter Payton. (As of late October 2002, Sanders, wi…
1930- American football player In the national spotlight for over half a century, Pro Football Hall of Famer and Emmy-winning broadcaster Frank Gifford enjoyed a successful transition from professional athlete to respected television journalist. His fame as an anchor of ABC's Monday Night Football from 1971 to 1998 even transcended his reputation as one of the biggest stars of the National …
1952- American football player Blessed with incredible speed and an ability to catch the football with leaps almost ballet-like in gracefulness, wide receiver Lynn Swann also had an impeccable sense of timing. He joined the Pittsburgh Steelers just as the team embarked on its most spectacular winning streak in history. Swann, an All-American at USC, was the Steelers' No. 1 draft pick in the…
1969- American football player Emmitt Smith Running back Emmitt Smith has been playing with the Dallas Cowboys football team since 1990. He is the NFL's all-time rushing leader, and was the first player to rush for more than 1,400 yards in five straight NFL seasons (1991-1995); he won rushing titles in 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1995. He has led the Cowboys to three Super Bowl titles and …
1895-1959 American football commissioner Although he never played football professionally, DeBenneville "Bert" Bell brought the game to unprecedented heights of popularity with his revolutionary ideas and hardball style of business. An unsuccessful coach, Bell shined as the National Football League's second commissioner in the 1950s. During his 13-year reign, he created the am…
1967- American football and baseball player The only man in professional sports history to play in both the Super Bowl and World Series, Deion Sanders has been a top-ranked athlete since his high school years. Sanders credits sports with keeping him out of trouble as a teenager. Nicknamed "Prime Time" during high school, Sanders has probably received more prime-time sports coverage t…
1961- American football player Defensive end Reggie White, known as the "Minister of Defense," was named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1987 and 1988. He was a Pro Bowl player 13 consecutive seasons from 1986 to 1998 and he is football's career sacks leader with 68½. In 1997 and 1998, he helped take the Green Bay Packers to the Super Bowl, coming away with a vi…
1898-1965 American football coach Earl "Curly" Lambeau was the founder and first coach of the Green Bay Packers football team. He led the team to six world titles in the 1930s and 1940s, and had a Earl Lambeau winning percentage of .657. The Packers' stadium in Green Bay, Lambeau Field, is named in his honor. …
1933-2002 American football player Ignored and overlooked in his early years, Johnny Unitas went on to become one of the greatest quarterbacks in football history. Unitas, whose passing ability earned him the nickname "the Golden Arm," led the winning team in what is widely regarded as the greatest game in the annals of professional football. His was in some ways a Horatio Alger stor…
John Madden 1936- American football coach Although John Madden became known as a great analyst and broadcaster for NFL (National Football League) games on the CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System), Fox, and ABC (American Broadcasting Companies), he began his career as a coach for the AFL (American Football League; later NFL) Oakland Raiders. Madden was a well-respected coach of the Raiders for…
1936- American football player Jim Brown Hall-of-Fame running back, Jim Brown, was recognized during his football career for his dominance on the playing field. In the years following his early retirement, that same strength and determination led to success in Hollywood and social activism. With the Cleveland Browns from 1957 through 1966, Brown rewrote the record books and then left the ga…
1973- American football player St. Louis Rams running back Marshall Faulk is speedy, powerful, and elusive, making him a nearly unstoppable scoring machine. Faulk can catch passes, rush for yardage, block, and evade tackles. He's a complete package—and, as Football Digest noted, the most complete all-around player in the NFL today. When Faulk has the ball, he flattens opponents like …
1960- American football player During his professional football career, running back Eric Dickerson more often resembled a thoroughbred than a human being. Game after game, Dickerson electrified fans as he tucked the football under his arm, then sprinted down the field with all the beauty and grace of a well-groomed racehorse. Dickerson also possessed an uncanny ability to read the defense and kne…
1940- American football player Few professional football players have burst upon the scene as spectacularly as Fran Tarkenton. In his very first pro game, Tarkenton came off the bench to toss four touchdown passes, leading his Minnesota Vikings team to a decisive 37-13 victory over the Chicago Bears. After eighteen seasons in the National Football League (NFL), Tarkenton left professional football…
1924-2000 American football coach Every football Sunday for twenty-nine years, Tom Landry stood expressionless on the sidelines as coach of the Dallas Cowboys in the National Football League (NFL). Whether winning or losing, Landry, in his suit and trademark fedora, always remained calm. His stoic demeanor and aura of control demanded respect from both his opponents and his players. He possessed a…
1908-1991 American football coach Paul Brown was the first head coach of the Cleveland Browns football team. He played a major role in the evolution of the modern day game, devising detailed game plans, playbooks, and classroom learning techniques. He was also the first coach to hire a full-time coaching staff, as well as instituting the practice of analyzing game films. He coached with the Browns…
1969- American football player Quarterback Brett Favre, whose name rhymes with "carve," is a three-time winner of the NFL Most Valuable Player Award (1995, 1996, and 1997). Twice he led the Green Packers to the Super Bowl, winning the big game in 1997. Favre came from nowhere to become one of the game's greatest quarterbacks. (With Marc Serota) Favre: Most Valuable Player, Tri…
1966- American football player During his twelve-year career as a wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys, Michael Irvin was one of the National Football League's (NFL) most flamboyant players. Blessed with lightening speed and soft hands, he helped lead the Cowboys to three Super Bowl titles in a four-year span. Flashy both on and off the field, Irvin, often weighed down with diamonds and gol…
1954- American football player Although his fourteen seasons with the Seattle Seahawks did not result in any National Football League (NFL) championships, Steve Largent retired as the holder of NFL records in receptions, yards, and Steve Largent touchdowns. Often underestimated by his opponents, who thought that Largent was too small and slow to be an offensive threat, the wide receiver eve…
1943- American football player Knee injuries cut short the brilliant football career of running back Gale Sayers, but not before the "Kansas Comet" was recognized by the National Football League (NFL) as the greatest running back in the first 50 years of the league's history. Although he played only 68 games in professional football, in 1977 Sayers, at the age of only 34, beca…
1959- American football player Lawrence Taylor lived on the edge. Quite possibly one of the best linebackers to play the game, Taylor starred for the New York Giants and set a new standard for how linebackers played the game. He brought about a new statistic (the sack), and was a dominant player whose personal life was plagued with substance abuse problems. His induction into the Hall of Fame, in …
1966- American football player A standout at Notre Dame and one of the best wide receivers in National Football league (NFL) history, Oakland Raider Tim Brown continues to break records and propel his team to the top of the standings. Though not without some rocky times with team management, he's the only Raider who has scored points four different ways: on a pass reception, on a rush, and …
1960- American football player Although Jim Kelly led his team, the Buffalo Bills, to a record-setting four consecutive Super Bowls, he never won the NFL's championship game. Kelly's standing in the eyes of his colleagues and fans, however, was never affected by his failure to win the big game. His record on the field and off was nearly universally respected. Born outside Pittsburgh …
1939- American football coach Football coach Mike Ditka, known as "Iron Mike" and "Da Coach," was a star tight end for the Chicago Bears from 1961 through 1966, before finishing his playing career with the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys. After retiring from play in 1972, he became an assistant coach of the Dallas Cowboys. He then worked as head coach of the Bear…
1967-2000 American football player Derrick Thomas As a linebacker, Derrick Thomas was a presence feared by opposing quarterbacks. He possessed great quickness and unbelievable strength, and always found a way to bring down the ball carrier. Consistently at the top of his game, Thomas was a perennial selection for the Pro Bowl, and in ten seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, became not only …
1888-1931 American college football coach Knute Rockne holds college football's record for career wins as a coach. Rockne led Notre Dame's "Fighting Irish" team for 13 seasons before his untimely death in 1931, and made the Indiana school a powerhouse in the game during its day. Known for his spirited, if sometimes truth-stretching, team pep talks, Rockne helped popular…
1962- American football and baseball player Although not the first professional athlete to participate in more than one sport, when Bo Jackson decided to play both professional baseball and football concurrently, he became the most recognized person ever to do so. In the late 1980s, all of America knew who Bo Jackson was. They knew him simply by his first name, "Bo," due to a hugely …
1921- American football player Otto Graham was one of the great quarterbacks in National Football League (NFL) history. Possessed of a powerful arm and pinpoint accuracy, Graham almost single-handedly transformed pro football from a running game of the 1940s to the passing game of the 1950s and later. In every one of the ten years Graham played, his team, the Cleveland Browns, reached the champion…
1940- American football player He excelled at the toughest of positions in the roughest of sports and was part of a unit called the "Fearsome Foursome," yet Merlin Olsen played a gentlemanly priest on television and so visibly endorsed flowers, people named him the "Flower Man." He worked five Super Bowls as part of a broadcast team one critic called "whole-some.…
1954- American football player At just five-feet-ten-inches and 188 pounds dripping wet, Tony Dorsett didn't appear cut out to be a good running back. However, he spent four spectacular years at the University of Pittsburgh and twelve seasons Tony Dorsett in the National Football League (NFL) proving that he wasn't only good, he was great. Combining lightning speed with agilit…
1942- American football player Dick Butkus, in his nine seasons as a linebacker for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL), came to epitomize his position, team and community. His on-field meanness and loyalty to his team and native city reflected football of the 1960s. Butkus was elected to the pro and college football Halls of Fame, and the award for the top college linebacker i…
1967- American football player Playing for the Minnesota Vikings and the Seattle Seahawks, John Randle was a leading defensive tackle in the 1990s. Though small for a defensive tackle in this time period (only 6'1" and 267 lbs.), he once played in 176 consecutive games and started in 140 consecutive games. Randle also had eight consecutive seasons in which he had at least ten quarter…
1966- American football player Thurman Thomas was a running back and pass receiver who, although short, was graceful and elusive on the gridiron. He was also powerful, breaking through the line and racking up yardage, becoming one of the premier offensive players in the National Football League (NFL). While playing with the Buffalo Bills, Thomas led the league in total yards for four consecutive s…
1903-1991 American football player Harold "Red" Grange's legacy has truly stood the test of time. More than three quarters of a century after his famous four touchdowns in twelve minutes against the University of Michigan in 1925, he is remembered as one of the greatest college football players in the history of the sport. He is remembered equally for his contributions to prof…
1957- American football player Throughout his sixteen-year professional football career, Art Monk developed a reputation for quiet determination and fearless play. The longtime Washington Redskins' receiver was known primarily as a receiver who could gain tough yardage over the middle, rather than a deep play threat. His personal records and longevity, however, were always secondary to his …
1934- American football player Hall-of-Fame quarterback Bart Starr led the Green Bay Packers to six division championships, five NFL championships, and two Super Bowl titles; he was Most Valuable Player for Super Bowl I and Super Bowl Bart Starr II, and NFL Most Valuable Player in 1966. He later coached the Packers for nine seasons, from 1975 to 1984. Address: c/o Celebrity Speakers and Ent…
1920- American football executive Tex Schramm It isn't easy to measure Tex Schramm's impact on professional football, for his mark is on so much of the game as we know it today. Schramm is perhaps best known for building a little-known expansion team in Dallas into one of football's most venerable franchises, so widely popular across the nation that it came to be known …
1962- American football player By all accounts Doug Flutie was a great college quarterback, putting his Boston College Eagles back on the map in the 1980s. His 63-yard pass, thrown with no time remaining on the clock, sealed a win over the defending Doug Flutie national champions, the University of Miami, in the 1984 Orange Bowl, and made him a media darling. A scrambling, think-on-your-fee…
1956- American football player One of the most successful quarterbacks in National Football League (NFL) history, Joe Montana led the San Francisco 49ers to victory in four Super Bowls, including back-to-back wins in 1989 and 1990. The rise of the 49ers to football dominance during the 1980s was due in large measure to Montana's brilliance as a quarterback and team leader. Throughout his si…
1869-1936 American college football coach John William Heisman was immortalized in 1936, the year of his death, when the New York Downtown Athletic Club changed the name of its annual trophy awarded to the best college football player in the nation to the Heisman Memorial Award to honor the club's former director. Best known today for his name on that trophy, Heisman is also recognized for …
1942- American football player Roger Staubach A star quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys for nearly a decade, Roger Staubach endeared himself to fans of "America's team" with his last-minute heroics that led Dallas to two Super Bowl victories and four National Football Conference (NFC) championships. As successful as he was on the gridiron, both in college and in the Nat…
1956- American football player Although Warren Moon was overlooked time and again throughout his career, his perseverance led to an unusually long and extremely successful stint as a quarterback in the National Football league (NFL). In addition to having to fight against the perception that he didn't have what it takes to lead an NFL team, he also had to fight against prejudice in a league…
1961- American football player He's considered the most prolific passer the National Football League (NFL) ever produced. During his seventeen seasons with the Miami Dolphins, Dan Marino generated one of the most remarkable quarterbacking careers in the history of football, averaging twenty-four touchdown passes per season offset by fewer than fourteen interceptions. Year after year, game a…
1955- American football player Earl Campbell's professional career was marked by his ability to sustain a hit. He was known for his strength and the fearlessness of his play. He rose out of the ashes of poverty to become a force on the football field. He won the Heisman trophy and restored the hopes of Houston football fans when he joined the Oilers Earl Campbell in 1978. A small tow…
1946- American football player At six-feet-four-inches and 260 pounds, Mean Joe Greene was the backbone of the famed "Steel Curtain" defense for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the National Football League (NFL), during the team's dynasty of the 1970s. In 1975 sportswriter Roy Blount, Jr. profiled Greene in Sports Illustrated, writing, "He plays—or, sometimes, refuses…
1912-1971 American football executive One of football's greatest innovators, the American entrepreneur Dan Reeves is credited with bringing the first major sports team to the West Coast. After purchasing the Cleveland Rams in 1941, Reeves moved the team to Los Angeles five years later, paving the way for other Pacific Coast sports teams. Reeves was also the first modern day National Footbal…
1888-1953 American football and baseball player Born in a cabin in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), the Sauk (or Sac) and Fox Indian athlete Jim Thorpe began a climb to fame in 1907 as a college track-and-field and football star at Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania. He competed in the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden, where he won gold medals in both the pentathlon and the d…
1926-1996 American football commissioner For nearly three decades, Pete Rozelle guided professional football as the commissioner of the National Football League (NFL). Under his direction, pro football attained unprecedented popularity with the American public, as well as a level of profitability that far exceeded anything seen before Rozelle. He engineered the merger of the rival American Footbal…
1969- American football player Known for his dominance on the defensive side of the ball, Junior Seau entered the league in 1990 as a first-round draft pick by the San Diego Chargers and soon became a linebacker whose name was mentioned with other contemporary greats, such as Lawrence Taylor and Derrick Thomas. In a sport known for its brutality and the need for its players to maintain an air of i…
1967- American football player When football player Kenny Walker made his professional debut in the early 1990s, he became the first deaf player in the National Football League (NFL) in nearly twenty years. A defensive lineman with the Denver Broncos in 1991 and 1992, Walker became a hero among the hearing-impaired with his against-theodds success story. The 6-foot-4-inch, 260-pound player picked …
1962- American football player When you mention "the greatest football player ever," you will find many different ideas about who that might be. Jerry Rice, however, will always be near the top of the list. Playing the bulk of his years with the San Francisco 49ers, a powerhouse of a team that won a record five Super Bowls over the past twenty years, Jerry Rice is still a force to be…
1945- American football player Hall of fame quarterback Bob Griese, six-feet-one-inch and 190 pounds, did not possess exceptional speed or a necessarily spectacular throwing arm, but his ability to read defenses, deliver passes with pin-point precision, and lead his team methodically down the field is legendary. Often referred to as a field general, Griese thrived as the quarterback of the Miami D…
1977- American football player Minnesota Vikings receiver Randy Moss is one of professional football's star players, but he remains "the National Football League's biggest enigma," as New York Times writer Judy Battista described him. Though Moss's talents on the gridiron are extraordinary, his off-the-field escapades and pronouncements have landed him in trouble…
1972- American football player Star quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Kordell Stewart led his team to the Super Bowl his very first season in the National Football League (NFL). After seven seasons as a quarterback with the Steelers, Stewart boasted a pass-completion rate of 55.7 percent for a total of 12,173 yards and sixty-four touchdowns. Despite his obvious prowess as a quarterback, Stew…
1971- American football player Kurt Warner went from $5.50-an-hour grocery clerk to National Football League (NFL) and Super Bowl Most Valuable Player. He has won the league MVP twice and competed in two Super Bowls since taking over as St. Kurt Warner Louis Rams' quarterback in 1999 following a teammate's injury. Ironically, Warner himself struggled during an injury-riddled a…
1965- American football player When wide receiver Cris Carter, who played most of his career with the Minnesota Vikings, retired after 15 years of playing football, he ranked second all-time in the NFL with 1,096 receptions, 129 of them for touchdowns. Carter, who is an eight-time Pro Bowl athlete, came out of retirement in October of 2002 to join the Miami Dolphins. Address: Cris Carter's …
1935- American football player Don Maynard Former New York Jets wide receiver Don Maynard is best known for playing a crucial role in winning the 1968 Super Bowl for the Jets. Maynard began his career with the New York Giants in 1958. He played only one season with that team before being let go. After a brief stint in the Canadian Football League, he joined the New York Titans in 1960. The …
1923- American football player Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch was one of the National Football League's early pass receiving standouts Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch who helped glamorize that position, just as pro football offenses were opening up. "Start with those Crazy Legs, the long, muscular limbs that appeared to gyrate in six different directions when …
1965- American football player Awide receiver for the Green Bay Packers from 1988 to 1994, Sterling Sharpe made it to five Pro Bowls with his team during his career. A receiver of exceptional ability, Sharpe is the first player in the National Football League (NFL) to make 500 catches before playing seven seasons in the NFL. In 1993, Sharpe's 112 receptions broke the record for the most num…
1941- American football coach Not everyone liked Bill Parcells, but he won. Parcells, a football turnaround specialist, took two struggling football franchises and coached them to Super Bowls, and nearly did so with a third. Parcells' New York Giants won the Super Bowl, the National Football League's (NFL) championship game, in 1987 and 1991. He brought the New England Patriots to th…
1954- American football player Archie Griffin's name will forever be linked to his improbable winning of two Heisman Trophies during the 1975 and 1976 seasons. To capture one of these honors is itself enough to etch a college football player's name into the book of legends. In a sports climate where most winners of the Heisman immediately go on to lucrative careers in the National Fo…
1960- American football player John Elway is arguably one of the best quarterbacks in football history. He retired after sixteen seasons and two Super Bowl championships as the winningest starting quarterback in the history of the National Football League (NFL). …
1914- American football player Sammy Baugh The first superstar passer in college football, Sammy Baugh held every National Football League (NFL) passing record and was chosen for the charter classes of both the college (1951) and professional (1963) football halls of fame. Many of his records stood for fifty years and others will never be broken. The college All-American became a six-time N…
1969- American football player Running back Ricky Watters scored five touchdowns in a National Football League playoff game and three in a Super Bowl. He also helped Notre Dame win a national collegiate championship from a different position, wide receiver. So it was no surprise that as the 2002 playoffs beckoned, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and other NFL teams tried to coax Watters out of retirement…
1926- American college football coach Joe Paterno Joe Paterno is a living legend. With his thick glasses, khaki slacks (always a bit too short), and his Penn State windbreaker, Paterno is one of the most recognizable coaches in this history of football—college or professional. And he deserves the recognition. Since taking over the head coaching position at Pennsylvania State Universi…
