1912-1997 American golfer Ben Hogan was one of the greatest golfers of all time, but his greatness stemmed from his personality as much as from any innate skills at golf. Hogan was known for his icy concentration, for his marathon practice sessions, but most of all for battling back from a near-fatal 1949 car crash and returning to golf when the doctors said that he would never walk again. Power G…
1977- American basketball player Chamique Holdsclaw's story is one of courage. She struggled against imposing odds to escape the inner city of Queens, New York, becoming Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) Rookie of the Year in 1999. Setting milestones all along the way, Holdsclaw set all-time scoring and rebound records in high school and college. In 1999 when Sports Illu…
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…
1962- American boxer Evander Holyfield Evander Holyfield is a three-time world heavyweight champion who consistently beat heavier opponents through determination and faith in himself. But for many, he will always be the man who got his ear bitten off by Mike Tyson. That event actually was a perfect illustration of the differences between Holyfield's calm, professional style and that …
1896-1963 American baseball player Rogers Hornsby wanted to play baseball so badly that when he was sixteen he donned a wig, pretended to be a woman, and barnstormed through his native Texas with the Boston Bloomer Girls. As an adult, he cared for nothing except baseball. Often overlooked when baseball's greatest players are ranked, Hornsby was arguably the best right-handed batter in the g…
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 …
1928- Canadian hockey player Often called "Mr. Hockey," Gordie Howe is acknowledged as one of the best-ever all-around players in the history of the sport. Fast and powerful on the ice, with the ability to shoot the puck left- or right-handed, Howe set records during his career with the National Hockey League's (NHL) Detroit Red Wings that included most goals scored during the…
1985- American figure skater American figure skater Sarah Hughes is among the most consistent competitors in the sport, but no one expected her show at the 2003 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. Hughes, just sixteen years old, upset both the favorite, Michelle Kwan, and other strong contenders to take the gold medal in women's figure skating. Hughes was born on May 2, 1985 in Great Nec…
1939- Canadian hockey player One of the most dynamic players in the National Hockey League (NHL) in the 1960s, Bobby Hull earned the nickname "The Golden Jet" for his quick moves and solid shooting ability on the ice and his colorful personality off the ice. Setting numerous scoring records during his fifteen seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks, Hull was the first player to win a con…
1964- Canadian hockey player Son of hockey legend Bobby Hull, Brett Hull has carved out his own place in the sport's history books alongside his father. Although he was criticized early in his career for being a one-dimensional player who could score goals but do little else on the ice, Hull grew into an impressive all-around player who adapted his game to help his teams win. One of the ten…
1946-1999 American baseball player Jim "Catfish" Hunter was a master hurler whose presence on the mound struck fear in his opponents. During his 15-year baseball career, Hunter took part in eight All-Star Games, won 20 or more games five seasons in a row (1971-1975), and pitched in six World Series, coming away a winner five times. What endeared Hunter to the hearts of his fans, howe…
1964- Spanish cyclist Perhaps one of the most physically grueling of all sports, cycling requires incredible physical endurance and the ability to withstand searing pain for hours on end. Miguel Indurain has the ability to endure this pain, and then some. In the world of cycling his name rests alongside those of Eddie Merckx, Jacques Anquetil and, in recent years, Lance Armstrong. Indurain'…
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…
1975- American basketball player At six-feet, 160 pounds, Allen Iverson is one of the smallest players in the National Basketball Association (NBA). But opposing teams can't stop what they can't see, and by all accounts, Iverson is as fast as they come. His lightening speed, prolific scoring ability, and tough competitiveness took his Philadelphia 76ers to the 2001 NBA championship s…
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 …
1888-1951 American baseball player Joseph Jefferson "Shoeless Joe" Jackson was one of the most talented baseball players of all time. Babe Ruth, who acknowledged that Jackson "was the greatest hitter I'd ever seen," copied his style, and Ty Cobb once called Jackson "the greatest natural hitter I ever saw." In a still-contested decision, Jackson was …
1945- American basketball coach Phil Jackson's preeminence as a National Basketball Association (NBA) coach is evidenced by his top-ranking winning percentage and nine championship rings. During the 1990s he coached the Chicago Bulls to six NBA titles. While star player Michael Jordan was given considerable credit for the Bulls' unprecedented pair of "three-peats," it i…
1946- American baseball player In a career that spanned twenty-one seasons, with four different teams, Reggie Jackson, known as "Mr. October," for his outstanding play in the post-season, was known as an intelligent, outspoken, and often controversial figure. He was also a Hall of Fame player who became a drawing card wherever he played. Address: Reggie Jackson, c/o Matt Merola (agen…
1972- Czech hockey player Playing with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Czech Jaromir Jagr established himself as one of the greatest, most dynamic scorers in the National Hockey League (NHL) in the 1990s. Though he had a reputation for being temperamental and moody, and letting these aspects negatively affect his game, the right winger was still a star. He won two Stanley Cups with the Penguins his rooki…
1965- American speed skater Dan Jansen was known as the world's best speed skater in the late 1980s and early 1990s, dominating the world in international competition. However, he is most known for what he didn't accomplish; he competed in three Olympiads before finally earning a gold medal in his final competition of the 1994 Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway. (With Jack McCallum…
1949- American decathlete Bruce Jenner won a gold medal in the decathlon in the 1976 Olympic Games. He also set a new world record for the decathlon, with 8,176 points. After the Olympics, he used the fame he had won to develop a new career as an entrepreneur, product spokesperson, and motivational speaker. Jenner was born and grew up in Mt. Kisco, New York, the second of four children of William …
1961- Canadian sprinter Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was once considered the fastest man on earth, and had an Olympic gold medal to prove it. However, when he was found to be using illegal performance-enhancing drugs, he was stripped of his honors and suspended from competition. …
1878-1946 American boxer Jack Johnson was the first African American to hold the title of world heavyweight champion, a distinction he earned by defeating Tommy Burns in a 1908 fight. During an era of blatant racism, Johnson was a flamboyant character who provoked a worldwide search for the "Great White Hope" who could defeat him. Johnson, both as a brilliant fighter and as a man who…
1930- American race car driver Junior Johnson was among the pioneers of organized stock car racing and one its most successful practitioners as a driver, mechanic, and team owner. Johnson brought both notoriety and respect to a motorsport that had its beginnings in the hills and mountains of the American South, and grew into the multi-million dollar Winston Cup National Association of Stock Car Au…
1959- American basketball player Had Earvin Johnson's earliest nickname stuck with him, he would be known today as "June Bug" rather than "Magic." A reference to his childhood proclivity for bouncing from basketball court to basketball court in search of a game, Johnson's later nickname gained preference when, as a high school player, his superior skills b…
1967- American track and field athlete The first man ever to win both 200-meter and 400-meter dashes at the same world championship, Michael Johnson is considered by many the greatest combined 200/400 sprinter who ever lived. One of the most colorful competitors at the Summer Olympic Games of 1992, 1996, and 2000, Johnson captured a total of five gold medals in Olympic competition, as well as nine…
1935- American decathlete Rafer Johnson's victory in the decathlon at the 1960 Summer Olympic Games in Rome, Italy, earned him the title of "world's greatest athlete," but the track star never competed in another Olympiad again. Johnson was one of the outstanding college athletes of his day, breaking several track and field records and winning Sports Illustrated'…
1963- American baseball player Standing at least a head taller than most of his fellow players, Randy Johnson is one of the tallest players ever to play in Major League Baseball (MLB). At six feet, ten inches, Johnson's towering stature has earned him the nicknames "Big Unit" and "Big Bird." But it's not Johnson's height but his incredible pitching …
1902-1971 American golfer Although he retired from competitive golf in 1930, at age twenty-eight, Bobby Jones is widely regarded as the greatest golfer of all time. While earning three college degrees Jones played golf as an amateur, winning thirteen of the twenty-one national championships he entered in the United States and Great Britain between 1923 and 1930. In 1930 he achieved the golfing &#x…
1975- American snowboarder One of the most decorated snowboarders in the history of the sport, Kevin Jones has medaled in all but three of the X Games events he's ever entered, settling for fourth place in big air competition at the Summer X Games of 1999, fifth place in big air at the Winter X Games of 2001, and fourth in slopestyle at the 2002 Winter X Games. An avid skateboarder as a boy…
1975- American track and field athlete Marion Jones Marion Jones is widely considered to be today's greatest female athlete and one of the greatest athletes of all time. She became the first woman to win five medals in a single Olympics when she won three gold and two bronze medals in the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Australia. Jones has also won scores of other medals and awards, in…
1963- American basketball player Michael Jordan is considered by many to be the greatest basketball player in the history of the game, even by some to be the greatest player of any sport. As Jerry Sloan, the coach of the Utah Jazz told the Daily News of Jordan, "I think everybody knows how he should be remembered, as the greatest player that has ever played." A two-time Olympic gold …
1940- American softball player In August, 1961, a 21 year-old woman stood on a pitching mound facing recently retired baseball great Ted Williams, who positioned himself at the plate with the same competitiveness and determination as he did during his major league career. An over-capacity crowd at Municipal Stadium in Waterbury, Connecticut, cheered as young softball pitcher Joan Joyce hurled one …
1962- American track and field athlete Known as the greatest multi-event track and field athlete of all time, Jackie Joyner-Kersee is the winner of three Olympic gold medals, one silver medal, and two bronze medals, more than any other woman has ever won in the history of track and field. She competed in the 1984, 1988, 1992, and 1996 Olympics and is the first American woman to win over 7,000 poin…
1890-1968 American surfer Duke Kahanamoku achieved legendary status in two sports—swimming and surfing—and in the process became Hawaii's best-known citizen. More than a sports champion or media celebrity, however, Kahanamoku also represented a vital link with his native land's past. In popularizing surfing among new generations of athletes around the world, Kahanamoku …
1934- American baseball player Known as "Mr. Tiger," Albert William (Al) Kaline devoted his entire twenty-one year playing career (1953-1974) to the American League Detroit Tigers. Indeed, only Kaline and 1920s legend Ty Cobb played twenty or more seasons in a Detroit uniform. The Hall of Famer distinguished himself throughout his competitive years as a power hitter and gifted right-…
1967- Russian wrestler Russia's Alexander Karelin is the most successful Greco-Roman wrestler of the modern era, having won twelve European Championships, nine World Championships, and three Olympic gold medals during his reign. Karelin's dominance is unparalleled: he won every match he entered for thirteen years and went ten years without giving up a single point. He also is an oper…
1974- Canadian hockey player Paul Kariya, the talented young left wing who is the captain of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, may be best known for his courteous behavior on the ice. However, the two-time winner of the Lady Byng trophy, given to the most gentlemanly player in the National Hockey League (NHL), is also a prodigious scorer and gifted play-maker. Although a serious concussion, a contract dis…
1942- Romanian gymnastics coach Visionary Romanian-born coach, Bela Karolyi, revitalized the field of elite women's gymnastics competition during the 1970s and 1980s. The sport, which was traditionally dominated by women in their late twenties, became a bastion of underage ingenues under Karolyi's watchful eye. By introducing very young girls to the sport and providing them with inte…
1972- Belarussian rower Ekaterina Karsten is a champion rower who has won three World Championship medals and three Olympic medals. A native of Belarus, Karsten started competing professionally for the Soviet Union. However, in 1996 she became the first athlete to win an Olympic medal, particularly a gold medal, for the newly independent state of Belarus. Her success in rowing has made her a natio…
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 …
1969- American basketball player Shawn Kemp When Shawn Kemp was drafted by the Seattle Supersonics in 1989, he became the fifth player to go directly to the NBA from high school. His exceptional talent and fierce presence on the court drew comparisons to Michael Jordan, but Kemp's youth was seen as a serious obstacle to his ever reaching superstar status. In a few years the young for…
1969- American figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was born on October 13, 1969 in Stoneham, Massachusetts, where she was raised along with her two older brothers by her parents, Dan and Brenda Kerrigan. When she was one year old, her mother was struck by a rare illness that left her almost completely blind. Kerrigan began skating when she was six years old, taking group lessons at a nearby ice rink. The…
1973- American basketball player When Jason Kidd was traded from the powerhouse Phoenix Suns to the woebegone New Jersey Nets in June 2001, many seasoned basketball observers predicted the move would be the beginning of the end for Kidd's career on the court. Kidd proved them all wrong, when he reinvigorated the Nets, powering the team's march to the NBA championship game in 2002. Qu…
1936- American baseball player Harmon Killebrew ranks seventh on baseball's all-time home run list, having hit 573 homers in his twenty-two-year career. Killebrew homered once every 14.2 atbats. He played all but one season with the Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins franchise, playing his final year with the Kansas City Royals in 1975. Killebrew, an eleven-time all-star, won or tied for t…
