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…
1966- American baseball player Greg Maddux's record speaks for itself: he is simply one of the best pitchers ever to play the position. The first player ever to win four consecutive Cy Young Greg Maddux Awards, he also shines defensively, as evidenced by his 13 consecutive Golden Glove Awards since 1990. In 2002, Maddux posted 16 wins, becoming only the second player after Cy Young t…
1957- American skier Phil Mahre is the most successful ski racer in U.S. history; he has won more events and awards than anyone else, including a silver medal in the 1980 Olympics, three World Cup titles in 1981, 1982, and 1983, and a gold medal at the 1984 Olympics. Address: c/o SportsMark Management Group, 80 East Sir Francis Drake Blvd #2A, Larkspur, CA 94939. Fax:(415) 461-5804. Phone: (415) 4…
1972- Austrian skier Austrian Alpine skier Hermann Maier burst from obscurity at the relatively old age of 25 to win three World Cup titles and two Olympic gold medals in 1998, despite a death-defying fall in an Olympic downhill race that season. He dominating the skiing world for the next three seasons, until a severe motorcycle accident in the summer of 2001 prevented him from competing during t…
1963- American basketball player Karl Malone, a power forward who has been playing basketball with the Utah Jazz since 1985, earned the nickname "The Mailman" early in his career for his ability to deliver the ball to the hoop reliably, under any conditions. The long-time Jazz combination of Malone, the scorer, Malone's co-captain, point guard John Stockton, the passer, and Je…
1955- American basketball player In 1974, a 6-10 senior from Petersburg High school graduated from the courts of Virginia's public schools directly to the American Basketball Association (ABA), becoming the first professional player to skip college. During a career that spanned 21 years, seven teams and three most valuable player awards that youngster, Moses Malone, went on to become one of…
1917-1947 American racehorse In horse racing, there is one name which, after nearly a century, still represents "the greatest" in nearly every aspect of the sport: Man o' War. It may be argued that the 1970s icon Secretariat was the greatest equine athlete in American racing history. In fact, both horses made twenty-one professional starts in their lifetimes, but Secretariat s…
1931-1995 American baseball player Many argue that he was the greatest baseball player ever, and were it not for the almost constant menace of alcohol and health-related maladies during his long and successful career as a New York Yankee, chances are there would be no argument. Mickey Mantle played in twenty All-Star games, and he holds the record for most career World Series home runs, runs score…
1961- Argentine soccer player During the 1980s, Argentine midfielder Diego Maradona was one of soccer's greatest stars. Over the course of 483 games at the professional level, Maradona scored a record 255 goals, and was regularly hailed as the best living player in the world, second only to Pelé as the sport's most extraordinary talent. Yet Maradona often made unwise statement…
1923-1969 American boxer Rocky Marciano is the only heavyweight boxing champion ever to retire without being defeated. With a perfect 49-0 record—which included forty-three knockouts—he started his professional boxing career in 1947, and reigned as champion from 1952 until his retirement Rocky Marciano in 1956. He ranks among boxing's greats, along with such notables as…
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…
1934-1985 American baseball player Sixty-one must have been Roger Maris' lucky number. In the last game of 1961, the New York Yankee hit his 61st home run of the season, entering Maris permanently into the baseball record books. With that 61st homer, Maris broke professional baseball's single-season home run record, previously set by Babe Ruth in 1927. Maris' record remained u…
1928-1989 American baseball player Billy Martin Billy Martin was known as a "scrapper" for his tendency toward fist fights and arguments, but he was a spirited and brilliant baseball manager who brought his teams to the top of their league every time he took the helm. He was inclined to express his opinions, a trait that got him into trouble more than once. Martin began playin…
1972- American golfer How physical is the game of golf? And do professional sports associations have the right to set their own rules? These questions were brought to new light by one golfer, Casey Martin, as he attempted to join the ranks of the Professional Golfers Association (PGA). Martin suffers from a rare birth defect called Klippel-Trenaunay-Weber Syndrome, which severely weakened his righ…
1969- American boxer Christy Martin, named the best woman boxer in the world by the World Boxing Council in 1996, has, in the words of Bob Raissman, writing in the Daily News of New York, "put women's boxing on the map." Represented by the famous promoter Don King, Martin has worked to bring the sport of woman's boxing from the status of a fringe or novelty sport into w…
1971- Dominican baseball player Pedro Martinez is arguably the most dominant pitcher of his era. Hailing from the Dominican Republic, Martinez followed his brother Ramon to the United States and pitched with him for the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1992-93, and with the Boston Red Sox from 1999-2000. He quickly developed a reputation Pedro Martinez that followed him from Los Angeles to Montreal…
1968- Russian track and field athlete In 1996 internationally renowned Russian track and field athlete Svetlana Masterkova became the second women ever to win Olympic gold medals in both the Svetlana Masterkova 1500 and 800 meter runs. Previous to Masterkova, only Tatyana Kazankina had accomplished the same feat, earning her double gold at the Montreal Games 20 years before. Participating i…
1910-1953 German fencer Helene Mayer was Germany's only known Jewish member of its Olympic national team in the 1936 Summer Games in Berlin. The fencer competed in what derisively came to be called "Hitler's Games," for German chancellor Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party commandeered this particular Olympiad and refashioned it into a blatant display of nationalist propaga…
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 …
1931- American baseball player He hit more than 600 home runs. He could reach base almost at will. He had defensive skills that boggled the mind. Willie Mays was one of the finest baseball players to ever step on the baseball field. In a twenty-two-year professional career with the Giants of New York and San Francisco, Mays consistently appeared near or at the top of almost every major statistic. …
1930- American diver Women divers gained popularity in the years before World War I, as much for their attractiveness as for their skill. Until Pat McCormick entered the scene in the late 1940s, displaying remarkable agility and toughness, no one dominated the sport. The first and only woman diver to win two gold medals in two consecutive Olympic Games (the double-double), McCormick earned the pre…
1971- American basketball player Power guard and forward Nikki McCray has played basketball with the WNBA's Washington Mystics and Indiana Fever, and the ABL's Columbus Quest. Earning multiple MVP awards, starter for the WNBA East All-Star team, and gold medals in two Olympics with the women's basketball team, "Nikki Mac" has been called a professional and a role…
1959- American tennis player One of most successful tennis players of all time, John McEnroe was a dominant force whose reputation was built just as much on his personality as it was on his fantastic play on the court. Known for his violent verbal abuse of ballboys, line judges, chair judges and himself, the McEnroe tirades became just as common as McEnroe victories—and he had plenty of tho…
1963- American baseball player Mark McGwire Future Hall of Famer Mark McGwire smashed once and for all one of baseball's most sacrosanct records: 60 home runs hit in one season by Babe Ruth in 1927. Roger Maris had hit 61 homers in 1961. But he had hit only one home run more than Ruth, and in a season that was about a week longer than in the Bambino's day. McGwire surpassed Ru…
Tamara McKinney 1962- American skier Tamara McKinney was the best American woman on skis in the 1980s. She was only 16 when she first finished in the top three in a World Cup ski event in 1978, and her dominance in the sport continued through her victory in the combined event at the International Ski Federation (FIS) World Alpine Ski Championships in 1989. She is still the only American wom…
1964- American swimmer Olympic and championship swimmer Mary T. Meagher (pronounced MAW-her), known as Mary T. Meagher "Madame Butterfly," began setting world records in the 100-meter and 200-meter butterfly swim as a young teen. Thwarted in her prime by the United States' 1980 Olympics boycott, Meagher one year later set world records in the butterfly that stood for ne…
1951- American race car driver Rick Mears dominated Indy car racing in the 1980s. He won a total of twenty-nine Indy car races for Team Penske, seven of which were on road courses instead of oval tracks. He won the coveted pole position forty times and he drove more miles during that decade than any other driver. Most impressively Mears won a record number of pole positions in 500-mile races, incl…
1961- Canadian hockey player Mark Messier is considered by many to be one of the greatest leaders in sports. He served as the captain of three National Hockey League (NHL) teams: the Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers, and Vancouver Canucks. Messier won Stanley Cups with both Edmonton and New York. The centerman had a long-lived career, playing into his forties. Messier was born on January 18, 1961…
1955- American basketball player Basketball trailblazer Ann Meyers takes her hall-of-fame distinction to new limits, with eight enshrinements—including the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, California Youth Organization High School Hall of Fame, Orange County Hall of Fame, California High School Hall of Fame, National High School Hall of Fame, University of California at Los Angele…
1924- American basketball player Destined to become one of the first of basketball's most talented big men, as a young man George Mikan was discouraged from seriously pursuing basketball because of his ungainly height and his acute nearsightedness, conditions that most coaches during the early 1940s believed would leave Mikan hopelessly clumsy. At 6 foot, 10 inches, he towered over other pl…
1940- Canadian hockey player Playing his entire career (1959-80) with the Chicago Blackhawks, Stan Mikita was a complete player on the ice, a team leader, and multiple award winner for his playing accomplishments. Often overshadowed by his more flamboyant, goal scoring teammate Bobby Hull, Mikita was nonetheless known for his outstanding abilities as a scorer, stickhandler, and passer, as well as …
1965- American basketball player In the history of the National Basketball Association (NBA), there's never been a three-point shooter like Indiana Pacers guard Reggie Miller, undoubtedly the most persistent and productive three-point prodigy of all time. Miller was the first NBA player to sink 2,200 three-pointers and also holds the NBA record for most consecutive seasons with at least 100…
1977- American gymnast Shannon Miller is the most decorated American gymnast. Over the course of her thirteen-year career as a Shannon Miller gymnast, Miller won fifty-nine international medals and forty-nine national medals. Over half of these medals were gold. She competed in two Olympics, in 1992 and 1996, and won a total of seven Olympic medals—two gold, two silver, and three bro…
1938- American track and field athlete Lakota Sioux runner Billy Mills was responsible for one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history. A complete unknown in the track-and-field world, Mills outran a field of international track stars to win the gold medal in the 10,000-meter race in the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Mills's win was the first gold medal by any American in this event, and w…
1978- Chinese diver Chinese diver Fu Mingxia had international success at such a young age that she prompted world diving Fu Mingxia officials to create rules requiring divers to be fourteen before they could appear in major competitions. At her first Olympic appearance in 1992, she was only thirteen, but was credited with advancing the difficulty of dives being performed in competitions. M…
1974- American BMX rider American Dave Mirra is a dominant BMX freestyle rider who won a number of extreme sports competitions, winning at least thirteen medals at the X Games, the most of anybody in his sport to date. Nicknamed "Miracle Boy," Mirra has suffered a number of injuries but continues to ride. Mirra was born April 4, 1974, in Syracuse, New York, and grew up in Chittenango…
1961- American race car driver Patty Moise's racing career spanned fifteen years. The daughter of a stock car racer, Moise later married fellow racer Elton Sawyer in 1990. During her career she faced three major challenges. First, Moise had to prove that a woman could succeed in a sport dominated by men. Second, she had to prove herself on the track, not as a woman, but as a driver. Third, …
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 …
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…
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…
1913-1998 American boxer Archie Moore was one of the most colorful and respected figures in the modern history of boxing. His professional career, which included well over 200 bouts, spanned from 1936 to 1963 and included matches against Rocky Marciano, Cassius Clay (as Muhammad Ali was then called), and Floyd Patterson. The world light-heavyweight champion from 1952 to 1962, Moore's most n…
1943- American baseball player Joe Morgan Joe Morgan was the heart and soul of the Big Red Machine, the Cincinnati Reds team of the 1970s that some baseball observers consider the greatest team of all times. Morgan was that rarest of combinations: a five-time Gold Glove second baseman who could hit for average and power, and one of the premier base stealers of his era. He was also the field…
1964- American baseball player The relief pitcher Jim Morris became one of baseball's oldest rookies in 1999, when at age 35 he signed with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. A high school science teacher and baseball coach who had formerly played in the minor leagues, Morris stunned the Devil Rays' talent scouts with his 98-mile-per-hour fastball. Although he played for only two seasons and …
1955- American track and field athlete Hurdler Edwin Moses is a four-time world-record holder in the 400-meter hurdles. He first set a new record with a time of 47.63 in 1976, and reduced it to 47.45 in 1977 and 47.13 in 1980. In 1983, he cut his time to 47.02. He was a two-time world champion, in 1977 and 1987, and won gold medals in the Olympics in 1976 and 1984. Address: c/o Laureus World Sport…
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…
