Every now and then a list will pop up ranking the best to ever play a certain sport or the best of a certain decade, but Beckett Media decided to put together a list of the best to ever compete in athletics as a whole.
As you can imagine narrowing down all of the best athletes in history is a lofty task but the list seems to hold up.
Take a look at the full list of 50 athletes from Beckett’s rankings below:
- Michael Jordan, basketball
- Muhammad Ali, boxing
- Jackie Robinson, baseball
- Wayne Gretzky, hockey
- Jim Thorpe, football, basketball, baseball, track and field
- Babe Ruth, baseball
- Tiger Woods, golf
- Roger Federer, tennis
- Michael Phelps, swimming
- Pele, soccer
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, basketball
- Bo Jackson, baseball, football
- Carl Lewis, track and field
- Gordie Howe, hockey
- Bruce Lee, martial arts
- Larry Bird, basketball
- Magic Johnson, basketball
- Bill Russell, basketball
- Joe Montana, football
- Babe Didrikson Zaharias, golf, basketball, track and field
- Mickey Mantle, baseball
- Willie Mays, baseball
- Jack Nicklaus, golf
- Ted Williams, baseball
- Margaret Court, tennis
- Diego Maradona, soccer
- Jim Brown, football
- Mark Spitz, swimming
- Deion Sanders, football, baseball
- Walter Payton, football
- Joe Louis, boxing
- Emmitt Smith, football
- Lou Gehrig, baseball
- Hank Aaron, baseball
- Laird Hamilton, surfing
- Jerry Rice, football
- Wilt Chamberlain, basketball
- Mia Hamm, soccer
- Tony Hawk, skateboarding
- Joe DiMaggio, baseball
- Peyton Manning, football
- Ty Cobb, baseball
- Mark Allen, Ironman competitor
- Royce Gracie, mixed martial arts
- Jesse Owens, track and field
- Serena Williams, tennis
- LeBron James, basketball
- Sandy Koufax, baseball
- Cy Young, baseball
- Lawrence Taylor, football