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OT: Greatest athlete ever?

T

tom1944

All-American
Feb 22, 2008
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For some reason an article about Wilt Chamberlain popped up on my computer today and beside his record with the ladies he has to be considered one of the worlds greatest athletes. I was unaware of how good he was in track and field. After he retired from basketball he became a star in volleyball and is in the volleyball hall of fame.

He was the Big 8 high jump champ 3 years in a row and claims in college to have run a 4.4 forty. It was hand timed. He has an official 40 time of 4.6 which was run when he was 50 pounds heavier than his college years. He also was a shot putter and threw in the 56 foot range.

He lifted weights with Arnold and Arnold says he saw him bench 500 pounds. With arms that long that is unreal.

I will paste the track times he ran later.
There is a story that he and Jim Brown raced and Wilt beat him twice.

  • 4.6 40 (hand-timed by KC Chiefs coach Hank Stram, Wilt ran it barefooted, 290lbs at the time)
Note, all of the below times were taken when Wilt was between the ages of 16 and 18:

  • 10.0 100 yard (note: shorter race than the 100 meter)
  • 20.9 220 yard (note: slightly longer than 200 meter - all race lengths below are also longer than their meter counterparts so be careful with comparisons to modern meter races)
  • 48.9 440 yard
  • 1:58.3 880 yard
 
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M

mdk02

Heisman
Aug 18, 2011
26,896
19,178
113
I'd go with Jackson and Thorpe. Not tough to make the USVBA HOF when you're 7'2" and athletic. Interestingly Tom Selleck was playing some serious amateur VB at the same time though he was not in Chamberlain's class.

The farther out you go the less impressive those track times are. The 440 and 880 are times a good HS athlete would run, but would you get you nowhere at any college past D3.
 
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R

Ronnie_B

Heisman
Dec 30, 2011
9,942
10,481
113
Babe Ruth. If he stayed on the mound he would have gone down as one of the greatest pitchers of all-time.
 
J

JDNB

All-American
Jul 27, 2001
4,449
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Jackie Robinson, who was also a great football player, before the popularity of pro football, and also was a basketball, and track star, would be a name I would submit.
Post entry: He was the first to receive a letter in four sports at UCLA.
 
Last edited:
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R

Ronnie_B

Heisman
Dec 30, 2011
9,942
10,481
113
JDNB said:
Jackie Robinson, who was also a great football player, before the popularity of pro football, and also was a basketball, and track star, would be a name I would submit.
Post entry: He was the first to receive a letter in four sports at UCLA.
Click to expand...
Some say tennis was his best sport believe it or not.
 
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T

tom1944

All-American
Feb 22, 2008
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mdk01 said:
I'd go with Jackson and Thorpe. Not tough to make the USVBA HOF when you're 7'2" and athletic. Interestingly Tom Selleck was playing some serious amateur VB at the same time though he was not in Chamberlain's class.

The farther out you go the less impressive those track times are. The 440 and 880 are times a good HS athlete would run, but would you get you nowhere at any college past D3.
Click to expand...

Is that now or when he ran them?
 
M

mdk02

Heisman
Aug 18, 2011
26,896
19,178
113
tom1944 said:
Is that now or when he ran them?
Click to expand...

Circa late 60's or early 70s, so after he ran them but nowhere near today's times. But think about Jackson's times. Yes 25-30 years later but would have blown Wilt's times away.

Edited to add: IIRC Jackson's high school 100 yard (emphasis YARD) time was 9.5 and the 220 was under 20 seconds.
 
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AntiG

AntiG

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Jan 27, 2012
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Wilt and Bill Russell were both phenomenal track athletes. Russell was one of the top ranked high jumpers (close to 7 foot highjump doing the old style) and also had crazy sprinting speed at his size and was a hurdles beast with a 13.4 on the 110 high hurdles. He was able to reach 14+ feet on his vertical + arm length, which was over the backboard. Basically Russell was physically Lebron with more speed and jumping ability but without the finer basketball skills.

 
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R

RU848789

Heisman
Jul 27, 2001
65,427
44,445
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Don't forget our own Paul Robeson, who earned 12 varsity letters and was an AA in football during a time when it was tough to get recognition as a black man.

I'll also throw out Jim Brown, who we all know was an incredible football player, but he was also an AA in lacrosse and played other varsity sports while at Syracuse.

John Elway was a pretty damn good athlete, too.
 
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T

tom1944

All-American
Feb 22, 2008
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It is amazing when you look back at how great these athletes were and how tough it is to be a pro let alone the best of the professionals.

zappa I know you were a star in both football and baseball did you play a winter sport also?
 
S

srru86

All-Conference
Jul 25, 2001
17,883
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Maybe Jim Brown?
Football, Lacrosse, Basketball & Track
 
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GoodOl'Rutgers

Heisman
Sep 11, 2006
123,974
19,586
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So many good responses. I can only imagine some non-Americans would qualify. Maybe some Viking or Hun or Zulu warrior. We'll never know but it has been fun reading responses.
 
C

chickenpatty2

All-Conference
Mar 21, 2013
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I held a guy at 3rd by racing down an overthrow from the 1st baseman to the 3rd baseman, one time. I was playing left field at the time, when I was 18. In little league, as the 3rd string catcher, I had to come in from center and catch an inning when our backup got hurt, and our starting catcher missed the game for either a bar mitzvah or other family gathering. I won a youth center ping pong tournament when I was 12. I made par on 3 consecutive holes during a round in Holly Springs, NC, once, and I went with some friends and drove into Pinehurst, and took a look around the gift shop. I also played frisbee @ the Jersey Shore and in Lake Tahoe, making some unbelievable catches.

I'd like to be in the running for this, but if for some reason I'm not, I'll go with someone that is like me, only much, much better. Someone that is really good at a lot of things, rather than very good at just one thing. Maybe a decathlete or someone like that.
 
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M

mdk02

Heisman
Aug 18, 2011
26,896
19,178
113
RU848789 said:
Don't forget our own Paul Robeson, who earned 12 varsity letters and was an AA in football during a time when it was tough to get recognition as a black man.

I'll also throw out Jim Brown, who we all know was an incredible football player, but he was also an AA in lacrosse and played other varsity sports while at Syracuse.

John Elway was a pretty damn good athlete, too.
Click to expand...

Just think what kind of lacrosse player Jackson would have been if he grew up on Long Island like Brown.
 
R

rudad02

All-American
Nov 7, 2010
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JDNB said:
Jackie Robinson, who was also a great football player, before the popularity of pro football, and also was a basketball, and track star, would be a name I would submit.
Post entry: He was the first to receive a letter in four sports at UCLA.
Click to expand...
How could I have forgotten Jackie my baseball idol!
 
R

robcac26

All-Conference
Nov 30, 2012
3,016
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If we're talking about dominant in their sport, Wayne Gretzky not only rewrote the record books, he registered so many assists that even if you replace his all-time record goals total with a big zero, he would still have the most points.

Looks like we're going more for most well-rounded athlete, so I'll have to defer to others on that, but there's no way any NASCAR driver, as mentioned in a prior post, should be included in a list of best "athletes."
 
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R

RU-Kidding

All-Conference
Nov 6, 2001
11,875
2,428
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tom1944 said:
It is amazing when you look back at how great these athletes were and how tough it is to be a pro let alone the best of the professionals.

zappa I know you were a star in both football and baseball did you play a winter sport also?
Click to expand...

zappa was all-state in hockey as well. He's was named one of the top 30 New Jersey high school athletes of the last century by the Star Ledger.
 
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