OT:50 greatest black athletes of all time

[BeKuK]

Just saw this on the GB. I would really be interested to read your opinions and thoughts.12 athletes who played Basketball on that list

MJ at one? ALI should be at one, by far. MJ made the game of Basketball popular around the World.....he's by far the GOAT (Basketball), but doesn't deserve to be at one.

How is Joe Louis NOT Top Ten??

Why is Lebron at 29 / Stephan Curry at 28 and Bill Russell only at 36?

Isiah Thomas at 49? Could anybody explain please!?

http://theundefeated.com/features/50-greatest-black-athletes/

[Chicago-Bull-E]

Can someone post the list? Not adding clicks to a list likely created for that sole purpose.

[BeKuK]

The ranking is based on: "DOMINANCE | IMPACT ON SOCIETY | INSPIRATION

50. Tim Duncan
49. Isiah Thomas
48. Earl Campbell
47. Derek Jeter
46. David Robinson
45. Joe Frazier
44. Barry Sanders
43. Reggie Jackson
42. Larry Fitzgerald
41. Ernie Banks
40. Roberto Clemente
39. Ray Robinson
38. Arthur Ashe
37. Ken Griffey Jr.
36. Bill Russell
35. George Foreman
34. Herschel Walker
33. Florence Griffith Joyner
32. Carl Lewis
31. Michael Johnson
30. Jim Brown
29. LeBron James
28. Stephen Curry
27. Jackie Joyner-Kersee
26. Wilt Chamberlain
25. Bo Jackson
24. Sugar Ray Leonard
23. Joe Louis
22. Pelé
21. Wilma Rudolph
20. Gale Sayers
19. Emmitt Smith
18. Satchel Paige
17.Julius Erving
16. Shaquille O’Neal
15. Venus Williams
14. Usain Bolt
13. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
12. Walter Payton
11. Magic Johnson
10. Jerry Rice
9. Gabby Douglas
8. Simone Biles
7. Hank Aaron
6. Serena Williams
5. Jesse Owens
4. Willie Mays
3. Muhammad Ali
2. Jackie Robinson
1. Michael Jordan

[Chicago-Bull-E]

To put some context on stuff like this, Russilo on ESPN told a good story.

ESPN did some list of the top 50 athletes of the century, and Bill Russell was number 10. They contacted him to do an interview, said it was a really big deal and this list is important. Bill asks them where he is in the list, and gets a little irritated that he only came in 10th, said he isn't doing the interview.

When the list comes out, Bill Russell dropped to 18th.

Journalistic integrity at its finest.

OPs comments are good. Curry isn't a top 50 athletic basketball player.

[MAQ]

You can argue hiher or lower on a lot of these guys...especially the ones from the 60's and prior being rated too low.

But 3 names absolutely do not belong. Steph, Simone Biles and Gabby Douglas.

There is no criteria that puts them on that top 50.

[Ben]

Jim Brown should be a LOT higher up if dominance and impact on society are key factors.

IMO they should include Paul Robeson as well. He's in the College Football Hall of Fame and had a much bigger societal impact than many of the folks listed.

OJ Simpson probably should be on there too. I get why he's not, but still.

EDIT: wait a minute... no Barry Bonds? Is there a "moral turpitude" clause or something?

[RedBulls23]

Yeah, I don't understand these rankings. I agree that Ali should be 1.

[RedBulls23]

Why is Shaq at 16?

[SlimD235]

Impact on society.. Bill Russell and Jabbar aren't top 10-15???? TF!?

[BeKuK]

Anybody agreeing with SAS on Tiger Woods?

Stephen A. Smith says Tiger Woods not identifying himself as African-American is the reason for not being on his list of the top five black athletes.

Watch on YouTube

[Alcatraz17]

I was just about to type "Where is Jim Thorpe?" until I double checked and saw he wasn't African American but part Native-American.

Ooopsy!

Sidenote. Could someone shed some light on why they feel Willie Mays was put above Jessie Owens? Obviously one spot different isn't a huge deal, but just curious...

[DuckIII]

Biles and Douglas both in the top 10 is impossible to understand on any level.

And Curry is in front of LeBron so people say "why is Curry in front of LeBron?!?!?"

[Evil_Headband]

No Barry Bonds but there are some PED-users in that list.

[Ice Man]

If it's about social importance, Joe Louis or Jackie Robinson should be first. Those guys affected American views more than anybody else (Ali possibly could be in there too, although I am old enough to remember Ali when he was active, and he wasn't the legend then that he later became. I mean, he was big, very big, but so was Joe Frazier.)

[OldSchoolNoBull]

Jim Brown should be a LOT higher up if dominance and impact on society are key factors.

IMO they should include Paul Robeson as well. He's in the College Football Hall of Fame and had a much bigger societal impact than many of the folks listed.

OJ Simpson probably should be on there too. I get why he's not, but still.

EDIT: wait a minute... no Barry Bonds? Is there a "moral turpitude" clause or something?

I don't know, wasn't one of the big criticisms of him from the African-American community(before the murders) that didn't give enough of a crap about them and was more interested in ingratiating himself with white America?

Also, as big of lifelong MJ fan as I am, the same kind of thing can be said about him. He willfully avoided ever taking any kind of political or racial stance. His famous quote was "Republicans buy shoes too". Jordan denies ever saying it, but his actions are still what they are.

Russell being that low is ridiculous too. I also think Oscar Robertson might deserve a spot.

[Ben]

Jim Brown should be a LOT higher up if dominance and impact on society are key factors.

IMO they should include Paul Robeson as well. He's in the College Football Hall of Fame and had a much bigger societal impact than many of the folks listed.

OJ Simpson probably should be on there too. I get why he's not, but still.

EDIT: wait a minute... no Barry Bonds? Is there a "moral turpitude" clause or something?

I don't know, wasn't one of the big criticisms of him from the African-American community(before the murders) that didn't give enough of a crap about them and was more interested in ingratiating himself with white America?

Also, as big of lifelong MJ fan as I am, the same kind of thing can be said about him. He willfully avoided ever taking any kind of political or racial stance. His famous quote was "Republicans buy shoes too". Jordan denies ever saying it, but his actions are still what they are.

Russell being that low is ridiculous too. I also think Oscar Robertson might deserve a spot.

RE: OJ, that's certainly one of the biggest criticisms. My friends have gone on and on about OJ from that perspective. That said, his impact on society has been HUGE. And as far as athletic dominance, well, yeah, the guy had that. Heisman Award, AP Male Athlete of the Year, AP NFL MVP, 6 Pro Bowls, established the new single-season rushing yardage record (since broken, of course)....

If the award is primarily for African American athletes whom the entire African American population loves, then the list should probably look a lot different, anyway. Seems to me that the list is excessively family-friendly, i.e. just about everyone on it seems squeaky clean judging by pro athlete standards. Mike Tyson's not on there, Barry Bonds isn't on there, OJ Simpson... all extremely dominant forces in their respective sports AND have played outsized roles in popular culture, too. Sunk by moral turpitude.

[Ben]

Reading the article, it seems as if it's just based on a surveymonkey poll of about 10K people. But it also seems as if they presented people with a list of 200 athletes to rank, and then pared it to 50. I wonder whether they even included guys like Jack Johnson. If they did, then most people probably didn't know who he was. I also wonder whether they included OJ Simpson, Mike Tyson, and Barry Bonds, and the people rated them very low, or whether they just didn't include those names among the 200 for reasons of their own. I can't find an explanation.

[BeKuK]

They also have a top 50 ranking for each individual criterion (DOMINANCE | IMPACT ON SOCIETY | INSPIRATION)

Top 10 INSPIRATION

1. J. Robinson
2. Willie Mays
3. Jesse Owens
4. MJ
5. Ali
6. Gabby Douglas
7. Hank Aaron
8. Gale Sayers
9. Simone Biles
10. Walter Payton

Top 10 IMPACT ON SOCIETY

1. J. Robinson
2. Willie Mays
3. Hank Aaron
4. MJ
5. Jesse Owens
6. Simone Biles
7. Gabby Douglas
8. Ali
9. Walter Payton
10. Gales Sayers

Top 10 DOMINANCE

1. MJ
2. Ali
3. Serena Williams
4. Usain Bolt
5. Hank Aaron
6. Willie Mays
7. Jerry Rice
8. Lebron James
9. Jessy Owens
10. Shaq

[madvillian]

Anybody agreeing with SAS on Tiger Woods?

Stephen A. Smith says Tiger Woods not identifying himself as African-American is the reason for not being on his list of the top five black athletes.

Watch on YouTube

SAS has a lot of stupid opinions this is just another one. People are free to self ID. Tiger is half black and half asian let him **** ID however he wants. That said, plenty of PEOPLE see Tiger as 100%. That's why he should be on the list.

[madvillian]

Derek Jeter 47, behind people like Michael Johnson is absurd. Even for ESPN standards this is a **** list. Larry Fitzgerald? Come on man.