Best 2 sport athletes, pro or college

[uscedge21]

After the injury derailed his football/baseball career, Bo got into archery and excelled at that as well. Some people are just destined to be the best at whatever they choose to pursue. He would be second on my list behind Jim Thorpe.

 

[uscedge21]

So… Maybe this is silly because there is different technique in running track vs playing FB- but I don’t tend to put as much weight on a FB player running track successfully outside of FB as I do on a guy who can also play another sport like baseball or basketball and develop into a PRO at it! Like, track/ RUNNING is a component or football or soccer or baseball… sure, if you are fast enough to play WR, you can outrun most people in the 100 meter! Nobody is paying you millions to play WR if you can’t beat pro CBs and safeties in a foot race! Can you also hit a 95MPH fastball, play the field in baseball, play basketball well enough to do it at the NCAA/pro levels? That is more impressive to me personally. Not to disrespect track and field athletes, I am just saying for this discussion I am more impressed by guys like Sanders and Jackson who did both, WELL, at the same time!

Good points but I would put decathletes and pentathletes in a different category than just track guys. Winning Olympic gold medals in both events the same year is quite a feat. That is why I put Jim Thorpe at the top of the list as he also excelled in professional football, baseball and basketball.

 

[king ward]

Read up on Otto Graham.

From Wikipedia:
Otto Everett Graham Jr. (December 6, 1921 – December 17, 2003) was an American professional football player who was a quarterback for the Cleveland Browns in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League (NFL). Graham is regarded by critics as one of the most dominant players of his era, having taken the Browns to league championship games every year between 1946 and 1955, making ten championship appearances, and winning seven of them. With Graham at quarterback, the Browns posted a record of 57 wins, 13 losses, and one tie, including a 9–3 win–loss record in the playoffs. He holds the NFL record for career average yards gained per pass attempt, with 8.63. He also holds the record for the highest career winning percentage for an NFL starting quarterback, at 0.810. Long-time New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, a friend of Graham's, once called him "as great of a quarterback as there ever was."[1]

Graham grew up in Waukegan, Illinois, the son of music teachers. He entered Northwestern University in 1940 on a basketball scholarship, but football soon became his main sport. After a brief stint in the military at the end of World War II, Graham played for the Rochester Royals of the National Basketball League (NBL), winning the 1945–46 championship. Paul Brown, Cleveland's coach, signed Graham to play for the Browns, where he thrived. Graham's 1946 NBL and AAFC titles made him the first of only two people to have won championships in two of the four major North American sports (the second was Gene Conley). After he retired from playing football in 1955, Graham coached college teams in the College All-Star Game and became head football coach for the Coast Guard Bears at the United States Coast Guard Academy. After seven years there, he was hired as head coach of the Washington Redskins in 1966. Following three unsuccessful years with them, he resigned and returned to the Coast Guard Academy, where he served as athletic director until his retirement in 1984. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1965.

 

[pepsicock]

Jeff Granz

 

[Gamecock Lifer]

So… Maybe this is silly because there is different technique in running track vs playing FB- but I don’t tend to put as much weight on a FB player running track successfully outside of FB as I do on a guy who can also play another sport like baseball or basketball and develop into a PRO at it! Like, track/ RUNNING is a component or football or soccer or baseball… sure, if you are fast enough to play WR, you can outrun most people in the 100 meter! Nobody is paying you millions to play WR if you can’t beat pro CBs and safeties in a foot race! Can you also hit a 95MPH fastball, play the field in baseball, play basketball well enough to do it at the NCAA/pro levels? That is more impressive to me personally. Not to disrespect track and field athletes, I am just saying for this discussion I am more impressed by guys like Sanders and Jackson who did both, WELL, at the same time!

Case in point… as an afterthought Metcalf has decided to try to qualify for the Olympics!


This is not because he had to spend a bunch of time practicing to run the 100 meter- he is just one of the fastest FB players which makes him one of the fastest runners in the world because that is one part of what helped him become a great receiver.

 

[JohnnySolo]

Which ones come to mind?

I’d say Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders in my lifetime. It’s too bad Bo got hurt. He would have gone on to have an amazing career. Deion is still the only person to play in a World Series and a Super Bowl.

Short story an AU baseball alumni told me. Playing FSU and Deion was playing CF. Jumped CF fence during defensive half inning to run and win a 100 or 200M track race. Then jumped back over to play CF

 

[southernbuc81]

After the injury derailed his football/baseball career, Bo got into archery and excelled at that as well. Some people are just destined to be the best at whatever they choose to pursue. He would be second on my list behind Jim Thorpe.

 

[Horseshoe 04]

Rob Deboer

 

[umdterpcock]

Bo and Deion for sure. There are plenty that played multiple sports, but not many made it to the highest level of both. A few others that come to mind:

Charlie Ward- Heisman winner and played in the NBA.
Brian Jordan played in the NFL and MLB

I was a teammate of Brian Jordan (baseball) and played against him on the gridiron. He was a beast of an athlete, I never had him pegged as a future MLB guy, but was a beast as a safety and running back. But as good as he was as a player he was an even better teammate and person. His mom and dad were as classy as they come.

 

[Judson1]

While he didn’t do it professionally I wouldn’t doubt Melvin Ingrams ability at all!

 

[DarkHorse2001]

John Elway had his choice of MLB or NFL.

 

[redrogers]

So… Maybe this is silly because there is different technique in running track vs playing FB- but I don’t tend to put as much weight on a FB player running track successfully outside of FB as I do on a guy who can also play another sport like baseball or basketball and develop into a PRO at it! Like, track/ RUNNING is a component or football or soccer or baseball… sure, if you are fast enough to play WR, you can outrun most people in the 100 meter! Nobody is paying you millions to play WR if you can’t beat pro CBs and safeties in a foot race! Can you also hit a 95MPH fastball, play the field in baseball, play basketball well enough to do it at the NCAA/pro levels? That is more impressive to me personally. Not to disrespect track and field athletes, I am just saying for this discussion I am more impressed by guys like Sanders and Jackson who did both, WELL, at the same time!

Eddie Miller popped in my head with your post. WR for the Colts.
I agree with the gist of what you’re saying. There are too many football players that have been successful in both to consider it truly astounding. It’s actually more common nowadays .
Renaldo Nehemiah is another, along with Bob Hayes are probably the highest profile guys that took this route. If I remember right, Carl Lewis tried out for the Raiders?

 

[bigsirspur]

Nobody going with golf legend, Johnny Manziel?

 

[rogue cock]

Jim Brown

Without a doubt.

 

[Tankernav]

Jim Thorp

 

[USCBIRDS]

John Elway was an outfielder in the Yankees Organization for one year…batted .318!

 

[ScWildthing61]

I'm gonna anger some on here, but from what I understand, Lebron James was a top 100 football player as a WR in high school as well as being the top HS BB player in his class.

 

[DrMickey]

I don’t mean to brag, but I lettered in HS golf…and soccer.

 

[BigWillieCock]

Which ones come to mind?

I’d say Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders in my lifetime. It’s too bad Bo got hurt. He would have gone on to have an amazing career. Deion is still the only person to play in a World Series and a Super Bowl.

Deion playing in both NFL and MLB playoff games in same weekend. I mean.

Once the Royals played the Yanks. Bo hit 3 homers. Deion hit an inside the park HR.

Both would have been HOF in whatever the chose to devote full time to. That’s amazing.