Joe Montana
Joseph Clifford "Joe" Montana, Jr., nicknamed Joe Cool and The Comeback Kid, is a retired professional American football quarterback. He played in the National Football League for the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs. After winning a college national championship at Notre Dame, Montana started his NFL career in 1979 with San Francisco, where he played for the next 14 seasons. Traded before the 1993 season, he spent his final two years in the league with the Kansas City Chiefs. While a member of the 49ers, Montana started and won four Super Bowls and was the first player ever to have been named Super Bowl Most Valuable Player three times. He also holds Super Bowl career records for most passes without an interception and the all-time highest quarterback rating of 127.8. Montana was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000, his first year of eligibility.
Magic Johnson
Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. is a retired American professional basketball player who played point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association for 13 seasons. After winning championships in high school and college, Johnson was selected first overall in the 1979 NBA draft by the Lakers. He won a championship and an NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award in his rookie season, and won four more championships with the Lakers during the 1980s. Johnson retired abruptly in 1991 after announcing that he had contracted HIV, but returned to play in the 1992 All-Star Game, winning the All-Star MVP Award. After protests from his fellow players, he retired again for four years, but returned in 1996, at age 36, to play 32 games for the Lakers before retiring for the third and final time.
Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Douglas Gretzky CC is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "The Great One", he has been called "the greatest hockey player ever" by many sportswriters, players, and the NHL itself. He is the leading scorer in NHL history, with more goals and more assists than any other player. He scored more assists than any other player scored total points, and is the only NHL player to total over 200 points in one season a feat he accomplished four times. In addition, he tallied over 100 points in 16 professional seasons, 14 of them consecutive. At the time of his retirement in 1999, he held 61 NHL records: 40 regular-season records, 15 playoff records, and six All-Star records. As of 2014, he still holds 60 NHL records.
Mike Tyson
Michael Gerard "Mike" Tyson is an American former professional boxer. He held the undisputed world heavyweight championship and holds the record as the youngest boxer to win the WBC, WBA and IBF heavyweight titles at 20 years, 4 months, and 22 days old. Tyson won his first 19 professional bouts by knockout, 12 of them in the first round. He won the WBC title in 1986 after defeating Trevor Berbick by a TKO in the second round. In 1987, Tyson added the WBA and IBF titles after defeating James Smith and Tony Tucker. This made him the first heavyweight boxer to simultaneously hold the WBA, WBC and IBF titles, and the only heavyweight to successively unify them.
Cal Ripken, Jr.
Calvin Edwin "Cal" Ripken, Jr., nicknamed "The Iron Man", is an American former baseball shortstop and third baseman who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball for the Baltimore Orioles. One of his position's most offensively productive players, Ripken compiled 3,184 hits, 431 home runs, and 1,695 runs batted in during his career, and he won two Gold Glove Awards for his defense. He was a 19-time All-Star and was twice named American League Most Valuable Player. Ripken is best remembered for breaking Lou Gehrig's record for consecutive games played, a record that had stood for 56 years and many deemed unbreakable. In 2007, he was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Born in Maryland, Ripken grew up traveling around the United States as his father, Cal, Sr., was a player and coach in the Orioles' organization. After a fine career at Aberdeen High School, Ripken, Jr. was drafted by the Orioles in the second round of the 1978 MLB Draft. He reached the major leagues in 1981 as a third baseman, but the following year, he was shifted to shortstop, his long-time position for Baltimore.
Lawrence Taylor
nicknamed "L.T.", is a Hall of Fame former American football player. Taylor played his entire professional career as a linebacker for the New York Giants (19811993) in the National Football League (NFL). He is considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of football, and has been ranked as the greatest defensive player in league history by former players, coaches, media members, and news outlets such as the NFL Network, and Sporting News
Larry Bird
Larry Joe Bird is an American retired professional basketball player who played for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association. Since retiring as a player, he has been a mainstay in the Indiana Pacers organization, currently serving as team president. Drafted into the NBA sixth overall by the Boston Celtics in 1978, Bird started at small forward and power forward for thirteen seasons, spearheading one of the NBA's most formidable frontcourts that included center Robert Parish and forward Kevin McHale. Bird was a 12-time NBA All-Star and was named the league's Most Valuable Player three consecutive times. He played his entire professional career for Boston, winning three NBA championships and two NBA Finals MVP awards.
Sugar Ray Leonard
Sugar Ray Charles "Ray" Leonard is an American former professional boxer, motivational speaker, and occasional actor. Often regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time, Leonard was part of "The Fabulous Four" a group of boxers who all fought each other throughout the 1980s, consisting of himself, Roberto Durán, Thomas Hearns and Marvin Hagler. "The Fabulous Four" created a wave of popularity in the lower weight classes that kept boxing relevant in the post-Muhammad Ali era. Leonard was also the first boxer to earn more than $100 million in purses, won world titles in five weight divisions, including a run as the undisputed welterweight champion, and defeated future fellow International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees Hearns, Durán, Hagler, and Wilfred BenÃtez. Leonard was named "Boxer of the Decade" in the 1980s.
Rickey Henderson
Rickey Nelson Henley Henderson is a retired American baseball left fielder who played in Major League Baseball for nine teams from 1979 to 2003, including four stints with his original team, the Oakland Athletics. Nicknamed "The Man of Steal", he is widely regarded as the sport's greatest leadoff hitter and baserunner. He holds the major league records for career stolen bases, runs, unintentional walks and leadoff home runs. At the time of his last major league game in 2003, the ten-time American League All-Star ranked among the sport's top 100 all-time home run hitters and was its all-time leader in base on balls. In 2009, he was inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame on his first ballot appearance.
Marvelous Marvin Hagler
Marvelous Marvin Hagler is an American former professional boxer who was Undisputed World Middleweight Champion from 1980 to 1987. Hagler made twelve undisputed title defenses and holds the highest KO% of all undisputed middleweight champions at 78%. At six years and seven months, his reign as undisputed middleweight champion is the second longest of the last century, behind only Tony Zale, who reigned during WWII. In 1982, annoyed that network announcers often did not refer to him by his nickname, "Marvelous", Hagler legally changed his name to "Marvelous Marvin Hagler."
Jerry Rice
Jerry Lee Rice is a former American football wide receiver who played 20 seasons in the National Football League. He is widely considered to be the greatest wide receiver in NFL history and among the greatest NFL players overall. On November 4, 2010, Rice was chosen by NFL Network's NFL Films production The Top 100: NFL's Greatest Players as the greatest player in NFL history.
Hulk Hogan
Terry Gene Bollea, better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American professional wrestler, actor, television personality, entrepreneur and rock bassist. Bollea enjoyed mainstream popularity in the 1980s and 1990s as the all-American character Hulk Hogan in the World Wrestling Federation, and as "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, the villainous nWo leader, in World Championship Wrestling. A regular pay-per-view headliner in both organizations, Hogan closed the respective premier annual events of the WWF and WCW, WrestleMania and Starrcade, on multiple occasions. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005. He was signed with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling from 2009 until 2013, where he was the on-screen General Manager. IGN described Hogan as "the most recognized wrestling star worldwide and the most popular wrestler of the '80s".
Reggie White
Reginald Howard "Reggie" White was an American college and professional football player who was mostly a defensive end but also played some defensive tackle in the National Football League for 15 seasons during the 1980s and 90s. He played college football for the University of Tennessee, and was recognized as an All-American. After playing two professional seasons for the Memphis Showboats of the United States Football League, he was selected in the first round of the 1984 Supplemental Draft, and then played for the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles, Green Bay Packers, and Carolina Panthers, becoming one of the most decorated players in NFL history.
Mary Lou Retton
Mary Lou Retton is a retired American gymnast. At the 1984 Summer Olympics, she won a gold medal in the individual all-around competition, as well as two silver medals and two bronze medals. Her performance made her one of the most popular athletes in the United States.
Art Monk
James Arthur "Art" Monk is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins, New York Jets, and the Philadelphia Eagles. Monk was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2008.
