Burt Randolph Sugar one00 Great Athletes

FROM THE PUBLISHING HOUSE

This publication contains a lot of interesting and informative information for sports fans, sports history and statistics.

In our opinion, the very peculiar approach of the author to the process of collecting material, about which he himself eloquently speaks at the very beginning, as well as the not quite usual literary and artistic style of presentation that he chose to publish such topics deserve special attention.

In this regard, the publishing house considered it expedient to make the most literal translation and editing of the book in order for the reader to have the opportunity not only to obtain the information of interest to him about the athletes and their time, but also adequately appreciate the abilities of the author, who managed to create his own opus, which is called "on the knee", and besides, in such a way that within the framework of hundreds of athletes, not only world-famous (such as Pele and Maradona) found a place, but also little known or known only to the author himself and his consultant buddies. However, as B. Sugar himself admits, one of his goals was to provoke disagreement and even, perhaps, indignation of some readers regarding the controversial list of the world's great athletes, thereby causing a discussion, and, as a result, excitement around the book, even if a little artificial.

While reading, allowance should also be made for the fact that the vast majority of personalities are American, since the focus on national idols is a pronounced feature of American authors. In this regard, one can only regret that the esteemed author did not visit Russia, where, with such a specific approach to the process of creating books of this kind, he would not only meet with the understanding of the widest public, but would also draw for himself so much useful information about our great athletes that it would be more than enough for at least a couple of similar publications.

And therefore, in order to fill this gap, we considered it useful as an appendix to publish very modest information about some of the great domestic athletes. Since the volume of the publication is limited, we were forced to mention only a small part of that huge cohort of real sports heroes who defended the honor of our country in sports arenas for many decades. peace. Therefore, we apologize in advance to everyone we did not include in this book, and at the same time to readers who are outraged that, in their opinion, we did not mention many great athletes that they would like to read about. In the future, we will try to significantly supplement and update the materials of the book.

FROM THE AUTHOR

At first glance, the task of publisher Steve Schragis seemed simple. We need to write a book about the not so numerous great athletes of all time. Or rather, about the first hundred of them, selected by me at random.

Despite the fact that a small amount was attached to the task, I liked the idea. After all, I told myself, hadn't I already written two books with the word greatest in the title, The fifty Greatest Baseball Games and The one00 Greatest Boxers of All Time? And didn't my colleague Ken Picking of US Today once write that I "can describe the fifty greatest sandwiches ever eaten, listed in order from first to last"?

I also liked the idea because Steve Shragis suggested it to me at Runyon's East Side Saloon. And isn't such a book an improved version of the bar bet?

And just like in those days, when religious themes dominated everything else, when they counted the angels located on the tip of the needle, and talked about other miracles, do not the adepts of modern times gather at their favorite watering hole and begin to make similar calculations within the religion of our time - sports. Only they now consider not angels. And they argue over which of the athletes is just great, and who is very great.

And so I began to wander in search of literary instruction. I found myself in the company of several keepers of the sacred sporting fire, who each gave me their long list of names.

On one of these evenings, looking for kindred spirits, I found myself in a bar, in the company of sports experts. On occasion, I turned the conversation to my list of "Great Athletes of All Time" and immediately received a new list, with the number of names significantly exceeding the hundred I needed. One of my new acquaintances began to say his list of names, which contained the names of great baseball and football players. Another, puffing on a cigar, laid out cards with the names of great basketball players. Well, the third sarcastically remarking that some activities can hardly be called an honest sport - after all, “is it possible to consider auto racing a sport?”, He named several giants of athletics for me.

And so it was all evening. Names remembered from childhood sounded, which in themselves cause applause - this is how at a concert they often clap a song, and not its performer.

Usually, if I hear someone in my presence say: “I remember in ... a year,” then I immediately reach for my jacket to leave. But this time I did not take it, but a pen and wrote down the names of all the candidates, using napkins from the table for this. I assure you, these napkins would be enough for me for a whole novel.

When the whole conversation turned into a stream of consciousness, pouring out to no one knows where, I got up with napkins, excused myself and took my leave.

On the way home, I slowly digested what I heard. What is it, I asked myself, "a great athlete"? What makes him one of the hundred most prominent? And how far can I go back in time? Should we limit ourselves to the names known to the MTV generation, or should we go down to the depths of time available to popular and weekly publications? And then a simple idea immediately turned into a very complex one.

What exactly, I asked myself, makes an athlete great? This word has become for me somehow indefinite, like water, taking the form of the vessel into which it is poured.

The greatness of an athlete cannot be determined by statistical methods. All the achievements, results shown, the number of defeats and victories, championship titles are only quantitative, not qualitative side of the matter.

Definitions had to be looked for on the side. The combination is important here, the equation that includes power over the opponent, the perception of the athlete by the public, the constancy of results, the memory of achievements, all the brilliance that overshadows a truly great athlete, just as darkness emphasized light in the black and white films of our youth.

And, finally, how to determine the comparative degree of greatness of those whom I have already classified as great athletes?

Stunned by thinking and reading yellowed newspapers and clippings about a bygone era, I decided to mix other people's advice, reflections and my own opinion in one vessel to get my own list and rating of the greatest athletes of all time.

Such a thing as objective truth, simply does not exist. The objective opinion of one person is always subjective from the point of view of another. Similar lists were written before me. And so I began to look at other people's lists, wondering how they coincide with my own.

Since there are exactly as many such lists as there are experts, here are a few that have been tested over the years. You can make sure that no two experts are the same...

Greatest Male Athletes

(Associated Press, one9fifty)

one. Jim Thorpe

2. Babe Rat

3. Jack Dempsey

four. Ty Cobb

5. Bobby Jones

6. Joe Louis

7. Red Grange

eight. Jesse Owens

9 Lou Gehrig

one0. Bronco Nagursky

oneone. Jackie Robinson

one2. Bob Matthias

one3. Walter Johnson

onefour. Glenn Davis

one5. Bill Tilden

one6. Glenn Cunningham

one7. Glenn Morris

oneeight. Cornelius Wamerdam

Greatest Female Athletes

(Associated Press, one9fifty)

one Babe Didrikson Zacharias

2 Helen Wille-Moody

3. Stella Walsh

four. Fanny Blankers-Cohen

Greatest Male Athletes

(Argosi, one975)

one. Jim Thorpe

2. Babe Rat

3. Jackie Robinson

four. Muhammad Ali

5. Bill Russell

6. Glenn Davis

7. Ernie Nevers

eight. Gordie Howe

9. Jack Dempsey

Greatest Female Athletes

(Argosi, one975)

one. Babe Didrikson Zacharias

2. Billie Jean King

3. Sonya Henie

four. Fanny Blankers-Cohen

5 Maureen Conolly

6. Alice Marble

7. Stella Walsh

eight. Vera Chaslavska

9 Helen Wills-Moody

Greatest Athletes

(Bob Oates, Los Angeles Times, one976)

one. Babe Rat

2. Muhammad Ali

3. O. J. Simpson

four Jackie Robinson

5 Ty Cobb

6. John Unitas

7. Jesse Owens

eight. Jim Thorpe

9. Jim Brown

one0. Bobby Orr

JIM BROWN

(born one936)

The adjective "great" refers to words that are like an empty glass waiting for someone to fill it with whatever it contains. Wordsmiths worthy of their calling will turn to Mr. Webster's impressive dictionary to find the exact definition of the word. But to give you an accurate and reliable definition, we will introduce you to Jim Brown.

Jim Brown can be called the greatest running back in the history of professional football. However, in exactly the same way it was possible would call Babe Rath the greatest left-handed hitter in baseball history. Both of them were great. No, much more. And Brown had so many virtues that he could sell them at a discount.

This modern-day superhuman set foot on the sparsely populated island of grandeur while still in high school in Manhasset, Long Island, where his sporting achievements spanned baseball, football, basketball, track running and lacrosse.. Players of a team of one0 must catch a heavy rubber ball with a stick with a net on the end and throw it into the opponent's goal (approx. Transl.)]. Having won fifteen school awards in five sports, he chose to limit