SportsCentury

"SportsCentury" is an ESPN biography program that reviews the people and athletic events that defined sports in North America throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.

In 1999, ESPN counted down the Top 50 Athletes of the 20th Century, voted on by a panel of sports journalists and observers, premiering a new biography highlighting each top athlete every week throughout the year. The episodes for the top two athletes, Michael Jordan and Babe Ruth, appeared on a special combined edition broadcast on Christmas Day on ABC. The top two names were announced in no particular order, and the final positioning was announced at the conclusion of the two episodes. An additional list of numbers 51-100 were announced on the ESPN "SportsCentury" website. Themed specials such as Greatest Games, Greatest Coaches, Greatest Dynasties, and Most Influential Individuals were premiered throughout the year, as well as six "SportsCenter of the Decade" programs.

After the initial run was complete, the episodes were rerun at various times on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Classic. The original plan for the series was to expand to include #51-#100. Ultimately, the series featured nearly every athlete from #51-#100, and numerous other personalities, especially those who were recently deceased, or notable for more recent accomplishments.

ESPN Classic began to feature the program with host, Chris Fowler, as the highlight of its weeknight prime-time programing, airing five nights a week. After cycling through the entire series several times, and after debuting several new episodes, it was removed as a nightly program. As of 2007, reruns of the documentary series airs Monday through Friday at 4 p.m. Eastern time. The last original program was that of Dale Earnhardt, Jr., which aired in August 2006.

Research for "SportsCentury" include more than 1,000 interviews, 50,000 photos, and 100,000 newspaper artifacts.

Some criticismWho|date=September 2008 to the list is that is very Americanized, that most of the athletes are American, including the top four. Another criticismWho|date=September 2008 is that among the top 100, none of the athletes are soccer players, despite the fact that soccer is widely popular in other parts of the world.Fact|date=September 2008

portsCentury: Top 50 Athletes of the 20th Century (Original series)

*1. Michael Jordan
*2. Babe Ruth
*3. Muhammad Ali
*4. Jim Brown
*5. Wayne Gretzky
*6. Jesse Owens
*7. Jim Thorpe
*8. Willie Mays
*9. Jack Nicklaus
*10. Babe Didrikson
*11. Joe Louis
*12. Carl Lewis
*13. Wilt Chamberlain
*14. Hank Aaron
*15. Jackie Robinson
*16. Ted Williams
*17. Magic Johnson
*18. Bill Russell
*19. Martina Navratilova
*20. Ty Cobb
*21. Gordie Howe
*22. Joe DiMaggio
*23. Jackie Joyner-Kersee
*24. Sugar Ray Robinson
*25. Joe Montana
*26. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
*27. Jerry Rice
*28. Red Grange
*29. Arnold Palmer
*30. Larry Bird
*31. Bobby Orr
*32. Johnny Unitas
*33. Mark Spitz
*34. Lou Gehrig
*35. Secretariat
*36. Oscar Robertson
*37. Mickey Mantle
*38. Ben Hogan
*39. Walter Payton
*40. Lawrence Taylor
*41. Wilma Rudolph
*42. Sandy Koufax
*43. Julius Erving
*44. Bobby Jones
*45. Bill Tilden
*46. Eric Heiden
*47. Edwin Moses
*48. Pete Sampras
*49. O.J. Simpson
*50. Chris Evert

portsCentury: 51-100

*51. Rocky Marciano
*52. Jack Dempsey
*53. Rafer Johnson
*54. Greg Louganis
*55. Mario Lemieux
*56. Pete Rose
*57. Willie Shoemaker
*58. Elgin Baylor
*59. Billie Jean King
*60. Walter Johnson
*61. Stan Musial
*62. Jerry West
*63. Satchel Paige
*64. Sammy Baugh
*65. Althea Gibson
*66. Eddie Arcaro
*67. Bob Gibson
*68. Al Oerter
*69. Bonnie Blair
*70. Dick Butkus
*71. Roberto Clemente
*72. Bo Jackson
*73. Josh Gibson
*74. Deion Sanders
*75. Dan Marino
*76. Barry Sanders
*77. Cy Young
*78. Bob Mathias
*79. Gale Sayers
*80. A.J. Foyt
*81. Jimmy Connors
*82. Bobby Hull
*83. Honus Wagner
*84. Man o' War
*85. Maurice Richard
*86. Otto Graham
*87. Henry Armstrong
*88. Joe Namath
*89. Rogers Hornsby
*90. Richard Petty
*91. Bob Beamon
*92. Mario Andretti
*93. Don Hutson
*94. Bob Cousy
*95. George Blanda
*96. Michael Johnson
*97. Citation
*98. Don Budge
*99. Sam Snead
*100. Jack Johnson

By Sport: Baseball (23)Football (20)Track/Field (12)Basketball (11)Tennis (8)Boxing (7)Hockey (6)Golf (6)Horse Racing (5)Auto Racing (3)Swimming/Diving (2)Speed Skating (2)

portsCentury: Greatest Coaches of the 20th Century

*1. Vince Lombardi
*2. John Wooden
*3. Red Auerbach
*4. Dean Smith
*5. Bear Bryant
*6. John McGraw
*7. George Halas
*8. Don Shula
*9. Paul Brown
*10. Knute Rockne

portsCentury: Greatest Games of the 20th Century

*1. NFL Championship: Baltimore Colts vs. New York Giants (1958)
*2. Bobby Thomson home run (1951)
*3. Super Bowl III: New York Jets defeat Baltimore Colts (1969)
*4. Winter Olympics at Lake Placid: USA beats USSR in hockey (1980)
*5. Ali vs. Frazier "Thrilla in Manila" (1975)
*6. Packers defeat Cowboys in "Ice Bowl" (1967)
*7. Red Sox win Game 6 of World Series on Carlton Fisk's homer (1975)
*8. Tiger Woods wins the Masters (1997)
*9. Willis Reed and Knicks beat Lakers in Game 7 (1970)
*10. Borg-McEnroe Wimbledon thriller (1980)

External links

* [http://espn.go.com/sportscentury/athletes.html ESPN.com: Top N. American athletes of the century]
*: Books: ESPN SportsCentury (ISBN 0-7868-6471-0)
* [http://espn.go.com/classic/ ESPN Classic]