Greatest Athlete Of All-Time

Who would you say is the greatest athlete of all-time? Would it be "the Great One" Wayne Gretzky, Muhammad Ali, or Michael Jordan? It can be difficult to measure athletes in team sports vs those who compete in individual competition. For all the respect that I have for what those gladiators did on the field of battle, I am going to nominate an athlete of small stature but incredible heart, former Detroit Lions running back Barry Sanders. He may not have won a championship, but he performed miracles on a terrible team. Then he shocked the sporting world by retiring healthy at age 30 just 1500 yards shy of the all-time NFL rushing record (he averaged 1500 yards per season). At 5 foot 8 he was one of the smallest players on a field with giants, and he had a terrible offensive line. As one pundit once put it, "every time they gave him the ball, he was running for his life."

Was he the greatest athlete of all-time? Maybe not. This much is certain, he was the toughest player to tackle in the history of football, a David among Goliaths. Plus, one reason that the United States is not a top competitor in soccer is because guys like this in the USA play football. Had Barry Sanders played soccer instead, he might have been one of the greatest soccer players of all-time.

Watch the montage and decide for yourself. Oh, and he never celebrated any of his 109 touchdowns.