O.T. for Lull Period. Greatest U.S. athlete in World history

[Bully13]

Regarding world history significance

Muhammad Ali is my 1st choice. Thank you Dad for allowing me to be the only white kid in the Delta to be a fan of the Greatest of all time .

Babe 17ing Ruth

[Bully13]

Tiger woods and Michael Jordan get 2nd tier reps

[jdwhite]

Jim Thorpe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Thorpe

[msbulldog]

Bo Jackson

[BrunswickDawg]

Jim Thorpe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Thorpe

Dang - beat me to it.

I'll add Carl Lewis to the list too.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Lewis

[Lord McBuckethead]

Jim Thorpe. Only correct answer.

[somebodyshotmypaw]

Since it's 2018 and we let men in the women's bathroom, maybe it should be Bruce Jenner.

[THE Bruce Dickinson]

Jesse Owens.

Won 4 golds in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin in front of Hitler. Must have taken amazing courage to accomplish such a feat.

[msu15]

Brock Lesnar

[louisvilledawg]

Uncle Rico

[sleepy dawg]

Uncle Rico

How much you wanna make a bet I can throw a football over them mountains?

[sleepy dawg]

Easily Bo Jackson.

[TopDawg]

Jim Thorpe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Thorpe

Exactly what came into my mind when I read the thread title.

[Cowbell]

Bo knows

Ask anyone that had the chance to play baseball with him.

[BeastMan]

Pre injury Bo Jackson is probably the right answer. I’d throw in Carl Lewis and Deon Sanders.

[BeastMan]

And Bully, Babe Ruth is nowhere near the best athlete all-time. He’s arguably the worst athlete that was great at his sport. If we’re throwing out guys who dominated their sport Usain Bolt would be a good pick.

[Jack Lambert]

This guy for giving Hitler the big middle figure. The look on Hitlers face is priceless.

[sleepy dawg]

And Bully, Babe Ruth is nowhere near the best athlete all-time. He?s arguably the worst athlete that was great at his sport. If we?re throwing out guys who dominated their sport Usain Bolt would be a good pick.

False. U.S. Athlete

[somebodyshotmypaw]

And Bully, Babe Ruth is nowhere near the best athlete all-time. He’s arguably the worst athlete that was great at his sport. If we’re throwing out guys who dominated their sport Usain Bolt would be a good pick.

Bolt is Jamaican I believe. He's not a U.S. athlete.

edited to say that sleepy dawg beat me to it.

[Johnson85]

To me, greatest U.S. Athlete means they'd have a chance to compete at a high level across a multitude of sports. So two sport professional athletes like Bo and Deion should be high on the list. Obviously Michael Jordan and Lebron are high up there.

But I think Michael Jordan has to be in the pole position. He was the best basketball player, was an ok minor league baseball player after not playing since high school, and I find it hard to believe he wouldn't have been a serviceable NFL WR right out of the gate. The only other question is how he would do at sports of pure athleticism. Looking at track and field, he'd presumably be a good long jumper and high jumper and while I assume not a professional sprinter or long distance runner, I suspect he'd be ok at both.