Last week, the sports world lost Johnny Unitas.
And for those of us too young to have seen him play in person, the enormity of his impact on professional football is hard to fully appreciate. Yeah, we've seen the old highlights, we've read the biographies, we've seen the first-hand testimony to his greatness by teammates and opponents alike. But we never got to live Johnny Unitas.
Which got me thinking: we have a pretty good grasp on which athletes are Hall of Fame caliber. Hell, we put them in these Halls on a regular basis, albeit with sometimes fierce, and often silly, debate. We have the lists. We have their career numbers. It's not hard.
But what about a status beyond Hall of Fame? Something larger? I have always used the term sports "legend" with great reservation. To be a "legend" you must have done something that makes its way into the "oral tradition" of sports accomplishments.
"Legends" are the ones we talk about. Hall of Famers have their names on a list. There's a big difference.
Johnny Unitas is a Pro Football Hall of Famer. He's also been called the "greatest QB to ever play the game." He's also a legend for the toughness and stoic leadership which held his Colts teams together like a tightly bundled stack of newspapers.
To be a legend, you need a story like this. Once, Unitas got his chops knocked loose by a wicked Chuck Bednarik hit. His mouth was bleeding badly and wouldn't stop. So instead of calling timeout and going to the sideline for medical attention, Johnny U. reached down, picked up a handful of dirt, and shoved it into his bleeding mouth.
Now that, is a legend!
But is calling Unitas a "legend" enough? Isn't he more?
How about "icon?" A sports "icon" could be the Hall of Fame for "legends," if you will.
An "icon" goes beyond a great player who also can tell great stories on the banquet stories.
An "icon" has to have had impact on his sport well beyond most of peers. He must be able to inspire passions of fans, either love, hate or undeniable fascination. He must not be a "flash in the pan." He must be somebody who you can summarize what he was all about in a succinct three sentences -- off the top of your head. An "icon" in sports is somebody whose greatness never needs stats as a prop.
This was clearly Unitas. Did you hear much about how many TD's No. 19 threw in his career this past week after his death? Or how many yards? No. To do so trivializes the man. The classic phrase is that "the greatest example of leadership is watching Johnny Unitas get off the team bus."
Being an icon is more than just having a "look" or a "hook" or even a signature game that goes down in history as an all-timer. Oh sure, all of those help. But the totality of what makes the "Hall of Famer Hall of Fame" isn't easily quantified. I was going to make a checklist, but every item made more problems than it solved.
So instead I went with what a Supreme Court justice once said about pornography. When asked what constitutes "porn," he simply replied that he "knows it when he sees it."
Amen, brother. So without further ado, here's my unofficial, highly debatable, list of sports icons of all time. Or in other words, the Hall of Famers Hall of Fame.
Football: Jim Brown, Johnny Unitas, Joe Namath, Frank Gifford, Bart Starr, Pete Rozelle. Sammy Baugh, Otto Graham, Bear Bryant, Joe Paterno, Eddie Robinson, Vince Lombardi, Tom Landry. Walter Payton, Joe Montana, Lawrence Taylor, Woody Hayes, Don Shula.
Basketball: Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, John Wooden, Bobby Knight, Adolph Rupp, Red Auerbach, Wilt Chamberlin, Bill Russell, Jerry West, Julius Irving, Dean Smith, Bill Walton.
Baseball: Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Lou Gherig, Hank Aaron, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Reggie Jackson, Pete Rose, Ernie Banks, Willie Mays, Cal Ripken, Billy Martin, Tommy Lasorda, George Steinbrenner, Ted Williams.
{INSERT_RELATED}Hockey: Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe, Bobby Orr, Bobby Hull. Scotty Bowman, Herb Brooks. Rocket Richard.
Other: Muhammed Ali, Mike Tyson, Rocky Marciano, John McEnroe, Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, Tiger Woods, Bobby Jones, Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Richard Petty, Jim McKay, Howard Cosell, Diego Maradona, Jesse Owens.
Unless I'm forgetting somebody (and I'm sure you'll be quick to email...) that's my list. Period. Now remember, there are a lot of great players who were left off this list of "icons."
Even players who hold the record for most points ever scored in their sport (e.g. Kareem Abdul Jabbar). The reason a guy like Kareem doesn't make my list, is that he never inspired. Championships, records, respect, the works. But not an icon. Sorry.
How can I leave a guy like Mario Lemieux off the list? Easy. He's not Wayne Gretzky, and of that era, only #99 escaped his sport to be a household name. Mario may have been the second greatest hockey player ever, but that's all he was. A hockey player.
Look, there is no formula, and no easy answers. Think impact on sport..Ability to inspire. Longevity. Success. Uniqueness of character. Hell, I look at my list, and already think that I allowed too many names in.
Johnny Unitas died at age 69. He quite simply WAS professional football for over a decade. As an icon, like others in their sport, that's worthy of an extra moment of reflection.
Steve is a native Washingtonian and has worked in sports talk radio for the last 11 years. He worked at WTEM in 1993 anchoring Team Tickers before he took a full time job with national radio network One-on-One Sports.
A graduate of UC Santa Barbara, Steve has worked for WFNZ in Charlotte where his afternoon show was named "Best Radio Show." Steve continues to serve as a sports personality for WLZR in Milwaukee and does fill-in hosting for Fox Sports Radio.
