Heroes from your Youth

[cardpa]

Baseball - Bob Gibson
Basketball - Wes Unseld
Football - Larry Wilson

 

[Ragnar]

Had 3 hero’s in pro football Alan Page,Joe Kapp and Fran Tarkington.

 

[CardNots]

Rod Guidry, Pete Maravich and Sugar Ray Leonard

 

[jf-08]

Football - Earl Campbell
Baseball - Mike Schmidt
Hockey - Bobby Clarke
Basketball - Julius Erving

Others: Sugar Ray Leonard, Lee Majors, Farrah Fawcett

 

[ajcardfan]

Football - Earl Campbell
Baseball - Mike Schmidt
Hockey - Bobby Clarke
Basketball - Julius Erving

Others: Sugar Ray Leonard, Lee Majors, Farrah Fawcett

Great list. Loved watching the Doctor!

 

[MrYeahBut]

I have to say Muhammad Ali. I saw him as not afraid of anything, not just in the ring but to authority figures in general. Can't remember which fight with Liston, but we went to the drive-in theater and watched it when the film came out. Years later I ran into him in the lobby of a hotel. It was just him and another guy. I went up to him and asked for his autograph and he said "sure thing boy". I'll never forget that he called me boy.

I was always a Duke Snider fan because my dad bought his mitt for me and I played center field. I would rub the mitt with neatsfoot oil, but a ball inside it and strap it down with a belt so it made a perfect pocket... not that I could catch anything.. lol, Plus it's my mom's maiden name.

Listening to Dizzy Dean call games on the radio was something my dad and I did a lot. My dad drank Falstaff Beer because that's what Dizzy said he drank.

 

[LoyaltyisaCurse]

My first sports hero was a great player and person, Stan "The Man" Musial.

“He’s the man who thrills the fans, swingin’ Stan the man!”

 

[Russ Smith]

My favorite NFL player has always been Terry Metcalf. NBA it was always Iceman George Gervin but Steph Curry has taken over the top spot.

 

[oaken1]

I have to say Muhammad Ali. I saw him as not afraid of anything, not just in the ring but to authority figures in general. Can't remember which fight with Liston, but we went to the drive-in theater and watched it when the film came out. Years later I ran into him in the lobby of a hotel. It was just him and another guy. I went up to him and asked for his autograph and he said "sure thing boy". I'll never forget that he called me boy.

I was always a Duke Snider fan because my dad bought his mitt for me and I played center field. I would rub the mitt with neatsfoot oil, but a ball inside it and strap it down with a belt so it made a perfect pocket... not that I could catch anything.. lol, Plus it's my mom's maiden name.

Listening to Dizzy Dean call games on the radio was something my dad and I did a lot. My dad drank Falstaff Beer because that's what Dizzy said he drank.

I saw Ali fight when I was a kid. There will never be another like him

 

[SissyBoyFloyd]

I moved to Hollywood from Dallas when I was 12 and became a Dodger fan during the heyday of Koufax/Drysdale. We kids never missed listening to games they pitched. I, for some reason, liked Drysdale more, maybe cause he so huge and was such a good hitter. He batted 6th or 7th in the lineup some games, and pitch hit a lot at end of close games. In the '65 W.S. he was the only Dodger who had a season batting average over .300. I always thought of him as the enforcer on the team.

My biggest regret: Was watching the that Giants/Dodgers game where that punk Marichel hit Rosboro over the head with his bat while in the batters box. A huge brawl broke out and I kept waiting for Drysdale to get there and beat the hell out of Marichel. Sadly, for whatever reason he wasn't at that game. Must have been left in LA due to sickness or sore arm.

Drysdale pitched 58 straight scoreless innings and 6 straight shutouts. Just think about that. That was before teams got watered down, and daily faced the likes of Aaron, Clemente, Robinson, Mccovey, Mays, Rose, Morgan, etc.

He set the modern day record for most batters hit. He had a personal rule: They hit one of our batters, I hit two of theirs. THE ENFORCER.

 

[MrYeahBut]

I saw Ali fight when I was a kid. There will never be another like him

I said in my post that Ali called me 'boy'. I just want to clarify that he did not do so in a mean spirited or pejorative way... more playful with a smirk on his face and a twinkle in his eye.

 

[Russ Smith]

I have to say Muhammad Ali. I saw him as not afraid of anything, not just in the ring but to authority figures in general. Can't remember which fight with Liston, but we went to the drive-in theater and watched it when the film came out. Years later I ran into him in the lobby of a hotel. It was just him and another guy. I went up to him and asked for his autograph and he said "sure thing boy". I'll never forget that he called me boy.

I was always a Duke Snider fan because my dad bought his mitt for me and I played center field. I would rub the mitt with neatsfoot oil, but a ball inside it and strap it down with a belt so it made a perfect pocket... not that I could catch anything.. lol, Plus it's my mom's maiden name.

Listening to Dizzy Dean call games on the radio was something my dad and I did a lot. My dad drank Falstaff Beer because that's what Dizzy said he drank.

One of my big regrets in boxing was that Ali never fought Teofilo Stevenson the Cuban amateur that won 3 gold medals. Stevenson went unbeaten for ELEVEN years as an amateur but he turned down multiple offers to turn pro. I vividly remember Howard Cosell complaining on tv that Stevenson turned down 5 million, which was ENORMOUS at the time, to turn pro and fight Ali for the title. It was very controversial because you just didn't go from amateur boxing to championship fight with no in between but the promoters thought it was a great angle to have Ali fight a Cuban champion. Stevenson famously said he preferred the love of 8 million Cubans.

 

[THESMEL]

I saw Ali fight when I was a kid. There will never be another like him

Love to have seen that, still bothers me that Clasious Clay didn’t serve the country, as my family was drafted. he trained in show low when I was a boy. What I do remember is the enormity of a 15 round heavy weight boxing match. It was way bigger then modern super bowl ! Because it was truly worldwide, advertised to probably 75% of every human on earth at the time, wars were put on hold for it! Pay per view greed destroyed those days the whole world watched and unified - or at least rooted for one of two men, ducking it out, epic, every fight was epic! hope NFL doesn’t make the same mistake catering yo nfln - and losing the fringe audience , the ones concentrating on the nachos haha