SportsCentury


SportsCentury is an ESPN biography television program that reviews the people and events that defined sports in North America throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Using stock footage, on-camera interviews, and photographs of their athletic lives, who grew up.
In 1999, ESPN counted down the Top 50 Athletes of the 20th Century, selected from North American athletes and 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 through #100. Ultimately, the series featured just over half of the athletes from #51 to #100, and instead expanded to include over 150 other athletes, coaches, owners, personalities, and notable moments in sports history. Acknowledgements were given to athletes that were notable for more recent accomplishments, even if they spent only a small part of their career in the 20th century, or were recently deceased. Special subsets of episodes were created revolving around a particular event, including athletes associated with the particular sport. They would typically air in the days leading up to those events.
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. , reruns of the documentary series airs Monday through Friday at 4 p.m. Eastern time. The last original program was that of Shaquille O'Neal, which aired in November 2007.

Controversy

The final order of choices led to debate, some of which came from the SportsCentury camp. Bob Costas, one of the series' voters, said, "I had Babe Ruth as my number one, but I think the list they came up with was a good one. Everybody more or less deserved to be there." ESPN writer Bud Morgan conceded that the Secretariat pick "was kind of controversial because a lot of people took the attitude 'What is a four-legged animal doing on this list?'"
Tony Kornheiser, whose ballot was topped by Ruth, Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan, said, "I can't conceive of how Ruth didn't finish number one. He had the greatest impact of anybody on a sport by far... Michael Jordan didn't have as many championships as Bill Russell and didn't score as many points as Wilt Chamberlain, and really didn't do anything to advance his sport, so maybe in retrospect I upgraded him a bit too much because the way he performed was so spectacular, and because of television I got to see highlights. They may have overpersuaded a lot of us... Did Jim Thorpe get the praise he deserved? Probably not, because there weren't enough people old enough to really remember him."
ESPN anchor Charley Steiner said "I think picking number one was a generational decision, not a historical one. Babe Ruth deserved it more."

Recognition

SportsCentury won a Peabody Award in 1999 "for overall excellence in sports broadcasting."

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

NumberAthleteSport
1Basketball
2Baseball
3Boxing
4Football
5Ice hockey
6Track and field
7Multiple sports
8Baseball
9Golf
10Multiple sports
11Boxing
12Track and field
13Basketball
14Baseball
15Baseball
16Baseball
17Basketball
18Basketball
19Tennis
20Baseball
21Ice hockey
22Baseball
23Track and field
24Boxing
25Football
26Basketball
27Football
28Football
29Golf
30Basketball
31Ice hockey
32Football
33Swimming
34Baseball
35Horse racing
36Basketball
37Baseball
38Golf
39Football
40Football
41Track and field
42Baseball
43Basketball
44Golf
45Tennis
46Speed skating, cycling
47Track and field
48Tennis
49Football
50Tennis

SportsCentury: 51-100

NumberAthleteSport
51Boxing
52Boxing
53Track and field
54Diving
55Ice hockey
56Baseball
57Horse racing
58Basketball
59Tennis
60Baseball
61Baseball
62Basketball
63Baseball
64Football
65Tennis, golf
66Horse racing
67Baseball
68Track and field
69Speed skating
70Football
71Baseball
72Football, baseball
73Baseball
74Football, baseball
75Football
76Football
77Baseball
78Track and field
79Football
80Auto racing
81Tennis
82Ice hockey
83Baseball
84Horse racing
85Ice hockey
86Football
87Boxing
88Football
89Baseball
90Auto racing
91Track and field
92Auto racing
93Football
94Basketball
95Football
96Track and field
97Horse racing
98Tennis
99Golf
100Boxing

Athlete statistics

; By sport:
; By gender

Athletes

''SportsCentury: Greatest Games of the 20th Century''

"Greatest Games" was a top ten countdown of the best games/matches voted on from a wide variety of team and individual sports.
  1. "The Greatest Game Ever Played" – : Baltimore Colts vs. New York Giants
  2. The Shot Heard 'Round the World – Bobby Thomson's home run
  3. Super Bowl III – New York Jets defeat Baltimore Colts
  4. Miracle on Ice – U.S.A defeats U.S.S.R.
  5. "Thrilla in Manila" – Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier
  6. "Ice Bowl" – Green Bay vs. Dallas
  7. Game 6 of the 1975 World Series – Carlton Fisk's home run
  8. Tiger Woods wins the Masters
  9. Willis Reed and Knicks beat Lakers in Game 7
  10. Borg-McEnroe Wimbledon thriller

    ''SportsCentury: Greatest Coaches of the 20th Century''

"Greatest Coaches" was a top ten countdown of the best coaches voted on from a wide variety of team sports
  1. John Wooden
  2. Red Auerbach
  3. Dean Smith
  4. Phil Jackson
  5. John McGraw
  6. George Halas
  7. Don Shula
  8. Paul Brown
  9. Knute Rockne

    ''SportsCentury: Greatest Dynasties''

Another top ten countdown special, focusing on influential figures in sports during the twentieth century, namely off-the-field contributors.
  1. Branch Rickey
  2. Pete Rozelle
  3. Roone Arledge
  4. Marvin Miller
  5. Kenesaw Mountain Landis
  6. David Stern
  7. Avery Brundage
  8. Walter O'Malley
  9. George Halas
  10. Mark McCormack

    ''SportsCentury: The Year in Review''

Also included in the overall production was "SportsCenter of the Decade", a series of six two-hour programs. Each episode was presented as a fictional episode of SportsCenter, in the way ESPN would have covered the events at the time.

Citations