For the sake of my point let me list them. (Take notes as there will be a quiz later)
Baseball: Sandy Koufax, Steve Carlton, Dave Winfield, Elston Howard, & Chuck Klein.
Football: Jim Brown, Marcus Allen, Franco Harris, O.J. Simpson,
Basketball: Magic Johnson, Bill Walton (w/Portland), Julius Erving (w ABA Nets), Kevin McHale, Shaq (w/ Magic), Karl Malone, Billy Cunningham
Soccer: David Becham (I hate soccer)
Other: Roman Chechmanek (I needed a hockey player), a former Flyer will not be in the HOF, & Johnny Gray, a pitcher with the 1954 Phila A's, also a non HOF player, but I wanted a Philly A's guy.
The above list is quite formidable, and I was fortunate to have seen many of them play in person.
It was very sweet when Philadelphia had a pro basketball franchise. I was privileged to have been able to watch Doc and Billy C lead the Sixers to two separate titles. Cunningham was called The Kangaroo Kid for his ability to jump. This product of Brooklyn's Erasmus Hall H.S. could shoot, rebound, pass, and play defense like a man possessed. It was said that he was only white on the outside. Doc was Michael Jordan before Jordan was Jordan. He could practically fly, and nobody could do the acrobatic dunking thing like he could. In one game to avoid a Celtic defender he actually went into the air traveling behind the pole only to emerge on the other side of the basket to score without ever touching the court. Jordan never did anything like that. (I loathe Jordan)
And who could forget the artistry that Steve Carlton practiced with his slider. It was sick how much the ball broke when he had the going right. There were nights when hitters begged a game off so that they wouldn't be made to look bad by Lefty. Sure, Carlton was whacked out of his head, but he was the greatest pitcher ever to wear the candystripes - and that includes Halladay and Roberts.
Dave Winfield deserves mention (despite having played for the Yankees) as being one of the greatest athletes of all time. The guy terrorized the AL for years, but how many know that he was a three sport star at the U of Minnesota and was drafted by both the NFL & the NBA? Elston Howard (also a hated Yankee) was the first black player to play for the Yankees and he forced Berra to become an outfielder because of his catching ability.
Before turning to the running backs I must mention just how great Magic Johnson was. After leading his Michigan State Spartans to an NCAA title over Larry Bird & Indiana State he became one of the top 5 NBA players of all time in my not so humble opinion. He was the first of the 6'9" guards. How sick is that - a guy that big who could put on the moves of an Oscar Robertson and be the floor general for the great Laker teams of the 80's and who, by the way, could shoot and rebound with the best of them. Yes, Virginia the Magic man COULD play defense. (Sit down Jordan - we have Magic - your services are not needed)
The only game I could play with any amount of skill was football, so I've saved the gridders for last. Sometime I'll tell the story of being run over by Cheltenham's Reggie Jackson in a H.S. game in 1963.
There may one or two of you wondering why I have not anecdoted David Beckham's greatness. Quit while you are ahead. He is a soccer player, which means I have never seen him play - nor will I ever see him play. I know that billions of people around the world love and play the game. I know that 79 pro soccer leagues have attempted to make a go of it in this country failing in each attempt. I know that Philadelphia now has a team called the Union, and I know that they sell out and that they suck. They don't even play in Philly for heavens sake - they play in Chester where the locals' favorite sport is to shoot at each other. David Beckham has movie star looks and probably gets laid more than any of us, but so what. The only good thing about the whole sport is Andres Kantor, who has never scored a goalllllllllllllllllllllllllll
Last comment on soccer. I know that there are a lot of youth leagues out there, especially out on The Main Line. All that proves is that a bunch of spoiled parents are afraid to let their spoiled kids play the real game of football. My god, Kyle might mess up his $12,000 orthodontics work. Screw Kyle and his parents. I hope he gets hit in the head with a soccer ball.
Now back to a real game and real superstars. There are 4 members of the football hall of fame that wore the number 32. I'll start with Marcus Allen who came out of USC and tore up the NFL for years. The guy was fun to watch as he could at one instant remind one of Gayle Sayers before turning into a bruising heads on runner who had deceptive strength. He was as graceful as a ballet dancer and played for the Raiders when the Raiders were the Raiders - when Al Davis knew he owned a football team.
Next on our list of running backs is a guy who is now starring in a real-life remake of the Longest Yard. Juice was a "slashing" kind of runner (I couldn't help myself). He was as quick on the field as he was with a blade in his hand, and like Allen played collegiately at USC. Putting his several personality and behavioral issues aside the guy was a joy to watch on the field. Playing in the hellhole of Buffalo - neither rain nor sleet nor snow could stop the guy. He was the first runner in NFL history to run for over 2000 tards in a single season. That was a truly amazing feat.
Our third HOFer to sport #32 was a kid out of Rancocas Valley NJ. For college he chose to wear the most beautiful uniform in college football history. His running style for the Nittany Lions was as no frills as was his uniform. Plain and simple - you gave Franco Harris the ball and he ran over people. The fancy running was done by his teamate Lydell Mitchell, but Franco was the bull. He never got hurt and he helped lead Penn State to not one, but two undefeated seasons.
Not satisfied with the great success he had at PSU he the had an amazing career as the feature back for the great Steeler teams of the 1970's. Trust me when I say that those guys could win today in the NFL even though they were much smaller than the players of today. They were hard core hitters and could beat you with Franco running the ball or with a passing attack that had Terry Bradshaw throwing to the tandem receivers of Stallworth & Swan. I still enjoy watching films of these guys beating the Cowboys in two Super Bowls. (I do hate the Cowboys) My Italian friends always had a bit of a problem with him because he is half Black & half Italian. As such he wasn't fully embraced as a hero by some Italo-Americans who are a bit sensitive to their own genetic heritage (see Dennis Hopper for more information). Whenever Harris is brought up many invoke the "one drop" rule and change the subject. (They don't like talking about the great Dodger catcher Roy Campanella either).
Our final running back who wore #32 is none other than the greatest collegiate lacrosse player of all time. (Don't even talk to me about some the Gait brothers as they couldn't carry my guy's sticks) Jim Browns first athletic love was lacrosse. His second was football. After tearing up the competition on Long Island Brown went to Syracuse on a combination lacrosse/football scholarship. The lacrosse coach loved him and had no problem playing the first African-American major college lacrosse player. Ben Schwartzwalder, the football coach, was another matter. Big Ben was a racist. He swore that this "nigger" would never take a spot away from one of his boys. True to Ben's word, when Brown joined the Syracuse varsity eleven he was listed as the third string fullback. Being the third string fullback meant that you never had to worry about preparing for a game because you weren't going to play - not even on special teams - unless both of the guys listed ahead of you got hurt.
The Gods Of Gootball were not amused with Schwartzwalder's racism and - lo and behold - arranged for both the first and second string fullbacks to suffer season ending injuries. The rest as they say is history. Brown got his chance and terrorized all he played against. First of all he played at 230 lbs which for the mid 1950's was the size of linemen, not running backs. Secondly, he was fast, quick, and strong. In college he was virtually unstoppable and he parlayed his collegiate success into becoming the first round draft choice of the Cleveland Browns.
Once he hit the playing fields of the NFL he again became the best of the best. He played only nine years for the Browns and was named ALL-Pro in each and every season. He never missed a game because of injury although many a defender had to leave the game after being hit by Brown. Brown could not usually be brought down by one tackler - most often it took two or three guys to get him down.
Brown had the ability of running through you or around you, and he played angry. He was an early participant in the civil rights movement by his own account was not very fond of white folk. He made them pay on the field.
In his nine seasons Brown gained 12,312 yards on 2359 carries. For you non math majors that translates into 5.2 yards per carry. Brown played in only 118 games (the season was 12 games long until 1960, then 14 until the end of his career in 1965 - not the 16 games of today) Again non math majors that translates into a per game average of 104 rushing yards per game. Today's greats can't even hope to average 100 plus yards a game - look it up. He scored 106 rushing TDs and for the cherry on top he added 20 passing TDs. He did fumble from time to time. In fact he fumbled a total of 57 times or once every 41 carries.
It is very clear that Jim Brown was the greatest running back in the history of the game. But wait long suffering fan - how can you say that - Emmitt Smith holds the rushing record with 18355 yards. Yes he does Cowboy fans, but not so fast with the accolade as best running back of all time. Smith played in 226 games. Even good Republican math shows that he played in 108 more games than Brown which means a career per game average of 81.2 yards per game. His per carry average was 4.1 yards - more than one yard less per carry than Brown. Smith also had the advantage of playing on teams with multi-faceted offensive threats. What I mean you closeted Cowboy fans is that Aikman had people to throw to whereas when you played the Browns you knew that Jim Brown was the Browns offense. Emmitt Smith wasn't even as good a running back as the guy who took Browns place when he quit football to make the movie "The Dirty Dozen" (I'm referring to Phillys own LeRoy Kelly).
I've saved my favorite #32 for last. On my wall next to my computer is an autographed photo of a pitcher who refused to pitch on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, even when his Dodgers were playing in the World Series. He hailed from Brooklyn and was signed out of the University of Cincinnati by his hometown Dodgers for what was then a princely sum of $20,000. That amount qualified him as a bonus baby and that meant that the Dodgers had to keep him on the parent club before he was ready to play in the show.
While Sandy Koufax was indeed a member of the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers team he didn't contribute to the teams only World Series win while in Brooklyn. The Dodgers were befuddled by his lack of success. Here was a guy with a 90 mph curve ball, a 90 mph change-up and a fastball that observers of the time swore exceeded 100 mph who had a 36-40 won loss record from 1955 until 1960 and never had an ERA below 3.00 with most years coming in above 4.00. The problem was his control, and his pedestrian pitching days ended when catcher Norm Sherry convinced him to throw slower - which allowed Koufax to gain control over his pitches.
The slower throwing (95 mph fastball) Koufax went 129-47 from 1961 through his last season of 1966, and had three seasons where his ERA was below 2.00. How sick is that? During that period he threw 35 shutouts, struck out 1713 while only walking 412, and completed 115 games. (Halladay had 9 this year as a basis of comparison) In three of those magical years he pitched over 300 innings and in 1965 he struck out 382 batters.
The most money Koufax ever made was in his last year when he ws paid $125,000. Today, only the Yankees could afford to pay him, and whatever Cliff Lee gets would be chump change compared to what Sandy would command.
The long suffering fan was a bit long winded today, but how could I not be given all of the great athletes who have worn #32 on their uniforms. Look it up if you care to, but no other uniform number is as represented in the various Halls Of Fame as is 32. There may be others wearing numbers other than 32 who are better than some on today's list, but that is a discussion for another day, on another birthday!
Happy Birthday Son, I love you very much and wouldn't trade you for anybody.
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