Top 10 Philadelphia Athletes of All Time
The city of Philadelphia has a great history in sports and has seen many great athletes come into town. All 4 teams have had their fair share of truly dominant players. I decided to compile a list of what I thought to be the top 10 best athletes that played for a Philadelphia team at some point during their career.
Honorable Mention List: Tug McGraw, Pete Rose, Richie Ashburn (Whitey had an excellent career before his announcing days), Harold Carmichael, Tommy McDonald, Mo Cheeks, Andrew Toney, Matt Geiger (oops, that was a typo), Ron Hextall, Ron Jaworksi
10. Charles Barkley – “The Round Mound of Rebound” averaged 22 points a game and 11 rebounds during his career. Barkley began his career in Philly, but his best points occured while he was either in a Suns or Rockets uniform. Sir Charles was one of the players selected for the NBA’s 50 greatest players list.
9. Bobby Clarke – The player, not the GM. He has over 327 more points than any other player to ever suit up for the Flyboys. He played in over 1,100 games and compiled 358 goals and 852 assists during his tenure in Philadelphia. Clark led the Broad Street Bullies to back to back Stanley Cup victories.
8. Moses Malone – The 76ers were struggling to overcome the Lakers in the Finals until Moses came to town. The Sixers won the NBA championship the first year that Malone was here and he won the league MVP for the third year in a row. Moses predicted an entire playoff sweep by saying “Four-Four-Four,” and he was close since the Sixers went four-five-four.
7. Steve Carlton – In 1972, Steve Carlton won 27 games pitching for the Fightin’s. Why is that a great stat, well the Phillies won 59 games all season so Carlton was the reason for 46 percent of their wins. He was a 10-time all star and won 4 Cy Young awards during his career.
6. Chuck Bednarik – Bednarik was the last two-way player in NFL history playing both linebacker and center. He was a stalwart of the Eagles’ NFL championship teams in ’49 and ’60. In his 14 year career, “Concrete Charlie” only missed 3 games. Bednarik is also infamous for his blindside hit on Frank Gifford that almost ended his career.
5. Julius Erving – Dr. J’s effect on Philly was more than introducing the dunk from the foul line which is used every year during the dunk contest. Julius averaged 22 points a game and helped the 76ers make 4 NBA Finals apperances. I think every Sixers fan can just picture Dr. J gliding through the air as he went under the hoop for his unbelieveable baseline layup.
4. Bernie Parent – Unquestionably, Bernie Parent was the best goaltender to ever play for the Flyers. He is also considered to be one of the best goaltenders in NHL history. Parent is the Flyers all time leader with 232 wins, 50 shutouts and a 2.42 GAA. Thanks to his excellent goaltending, the Flyers won 2 Stanley Cups.
3. Mike Schmidt – Despite the recent news of his speed usage, Schmitty’s legacy will not be tarnished since he was one hell of a third baseman for the Phils. Mike was terrific over in the hot corner and won 10 Gold Gloves and played in 12 All Star Games. Schmidt was NL MVP three times and also was the World Series MVP in ’80 when the Phillies defeated the George Brett led Royals.
2. Reggie White – The “Minister of Defense” was known in Philadelphia for the reckless abandon that he imposed on opposing quarterbacks. He recorded 124 sacks during his 8 years in Philadelphia. Even though he was unable to win a Super Bowl in Philly, Reggie was undoubtely the leader of one of the best defenses to ever be put together.
1. Wilt Chamberlain – He’s got my vote and I think I might know 10,000 women who might agree. “Wilt the Stilt” and “The Big Dipper” were his nicknames and were quite suitable for the man who was one of the most dominant players to ever step onto the basketball court. For his career, he averaged 30 points and 23 rebounds per game (Ben Wallace, arguably the NBA’s current best rebounder averages 12.2). In 1961, Wilt averaged 50.4 points a game which is an NBA record. My absolute favorite stat of all time has to be Wilt being the only player in NBA history achieving the double-triple-double by having 22 points, 25 rebounds, 21 assists (Also, keep in mind that Wilt played during an era where blocks and steals weren’t even recorded).
- Kyle Garis
Let’s see your top 10 lists and suggestions
About this Post
Posted on March 7, 2006 by Kyle Garis | Filed Under Eagles, Flyers, General, Philadelphia, Phillies, Sixers
|
Print This Article | 10 Comments
what a difficult list to formulate. i agree that each of these individuals deserves recognition as the top 10 in philly, but the order of which is debatable.
I must say though that when the sport in which you participate changes rules solely because of your capabilities and style of play, then you are arguably the #1 player for that city/sport…way to go wilt.
Are current players allowed on this list? Because if they are I think it would change slightly with only Iverson making the list. Despite all his critics when his career is over, he truly will be pound for pound one of the best players to ever play the game. He most likely will be considered second best to Wilt in Sixers history, but I don’t think any other player will ever mean more to a team then Iverson has meant to the Sixers for the past 10 years.
Drew I agree about him changing the rules of the game (Wilt used to be able to dunk or do finger roll layups from the free throw line so the NBA had to change the free throw regulations)
My fault, I meant to mention that the list wasn’t going to include current players. So players like Iverson, McNabb, and Donald Brashear were ineligible to be on the list. I couldn’t agree more with you about Iverson being one of the best pound for pound players to ever play the game right up there with Oscar Robertson and John Stockton. AI is easily the toughest player pound for pound to ever play any professional sport in my opinion. And yes, Iverson has changed the face of this franchise for the better.
Kyle,
What about non-team sport athletes like Joe Frazier, Bernard Hopkins (has he retired yet!), Carl Lewis and most important of all Rocky;-)
Alvin Kraenzien was the first Olympian to win four gold medals in the same year and he was from Philly.
The best race horse of all time was from Philly: Man O’ War
One of baseball’s best second baseman played here: Eddie Collins
I’m assuming that your list excludes people born and raised in Philadelphia like Reggie Jackson, Franco Harris and Earl Monroe.
Sunny Liston and Muhammed Ali spent some of their heavyweight championship years training in Philadelphia.
I’d have to say that you need to give Randall Cunningham and Wilbert Montgomery honorable mention. Dick Allen was a darn good player no matter how much he didn’t fit into Philadelphia. Also, Chuck Klein won the triple crown in 1932. I think Carlton needs to be in the Top 5. Finally, Billy Cunningham (The Kangaroo Kid) both starred for a championship Sixers team and coached one. I haven’t even mentioned college stars. I’ve always had a soft spot for Von Hayes. And what about Ricky Watters, Lance Parrish, J.D. Drew, Glenn Robinson, Jeff Malone, Derrick Coleman, Toni Kukoc, Rodney Buford (The Sheriff), Andy Ashby, Gregg Jeffries, or Brandon Duckworth?? All of those guys are top ten material.
Kyle,
Nice post — we comment on this asnd give our top 10s on the latest SportsCast. Lookf for it soon.
No Joe Frazier?!?!
To be honest, the thought of boxers and horses never really crossed my mind. I was just sticking to the 4 major teams in Philly, but if I did include them then Joe Frazier, Man O’War would have made the list while Smarty Jones and Carl Lewis would have gotten honorable mention I’d say.
The criteria needs to include the winning of at least one championship. Steve Van Buren has to be in top 10. Barkley out.
What about Kelly?