Top 10 Athletes from Nevada
Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. is often said to be from Las Vegas, and he does live there, but he grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and that, alone, is enough to render him ineligible for this list. I'm scheduled to do this for Michigan on January 26, 2018, so it is then that I will have to consider him.
Baseball pitcher Barry Zito was born in Las Vegas, but grew up in San Diego, so he's ineligible here.
Patty Sheehan of Wooster would have made this list, if I considered golf a sport. But I don't. Sports Illustrated does, and she was named as 1 of 8 "Athletes Who Care" who were their Sportspeople of the Year for 1987.
Dishonorable Mention to Matt Williams of Carson City. He hit 378 home runs, and is the only man to hit home runs in World Series play for 3 different teams: The 1989 San Francisco Giants, the 1997 Cleveland Indians, and, finally winning one, the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks.
In 2007, he was outed as a steroid user. He said he used HGH (human growth hormone) to rehab from an injury. Even if that's true, A, he wasn't the only 2001 Diamondback to use steroids, so their title is still tainted; and B, if that excuse isn't good enough for Andy Pettitte, then it's not good enough for Matt Williams. It didn't stop him from managing the Washington Nationals for 2 seasons, including the 2014 National League Eastern Division title. It has, however, stopped him from serious consideration for the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Dishonorable Mention to Doug Mirabelli of the Las Vegas suburb of Winchester. He won 2 tainted World Series with the Boston Red Sox in 2004 and 2007. His entire team was named Sports Illustrated's Sportspeople of the Year in 2004.
10. David Humm of Las Vegas. He quarterbacked the University of Nebraska to the Big 8 Championship as a sophomore in 1972, but was unable to get them past Oklahoma the next 2 years. He is the only quarterback ever to have started and won the Orange Bowl (beating Notre Dame in 1973), the Cotton Bowl (beating Texas in 1974) and the Sugar Bowl (beating Florida in 1975).
His pro career was a bit mixed, as he was a career backup. He was Ken Stabler's backup on the Oakland Raiders team that won Super Bowl XI. He was Joe Ferguson's backup on the 1980 AFC East Champion Buffalo Bills. He backed up the scandal-ridden Art Schlichter on the 1982 Baltimore Colts, winless at 0-8-1 in that strike-shortened season.
Then he returned to the Raiders, by then in Los Angeles, and backed up Jim Plunkett on their team that won Super Bowl XVIII -- meaning he was there for their 1st and 3rd Super Bowl wins, but not their 2nd, XV. Talk about going from the penthouse to the outhouse, and from the outhouse to the penthouse: He did both!
Humm is easily the most accomplished college football player to have come from Nevada. The State has never produced a Heisman Trophy winner.
9. Shawn Estes of Minden. An All-Star in 1997, he appeared in the postseason for the 1997 and 2000 San Francisco Giants, and the 2003 Chicago Cubs, but never appeared in a World Series. His career record was 101-93.
Met fans will remember him for attempting to bean Roger Clemens in a 2002 Interleague game with the Yankees in Shea Stadium, even though he wasn't there during the 2000 World Series incident with Mike Piazza. Indeed, Estes pitched against the Mets in that year's National League Division Series. He tried to throw a ball at Clemens' large posterior... and missed. And then gave up an RBI double to Clemens! But won the game anyway.
8. Kris Bryant of Las Vegas. Just 25, he already has a .288 lifetime batting average, 94 home runs, the 2015 National League Rookie of the Year award, the 2016 NL Most Valuable Player award, and a 2016 World Series ring with the Chicago Cubs.
7. Greg Anthony of North Las Vegas. A National Champion at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas (UNLV), the school retired his Number 50. The guard went on to play 11 seasons in the NBA, reaching the Finals with the 1994 Knicks. He was an original member of the Vancouver (now Memphis) Grizzlies in 1995, and got the Portland Trail Blazers to within 1 game of the NBA Finals in 2000.
6. Lionel Hollins of North Las Vegas. A member of the 1977 NBA Champion Portland Trail Blazers, he was an All-Star in 1978. The Blazers have retired his Number 14. He has since coached the Memphis Grizzlies and the Brooklyn Nets.
5. Bryce Harper of Las Vegas. Why is he on this list? As the man himself would say, "That's a clown question, bro." He just turned 25, and already has a .285 lifetime batting average, 150 home runs, 5 All-Star berths, the 2012 National League Rookie of the Year award, the 2015 NL Most Valuable Player award, and 4 trips to the postseason with the Washington Nationals, although he's never yet been on a team that's won a postseason series.
Both Harper (in 2010 at Southern Nevada) and Bryant (in 2013 at the University of San Diego) have won the Golden Spikes Award as college baseball player of the year. Presuming neither of them gets hurt or does something really stupid, both should climb up this list.
4. Gerald Riggs of Las Vegas. A 3-time Pro Bowler, the running back starred for the Atlanta Falcons, who elected him to their Ring of Honor, before retiring as a winner of Super Bowl XXVI with the Washington Redskins, with 8,188 rushing yards and 201 receptions.
3. Greg LeMond of Wooster. In 1986, he became the 1st non-European to win the Tour de France. He remains the only American to do it without having been caught cheating. The following year, he was shot in a hunting accident, but recovered to win it again in 1989. Sports Illustrated named him their Sportsman of the Year. He won the race again in 1990.
2. Andre Agassi of Las Vegas. He has won tennis' "Career Grand Slam," winning Wimbledon in 1992; the U.S. Open in 1994 and 1999; the Australian Open in 1995, 2000, 2001 and 2003; and completing it with the French Open in 1999. He also won the Olympic Gold Medal in Atlanta in 1996, and helped the U.S. win the Davis Cup in 1990, 1992 and 1995. He married actress Brooke Shields, and since 2001 has been married to fellow tennis legend Steffi Graf. Not bad for a guy who once said, "Image is everything," and acted like he believed it.
1. Greg Maddux of Winchester. A tricky case, since his father was in the U.S. Air Force, forcing the family to move around a lot. But they were living in Winchester when Greg began playing scholastic baseball, so this is where he counts.
An 8-time All-Star, he won 4 straight National League Cy Young Awards, from 1992 to 1995. He won more Gold Gloves for fielding excellence than any other player, 18, from 1990 to 2008 wnning every year but 2003. He reached the postseason with the Chicago Cubs in 1989, with the Atlanta Braves in 1993 and then every season from 1995 to 2003, and in his last season, 2008, with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He won Pennants with the Braves in 1995, 1996 and 1999, including winning the 1995 World Series.
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