Top 10 Athletes From North Carolina
Honorable Mention to Buck Leonard of Rocky Mount. He may have been the best baseball player from the state, but without definitive Major League statistics, we can't be sure. But he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, and was 1 of 5 players who played all or mainly in the Negro Leagues who was named to
The Sporting News' 100 Greatest Baseball Players. (The others were Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell and Oscar Charleston.)
Honorable Mention to Steph Curry of Charlotte. Wardell Stephen Curry II grew up there while his father, Dell Curry, played for the Charlotte Hornets. Already a 5-time All-Star, a 2-time Most Valuable Player, and a 2-time NBA Champion for the Golden State Warriors, he is likely to make the Top 10 if I do this list again in, say, 5 years.
Indeed, you could make a damn good basketball team out of the guys from North Carolina who didn't make the Top 10. Sam Jones of Laurinburg, a 5-time All-Star and a 10-time NBA Champion with the Boston Celtics, who retired his Number 24. Walt Bellamy of New Bern, a 4-time All-Star, and a Hall-of-Famer twice over, in his own right and as a member of the U.S. team that won the Gold Medal at the 1960 Olympics in Rome.
More recently, Cedric "Cornbread" Maxwell of Kinston, 1981 (Finals MVP) and 1984 NBA Champion with the Boston Celtics, who retired his Number 31. Bob McAdoo of Greensboro, 1975 NBA MVP and 1982 and 1985 NBA Champion with the Los Angeles Lakers. Bobby Jones of Charlotte, 1983 NBA Champion with the Philadelphia 76ers, who retired his Number 24. Dominique Wilkins of Washington, Number 21 retired by the Atlanta Hawks. And Meadowlark Lemon, perhaps the most famous of all the Harlem Globetrotters. All of those are in the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Also Lou Hudson of Greensboro, Number 23 retired by the Hawks. Phil Ford of Rocky Mount, Number 12 retired by North Carolina. Buck Williams of Rocky Mount, Number 52 retired by the New Jersey (now Brooklyn) Nets. Brad Daugherty of Black Mountain, Number 43 retired by the Cleveland Cavaliers. John Lucas of Durham, All-American at Maryland, 1976 ACC Athlete of the Year, helped the Houston Rockets reach the 1986 NBA Finals. (His son, John Lucas III, grew up in Houston while his father played there, and would thus qualify for Texas.)
Honorable Mention to Julie Shea of Raleigh. The North Carolina State runner was awarded the 1979-80 Honda-Broderick Cup as female collegiate athlete of the year. She later served on the Raleigh City Council.
Honorable Mention to Megan Hodge of Durham. The Penn State volleyball player was awarded the Honda-Broderick Cup for the 2009-10 schoolyear, and won a Silver Medal with the U.S. team at the 2012 Olympics in London.
Honorable Mention to Kim Jacob of Raleigh. The University of Alabama gymnast won the Honda Broderick Cup as the outstanding female college athlete in the 2013-14 schoolyear.
Honorable Mention to Tracey Bates of Raleigh, a member of the U.S. team that won the 1st Women's World Cup in 1991. Now using her married name of Tracey Leone, she is one of the most highly-regarded coaches in U.S. women's soccer.
Honorable Mention to Wes Ferrell of Greensboro. He went 193-128 as a major league pitcher, was a 2-time All-Star (and it would have been more if the All-Star Game had begun earlier than 1933), pitched a no-hitter in 1931, and hit more home runs than any other pitcher in baseball history: 37. (Babe Ruth, of course, did not stay a pitcher.)
Both the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Red Sox have elected him to their team Halls of Fame. Unfortunately, the closest he ever came to a Pennant was with the 1938 Yankees, and he was injured and unable to pitch in the World Series.
Honorable Mention to Rick Ferrell of Greensboro. An 8-time All-Star, including in the 1st 6 All-Star Games, Rick batted .281 in his career, and retired as the major leagues' all-time leader in games caught, 1,918. He was elected to the Hall of Fame on that basis, although there are people who believe that the wrong Ferrell brother was elected. The closest he came to a Pennant was just missing with the 1945 Washington Senators.
Honorable Mention to Jim Beatty of Charlotte. On February 10, 1962, at the Los Angeles Invitational at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, he became the 1st man to break the 4-minute mile indoors: 3 minutes, 58.9 seconds. He never won an Olympic medal, though.
Honorable Mention to Charlie Justice of Asheville. Until Lawrence Taylor (who I included on the Virginia version of this list), "Choo-Choo" was the greatest football player the University of North Carolina ever had, so nicknamed because he reminded a teammate of a runaway train. He finished 2nd in the Heisman Trophy voting twice, to Doak Walker of Southern Methodist in 1948 and to Leon Hart of Notre Dame in 1949. North Carolina retired his Number 22.
Injuries cut short his professional career with the Washington Redskins, but he was nonetheless named to their 70th Anniversary 70 Greatest Redskins in 2002, a year before his death.
Honorable Mention to Charlie Sanders of Richlands. The Hall of Fame tight end had his Number 88 retired by the Detroit Lions.
Honorable Mention to Carl Eller of Winston-Salem. The Hall of Fame tight end was a National Champion teammate of Bobby Bell at the University of Minnesota, and opposed him for the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV. He was elected to the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame and the Minnesota Vikings Ring of Honor.
Honorable Mention to Dwight Clark of Charlotte. The 2-time Pro Bowler put the San Francisco 49ers into their 1st Super Bowl with "The Catch" off a Joe Montana pass to win the 1981 NFC Championship Game. He helped the 49ers win Super Bowls XVI and XIX, and they retired his Number 87.
Honorable Mention to Madison Bumgarner of Hickory. "MadBum" is only 28, but is already 104-76 in his major league pitching career. A 4-time All-Star, he has helped the San Francisco Giants win the 2010, 2012 and 2014 World Series. Given a minimum of 25 innings pitched, he holds the record for lowest career World Series ERA (0.25), and lowest career postseason road ERA (0.50). He is also the only pitcher ever to hit 2 grand slams.
He was named Most Valuable Player of both the National League Championship Series and the World Series in 2014, winning Game 7 with 5 innings of scoreless relief on 2 days' rest.
Sports Illustrated named him their Sportsperson of the Year. He could well rise up this list.
Honorable Mention to Darren Holmes of Asheville. The relief pitcher reached the postseason with the 1995 Colorado Rockies, the 1999 Arizona Diamondbacks, the 2000 St. Louis Cardinals and the 2002 and '03 Atlanta Braves. He won only 1 Pennant, but that 1 is why he's here: He was a member of the 1998 World Champion Yankees. He is now the pitching coach of the Colorado Rockies.
Dishonorable Mention to Christopher Trotman "Trot" Nixon of Durham. With his Boston Red Sox teammates, he was named one of Sports Illustrated's 2004 Sportspeople of the Year. But we know members of that team cheated. He may have been one of them.
The Petty and Earnhardt families, both from North Carolina, were auto racers, and auto racing is not a sport, therefore they are disqualified from this discussion.
Now, the Top 10:
10. Gaylord Perry of Williamston. Or should that be "Dishonorable Mention"? He claimed to use the spitball, but was he full of spit, or full of something else? Despite publishing a memoir titled
Me and the Spitter while still in the middle of his career, he wasn't caught throwing an illegal pitch until his 21st season in the major leagues.
A 5-time All-Star, he became the 1st man ever to win the Cy Young Award in both Leagues, in the American League with the 1972 Cleveland Indians, and in the National League with the 1978 San Diego Padres, which also, at the time, made him the oldest pitcher ever to win the Cy. He pitched a no-hitter for the San Francisco Giants in 1968.
In spite of his long career, long enough to win 314 games and strike out 3,534 batters, he only reached the postseason 3 times: The World Series as a rookie with the 1962 Giants, the NL Championship Series with the 1971 Giants, and the ALCS with the 1980 Yankees. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, the Giants retired his Number 36, and both the Giants and the Indians elected him to their team Halls of Fame.
Honorable Mention to Jim Perry of Williamston. Gaylord's lefthanded older brother won 215 games in the majors, giving them 529 wins, more than any brother combination before them, and only Phil and Joe Niekro have surpassed them.
Jim was a 3-time All-Star, won the 1965 AL Pennant with the Minnesota Twins and the 1975 AL Western Division title with the Oakland Athletics (his final season), and, with the 1970 Twins, won the Cy Young Award, making Gaylord's award in 1972 the 1st, and still only, time any of the major awards (also including the Most Valuable Player and the Rookie of the Year) have been won by 2 brothers. Both brothers are still alive: Jim just turned 82, and Gaylord is 79.
9. Enos Slaughter of Roxboro. A 10-time All-Star, he helped the St. Louis Cardinals win 4 National League Pennants in 6 years, including winning the 1942, '44 and '46 World Series. In Game 7 of the '46 Series, he made the most famous baserunning move in baseball history, scoring from 1st base on a single by Harry Walker (who did, to be fair, advance to 2nd with the play at the plate) to score the go-ahead run in the 8th inning. It became known as Slaughter's Sprint and The Mad Dash.
He said he didn't purposely spike Jackson Robinson in 1947. He did later get along with black teammates. He helped the Yankees win the 1956 and 1958 World Series. His lifetime batting average was an even .300. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, and the Cardinals retired his Number 9 (he wore 17 with the Yankees) and dedicated a statue of him outside Busch Stadium.
8. David Thompson of Shelby. Before there was Luke of
Star Wars, Thompson was such an aerial basketball artist that he was called the Skywalker. He led the North Carolina State team that ended the UCLA dynasty in the 1974 NCAA Semifinal, then beat Al McGuire's Marquette in the Final, to get N.C. State its 1st National Championship. He was National Player of the Year in 1975, and was a 3-time Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year. That last achievement is something that no UNC or Duke player can claim.
He then went to the Denver Nuggets, leading them to the Finals in the ABA's last season, enough to get him named the league's last Rookie of the Year and to the ABA All-Time Team. They went into the NBA, where he was named a 4-time All-Star. On the last day of the 1978 regular season, he scored 73 points, at the time a record for any player other than Wilt Chamberlain.
Injuries and drugs would cut his career short. After getting clean, he got involved in youth programs. He became such a role model that no less than Michael Jordan asked him to give his induction speech at the Basketball Hall of Fame. Thompson was inducted himself in 1996. His Number 44 is the only one retired by N.C. State. Dan Issel was already wearing 44 on the Nuggets, so Thompson wore 33, and the Nuggets retired that number for him.
7. Hoyt Wilhelm of Cornelius. In his 1st major league at-bat, with the 1952 New York Giants, he hit a home run. In his 2nd, he hit a triple. He never hit another home run or another triple in a career that lasted until 1972. He didn't need to: He was the 1st man elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on the basis of relief pitching.
He did start some games, including pitching a no-hitter against the Yankees for the Baltimore Orioles in 1958. He remains the last pitcher to pitch a complete-game no-hitter against the Yankees. (It took 6 pitchers to finish a no-hitter against them for the Houston Astros in 2003.) He went 143-122 for his career.
But he gained his fame in relief, with a knuckleball that drove hitters (and his own catchers and managers) crazy. He made 8 All-Star Teams, helped the Giants win the World Series in 1954, and the Atlanta Braves win the 1st-ever National League Western Division title in 1969. He broke Cy Young's career record for most games pitched, 906, with the 1967 Chicago White Sox. With the 1970 Braves, he became the 1st pitcher to appear in 1,000 games, raising the record to 1,070. (Today, there are 16 pitchers to appear in 1,000 games, with Jesse Orosco leading with 1,252.)
He was named to the Baseball Hall of Fame and the Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame. His 2.52 career ERA is the lowest of any pitcher in the post-1920 Lively Ball Era. No team has retired his number, and he didn't always wear Number 49, but that number became so identified with him that other knuckleballers took it up, including Tim Wakefield, and Tom Candiotti, who played Wilhelm in the film
61* (though he wore 15, as Wilhelm did with the Orioles).
6. Luke Appling of High Point. A 7-time All-Star, he batted .388 in 1936, the highest average for a shortstop in the 20th Century. He won the American League battle title that year, and again in 1943. He batted .310 for his career, and had 2,749 hits, though only 45 were home runs. Oddly, he is often given credit (as is the later slugger Ralph Kiner) for coming up with the saying, "Home run hitters drive Cadillacs, singles hitters drive Fords."
But he is in the Baseball Hall of Fame, and the Chicago White Sox retired his Number 4 and dedicated a statue of him at Guaranteed Rate Field.
5. Sonny Jurgensen of Wilmington. It's funny how, with all the great basketball players who have gone to Duke University, the school's greatest athlete from the State that they're actually in is a football player.
Christian Adolph Jurgensen III was not only a quarterback at Duke, but a fine defensive back, and led them to the 1954 ACC title and a win over Nebraska in the 1955 Orange Bowl. He became Norm Van Brocklin's backup on the Philadelphia Eagles, winning the 1960 NFL Championship. Van Brocklin retired, and Sonny became the starter in 1961, making the 1st of 5 Pro Bowl teams, leading the NFL in passing yards 5 times and in touchdown passes twice.
But in 1964, the Eagles named Joe Kuharich as head coach. Kuharich was a massive prude, and Sonny liked the nightlife, so Joe traded Sonny to the Washington Redskins for their starting quarterback of the time, Norm Snead. This trade was
so dumb! How dumb
was it? Over the rest of the decade, the Eagles floundered, while the Redskins got better, eventually becoming the team (albeit quarterbacked by Billy Kilmer, with Sonny as an aging backup) that won the 1972 NFC Championship.
Sonny Jurgensen had the highest career "quarterback rating" of any player before the 1978 rule changes that opened up the passing game: 82.6. Vince Lombardi, who coached the Redskins in the last season of his life, 1969, said, "If we would have had Sonny Jurgensen in Green Bay, we'd never have lost a game." And this is a man who had Bart Starr, the only man to quarterback 5 NFL Championship teams without cheating. Although the thought of Sonny Jurgensen and Paul Hornung playing together on Saturday night before they played together on Sunday afternoon is a scary thought.
Sonny also threw more touchdown passes in the 1960s than any other quarterback -- more than Starr, more than Johnny Unitas, more than Joe Namath. Guess which quarterback threw more interceptions in the 1960s than any other. Did I telegraph the punch enough? It was Norm Snead. And Joe Kuharich traded Sonny for Norm.
(The Eagles haven't won a title since 1960. Are they under the Curse of Sonny, for this trade? Or are they under the Curse of the Dutchman, for not naming Van Brocklin head coach after his 1960 retirement as a player, giving the job first to Nick Skorich and then to Kuharich? What could they have done with Van Brocklin coaching and Jurgensen quarterbacking? We'll never know.)
(UPDATE: A few weeks after I wrote this, the Eagles won Super Bowl LII. With intended starter Carson Wentz injured after going 11-2, Nick Foles took them the rest of the way, and won the title. Maybe the Eagles having 1 good quarterback, such as Ron Jaworski, Randall Cunningham or Donovan McNabb, was never enough: Maybe, as with Van Brocklin and Jurgensen, they needed 2.)
Sonny was named to the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame, the NFL's 1960s All-Decade Team, the Philadelphia Eagles Hall of Fame and the Washington Redskins Ring of Fame. He and Hall of Fame linebacker Sam Huff formed a beloved broadcasting team for the Redskins.
The Redskins don't officially retire numbers (Sammy Baugh's 33 is the lone exception), but Jurgensen's Number 9 has only been given out once since he retired after the 1974 season. That was in 2002, by new head coach Steve Spurrier, to one of his former University of Florida quarterbacks, Shane Matthews. He also gave Number 7, worn by Joe Theismann, to another of his Florida quarterbacks, Danny Wuerffel. Redskin fans were so angry that, before the regular season started, Spurrier got the message, and switched Wuerffel to 17 (there was no outcry over getting him Kilmer's number) and Matthews to 6. At 83, Sonny remains that beloved in the Potomac Valley.
4. Jim "Catfish" Hunter of Hertford. An 8-time All-Star, he reached 7 postseasons, winning the World Series with the Oakland Athletics in 1972, 1973 and 1974, and the Yankees in 1977 and 1978, also winning a Pennant with the '76 Yankees and a Division title with the '71 A's.
He pitched a perfect game with the A's in 1968, and won the American League Cy Young Award in 1974. There are 4 pitchers who won 200 major league games before their 31st birthday: Cy Young, Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson, and Catfish Hunter. Unfortunately, a shoulder injury cut his career short, and he ended just 224-166. But he was still elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, and the A's retired his Number 27. (The Yankees gave him Number 29, and have not retired it, or given him a Plaque in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium. They should.)
His status as the man who opened baseball's free agent era isn't really a factor here, but it did help him earn a status as 1 of 2 professional athletes -- imprisoned boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter is the other -- to have had a song written about him by Bob Dylan: "Catfish, million-dollar man, nobody can throw a ball like Catfish can." I cite the song even though it has him striking out his once-and-future teammate, my favorite athlete of all time, Reggie Jackson.
3. Bobby Bell of Shelby. It's hard to imagine a guy that big, especially back then, as a quarterback, but he was one in high school. He went to the University of Minnesota, and helped them win the National Championship as a center and a defensive tackle in 1960 and 1962. He won the 1962 Outland Trophy as "the nation's outstanding interior lineman."
With the Kansas City Chiefs, he was moved to linebacker. His coach, Hank Stram, said, "He could play all 22 positions on the field, and play them well." He was a 9-time All-Star, 6 times in the AFL and 3 in the NFL. He helped them win the 1966 and 1969 AFL Championships at Super Bowl IV. He was the 1st linebacker to return 6 interceptions for touchdowns, and only Derrick Brooks has matched that feat.
Minnesota and the Chiefs both retired Number 78 for him. He was named to the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame, the AFL All-Time Team, the NFL 1970s All-Decade Team,
The Sporting News' 1999 list of the 100 Greatest Football Players (ranking 66th), and the NFL Network's 2010 list of the 100 Greatest Players (ranking 69th).
2. James Worthy of Gastonia. "Big Game James" was the leader of the North Carolina team that won the 1982 National Championship. A 7-time All-Star, he won the 1985, 1987 and 1988 NBA Championships with the Los Angeles Lakers, and won the Bill Russell Award as Finals MVP in 1988.
His Number 52 was retired by North Carolina, and his Number 42 was retired by the Lakers. (Their Number 52 was being worn by, and was eventually retired for, Jamaal Wilkes.) He was named to the Basketball Hall of Fame and the NBA's 50th Anniversary 50 Greatest Players.
He is not the most famous member of that '82 Tar Heel team, but after seeing
Space Jam and Worthy's turn as a Klingon captain on
Star Trek: The Next Generation, I can say with confidence that Worthy is the best actor to have played on that team.
1. Michael Jordan of Wilmington. No, he's not the greatest basketball player who ever lived. That's Wilt Chamberlain, as I'll explain when I do this for Pennsylvania in a few days. But he did define an era of basketball.
He hit the shot that gave North Carolina the winning margin in the 1982 National Championship Game, as a freshman. He was National Player of the Year in 1984, giving up his senior year to turn pro.
At the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, he was a member of the best amateur basketball team that has ever been assembled. When the International Olympic Committee allowed professionals starting in 1992 in Barcelona, he was the centerpiece of the U.S. "Dream Team" that may have been the best team ever assembled, under any circumstances, in any sport. (It was so good, that year's college player of the year, Christian Laettner, was the 12th man, and is the only one not yet in the Basketball Hall of Fame.)
He played 15 seasons in the NBA, and was a 14-time All-Star -- the only time not making it was in 1994-95, when he ended the 1st of his 3 "retirements" too late to qualify for the All-Star Game. He won the 1985 NBA Rookie of the Year award, 5 NBA MVP awards, 3 All-Star Game MVP awards, and 6 Bill Russell Awards as MVP of the NBA Finals. Whether he deserved all 6 of those is debatable, but the fact is that he got into 6 NBA Finals, won them all, and none of them got to a Game 7.
His Number 23 was retired by North Carolina and the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls dedicated a statue of him outside the United Center. In 1991,
Sports Illustrated named him its Sportsman of the Year. He was named to the NBA's 50th Anniversary 50 Greatest Players before his 34th birthday. Of course, he was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
In 2016, President Barack Obama awarded him the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He also awarded it to Jordan's coach, Dean Smith, in 2013; and early black golf star Charlie Sifford in 2014. George H.W. Bush awarded it to Richard Petty in 1992.
True, Jordan never won a title without Phil Jackson and Scottie Pippen. And he got all the calls. And he made a fool of himself coming out of his 2nd retirement to play for the Washington Wizards. And, so far, he has been a busy as the owner of the Charlotte Hornets. And his personal life turned out to be messy. And the contrast between his "Republicans buy sneakers, too" copout in 1990 and LeBron James' "I Can't Breathe" T-shirt and tweet calling Donald Trump "U bum" should not be forgotten.
Nobody's perfect. Not even Michael Jordan. But for millions of people who never saw Wilt, Russell, Oscar, Clyde, Kareem, Dr. J, or young Magic, he still
is basketball.
