Why Bo Jackson is the Greatest Athlete Ever

It's one of sports' greatest arguments: who is the greatest athlete ever? ESPN ranked Michael Jordan, Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown and Wayne Gretzky as their top five (in that order). Tiger Woods' phenomenal run has columnists backing his candidacy, and Lance Armstrong's seven Tour de France titles earned him nominations from bloggers and writers across the country. Dozens of other athletes - from Wilt Chamberlain to Jack Nicklaus to Mario Lemieux - can make strong arguments.

But it says here that the undisputed champ is the country's greatest all-around athlete, the only player to make an All-Star Game and a Pro Bowl: Vincent Edward "Bo" Jackson. Had Jackson's career not been cut short by a freak injury, undoubtedly he would have ranked higher than 72nd (72nd!!) on ESPN's SportsCentury Top 100 Athletes List. As it is, Bo Jackson's accomplishments are simply staggering.

To repeat, Bo Jackson was the only player ever to be selected as an All-Star in two sports (he homered in the 1989 baseball All-Star Game, and was selected to the 1991 Pro Bowl but missed the game due to injury). In 38 NFL games, Jackson averaged an astounding 5.4 yards per carry (by comparison, Jim Brown averaged 5.2 ypc, Barry Sanders 5.0, Walter Payton 4.4 and Emmitt Smith 4.2) A quick YouTube review of Jackson's highlight reel reminds us just how dominating Bo could be. (His most famous run, a 91-yard dash against Seattle on Monday Night Football his rookie year looked almost as impressive as his famous character in Nintendo's Super Tecmo Bowl.) The only player with two touchdown runs over 90 yards, Jackson was one of the, if not the, most electric players in the NFL during his four-year career. His college career was equally impressive: over 4,000 career yards, capped with the 1985 Heisman Trophy and a place in the College Football Hall of Fame.