Gable Steveson

[Peak Out]

Jim Thorpe.

https://olympics.com/en/athletes/jim-thorpe

 

[Ched64]

12 hours ago, WrestleFan12 said:

Don’t forget Jim Thorpe. A couple of Olympic gold medals (decathlon and pentathlon), and played professionally in three sports in the United States (baseball, football, and basketball). He also considered playing professional hockey, but that never panned out. At 6 feet 1 and 200 pounds, he was a solidly built athlete. Thorpe is currently in the NFL Hall of Fame.

if i recall correctly he was also one of the great lacrosse players of his era

[flyingcement]

Just now, Ched64 said:

if i recall correctly he was also one of the great lacrosse players of his era

This is why I vote Thorpe for greatest American athlete of all time.  Its the demonstration of relative success across an unheard of number of athletic events.  Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders were awesome but they had two elite sports that just happened to have a ton of fanfare.  If you were drafting people for a team, before knowing what the sport was, Thorpe would be the guy

[RockLobster]

2 hours ago, flyingcement said:

This is why I vote Thorpe for greatest American athlete of all time.  Its the demonstration of relative success across an unheard of number of athletic events.  Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders were awesome but they had two elite sports that just happened to have a ton of fanfare.  If you were drafting people for a team, before knowing what the sport was, Thorpe would be the guy

That's a new twist to the topic. Hmmm... if I were to take that into consideration, it would change things.

Barry Sanders would be my updated choice in the "don't know what the sport was" category.

I see Barry surpassing Thorpe (and everyone else) when competing in all sports across the board.

[flyingcement]

1 minute ago, RockLobster said:

That's a new twist to the topic. Hmmm... if I were to take that into consideration, it would change things.

Barry Sanders would be my updated choice in the "don't know what the sport was" category.

I see Barry surpassing Thorpe (and everyone else) when competing in all sports across the board.

That could be true.  He has the argument of depth in one sport.  Did he play any other sports at a high level? He is my favorite football player of all time but that's just one sport. 

[gimpeltf]

Another one that I haven't noticed mentioned and is similar in breadth of sports skills is Jim Brown. Was arguable the best football player (runner at least) and was considered even better at Lacrosse. I believe some rules changes came about because of him. The Premiere Lacrosse League has an award in his name. At Syracuse he also played Basketball (9th round draft pick) and ran track. At 230+ he ran a sub 4.5 40.

[Shann]

Jim Brown. Greatest running back ever. Greatest lacrosse player ever.  

 

Walter Ray Williams, Jr. PBA hall of famer, six time world horseshoe champ.  Okay, kidding, but maybe best hand eye coordination ever? 

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

4 hours ago, gimpeltf said:

Another one that I haven't noticed mentioned and is similar in breadth of sports skills is Jim Brown. Was arguable the best football player (runner at least) and was considered even better at Lacrosse. I believe some rules changes came about because of him. The Premiere Lacrosse League has an award in his name. At Syracuse he also played Basketball (9th round draft pick) and ran track. At 230+ he ran a sub 4.5 40.

He was amazing.  If I recall, he was bigger, or around the same size, as linemen back in his day.  And he could run.

I believe in lax, he was able to "withhold" the ball by compressing his stick to his chest, put his head down and run people over.  You can't do that anymore!

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

1 minute ago, Shann said:

Jim Brown. Greatest running back ever. Greatest lacrosse player ever.  

 

Walter Ray Williams, Jr. PBA hall of famer, six time world horseshoe champ.  Okay, kidding, but maybe best hand eye coordination ever? 

We would have to see him in cornhole to know for sure.

[ionel]

1 hour ago, Shann said:

Jim Brown. Greatest running back ever. Greatest lacrosse player ever.   

Barry Sanders best running back ever and top notch at pickleball! 

[Jim L]

15 hours ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

The obvious, and unquestioned, greatest athlete is Zambian, Nanu. After being seen outrunning a cheetah in his home country, he came to the United States and singlehandedly won the NCAA track and Field Tournament in 1973. Though it was touch and go due to his rough start (he fell/slid backward on his first long jump attempt and his first javelin attempt went backward), following a key coaching adjustment he won the 440, high jump, javelin, shot put, pole vault, discuss, long jump, and another track event in just 2 minutes and 9 seconds.

 

 I actually googled this because ii sounded almost real at first, after googling and rereading I feel pretty foolish

[Jim L]

9 hours ago, RockLobster said:

That's a new twist to the topic. Hmmm... if I were to take that into consideration, it would change things.

Barry Sanders would be my updated choice in the "don't know what the sport was" category.

I see Barry surpassing Thorpe (and everyone else) when competing in all sports across the board.

I was a Barry Sanders fan as well, but he was not even the starting RB on his college team until his Senior year, IIRC.

Hard to believe was a pure athlete and had things come easy to him.

[ionel]

9 minutes ago, Jim L said:

I was a Barry Sanders fan as well, but he was not even the starting RB on his college team until his Senior year, IIRC.

Hard to believe was a pure athlete and had things come easy to him.

He didn't play college his senior year.  He was backup to Thurman Thomas his So year.  Pretty sure lead the country in kickoff & put returns Fr or So yr even though a ND player won Hiesman for same.  His So year Barry Switzer told his OU players don't hurt Thurman cause we don't want to see the backup. 

Edited May 21 by ionel

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

4 minutes ago, ionel said:

He didn't play college his senior year.  He was backup to Thurman Thomas his So year.  Pretty sure lead the country in kickoff & put returns Fr or So yr even though a ND player won Hiesman for same.  His So year Barry Switzer told his OU players don't hurt Thurman cause we don't want to see the backup. 

Unstoppable in Tecmo Bowl.

[Wrestleknownothing]

20 minutes ago, Jim L said:

 I actually googled this because ii sounded almost real at first, after googling and rereading I feel pretty foolish

I believe they made a documentary about him:

 

[billyhoyle]

12 hours ago, Ched64 said:

if i recall correctly he was also one of the great lacrosse players of his era

Jim Brown

[ionel]

7 hours ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

I believe they made a documentary about him:

 

If only we had video of Wkn out running a chettah in a speedo.  

[ionel]

At the risk of getting back on topic:

 

[MPhillips]

16 hours ago, Interviewed_at_Weehawken said:

Unstoppable in Tecmo Bowl.

Sweep right...

[nhs67]

Steveson would have to reduce a lot of his mass to be a functional HB.  He isn't really tall enough to play any other position.  Derek Henry is the unicorn that is typically 250+ as a HB, but he is also 6'3" tall.

I know he has the athleticism and all that to do what so many just can't... but size and frame matters a lot when it comes to coaching schemes.

You don't see 6'0" tackles anymore unless they have a 7'0" wingspan (which is what matters there).

Does he have hands?  He would be a short Tight End, but he would probably be the most athletic tight end in the league were he to go that route.

What are his actual physical stats?  6'0" 255lbs?  Wingspan?  Bench Press?  Vertical Jump?  Is he even an offensive guy?  Does he go the route of OLB in a 4-3 or EDGE in a 3-4?  He doesn't have the experience to jump in the middle and play MLB.

I would love for football to be his sport as it would go a long way to showing/proving that wrestling is the way to go.

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

53 minutes ago, nhs67 said:

Steveson would have to reduce a lot of his mass to be a functional HB.  He isn't really tall enough to play any other position.  Derek Henry is the unicorn that is typically 250+ as a HB, but he is also 6'3" tall.

I know he has the athleticism and all that to do what so many just can't... but size and frame matters a lot when it comes to coaching schemes.

You don't see 6'0" tackles anymore unless they have a 7'0" wingspan (which is what matters there).

Does he have hands?  He would be a short Tight End, but he would probably be the most athletic tight end in the league were he to go that route.

What are his actual physical stats?  6'0" 255lbs?  Wingspan?  Bench Press?  Vertical Jump?  Is he even an offensive guy?  Does he go the route of OLB in a 4-3 or EDGE in a 3-4?  He doesn't have the experience to jump in the middle and play MLB.

I would love for football to be his sport as it would go a long way to showing/proving that wrestling is the way to go.

I agree with a bunch of this stuff.  Some pretty athletic TE out there these days and blocking is part of the game.  I can't imagine him blocking a decent DE nor running good routes, so TE is prob out.

His lack of any football experience and his relatively short stature are both going to work against him.

[nhs67]

3 minutes ago, Interviewed_at_Weehawken said:

I agree with a bunch of this stuff.  Some pretty athletic TE out there these days and blocking is part of the game.  I can't imagine him blocking a decent DE nor running good routes, so TE is prob out.

His lack of any football experience and his relatively short stature are both going to work against him.

We know he's athletic... probably the most athletic heavyweight we have had this millennium.  That said, what does that mean for top speed?  He could run a ~4.7s 40, but a ~6s 3 cone drill and that would tell us a lot more about position.  Those are elite EDGE numbers.  If he does that with a 12 rep bench, then he isn't a DE, he's potentially an OLB... but then he would need higher top end speed, so undesirable there.

This is all conjecture, mind you.  I don't know any of his stats aside for height/weight, and it is likely that we never will.

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

Just now, nhs67 said:

We know he's athletic... probably the most athletic heavyweight we have had this millennium.  That said, what does that mean for top speed?  He could run a ~4.7s 40, but a ~6s 3 cone drill and that would tell us a lot more about position.  Those are elite EDGE numbers.  If he does that with a 12 rep bench, then he isn't a DE, he's potentially an OLB... but then he would need higher top end speed, so undesirable there.

This is all conjecture, mind you.  I don't know any of his stats aside for height/weight, and it is likely that we never will.

Yes.  He's super quick in small spaces, but can he fly in an open field?  He's going to be able to use his hands to keep guys off of him, but could get faked out every play or line up incorrectly.

Gable is certainly unreal.  I would also argue that Stephen Neal was pretty athletic and had the size, but just misses this millenium! (2000 OTT)

[nhs67]

8 minutes ago, Interviewed_at_Weehawken said:

Yes.  He's super quick in small spaces, but can he fly in an open field?  He's going to be able to use his hands to keep guys off of him, but could get faked out every play or line up incorrectly.

Gable is certainly unreal.  I would also argue that Stephen Neal was pretty athletic and had the size, but just misses this millenium! (2000 OTT)

Neal was 6'4" and was all of 130 KG (~285lbs) for his wrestling days.  He also played with a wingspan of a 6'8" Tackle, metaphorically speaking.

He was the only wrestler to out-athlete Brock, IIRC during his days, but a lot of it had to do with just having a longer/larger frame.

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

1 minute ago, nhs67 said:

Neal was 6'4" and was all of 130 KG (~285lbs) for his wrestling days.  He also played with a wingspan of a 6'8" Tackle, metaphorically speaking.

He was the only wrestler to out-athlete Brock, IIRC during his days, but a lot of it had to do with just having a longer/larger frame.

Yes, very very helpful to be tall and long.  Also had an amazing gas tank.  His 1999 run through pan ams and worlds included a ton of come from behind wins, many of which were high scoring.

Was actually on the smaller size coming into college.  Maybe a sucked out 189 his senior year of high school.  Very good all around athlete in high school.  I think he may have been on the tennis team, for instance.