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WillJ
03-27-2019, 08:17 AM
I'm pleased that Zion won the Tisdale Award, and I'm also glad that it's named after Wayman Tisdale, an all-around good dude and my contemporary. In addition to being fairly Zionesque himself on the basketball court - left-handed, stocky, athletic (though not as athletic as Zion), charming - Wayman was also a very successful smooth jazz bass player, both during and after his basketball career, and his best-selling album, IIRC, was entitled "Power Forward." Thinking about Wayman got me wondering about other talented players who have achieved similar success in non-sports fields. Bill Bradley obviously comes to mind. Who else should be on the list?

weezie
03-27-2019, 09:25 AM
Gerald Ford? Football, Michigan?
Byron White?

OZZIE4DUKE
03-27-2019, 09:27 AM
I'm pleased that Zion won the Tisdale Award, and I'm also glad that it's named after Wayman Tisdale, an all-around good dude and my contemporary. In addition to being fairly Zionesque himself on the basketball court - left-handed, stocky, athletic (though not as athletic as Zion), charming - Wayman was also a very successful smooth jazz bass player, both during and after his basketball career, and his best-selling album, IIRC, was entitled "Power Forward." Thinking about Wayman got me wondering about other talented players who have achieved similar success in non-sports fields. Bill Bradley obviously comes to mind. Who else should be on the list?

Bernie Williams, formerly the All Star center fielder for the Yankees, one of the "Core Four"! He's a renowned guitarist/musician. :cool:

nmduke2001
03-27-2019, 09:44 AM
Kobe has an Oscar

Magic is a hugely successful business man

Shaq has sold tens of records...

rthomas
03-27-2019, 09:55 AM
Being an elite athlete certainly is not mutually exclusive to being excellent at other activities, being artistic, being a leader, or being smart. This list could go on infinitely.

But I do like Wayman Tisdale.

Kdogg
03-27-2019, 10:14 AM
Jamal Mashburn has become a very successful restaurant franchisee. He definitely made more off the court.

WillJ
03-27-2019, 10:53 AM
Good to know about Jamal Mashburn.....he always seemed like a good guy.

budwom
03-27-2019, 11:14 AM
Kobe has an Oscar

Magic is a hugely successful business man

Shaq has sold tens of records...

Ha, tens of records and dozens of Icy Hot Patches!

jimsumner
03-27-2019, 11:36 AM
Tom McMillen was a United States senator.

arnie
03-27-2019, 11:48 AM
Tom McMillen was a United States senator.

Tyler Hanstravel is a successful reader of children’s books.

WillJ
03-27-2019, 11:56 AM
Two more who made the transition from basketball to politics:

Dave Bing is a Syracuse star and all-time Detroit Piston great who ran a successful auto parts supply company and then, later, became a reforming mayor of Detroit in 2013....He didn't run for reelection, in part because he's now 75.

Kevin Johnson was also an all-start point guard in the 1990s and was a two-term mayor of Sacramento. He is also married to Michelle Rhee, the controversial former DC school superintendent. He was also the object of some sexual assaults that I cannot really evaluate. He also had one of the all-time great dunks on Akeem Olajuwon.

Hartford Dukie
03-27-2019, 11:57 AM
Tom McMillen was a United States senator.

Jim, you never make a mistake...you just got a little ahead of yourself.....Tom "only" was a Congressman (1987-93)...maybe, per your post, there is still a race left in him. :p

jimsumner
03-27-2019, 12:05 PM
Jim, you never make a mistake...you just got a little ahead of yourself...Tom "only" was a Congressman (1987-93)...maybe, per your post, there is still a race left in him. :p


Thanks for the correction. He was also a Rhodes Scholar. Lefty also had a Rhodes Scholar at Davidson. At one time he was the only CBB coach to have two Rhodes Scholars.

Wasn't Dwight David Eisenhower a pretty decent football player at the United States Military Academy?

I suspect the list of prominent politicians/military figures who were at least credible college athletes would run well into the hundreds. Maybe thousands.

Sounds like an ad for the NCAA.

sagegrouse
03-27-2019, 12:32 PM
Thanks for the correction. He was also a Rhodes Scholar. Lefty also had a Rhodes Scholar at Davidson. At one time he was the only CBB coach to have two Rhodes Scholars.

Wasn't Dwight David Eisenhower a pretty decent football player at the United States Military Academy?

I suspect the list of prominent politicians/military figures who were at least credible college athletes would run well into the hundreds. Maybe thousands.

Sounds like an ad for the NCAA.

Nixon played football at Whittier.

Kennedy was on the swim team at Harvard.

Bush 41 played baseball at Yale and appeared in the College World Series.

Reagan played football at Eureka.

Bay Area Duke Fan
03-27-2019, 12:40 PM
Wilt was supposedly a very prolific lover.

Pghdukie
03-27-2019, 12:46 PM
Jim Bunning, ex pitcher in MLB, had a very distinguished career in politics. He served in the US Senate and the US House of Representatives. Also served in the State of Kentucky Senate.
17 yr baseball career and 17 yrs in politics.

mr. synellinden
03-27-2019, 12:53 PM
Don’t forget about Jack Kemp.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kemp

And Steve Largent.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Largent

And J.C. Watts.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._C._Watts

Kdogg
03-27-2019, 01:04 PM
Are we going with people who just played sports in college/pro or where really good at it? A lot of successful people played sports but had unremarkable playing careers. For example CEO (Indra Nooyi - PepsiCo), Actors (Dwayne Johnson and Terry Crews) and politicians. I'm not sure now but when I was in school, recruiters loved student who played on team sports. It helps a lot of future business people and politicians enter the work force.

Tisdale and a few we have mentions were a successes on both stages.

Indoor66
03-27-2019, 01:15 PM
Nixon played football at Whittier.

Kennedy was on the swim team at Harvard.

Bush 41 played baseball at Yale and appeared in the College World Series.

Reagan played football at Eureka.

Gerald Ford played football at Michigan.

nmduke2001
03-27-2019, 01:32 PM
Ha, tens of records and dozens of Icy Hot Patches!

In all seriousness, Shaq has done pretty well for himself. He is a spokesperson for like 15 products. He's also a minority owner of the Sacramento Kings.

George Foreman did great as a spokesperson. If you ever hear Hulk Hogan tell the story about the grill you'll see how much luck was involved. Supposedly, Foreman and Hogan had the same agent. The agent called Hogan and Hogan wasn't home so he left a message. The message was something like this, "Terry (Hulk's real name), I have two products that need a name behind them. One is a meat ball maker and the other is an electric grill. Give me a call back. I'm calling Foreman too, so hurry." Foreman chose the grill and his estimated income from the grill is over $200 million.

MartyClark
03-27-2019, 03:39 PM
In all seriousness, Shaq has done pretty well for himself. He is a spokesperson for like 15 products. He's also a minority owner of the Sacramento Kings.

George Foreman did great as a spokesperson. If you ever hear Hulk Hogan tell the story about the grill you'll see how much luck was involved. Supposedly, Foreman and Hogan had the same agent. The agent called Hogan and Hogan wasn't home so he left a message. The message was something like this, "Terry (Hulk's real name), I have two products that need a name behind them. One is a meat ball maker and the other is an electric grill. Give me a call back. I'm calling Foreman too, so hurry." Foreman chose the grill and his estimated income from the grill is over $200 million.

I'm not a Shaq fan, so consider the source. I didn't like the way he beefed with Kobe and performed (?) derogatory rap songs about Kobe.

I'd argue that Shaq has not accomplished anything outside of basketball other than trading on his basketball fame. A terrible movie or two and pitching products aren't equivalent to accomplishing something in a different setting.

Yeah, I'm crabby but I hate it when people compare Zion to Shaq in terms of personality.

MChambers
03-28-2019, 08:10 PM
Although I’m sure he’s out of this business for now, Elton Brand, movie producer. I’ve seen Rescue Dawn, but not his other movies. Here’s a hairy link to the summary of his movie career: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1580954/

wilson
03-28-2019, 09:16 PM
I'm not a Shaq fan, so consider the source. I didn't like the way he beefed with Kobe and performed (?) derogatory rap songs about Kobe. ...because Kobe is such a stand-up guy?


I'd argue that Shaq has not accomplished anything outside of basketball other than trading on his basketball fame. A terrible movie or two and pitching products aren't equivalent to accomplishing something in a different setting.

Yeah, I'm crabby but I hate it when people compare Zion to Shaq in terms of personality.Admittedly, I am a Shaq fan, but I’d say this deeply underestimates Shaq’s entrepreneurial success. Aside from his various endorsements, he’s been quite successful as a restaurant franchisee, and has a significant real estate portfolio. He also somehow got in on Google stock before the IPO. Just because his big personality is his trademark doesn’t mean he’s not a savvy businessman.

johnb
03-29-2019, 01:06 AM
My favorite Tisdale line:

Someone asked him what it was like to have moved from Oklahoma to California. As I recall, he responded, “Ah, man, I don’t live in California, I Iive in Sacramento.” Having relatives in Sacramento, myself, I know what he meant...

WillJ
03-29-2019, 07:57 AM
My favorite Tisdale line:

Someone asked him what it was like to have moved from Oklahoma to California. As I recall, he responded, “Ah, man, I don’t live in California, I Iive in Sacramento.” Having relatives in Sacramento, myself, I know what he meant...

IDK about Sacremento as much, but IIRC there are many descendants of his fellow Oklahomans in Bakersfield.....I wonder what he'd have thought about moving there:)?