Best Duke Athlete?

[Phredd3]

I think Nancy Hogshead may have the strongest claim. She won three gold medals and a silver at the 1984 summer Olympics as a swimmer.

This is also a worthwhile story about Nancy Hogshead-Makar. One look at that picture is all you need to determine she was a dedicated athlete, but the article is even better - just be aware that parts are very traumatic and positively heart-wrenching. That's one strong lady.

[MartyClark]

Wow - re the swimmers and land thing. My "is it a sport" yardstick is that if you can smoke and play then it ain't a sport. This means pool/billiards, darts, and, yes, golf are out. Swimming is definitely in!

Yeah, I get it and you may be right. I was the head lifeguard for a number of summers at a huge suburban Chicago, pool complex. I was the rare non swim team guy. None of the swim team guys could play basketball, softball (16 " in Chicago in those days), tennis, or touch football. They could all kick my you know what in the pool but they were ungainly out of water.

Their athletic skills were limited to swimming. Could I be wrong on this? Absolutely. But swimmers in my day were tough, focused and relatively uncoordinated in other sports.

Hate me if you want, it's okay.

[jimmymax]

No hate Marty -- all friends here. Plus, you were a favorite back in the day: red cheeks and brush cut...

[MartyClark]

Yeah, I get it and you may be right. I was the head lifeguard for a number of summers at a huge suburban Chicago, pool complex. I was the rare non swim team guy. None of the swim team guys could play basketball, softball (16 " in Chicago in those days), tennis, or touch football. They could all kick my you know what in the pool but they were ungainly out of water.

Their athletic skills were limited to swimming. Could I be wrong on this? Absolutely. But swimmers in my day were tough, focused and relatively uncoordinated in other sports.

Hate me if you want, it's okay.

Not to add to the disagreement but in thinking about this, I was reminded of my glory days 50 years ago. Our suburban Chicago team had an annual softball game against the neighboring lifeguards from Mount Prospect, Illinois. We played 16 inch softball (kitten ball to some) without gloves in those days. The ball was so stinking hard in early innings but softened up by the 7th inning. Pitchers could step off the mound and give up to three fakes on a high arcing, slow, lob to the plate. Unlike fast pitch, 12" softball, the ball was always in play and, in my opinion, athleticism was necessary to succeed.

Mount Prospect had a tall, athletic first baseman. He hit two balls further than I have ever seen. Talking with him after the game, I learned he was Dave Kingman, pitcher for USC and subsequent MLB player with huge home runs, low batting average, and huge strikeout ratio. At one point, before the steroid era, I think he was the only MLB player to have 400 homeruns and not make the Hall of Fame

[johnb]

Any argument that casually dismisses swimmers should start within 15 seconds of the arguer completing the 100m butterfly. If completing it legally were the requirement, most argues will have drowned.

On a separate note, does anyone recall why ABC cancelled the Superstars competition?

[DU82]

Any argument that casually dismisses swimmers should start within 15 seconds of the arguer completing the 100m butterfly. If completing it legally were the requirement, most argues will have drowned.

On a separate note, does anyone recall why ABC cancelled the Superstars competition?

Declining ratings, I’m sure.

[MartyClark]

Any argument that casually dismisses swimmers should start within 15 seconds of the arguer completing the 100m butterfly. If completing it legally were the requirement, most argues will have drowned.

On a separate note, does anyone recall why ABC cancelled the Superstars competition?

Nah, very specific skill of strength and endurance. Nothing to do with coordination. hand eye coordination, agility, lateral movement, foot speed, jumping ability, foot speed, reaction time or other generally recognized elements of athletic ability.

I'm not dissing swimmers, who I admire, but they are generally the geeks of non water sports.

[Bay Area Duke Fan]

Sime, as in "Jim."

the term "best athlete" is treacherous. It is complicated by the fact that track and field at the Olympics has always been called "athletics." And, no, I don't think a discussion of best athlete should be confined to a discussion of running and jumping feats.

I would settle for a discussion of "most successful" in sports.

Seems to me that Dick Groat clearly wins that designation.

Basketball - 2-time AA, NPOY, 1st retired jersey, College Hall of Fame, NBA (one season).

Baseball - 2-time AA, College Hall of Fame, NL MVP, World Series Champion, 5-time All-Star.

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

I don't bet, but I'd put my money on Ace Parker.
https://www.pilotonline.com/sports/n...yza-story.html

[sagegrouse]

I don't bet, but I'd put my money on Ace Parker.
https://www.pilotonline.com/sports/n...yza-story.html

I had a friend on the baseball team back in the day who reminisced about Ace. Parker was about 50. He said, neck down, he looked like a 21 year old. Playing golf with Parker on the road when my friend wasn't scheduled to pitch, Ace would pick up any old set of clubs and shoot 75.

[bundabergdevil]

This is also a worthwhile story about Nancy Hogshead-Makar. One look at that picture is all you need to determine she was a dedicated athlete, but the article is even better - just be aware that parts are very traumatic and positively heart-wrenching. That's one strong lady.

Wow. Thanks for sharing this. A tough read about an amazing lady.

[DevilHorse]

This is also a worthwhile story about Nancy Hogshead-Makar. One look at that picture is all you need to determine she was a dedicated athlete, but the article is even better - just be aware that parts are very traumatic and positively heart-wrenching. That's one strong lady.

Interesting about Nancy Hogshead. I recall being in a Drs' office and seeing a picture of Hogshead behind him. Being a Dukie, I asked why. He said that she had exercise-induced bronchospasm and had overcome it. She was inspiring other people who had this breathing disorder and could be an elite athlete.

Larry
DevilHorse

[Wander]

Great discussion here, learned a lot. Also good to have now, because in 10–15 years Zion will have caused the conversation to be not very interesting.

[sagegrouse]

Great discussion here, learned a lot. Also good to have now, because in 10–15 years Zion will have caused the conversation to be not very interesting.

I hope you're right (and I hope I'm here to see it), but Zion needs to figure a way to stay on the court. He's been injured or unavailable every year -- one at Duke, two with the Pelicans.

[roywhite]

I hope you're right (and I hope I'm here to see it), but Zion needs to figure a way to stay on the court. He's been injured or unavailable every year -- one at Duke, two with the Pelicans.

To be fair to Zion, he is second on his team currently in games played, second in games started, and second in minutes played per game. The broken finger is unfortunate (and the Pelicans think it is more than that) but he has shown an ability to play major minutes this year.

[sagegrouse]

Interesting about Nancy Hogshead. I recall being in a Drs' office and seeing a picture of Hogshead behind him. Being a Dukie, I asked why. He said that she had exercise-induced bronchospasm and had overcome it. She was inspiring other people who had this breathing disorder and could be an elite athlete.

Larry
DevilHorse

Does Nancy Hogshead get extra credit for being the second person on the giant Jockey underwear billboard on Times Square? The first was Oriole pitcher Jim Palmer.

[Jim3k]

Nah, very specific skill of strength and endurance. Nothing to do with coordination. hand eye coordination, agility, lateral movement, foot speed, jumping ability, foot speed, reaction time or other generally recognized elements of athletic ability.

I'm not dissing swimmers, who I admire, but they are generally the geeks of non water sports.

I have two brothers who were each All-American swimmers, both Yale ('65, '67), butterfly (world class) and free. And both were varsity (one was all-Ivy) lacrosse players (attack, defense). Their hand-eye was stunning. So, in my experience, swimmers can be good athletes outside the pool. [Both say that their best back then wouldn't be very good today. Maybe respectable, but maybe not.]

Anyway, I will defend many swimmers as multi-sport athletes. Even though I was barely a decent intra-mural athlete at Duke--meaning not an athlete at all.

[sagegrouse]

I have two brothers who were each All-American swimmers, both Yale ('65, '67), butterfly (world class) and free. And both were varsity (one was all-Ivy) lacrosse players (attack, defense). Their hand-eye was stunning. So, in my experience, swimmers can be good athletes outside the pool. [Both say that their best back then wouldn't be very good today. Maybe respectable, but maybe not.]

Anyway, I will defend many swimmers as multi-sport athletes. Even though I was barely a decent intra-mural athlete at Duke--meaning not an athlete at all.

You are making the point, House J mate, that great athleticism doesn't disqualify one from becoming a great swimmer.