# The 14 Greatest Athletes of the 1920s

> Golf, boxing, tennis, swimming, distance running and one racehorse, all inside a single decade.

*By YPB Team · Published August 9, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-14-greatest-athletes-of-the-1920s*

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## Current results (0 votes)

1. **Babe Ruth**
   Hit 54 home runs in 1920, 59 in 1921 and 60 in 1927, and made baseball a national obsession.
2. **Jack Dempsey**
   The heavyweight champion whose fights drew the first million-dollar gates.
3. **Red Grange**
   The Galloping Ghost, who dragged professional football into the mainstream.
4. **Bobby Jones**
   An amateur who beat the professionals and completed the Grand Slam in 1930.
5. **Bill Tilden**
   Ruled men's tennis through the decade with ten major titles.
6. **Ty Cobb**
   Still playing, still hitting, and still the game's most disliked star.
7. **Lou Gehrig**
   Began the streak in 1925 and by 1927 was the second-best hitter in his own lineup.
8. **Walter Hagen**
   Golf's first showman professional, with four straight PGA Championships.
9. **Johnny Weissmuller**
   Five Olympic swimming golds before Hollywood cast him as Tarzan.
10. **Gertrude Ederle**
   The first woman to swim the English Channel, and faster than any man had.
11. **Paavo Nurmi**
   The Flying Finn, nine Olympic golds and a stack of world records in distance running.
12. **Suzanne Lenglen**
   The French champion who made tennis fashionable and barely lost a match.
13. **Knute Rockne**
   Notre Dame's coach, whose teams and speeches defined college football in the decade.
14. **Man o' War**
   The racehorse that lost once in 21 starts and was voted athlete of the era by more than one panel.

Tags: usa, sports, athletes, legends, 20s