# Top 18 North American Athletes of the 20th Century

> Eleven different sports, one century, and a shortlist that famously found room for a horse. Comparing across disciplines is where the arguments start.

*By YPB Team · Published August 20, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/top-18-north-american-athletes-of-the-20th-century*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Michael Jordan** — score 1000/1000
   Six NBA titles, five MVPs, and the most recognisable athlete of the television era.
2. **Jackie Robinson** — score 852/1000
   Broke baseball's colour line in 1947 and won the MVP two years later.
3. **Wayne Gretzky** — score 691/1000
   Holds hockey's career records for goals, assists and points, most by margins nobody has narrowed.
4. **Secretariat** — score 639/1000
   The only non-human on ESPN's SportsCentury top 50, ranked 35th for the 1973 Triple Crown.
5. **Jack Nicklaus** — score 624/1000
   Won 18 major championships across four decades, still the benchmark in golf.
6. **Bill Russell** — score 511/1000
   Won eleven NBA championships in thirteen seasons, the deepest winning record in team sport.
7. **Babe Ruth** — score 511/1000
   Rewrote baseball's power records and turned the home run into the sport's central event.
8. **Willie Mays** — score 511/1000
   660 home runs, twelve Gold Gloves, and the catch that still defines outfield defence.
9. **Joe Louis** — score 443/1000
   Held the heavyweight title for nearly twelve years and defended it 25 times.
10. **Jim Brown** — score 443/1000
   Led the NFL in rushing eight times in nine seasons, then retired at 30 at his peak.
11. **Jim Thorpe** — score 365/1000
   Won the 1912 Olympic pentathlon and decathlon, then played professional football and baseball.
12. **Muhammad Ali** — score 365/1000
   Three-time heavyweight champion whose refusal of the draft made him a global political figure.
13. **Hank Aaron** — score 365/1000
   Passed Ruth's home run record in 1974 under a torrent of hate mail and finished with 755.
14. **Jackie Joyner-Kersee** — score 365/1000
   Won six Olympic medals and still holds the heptathlon world record set in 1988.
15. **Jim Ryun** — score 365/1000
   Broke the mile world record as a teenager and held it for eight years.
16. **Wilt Chamberlain** — score 275/1000
   Averaged 50 points across a season and scored 100 in a single game, both still untouched.
17. **Jesse Owens** — score 46/1000
   Won four golds at the 1936 Berlin Olympics in front of the regime staging them.
18. **Ted Williams** — score 46/1000
   The last man to bat .400 in a season, and he did it in 1941 aged 22.

Tags: usa, sports, athletes