Who is the most influential athlete outside their sport?
Trophies are the smaller half of these careers. Shoes, broadcasts, laws and arguments came after.
1Muhammad AliA heavyweight champion whose fame, voice and convictions reached far past boxing.
2Michael JordanTurned an athlete's name into a global footwear business and a template every sport copied.
3PeleFootball's first worldwide celebrity, and a reason the sport took root in the United States.
4Jackie RobinsonHis 1947 debut changed American sport before it changed anything else.
5Billie Jean KingWon the Battle of the Sexes and built the women's professional tennis tour.
6Serena WilliamsReshaped tennis on court and became a fashion and investment figure off it.
7David BeckhamTook football into fashion, television and franchise ownership.
8LeBron JamesBuilt a media company and a public school while still playing at the top of the NBA.
9Kareem Abdul-JabbarThe NBA's long-time scoring leader who became an author and columnist.
10Arthur AsheThe first Black man to win Wimbledon, later known for his public health work.
11Cristiano RonaldoThe most-followed person on social media, and a brand in his own right.
12Tiger WoodsMultiplied golf's audience and its prize money in a single career.
13Babe RuthBaseball's first mass-media star, famous well beyond the sport in the 1920s.
14Simone BilesChanged how sport talks about mental health while rewriting her own discipline.
#sports648#celebrities132#legends375#all-time318
Comments
Reach rather than performance is the measure, and Billie Jean King, Arthur Ashe and Jackie Robinson each took a personal risk: https://youpick.best/articles/babe-ruth-ranked-many-ways https://youpick.best/articles/muhammad-ali-ranked-many-ways
