# Who is the most influential athlete outside their sport?

> Trophies are the smaller half of these careers. Shoes, broadcasts, laws and arguments came after.

*By YPB Team · Published August 2, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/who-is-the-most-influential-athlete-outside-their-sport*

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## Current results (0 votes)

1. **Muhammad Ali**
   A heavyweight champion whose fame, voice and convictions reached far past boxing.
2. **Michael Jordan**
   Turned an athlete's name into a global footwear business and a template every sport copied.
3. **Pele**
   Football's first worldwide celebrity, and a reason the sport took root in the United States.
4. **Jackie Robinson**
   His 1947 debut changed American sport before it changed anything else.
5. **Billie Jean King**
   Won the Battle of the Sexes and built the women's professional tennis tour.
6. **Serena Williams**
   Reshaped tennis on court and became a fashion and investment figure off it.
7. **David Beckham**
   Took football into fashion, television and franchise ownership.
8. **LeBron James**
   Built a media company and a public school while still playing at the top of the NBA.
9. **Kareem Abdul-Jabbar**
   The NBA's long-time scoring leader who became an author and columnist.
10. **Arthur Ashe**
   The first Black man to win Wimbledon, later known for his public health work.
11. **Cristiano Ronaldo**
   The most-followed person on social media, and a brand in his own right.
12. **Tiger Woods**
   Multiplied golf's audience and its prize money in a single career.
13. **Babe Ruth**
   Baseball's first mass-media star, famous well beyond the sport in the 1920s.
14. **Simone Biles**
   Changed how sport talks about mental health while rewriting her own discipline.

Tags: sports, celebrities, legends, all-time