Great Athletes-Greater Glory

[Shann]

The thread about President Ford (great college football player, later football and boxing coach at Yale) got me thinking about great athletes who when on to even greater things. I thought I'd start a little list, please add to it. Nothing serious, just for fun.

Byron "Whizzer" White-All time college football great, played pro football when he wasn't a Rhodes Scholar and U.S. Supreme Court Justice.

Alan Page-Hall of Fame Defensive Lineman, Associate Justice Minnesota Supreme Court

Paul Robeson-2 time college All America football player, Phi Beta Kappa, Columbia Law grad, star of stage and screen (okay, not really "greater glory" but I did like the thread title ). All that success as a black man in a segregated world.

 

[Roadrunner]

Jim Ryun, first high school runner to break the 4 minute mile, a record which stood for thirty-six years, later a world record holder and Olympian in the mile, 1500 meters, and 800 yards, and now a US Congressman. I guess your political affiliation decides whether that last one is a great thing or not.

 

[SharpByCoop]

There is probably no awe-inspiring tale than that of John Kelly Sr. and John Kelly Jr.

John B. Kelly, Sr. who won 2 gold medals at the 1920 Summer Olympics, capturing both the single scull (1x) and the double scull (2x). The senior Kelly repeated his victory in the double scull at the 1924 Summer Olympics. In 1920, despite his accomplishments as an oarsman, the senior Kelly's entry was rejected at the most prestigious rowing event in the world, the Henley Royal Regatta. No explanation was given by the regatta, but the popular explanation was that he was not of the proper class because he worked with his hands as a bricklayer.

In 1947 the junior Kelly extracted revenge by winning the Diamond Challenge Sculls (single scull) at the Henley, the event to which his father had been denied entrance. Kelly was awarded the 1947 James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States for his achievement. Kelly repeated his victory at Henley in 1949.

The Henley Royal Regatta was the equivalent of the World Championships in that era.

Oh, and his sister was THE Grace Kelly of hollywood and Princess fame.

Coop