Athletes you "looked up to" while growing up

[DrA]

To be honest, I don't really I ever really idolized any sports player to the extent that I put all of their posters on my wall and wanted to emulate the way they played, but there were a few guys whose style I liked which made me impressed by them.

Guys who come to mind for me are:

Joe Don Looney
Deion Sanders
Tony Dorsett
Michael Johnson
Muhammad Ali
Jessie Owens
Jim Brown
Bobby Morrow
a lot of random track and field guys
Emmitt Smith
Barry Sanders
Walter Payton
Jerry Rice
Michael Irvin
Terrell Owens the second he danced on the star
Chris Jericho

Wasn't really into basketball stars, since the Dallas Mavericks were awful for most of my life. I never was into baseball or hockey, either. Since I was a boy living in Dallas in the early 90's, I was contractually obliged to love all of the Dallas Cowboys.

I was never into quarterbacks; I always preferred running backs more. My coach in elementary school got me into track when I was young, so I liked a lot of those guys. All the other guys on my list were just cool in my book.

Post a list of a lot of sports people you liked, idolized, looked up to, whatever.

[RoXer]

Bo Jackson
Ken Griffey Jr.
A-Rod (Mariners)
Jay Buhner
Troy Aikman

[Funky Fly]

Never really modeled myself after athletes. But the ones I respected most as a kid were

Michael Jordan
Wayne Gretsky
Bret Hart (shut up)
Scottie Pippen

[Kapoutman]

Mario Lemieux
Wayne Gretzky
Patrick Roy
Joe Sakic
...Russ Courtnall. :o

[Nervous Ferret]

Tino Martinez
Curtis Martin
Micheal Jordan
Troy Aikman

When Tino won the Home Run Derby in '97? Holy shit, couldn't have loved that guy more

[Crimson]

Emmit Smith
Troy Aikman
Michael Jordan
Hulk Hogan (hey..i bought into the hype when i was 10)

[El Fangel]

Hasek
Roy
Brodeur
Sawchuk
Plante

[FakeLaser]

Derek Jeter
Tino Martinez
David Cone
Don Mattingly
Ken Griffey Jr.
Michael Jordan

[Jesus Shuttlesworth]

Steamin Willie Beaman

[FakeLaser]

Mike Stima

[RP]

Ricky " Wild Thang " Vaughn

[SammyG]

Cedric Ceballos
Luke Robitaille
Mike Piazza
Issac Bruce

[OssMan]

Michael Jordan was my favorite guy, I dunno. Detlef Scrempf. I had a picture of Mark McGwire on my wall when I was like 10 even though I didn't even like him that much. It was in Sports Illustrated for Kids or something

[ct2k]

Michael Jordan
Scottie Pippen
Derek Jeter
Bernie Williams
Duncan Ferguson
Zinedine Zidane
Ronnie O'Sullivan


Snooker is a sport ftw

[El Capitano Gatisto]

No athletes. Footballers.

Romario

[Cooler Tom Schuler]

Kirby Puckett
Brett Favre

[VonErichLives]

Dr A. I find it interesting that some of the guys you looked up to or whatever we're calling it while you were growing up, finished playing before you were born.


for me...

Rod Carew
Kevin McHale
are the top 2 that come to mind.

[weather vane]

Ray Bourque
Cam Neely
Mo Vaughn
Dan Marino

[VonErichLives]

Dan Marino

You have just been officially deported from the state of Massachusetts.

[Jesus Shuttlesworth]

You have just been officially deported from the state of Massachusetts.

He's not from Massachusetts, he isn't even from America lol

[VonErichLives]

He's not from Massachusetts, he isn't even from America lol

yeah, he's a bruins fan... i should have figured he's not a local :)

[Skippord]

John Elway
Patrick Roy
Larry Walker
Rod Smith

[CSL]

Hulk Hogan
Shawn Michaels
Ryan Giggs
Eric Cantona
Lee Sharpe
Wayne Gretzky
Teemu Selanne
Jason Sehorn

[ron the dial]

The Bulls

[MVP]

Michael Jordan
John Elway
Roger Clemens (until 1999)
Raymond Bourque
Wayne Gretzky
Ken Griffey Jr.
Ben Coates

[RoXer]

Come on guys, BO JACKSON!

[McLegend]

Bo Jackson

[ct2k]

Roberto Baggio

[FakeLaser]

The Bulls
yeahhhhhhh

[ct2k]

The Knicks

[redoneja]

Kinda surprised no one has said Cal Ripken Jr.

[Stickman]

Patrick Roy
The Great One

[ClockShot]

Jim Abbott
Jimmy Key
Bernie Williams
Patrick Ewing
John Sparks
Drew Bledsoe (During his Pats run.)
John Elway
Terrell Davis

Hockey never really struck a chord with me until my Uncle took me to a game.

[Funky Fly]

Roberto Baggio

BAGGIOOOOOOOOOOOOO

This one friend of mine has had this old Inter kit with Baggio's name for the longest time, and every now and then when he would be wearing it random people would call out "HEY BAGGIOOO!" and other such nonsense.

[Shisen Kopf]

Steve Yzerman
Alan Trammell
Bill Laimbeer
Joe Dumars
Barry Sanders
Joe Montana
Jim Kelly
Boomer Esiason
Latrell Sprewell--he's gotta feed his fam

[ct2k]

I saw an AC Van Basten shirt recently, hot

[ron the dial]

Luc Longley
BJ Armstrong
Toni Kukoc
Bill Wennington
Steve Kerr
Ron Harper
Dickey Simpkins
and of course The Holy Trinity

To be more specific.

[FakeLaser]

Bill "Beef" Wennington is my favorite player ever

[Funky Fly]

Luc Longley
BJ Armstrong
Toni Kukoc
Bill Wennington
Steve Kerr
Ron Harper
Dickey Simpkins
and of course The Holy Trinity

To be more specific.

lol Bulls fan? :D

[Rob]

Mark Hughes
Bret Hart
Roberto Baggio
Nigel Benn

[RBM]

Ken Griffey Jr

Alex Rodriguez (while on the Mariners)

Tom Glavine

Greg Maddux

Michael Jordan

[Ninti the Mad]

I never really looked up to athletes but I did admire David Robinson for his demeanor.

Also, many of the Cowboys from Troy Aikman to Leon Lett.

[Triple A]

John Starks
Patrick Ewing
Mark Price
Boomer Esiason kinda
Barry Sanders

[BCWWF]

Cris Carter
Kirby Puckett
Sam Mitchell
Cobi Jones
Marcel Desially

I don't know, I'm kind of jaded now that I've gotten into the business. I mean I could name a lot of players who I thought were the shit, but I can't really think of a lot of players I really "looked up" to.

[ct2k]

Shit forgot, Frank Bruno:y:

[DaveWadding]

Michael Finley
Dan Majerle
Kevin Johnson
Charles Barkley
Jim Thome
Sammy Sosa
Kurt Warner
Marshall Faulk
Reggie White
Emmitt Smith

and throw this guy on the top...

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s11/DaveWadding/DSC02089sm.jpg

[DaveBrawl]

John Elway
Greg Maddux
Larry Walker
Daute Bichette
John Rocker (he was the end all be all closer to me)
Bret Hart
Chris Benoit (yeah...)

[WestNZ]

For me, the list is:

Martin Crowe
Mark Greatbatch
Christopher and Lance Cairns

Ok, so they are cricket players, but still good at what they done

[ron the dial]

heeyyyyyy good first post

[Juan]

Ricky Henderson
Jose Canseco
Mark McGuire
Dennis Eckersley

[WestNZ]

add to my list Jaromir Jagr, Wayne Gretzky (sorry if spelt wrong) and Patrick Roy. Seeing that ice hockey was the only american sport i was allowed to watch, watching these guys was just awesome

[The Lone Wolf]

Michael Jordan
Ken Griffey Jr.
John Elway
Doug Flutie

[The Gold Standard]

Bernie Williams

He always played the game with class. Never said anything bad about anyone. He was also pretty good at the same time.

[Heros Welcome]

Ken Griffey Jr.

Michael Jordan