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.