More Sports Shorts
In her sermon yesterday, my pastor stressed the importance of recreation in our lives. Sports are a major form of recreation for many of us. We love to play and watch sports and are often amazed by outstanding performances on the diamond, gridiron, pitch, and track and in the pool and ring. That’s why I published The Greatest of All-Time: Fifteen Fantastic Athletes to tell the story and highlight the achievements of arguably the greatest competitors in a wide variety of sports.
Several of my subjects are currently in the news because of their statements or relation to today’s stars. In a television commercial, Michael Phelps lauds the achievements of swimmer Katie Ledecky while humorously reminding viewers that he won 28 Olympic medals. Ledecky has won ten Olympic medals, seven of them gold, and 21 world championship gold medals, the most in history for a female swimmer. If she wins two more medals, she will surpass Jenny Thompson for the most Olympic gold medalists by a female swimmer. If Ledecky captures three total medals, she will pass Thompson and Dara Torres for the most overall medals by a female swimmer. As great as this achievement would be, Ledecky’s record will pale compared to Phelps’ incredible accomplishment.
Serena Williams, who has won 23 Grand Slam tennis tournaments, discussed the challenges Caitlin Clark is facing while attending the Tribeca Film Festival last week at a premiere for “In the Arena: Serena Williams,” an eight-episode docuseries that will air on ESPN+ beginning July 10. Asked about the attention that Clark is facing during her first year in the WNBA, Williams praised the No. 1 draft pick for remaining grounded and avoiding social media. Clark called people’s use of her name to promote racist and misogynist agendas “disappointing” and unacceptable.
Basketball star Jerry West died last week at age 86. Raised in a hardscrabble home in coal country West Virginia, West became one of the greatest basketball players in history. He led West Virginia University team to the NCAA final in 1959 where his team lost by one point to the University of California. West averaged 27 points per game, eight highest all-time, during his fourteen-year NBA career. His 29.1 average in the playoffs is the fifth highest in NBA history. In 1964, he averaged 40.6 points per game in the playoffs. West’s Los Angeles Laker teams played in nine NBA finals, but won only one of them, thanks primarily to contesting six of them against outstanding Boston Celtics teams. He is the only player in history on a losing team to be named the NBA finals MVP. After his playing career ended, West played a major role as a scout, a coach and an executive in the development of the NBA, especially the Lakers. As the Lakers head coach, West had a 145-101 record, losing two NBA finals. West excelled as the Lakers general manager. He assembled teams that from 1982 to 2002 made the NBA finals ten times and won five championships. West also served as the general manager of the Memphis Grizzles from 2002 to 2007 and as an executive board member for the Golden State Warriors from 2011 to 2017.
As impressive as West’s playing career was, it ranks below those of Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Tim Duncan, Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, and the man I argue is the GOAT of men’s basketball—LeBron James.