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49 Episodes 1999 - 1999
Episode 1
Fri, Jan 22, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 50: tennis great Chris Evert, winner of 18 Grand Slam singles titles, including four straight U.S. Opens (1975-78) and seven French Opens.
Episode 2
Fri, Jan 29, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 49: running back O.J. Simpson. Winner of the 1968 Heisman trophy at USC, Simpson was the first NFL player to rush for more than 2000 yards in a season and finished with over 11,000 rushing yards in his career.
Episode 3
Fri, Feb 5, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 48: tennis star Pete Sampras. Entering the 1999 season, Sampras had 11 grand slam singles titles, one behind Roy Emerson's 12.
Episode 4
Fri, Feb 12, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 47: track star Edwin Moses, who won 122 consecutive races over the course of nine years, nine months and nine days. Host: Dan Patrick.
Episode 5
Fri, Feb 19, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 46: speedskater Eric Heiden, winner of five gold medals at the 1980 Winter Olympics.
Episode 6
Fri, Feb 26, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 45: Tennis player Bill Tilden, the first U.S. male to win the Wimbledon singles title. He won three times at Wimbledon and seven U.S. singles championships.
Episode 7
Fri, Mar 12, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 44: Golfer Bobby Jones. One of the greatest amateur golfers of all time, Jones won golf's only "grand slam" in 1930, winning the U.S. Amateur, the U.S. Open, the British Open and the British Amateur.
Episode 8
Fri, Mar 19, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 43: Basketball player Julius "Dr. J" Erving. Voted one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1997, Dr. J was an 11-time NBA All-Star and just the third professional player to score more than 30,000 points.
Episode 9
Fri, Apr 2, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 42: Sandy Koufax, the first pitcher to throw four no-hitters. The lefthander threw a perfect game against the Cubs in 1965. In 12 seasons, Koufax was 165-87 with a 2.76 ERA.
Episode 10
Fri, Apr 9, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 41: Sprinter Wilma Rudolph, who overcame polio to win three gold medals at the 1960 Olympics, and held world records in the 200-meter and 100-meter.
Episode 11
Fri, Apr 16, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 40: Pro football Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor. The Giants linebacker was the first to play in 10 straight Pro Bowls.
Episode 12
Fri, Apr 23, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 39: NFL Hall of Fame running back Walter Payton. "Sweetness" retired in 1987 with NFL career records for most rushing yards, passes caught by a running back and all-purpose yards.
Episode 13
Fri, Apr 30, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 38: Golfer Ben Hogan, four-time winner of the U.S. Open, two-time Masters and PGA champion, and winner of the only British Open he ever entered. Six of Hogan's nine major victories came after a serious 1949 car accident that nearly took his life.
Episode 14
Fri, May 7, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 37: Baseball Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle. A 16-time All-Star, Mantle was a career .298 hitter with 536 home runs. He twice hit more than 50 home runs, belting 52 in 1956 and 54 in 1961, the year teammate Roger Maris broke Babe Ruth's record.
Episode 15
Fri, May 14, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 36: Basketball's Oscar Robertson, an Olympic gold medalist, three-time All-America and nine-time NBA All-Star.
Episode 16
Fri, May 21, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 35: Secretariat, two-time Horse of the Year (in 1972 and 1973), and winner of the '73 Triple Crown.
Episode 17
Fri, May 28, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 34: Lou Gehrig, baseball's original "Iron Man." The first baseman played in 2130 consecutive games between 1925 and 1939, was a career .340 hitter and hit 493 homers. He died in 1941 of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, now known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
Episode 18
Fri, Jun 4, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 33: Swimmer Mark Spitz, winner of seven gold medals at the 1972 Olympics. Spitz set world records in the 100-meter freestyle, the 200m freestyle, the 100m butterfly and 200m butterfly, and he anchored the world-record setting 4x100m freestyle and 4x200 relays.
Episode 19
Fri, Jun 11, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 32: Hall of Fame quarterback Johnny Unitas. A five-time All-Pro, Unitas threw for 40,239 yards and 290 touchdowns in 18 seasons. He won the Bert Bell Award as the league's player of the year in 1959, 1964 and 1967.
Episode 20
Fri, Jun 18, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 31: NHL defenseman Bobby Orr, the only defenseman to ever win a scoring title (1970, 1975) and a member of two Stanley Cup-winning teams in Boston (1970, 1972). Orr's career average of 1.393 points per game is the highest ever for a defenseman.
Episode 21
Fri, Jun 25, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 30: Basketball Hall of Famer Larry Bird. In 13 seasons with the Boston Celtics, Bird won three NBA titles and was MVP three times. He was voted one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history in 1997 and was the 1998 Coach of the Year with the Indiana Pacers.
Episode 22
Fri, Jul 2, 1999 30 mins
Coming in at No. 29 among SportsCentury's 50 Greatest Athletes is Arnold Palmer, who won 60 tournaments and helped popularize golf in the '50s and '60s.
Episode 23
Fri, Jul 9, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 28: Red Grange, the "Galloping Ghost." Grange was a charter member of the college and pro football Halls of Fame and helped popularize pro football.
Episode 24
Fri, Jul 16, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 27: Jerry Rice, perhaps the greatest wide receiver ever in the NFL. The 12-time Pro Bowl selection holds 13 NFL and 10 Super Bowl records and was the first non-kicker in the NFL to score 1000 career points. He was also voted onto the NFL's 75th Anniversary Team.
Episode 25
Fri, Jul 23, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 26: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The six-time NBA MVP ranks as the league's all-time leading scorer. As Lew Alcindor, he also won three consecutive NCAA titles at UCLA.
Episode 26
Fri, Jul 30, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 25: Joe Montana. In 16 NFL seasons, the seven-time Pro Bowler threw for 40,551 yards and 273 TDs. He won four Super Bowls with San Francisco in the 1980s and was the AP Athlete of the Year in 1989 and 1990.
Episode 27
Fri, Jul 30, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 24: boxer Sugar Ray Robinson. In his 25-year professional career, Robinson was 174-19-6 with 109 knockouts. His first title came as a welterweight in 1946, and in 1958 he became the only fighter to win a title five times with his win over Carmen Basilio.
Episode 28
Fri, Aug 6, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 23: track star Jackie Joyner-Kersee. Joyner-Kersee won Olympic gold in the heptathlon and the long jump in 1988, and in the heptathlon in '92. She is also a two-time world champion in the heptathlon (1987 and '91) and the long jump ('87 and '93).
Episode 29
Fri, Aug 20, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 22: baseball's graceful Joe DiMaggio, who often made the game look effortless. His 56-game hitting streak in 1941 ranks among baseball's greatest feats. A three-time MVP, he also won two batting titles in 13 seasons---all in New York.
Episode 30
Fri, Sep 3, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 21: NHL Hall of Famer Gordie Howe. In 25 seasons with the Detroit Red Wings, "Mr. Hockey" won six Hart Trophies as the league's MVP and was a six-time scoring champion. He scored 975 goals in his 32-year pro career and added 1383 assists for 2358 points.
Episode 31
Fri, Sep 17, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 20: Baseball Hall of Famer Ty Cobb (1886-1961). The cantankerous Cobb was a lifetime .367 hitter in the early 1900s with 4191 hits (a mark that stood until Pete Rose surpassed it in 1985), 1937 RBIs and 892 stolen bases. Cobb spent 22 seasons in Detroit before finishing his career with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1928.
Episode 32
Fri, Sep 24, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 19: Tennis player Martina Navratilova, who won 18 Grand Slam singles titles in her career, nine of them at Wimbledon, including six straight from 1982 to '87. In 1983, she won 86 of 87 matches.
Episode 33
Fri, Oct 1, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 18: basketball Hall of Famer Bill Russell. In his 13 years as a Boston Celtic, Russell guided the team to 11 NBA titles, including two as a player-coach. He redefined the game with his defensive skills, and holds the playoff career record for rebounds.
Episode 34
Fri, Oct 8, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 17: Basketball Hall of Famer Earvin "Magic" Johnson. In 13 pro seasons, the charismatic Johnson led the Los Angeles Lakers to five championships and won three MVPs. Johnson also played on Michigan State's 1979 NCAA title squad and the gold medal-winning 1992 U.S. Olympic Team.
Episode 35
Fri, Oct 8, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 16: Baseball Hall of Famer Ted Williams. "The Splendid Splinter" amassed amazing hitting stats in his 19 seasons with the Boston Red Sox. Winner of two MVPs, he is the last player to hit .400 in a season (.406 in 1941), had a lifetime average of .344 and won six batting titles.
Episode 36
Fri, Oct 15, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 15: Jackie Robinson. The man who broke baseball's color barrier in 1947, Robinson played 10 years for the Brooklyn Dodgers and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1962. He was named the Rookie of the Year in 1947 and the league's MVP in 1949, and played on the 1955 World Series championship team.
Episode 37
Fri, Oct 29, 1999 30 mins
Home-run king Hank Aaron is athlete No. 14. In 20 Major League seasons, the Hall of Famer hit 755 home runs, and broke Babe Ruth's career record of 714 in 1974. Aaron also hit over .300 in 14 seasons.
Episode 38
Fri, Oct 29, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 13: Wilt Chamberlain. The basketball Hall of Famer set astounding marks, including 100 points in a single game and an average of 50 points in the 1961-62 season. Over his 14-year career, he averaged 30.1 points and 22.9 rebounds.
Episode 39
Fri, Nov 5, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 12: Carl Lewis. The track-and-field star won a U.S. record-tying nine Olympic gold medals, including four in the 1984 Summer Games. In 1996, he earned his fourth straight Olympic long-jump win to become just the second Olympian to win the same event in four straight games.
Episode 40
Fri, Nov 12, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 11: Joe Louis. "The Brown Bomber" dominated boxing in the 1930s and 1940s. In his most famous conquest, he knocked out German Max Schmeling at Yankee Stadium in 1938. Louis won 67 of 70 career bouts, 53 by knockout.
Episode 41
Fri, Dec 3, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 10: Babe Didrikson. The golf and track-and-field legend was named the Associated Press woman athlete of the year six times, in three different decades. During 1946-47, she won 17 straight golf tournaments.
Episode 42
Fri, Dec 3, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 9: golfer Jack Nicklaus. The "Golden Bear" won a record 20 major titles, including six Masters and four U.S. Opens, and was named player of the year five times.
Episode 43
Fri, Dec 10, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 8: Willie Mays. The baseball Hall of Famer is considered by many to be the game's greatest all-around player. Over his career, Mays hit 660 home runs, batted .302 and drove in 1903 runs.
Episode 44
Fri, Dec 10, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 7: Jim Thorpe. A member of the Track and Field, Olympic and Pro Football halls of fame, Thorpe was named the greatest athlete of the first-half of the century by the Associated Press in 1950.
Episode 45
Fri, Dec 17, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 6: Jesse Owens. The track star won four gold medals at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. At a 1935 Big Ten meet, Owens broke four world records and tied another in one afternoon. Hosted by Dan Patrick.
Episode 46
Fri, Dec 17, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 5: Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky. The NHL's all-time leading scorer played on four Stanley Cup championship teams with the Edmonton Oilers and won a league-record nine MVP awards. Hosted by Dan Patrick.
Episode 47
Fri, Dec 24, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 4: Jim Brown. The legendary running back retired as the NFL's all-time leading rusher with 12,312 yards in just nine seasons. He led the league in rushing eight times. Brown earned All-American honors at Syracuse in football and lacrosse and started at center for the basketball team for three seasons. Hosted by Dan Patrick.
Episode 48
Fri, Dec 24, 1999 30 mins
Athlete No. 3: Muhammad Ali. The boxer claimed the heavyweight title three times during his pro career and won the gold medal at the 1960 Olympics. In his most famous bout, the "Thrilla in Manila," Ali knocked out rival Joe Frazier in the 14th round. Hosted by Dan Patrick.
Episode 49
Sun, Dec 26, 1999 60 mins
Athletes Nos. 2 (Babe Ruth) and No. 1 (Michael Jordan). Ruth dominated and rejuvenated baseball during his remarkable 22-year career, in which he hit 714 HRs and batted .342. Jordan did likewise in basketball, winning five MVP awards and leading the league in scoring a record 10 times. Hosted by Dan Patrick.