Alberta Newspaper Group ranks Top 5 athletes

Posted on January 18, 2022 by Sunny South News

As we turn the calendar over to what promises to be a better year in 2022 (knock on wood), Alberta Newspaper Group is introducing a new entity: the ANG Editorial Board.

The ANG Editorial Board’s (ANGEB) primary objective is to work together to provide a monthly editorial that will engage readers in what we believe will be healthy debate.

The board consists of several individuals from Alta Newspaper Group’s editorial division who carry a shared passion for everything related to journalism with a combined 180 years of experience in the industry.

Ryan McCracken, Scott Schmidt & Jeff Sarich – Medicine Hat News;
Ryan Dahlman, Prairie Post;
Trevor Busch, Al Beeber & Brian Hancock  Lethbridge Herald;
Cole Parkinson & Ryan McAdams –Alberta Weekly Group.

We anticipate many spirited responses to the positions we present in our monthly editorials, and believe us when we say they won’t all be cheery. But that said, we thought we would start things off with a fun take on healthy debate — the top five athletes in their sport over the past 50 years.

The board has determined that the following athletes represent the best their sport had to offer over the span of 1971-2021 — not necessarily the greatest of all time, but in many cases it would be hard to unseat the top seed.

So here they are, the ANG Editorial Board’s top five athletes in basketball, baseball, football, hockey, golf and the Olympics over the past half century.

We welcome your feedback — good, bad or indifferent.

Basketball
1. Michael Jordan, SG
2. LeBron James, SF
3. Kobe Bryant, SG
4. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, C
5. Larry Bird, F

Olympics
1. Usain Bolt, Sprinting
2. Michael Phelps, Swimming
3. Simone Biles, Gymnastics
4. Nadia Comaneci, Gymnastics
5. Mark Spitz, Swimming

Baseball
1. Nolan Ryan, P
2. Reggie Jackson, OF
3. Cal Ripken, Jr., SS
4. Ken Griffey Jr., OF
5. Mike Trout, OF

Football
1. Tom Brady, QB
2. Jerry Rice, WR
3. Joe Montana, QB
4. Lawrence Taylor, LB
5. Peyton Manning, QB

Golf
1. Tiger Woods
2. Jack Nicklaus
3. Annika Sorenstam
4. Phil Mickelson
5. Vijay Singh

Hockey
1. Wayne Gretzky, C
2. Mario Lemieux, C
3. Bobby Orr, D
4. Alex Ovechkin, RW
5. Sidney Crosby, C