Who was your favorite athlete as a kid?

Basketball: Shaquille O'Neal
Baseball: Travis Fryman, and later Mark McGwire
Hockey: Chris Osgood, you had to love Yzerman and the Russian Five too.
Football: I'm from Detroit are you kidding me? I always admired Emmit Smith because he wasn't a bitch like Barry Sanders who liked to run out of bounds. I also like Steve Young, but not really the 49ers.

 

Baseball: Dale Murphy
Football: John Riggins
Basketball: Johnny Dawkins
Hockey: Mario Lemieux
Soccer: Umm...no.
Boxing: Marvin Hagler
Tennis: John McEnroe
Golf: Jack Nicklaus
NASCAR: Dale Earnhardt
Wrasslin: Ric Flair

Earnhardt and Flair were my two big ones as a kid growing up just outside of Charlotte, N.C. I wore No. 24 (Dawkins' number at Duke) as a kid, and had to disavow all love for No. 24 when Jeff Gordon came on the scene.

 

Baseball: Roberto Clemente
Football: Roman Gabriel
Basketball: Clyde
Hockey: Bobby Orr
Soccer: Ha!
Boxing: Ali
Tennis: John Newcombe
Golf: Lee Trevino

 

Here's my George Brett story, even though he was already my favorite player at the time.

I'm at Oakland Coliseum watching batting practice and getting autographs. I remember it was Jim Essian's birthday and it was Brett's MVP season. I was six. I was wearing my #5 Royals jersey and my Royals hat and had just gotten Darrell Porter and Steve Busby's autograph when Ken Brett walked over. I got his autograph and then said, "Hey, Ken, can you send George over?"

He took two steps back and my uncle buried his head in his hands. He looked at me, shook his head and then walked over to the batting cage where his little brother was. Ken pointed at me and I saw George laugh out loud. He then picked up a baseball and came over and pulled my pen out of my hand. He signed the ball, reached across signed my jersey, my hat and my 1980 Topps baseball card. He then leaned in and posed for a photo with me.

As he walked off, another dad yelled out, "George, you're my kid's favorite player too." and he said, "Well, he's not wearing my jersey."

 

Baseball: Yaz
Football: Len Dawson (if I had to pick somebody. Him or Ed Podolak and Randy Vataha).
Basketball: Hondo/Dave Cowens
Hockey: Orr. Got me hooked on sports, period.
Soccer: Do what?
Boxing: Ali.
Golf: Nicklaus.
Tennis: I dunno. Laver, maybe? Wasn't really a fan of any but I'd watch.

 

Baseball: Maury Wills
Football: Deacon Jones
Basketball: Jerry West
Hockey: Butch Goring
Soccer: hahahahahahaha
Boxing: Jerry Querry
Tennis: Bjorn Borg
Golf: Arnold Palmer

 

Baseball: Bill Melton and Tommy Harper
Football: Donnie Anderson, John Brockington
Basketball: Lucious Allen, Lew Alcindor.
Hockey: Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, Keith Magnuson
Soccer: N/A
Boxing: Ali
Tennis: Jimmy Connors, Chris Evert.
Golf:

 

Baseball: Graig Nettles and Reggie Jackson
Football: Richard Todd and Lawrence Taylor
NBA: Micheal Ray Richardson and Isiah Thomas (boy, I picked two clean-cut guys there)
College basketball: Chris Mullin
Hockey: Bryan Trottier and Kirk Muller
Soccer: Giorgio Chinaglia (sp?)
Boxing: Tyson
Tennis: Martina and Chrissie
Golf: Didn't care.

 

Football: Bernie Kosar and Kevin Mack
Baseball: Sandy Alomar, Jr.
Basketball: Brad Daugherty
Golf: Woody Austin (I don't know why. I still don't know why, but his generally pissed off look and self-deprecation on the course endeared him to me whenever my dad took me to Warwick Hills for the Buick.)

 

Shawon Dunston, Randall Cunningham

 

Baseball: Willie Stargell, Kent Tekulve
Football: Franco Harris, Terry Bradshaw, Joe Greene
Basketball: Magic Johnson
Hockey: Mario Lemieux
Tennis: Jimmy Connors

 

Baseball: Say Hey 24! (see avatar)
Football: Gene Washington
Basketball: Lew Alcindor
Tennis: Jimmy Connors
Golf: Palmer/Watson
Track: Dwight Stones