50 Coolest Athletes in Sports History

There is no shortage of coolness in professional sports. Although some athletes seem to take fuller advantage of the life of splendor their career affords them than others.

Much like the career of a rock star or movie star--the money, the fame and the dames are all perks that come along with a successful career as a professional athlete.

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Comments

[bahkey]

01:00 PM on 02/10/2012

Jackie Robinson was the "coolest" athlete ever. He handled hate with class.
Next would be how cool Hank Aaron was during all the death threats as he approached Ruth's
714 record in 1974.

[bahkey]

12:53 PM on 02/10/2012

Jerry Rice was cool

[bahkey]

12:45 PM on 02/10/2012

John Mcenroe cooler than Bjorn Borg? Borg was nick named "Ice Borg" for his known coolness.

[jet0001]

11:32 AM on 02/10/2012

cool. what is not cool is a list purporting to show the coolest that looks at pop culture as its basis for cool. what do you get? mostly media fluff.

lee is from pittsburgh. you'd think she'd get that roberto clemente in addition to being a terrific sports star died in the humanitarian attempt to help nicaraguan earthquake victims. that is one cool sports star and hero.

[bahkey]

12:52 PM on 02/10/2012

I grew up in the Pittsburgh area and Clemente era,Willie Stargell,Mud Cat Grant.
As old Pirate radio man Bob Prince would call a homerun by Stargell, "Chicken on the hill
with Will" and he always referred to Clemente as "Bobby" Clemente. Don't ever try to go from first to third on Bobby. He would gun you down from right field.

[jet0001]

01:03 PM on 02/10/2012

I saw it live, too. He also threw out runners who rounded the corner of first base too far.

He had to compensate for about a 6-foot curve on that rifle arm!

[huhwatjusay]

11:30 AM on 02/10/2012

couldn't view- pop-up never left the page no matter what I did. #fail

[KIVPossum]

10:10 AM on 02/10/2012

A 59 page click thru? No thanks.

[nellieh]

10:01 AM on 02/10/2012

In many cases are you confusing flamboyant and loud attention getting with "cool?"

[one1byke]

09:53 AM on 02/10/2012

Explains Gretzky daughter's NEED for attention.
WHO"s #20 with the tie that got stung by a WASP??
Shawn White?? .. why not pick Screech? I'm sure he played duck-duck goose once.

... and, before you insult Arthur Ashe with this pandering, here's HIS quote:
"True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost."

Make a list of the athletes who embody these qualities. Shorter than 5.
As far as Cool : BRuce Lee, Muhammed Ali. The END.

[bastalready]

09:47 AM on 02/10/2012

Excuuuuse me....not one woman?

[nherent]

09:43 AM on 02/10/2012

Muhummad Ali will always be Number One.

[kelleyajones]

09:39 AM on 02/10/2012

With a few exceptions (Lincecum & Wilson), on this list 'cool' must be code for f#$king pig, literally. It takes a lot more than di&k and cash to be cool.

Bad call HuffPo!

[ptrgamb]

09:36 AM on 02/10/2012

Oddly enough, the basketball and football choices are quite good, but all of the baseball ones are terrible.
And ...McEnroe is the coolest tennis player? Really? He'd be last on my list, even below the guys who looked and sounded like Dracula but without the winning personality.

[jingles32]

10:21 AM on 02/10/2012

Nastase? Can't remember if Jimbo was on the tennis list; should be.

[scottarino]

09:36 AM on 02/10/2012

This isn't really a "coolest" athletes list. It's just a list of the greatest athletes of all time and writing glib comments about how cool they seem. Fail.

[headly67]

09:21 AM on 02/10/2012

Gosh can you tell this was written by a girl?

Henrik Lundqvist??

You know whats cooler than Henrik Lundqvist?

3 Stanley cups, 4 Vezina trophies, Rookie of the year, the most wins, most shutouts and most games ever. Most wins in a single season, most saves, most consecutive 40 win seasons (8) Youngest goalie to reach 300, 400, and 500 career wins. Only goalie to reach 600 career win. Only NHL goalie to score a game-winning goal. Only goalie in NHL history to play 1000 or more games with one team, five time Jennings trophy winner.

All of which Henrik Lundqvist doesn't have.

But Martin Brodeur sure does.

Winning is a lot cooler than nice suits, oh and Marty has them too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwOT9VVzzVA

[nherent]

09:43 AM on 02/10/2012

I'm dissapointed. There was no mention of Sean Avery.

[one1byke]

09:56 AM on 02/10/2012

check out her picture when you click "Amber Lee"

It's not the girl thing... more the "Louise Meanwell" thing....
she may want to reconsider the tired cleav- shot and write responsibly.

[madbonger618]

09:10 AM on 02/10/2012

Clyde