Sonny Liston TKO 6 Mike DeJohn 1959

LITTLERED

Powell was certainly an outstanding athlete. I just have difficulty seeing him lumped with the likes of Jim Thorpe or Jimmy Brown as among the top. Seems to me there are quite a few as good or better than Powell.

In boxing?

Well, what about Steve Hamas?

Hamas was an outstanding multi-sport athlete at Penn State from 1926 to 1929. He earned twelve letters (this is in college) in five sports--boxing, basketball, lacrosse, track, football. He was the intercollegiate heavyweight boxing champion in 1927 and 1929. I don't know how good he was at these other sports, but he did play one year of pro football with the Newark Tornados--of the NFL that year--in 1929.

As a pro boxer, Hamas clearly trumps Powell, rising to the #1 contender status with wins over Max Schmeling and Tommy Loughran.

 

Hamas is actually a really good call. I would have to do more research on him before that.

Anyway the best athletes of that era was Jackie Robinson.

Edit: I would call that even. Just as Hamas was clearly a better boxer, Powell was a far better football player. I'll give Hamas the slight edge in basketball playing it at the collegiate level but the game had changed an incredible amount between the era's; they almost weren't playing the same game. I'll give their lacrosse/baseball career a wash, although being a great high school baseball player in a baseball crazy era (and in a state like California) was pretty impressive. Anyway it comes down to track. I'm searching for what Hamas did in track and if I find anything I'll post later. But Powell ' s shot put was 10' from the world record in high school. That's not bad at all, especially for a guy playing a bunch of sports at the time.

 

Robinson was a phenomenal athlete. Bobby Morrow, a few years later, was up there, also. A prominent US track coach told me once that Morrow would have gone 9.6 in the 100 meters with modern training and conditions… and modern at the time was 1990.

 

Morrow was a freak but my second choice might be Glenn Davis (the hurdler, not the Heisman trophy who was a pretty phonemonal athlete himself). Just a flukish blend on talents.

Not to get all racial but whatever happened to all the white sprinters? And before some dope says 'they let black guys race' you had Metcalfe and Owens and Pea**** in the '30's and you still had guys like Morrow, Davis, Arming Harry, and Valery Borzov capable of winning well into the '70's. Just on my mind...

 

I wasn't addressing you. :huh (didn't quote you)

My query was for the benefit of the OP, if they know, or anyone else who might.

 

Sorry. I had the word "name" in my post also, so I jumped to the wrong conclusion this had something to do with my post.

Just confused, as usual.

 

Alright, dispensing with subtlety - I was asking if DeJohn shouted "n****r" at Liston, prompting the extracurricular beating...