The 10 greatest athletes in Pac-12 history: Where does Bill Walton rank in the ‘Conference of Champions’ pantheon?
Bill Walton’s death last Monday sparked an endless outpouring of love for the UCLA legend and broadcasting icon. It also got the Hotline thinking: Where does Walton belong on the Pac-12 pantheon, the A-listers across all sports from the “Conference of Champions”?
Founded in a hotel room in Portland in 1915, the Pac-12 took on numerous iterations over the century and will cease to exist as we know it on Aug. 2, when 10 schools depart for other conferences.
Combine Walton’s death with the Pac-12’s looming demise, and this seemed like the ideal time for a stroll through history.
The challenge wasn’t selecting the athletes; it was defining greatness.
Should we consider professional success or limit our scope to college careers? What about societal impact and mainstream fame? Does the sport’s popularity matter?
In the end, the Hotline evaluated competitive success (at all levels) and societal impact and crafted an entirely subjective ranking.
Readers will undoubtedly take issue with the names below, the order of selections or both. And that’s fine. There is no right answer (except No. 1).
Oh, and please note that we did not include a certain former Oregon middle-distance runner who started a shoe company of some renown. Phil Knight’s athletic prowess simply did not clear the bar.
Nor did we include anyone arrested for double murder.
1. UCLA’s Jackie Robinson
Sports: Football, basketball, baseball, track
Comment: The multisport All-American was an easy call. For breaking the baseball color barrier, Robinson is arguably the most consequential athlete in the history of American sports. His No. 42 has been retired by MLB.
2. UCLA’s Bill Walton
Sport: Basketball
Comment: Walton’s appeal as a broadcaster, his NBA success and his general impact on society was such that the litany of tributes on social media this week rarely mention that he was on the short list of greatest players in college basketball history.
3. Stanford’s Tiger Woods
Sport: Golf
Comment: Woods won the NCAA championship during his two years with the Cardinal, then became one of the two greatest golfers in history (along with Jack Nicklaus) and transformed the game’s popularity worldwide.
4. UCLA’s Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Sport: Basketball
Comment: You could make a good case that Abdul-Jabbar warrants a higher ranking. After all, his resume features three NCAA championships, six NBA titles, six NBA MVP awards and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
5. Arizona State’s Barry Bonds
Sport: Baseball
Comment: A controversial figure, for sure – and not just because of the performance-enhancing drugs. But Bonds, a member of the all-time College World Series team, is one of the greatest players in MLB history and posted hall of fame numbers before the PEDs.
6. Oregon’s Steve Prefontaine
Sport: Distance running
Comment: In a conference that has produced a barrage of track and field stars, Prefontaine stands alone – not because of his Olympic success, which was limited, but because he held the American record in seven distances at the time of the car crash that took his life, at age 24, in 1975. His story was chronicled in two movies.
7. Arizona’s Annika Sorenstam
Sport: Golf
Comment: Sorenstam was a two-time All-American in Tucson before a professional career that produced eight LPGA Player of the Year awards, 10 major titles and wide recognition as the greatest player in the history of her sport.
8. USC’s Cheryl Miller
Sport: Basketball
Comment: Miller became the first major star of the women’s game, winning the Naismith Player of the Year Award three times (1984-86), in addition to two NCAA titles and Olympic gold. She’s a three-time hall of famer (basketball, women’s basketball and FIBA).
9. UCLA’s Arthur Ashe
Sport: Tennis
Comment: The former NCAA singles and doubles champion became the only Black man to win the Wimbledon and U.S. Open singles titles. And his name is on the main stadium at Flushing Meadows. And he founded the Arthur Ashe Foundation for the Defeat of AIDS.
10. Arizona State’s Pat Tillman
Sport: Football
Comment: We spent more time considering Tillman, who was not an all-time talent, than anyone else. The 1997 Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and a starting safety for the Arizona Cardinals, Tillman stepped away from the NFL to enlist in the Army following Sept. 11, 2001. He died two years later, in Afghanistan, from friendly fire. As noted in the introduction, greatness takes many forms.
Also considered: Arizona’s Sean Elliott (basketball); ASU’s Reggie Jackson (baseball), Phil Mickelson (golf) and Anthony Robles (wrestling); Cal’s Matt Biondi (swimming), Jason Kidd (basketball) and Aaron Rodgers (football); Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu (basketball); Oregon State’s Dick Fosbury (high jump) and Gary Payton (basketball); Stanford’s John Elway (football), Katie Ledecky (swimming), John McEnroe (tennis) and Tom Watson (golf); UCLA’s Ann Meyers Drysdale (basketball), Kenny Easley (football), Lisa Fernandez (softball), Rafer Johnson (decathlon) and Jackie Joyner-Kersee (track); USC’s Marcus Allen (football), Reggie Bush (football), Ronnie Lott (football) and Anthony Muñoz (football); Washington’s Steve Emtman (football) and Warren Moon (football); Washington State’s John Olerud (baseball) and Henry Rono (distance running).