SportsCentury is an ESPN biography program that reviews the people and athletic events that defined sports in North America throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. In 1999, ESPN counted down the Top 50 Athletes of the 2...
Chris Berman
Chris Fowler
Dan Patrick
Casey Stengel
1900-49
No. 50 -- Chris Evert
No. 49 -- O.J. Simpson
No. 48 -- Pete Sampras
No. 47 -- Edwin Moses
No. 46 -- Eric Heiden
No. 45 -- Bill Tilden
SportsCenter of the Decade: 1950s
No. 44 -- Bobby Jones
No. 43 -- Julius Erving
No. 42 -- Sandy Koufax
No. 41 -- Wilma Rudolph
No. 40 -- Lawrence Taylor
No. 39 -- Walter Payton
No. 38 -- Ben Hogan
No. 37 -- Mickey Mantle
SportsCenter of the Decade: 1960s
No. 36 -- Oscar Robertson
The Greatest Coaches of the Century
No. 35 -- Secretariat
Most Influential People in Sports
Greatest Dynasties
No. 34 -- Lou Gehrig
No. 33 -- Mark Spitz
Greatest Games
No. 32 -- Johnny Unitas
No. 31 -- Bobby Orr
No. 30 -- Larry Bird
SportsCenter of the Decade: 1970s
No. 29 -- Arnold Palmer
No. 28 -- Red Grange
No. 27 -- Jerry Rice
No. 26 -- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
No. 25 -- Joe Montana
No. 24 -- Sugar Ray Robinson
No. 23 -- Jackie Joyner-Kersee
No. 22 -- Joe DiMaggio
SportsCenter of the Decade: 1980s
No. 21 -- Gordie Howe
No. 20 -- Ty Cobb
No. 19 -- Martina Navratilova
No. 18 -- Bill Russell
No. 17 -- Magic Johnson
No. 16 -- Ted Williams
No. 15 -- Jackie Robinson
No. 14 -- Hank Aaron
No. 13 -- Wilt Chamberlain
No. 12 -- Carl Lewis
No. 11 -- Joe Louis
No. 10 -- Babe Didrikson
No. 9 -- Jack Nicklaus
No. 8 -- Willie Mays
No. 7 -- Jim Thorpe
No. 6 -- Jesse Owens
No. 5 -- Wayne Gretzky
No. 4 -- Jim Brown
No. 3 -- Muhammad Ali
No. 2 -- Babe Ruth
No. 1 -- Michael Jordan
SportsCenter of the Decade: 1990s
Yogi Berra
Derek Jeter
Brian Piccolo
No. 50 - Chris Evert
Joe DiMaggio
Willie Mays
Billy Martin
Don Larsen