The 35 Winningest Athletes of All-Time

Written by Ben Pogany

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1. Bill Russell--2 college championships with the University of San Fran (which included a 55-game win streak at one point), an Olympic gold medal, and only 11 NBA championships in 13 years.  Just insane.
2. Rocky Marciano--Only heavyweight to retire undefeated at 49-0.  Not bad for a white guy from Brockton, MA.
3. Jack Nicklaus--18 majors including 4 US Open wins, and 6 green jackets. with 73 PGA Tour wins overall.
4. Tiger Woods--14 majors, 71 PGA wins, and 38 European tour wins.
5. Yogi Berra- 10 World Series rings as a player and another 3 as a coach.
6. Henri Richard--Nicknamed "The Pocket-Rocket" (I kid you not), Richard won 11 Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens in his 20-year NHL career..
7. Michael Phelps--14 Olympic golds, 23 world championship golds, 37 world records held, and 1 marijuana charge beaten.
8. Joe Dimaggio--9 time World Series champion and 1 Marylin Monroe.
9. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar-6-time NBA champion, 3-time college champ with UCLA (over which they went 88-2), and captain of a Power Memorial High School basketball team that won 71 straight games and 3 New York City Catholic championships.
10. Roger Federer--67 career titles including 16 Grand Slams.
11. Pele--Only soccer player to be apart of 3 World Cup-winning teams.  Pele also led his original club team, Santos, to 10 championships in the Campeonato Paulinista league.  And let us not forget his 1977 North American Soccer League championship with the New York Cosmos.
12. Michael Jordan--6 championships in 8 years, 2 gold medals, and 1 NCAA championship with the Tarheels
13. Pete Sampras--64 career titles including 14 Slams.
14. Alexander Karelin--Though most remembered here in America for his stunning defeat at the hands of Rulon Gardner, "Alexander The Great" went undefeated in international Greco-Roman wrestling competition for thirteen years, the last six of which he didn't even give up a single point.
15. Otto Graham-- Took the Cleveland Browns to the championship game in every one of the ten years he played, winning seven and going 105-17-4 over that span. He also won a championship playing professional hoops with the Rochester Royals.
16. Lance Armstrong--7 Tour de France wins, and heck, the guy even beat cancer.
17. Mickey Mantle--7 World Series rings in 12 years and a 1956 Triple Crown.
18. Larissa Latynina--9 Olympic golds and 9 world championship golds.  Then again, it is gymnastics.
19. Carl Lewis--9 Olympic golds and 8 world championship golds.  Side note: Lewis was drafted by both the NBA and NFL, though never played a game for either.
20. Kelly Slater--The most decorated surfer of all time has won a record 10 ASP World Championships, his titles spanning an incredible eighteen years from age 20 to 38.
21. Robert Horry--7-time NBA champion with 3 different teams.
22. Martina Navratilova-- 167 singles and 177 doubles career titles (both records for men or women) Her singles career includes 9 Wimbledons and 4 US Opens.
23. John Havlicek-- 8-time NBA champion and a NCAA title
24. Cael Sanderson-- Wrested to an incredible record of 159-0 with 4 consecutive NCAA titles for Iowa St before capturing gold in Athens 2004.
25. Bill Dickey-- 8-time World Series Champ
26. Magic Johnson--5-time NBA champion, 1 gold medal, and enough money to makes AIDS his bitch.
27. Bart Starr--5-time Super Bowl champion
28. Joe Montana--4-time Super Bowl champion and an NCAA national title at Notre Dame.
29. Lou Gehrig--6 time World Series champion and the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.
30. Kobe Bryant--5 NBA championships (one more than Shaq) and a gold medal with the Redeem Team.
31. Shaquille O'Neal--4 time NBA champion, 6 crappy albums and 11 crappy movies (see: Kazaam)   And he beat up Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya.
32. Babe Ruth--7 World Series trophies with both the Sox and Yankees.
33. Derek Jeter--5-time World Series champion.
34. Terry Bradshaw--4 Super Bowl rings and 5 crappy country albums.
35. Tom Brady--3-time Super Bowl Champion, 125-37 career record, and 32 game-winning drives after a Patriots' fourth-quarter tie or deficit.

Honorable Mentions: Mark Spitz, Sam Jones, Sean White, Bjorn Bong, Tom Heinsohn, Bob Cousy, Jimmy Conners, Ivan Lendi, Ben Hogan, Paavo Nurvi, Sam Snead, Walter Hagan, Lynn Swann, Andre Agassi, Tony Hawk, Chris Evert, Larry Bird, Tim Duncan, Mariano Rivera, Rafael Nadal, Steffi Graff.