Great posts by everyone. Great debate by all. I do not know who the best 5 should be, but I could not even get a second vote for Jim Brown.
See the following from http://http://www.orangehoops.org/JBrown
Jim Brown was the greatest all around athlete in Syracuse University's history, and arguably the greatest in American history. He earned 10 varsity letters at Syracuse in four different sports (basketball, football, lacrosse, and track). At 6'2", 212 lbs, with a 29" waist, Brown was bigger, faster and stronger than most every other athlete he would encounter at every level of sports.
A victim of racial attitudes of the times, Brown came to Syracuse in the fall of 1953 without a scholarship in hand and was the only black player on the freshman football team. In high school, Brown earned 13 letters including football (averaging 14.9 yards per carry), basketball (he averaged 38+ points per game), baseball and lacrosse.
He played basketball his sophomore and junior years at Syracuse, averaging 13.1 points per game. He was a ferocious rebounder, and the best athlete on the floor. He would scored
33 points against Sampson Air Force Base his sophomore season, in a game he did not even start. Brown would not return for his senior season however, because he was not permitted to be a starter. An unwritten rule at Syracuse prohibited the team starting three black athletes in basketball, and Syracuse had
Vinnie Cohen and
Manny Breland also on the team. Cohen believed Syracuse would have won the national title in basketball in 1957 if Brown had played with them; as it was, they lost in the elite eight.
And from Wikipedia:
Perhaps more impressive was his success as a multisport athlete. In addition to his football accomplishments, he excelled in basketball, track, and especially lacrosse. As a sophomore, he was the second-leading scorer for the basketball team (15 ppg), and earned a letter on the track team. In 1955, he finished in fifth place in the
Nation Championship decathlon.
[9] His junior year, he averaged 11.3 points in basketball, and was named a second-team
All-American in lacrosse. His senior year, he was named a first-team All-American in lacrosse (43 goals in 10 games to rank second in scoring nationally). Brown was so dominant in the game, that lacrosse rules were changed requiring a lacrosse player to keep their stick in constant motion when carrying the ball (instead of holding it close to his body).
[10][11] He is in the
Lacrosse Hall of Fame.
[12] The
Carrier Dome has an 800 square-foot tapestry depicting Brown in football and lacrosse uniforms with the words "Greatest Player Ever".
[13]
www.sports-reference.com
