SITE NEWS: We are moving all of our site and company news into a single blog for Sports-Reference.com. We'll tag all PFR content, so you can quickly and easily find the content you want.
Also, our existing PFR blog rss feed will be redirected to the new site's feed.
Pro-Football-Reference.com » Sports Reference
For more from Chase and Jason, check out their work at Football Perspective and The Big Lead.
ShareThisOlympians who played in the NFL
As announced here and in the post below, there is a new member of the sports-reference family: Olympics at sports-reference.
I am trying to track down all olympians who also played in the NFL. Here's who I've got so far. This list is probably not complete. Please help me add to it if you can.
Jim Thorpe (olympic page)
Dudley DeGroot (olympic page)
Ollie Matson (olympic page)
Jack Riley (olympic page)
John Spellman (olympic page)
Bob Hayes (olympic page)
Sam Francis (olympic page)
Herschel Walker (olympic page)
Ron Brown (olympic page)
Other notes:
World-class hurdler and practice-squad-class football player Renaldo Nehemiah never participated in the Olympics. The boycotted Moscow games were right in the prime of his career.
Canadian basketball olympian Bobby Simpson is in the CFL's Hall of Fame.
Additionally, here is a sad bit of NFL history that I didn't know about, from the bio of sprinter Stone Johnson:
In the first semi-final of the 1960 US Olympic Trials, Stone Johnson equaled the world record in running 20.5 for the 200. He placed second in the final to Ray Norton. Sprinting for Grambling State, he was also second in the 1960 NCAA 200. He then turned to professional football. In a 1963 pre-season game, playing for the Kansas City Chiefs against the Oakland Raiders, he sustained a broken neck and died 10 days later. Although he never played a down in a regular-season NFL game, his number 33 was retired by the Chiefs.
This entry was posted on Thursday, July 10th, 2008 at 5:22 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Didn't Willie Gault and H. Walker do a bobsled thing in the winter games one year?
I'm a new fan, so this might sound ridiculous, but did Justin Gatlin ever play a down? I believe he, at least, tried ou for the cowboys during his dopingrelated ban 3-5 years ago...
I forgot about the bobsled thing. Willie Gault gained notoriety for some track meet in Helsinki (I think) in the early 80s. Probably while he was still in college.
I know it wasn't the Olympics, but it made Willie "world class".
I swear I have a football card for Renaldo in a Washington uniform.
What about the skier who went to Colorado a few years ago? Did he ever make the Olympics (or the NFL)?
I think his name may have been Bloom.
So I guess Jeremy Bloom was in the 2002 and 2006 winter Olympics, but never made the NFL.
Bloom hasn't played in the NFL yet. He's still listed on the Steelers roster, so there is hope for him.
Deion Sanders was invited to try out for the Olympic relay team, but played baseball instead. Does that count as "Olympic speed?"
I think james jett played for the raiders and also won gold in the 92 olympics in Barcelona.
I looked it up, he just raced in the prelims. But at least he participated..
Jimmy Hines (1968 100 meters) played 2 years in AFL 1969 & 1970.
Willie Gault made the bobsled team and was also a sprinter. Not sure if he participated in the Olympics for sprinting, though.
I thought Tim Brown was in the olypics too, maybe not, but i know jett or gault or brown or all three at one time or another. Al Davis made a habit of hiring the fastest guys in the business back then
Doug, as one of the guys behind Sports-References Olympic site, I have two more for you:
* Ray Norton (SFO 1960/61 & 1960 Olympics)
* I'm quite sure Colin Ridgway (DAL 1965) is the same as Colin Ridgeway (1956 Olympics), but our data don't exactly match up.
I can also confirm the aforementioned James Jett (1992 Olympics), Jim Hines (1968), Herschel Walker (1992). Gault never made it to the Olympics, and the only Tim Brown I can find was a figure skater.
In addition, Frank Mount Pleasant never played in the NFL, but as our bio notes, he played "semi-pro football with the Buffalo All-Stars".
Doug -
I'm one of the authors of olympic-reference. In 1984 I co-authored a book on US Olympians, entitled Quest for Gold: The Encyclopedia of American Olympians. In there, we published a list of Olympians who played in the NFL - it was only complete then thru 1980. Here is the list:
Jim Bausch (32 decathlon, 33 Cincy Red/Chicago Cardinals)
Frank Budd (60 sprinter, 62 Eagles, 63 Redskins)
Larry Burton (72 sprinter, 75-76 Saints)
Sol Butler (20 long jumper, 23-26 with various teams)
Milt Campbell (52/56 decathlon, 57 Browns)
Henry Carr (64 sprinter, 65-67 Giants)
Frank Coyle (12 pole vaulter, 24-26 Milwaukee Badgers, Rock Island Independents)
Glenn Davis (56/60 hurdlers, 60-61 Lions)
Bob Hayes (64 sprinter, 65-74 Cowboys, 75 49ers)
Jim Hines (68 sprinter, 69 Dolphins)
Trenton Jackson (64 sprinter, 66 Eagles, 67 Redskins)
Johnny Jones (76 sprinter, Jets 80-84
Morton Kaer (24 pentathlete, 31 Frankford Yellow Jackets)
Ollie Matson (52 sprinter, 52-66 various teams)
Glenn Morris (36 decathlon, 40 Detroit Lions)
Ray Norton (60 sprinter, 60-1 49ers)
James Owens (76 hurdlers, 78-80s 49ers and Tampa Bay)
Bo Roberson (60 long jumper, 61-66 various)
Jim Rosenberger (12 sprinter, 21 Evansville Crimson Giants)
Clyde Scott (48 hurdler, 49-52 Eagles/Lions)
Tommy Smith (68 sprinter, 69 Bengals)
Jim Thorpe (12 decathlete, 19-25 various)
Gerald Tinker (72 sprinter, 74-75 Falcons/Packers)
Jack Torrance (36 shot put, 39-40 Bears)
and also Olympic wrestlers:
Raymond Clemens (36, 37 LA Bulldogs, 39 Lions)
Peter Mehringer (32, 35-36 Chicago Cards, 37 LA Bulldogs)
John Riley (32, 33 Boston Redskins)
John Spellman (24, 25-32 Providence Steamrollers and Boston Braves)
Charles Strack (24, 28 Chicago Cards)
and from team handball
Randy Dean (1976 Olympics, 77-79 NY Giants)
and since the book came out, there have been a number - the first few being in my notes from 1984 -
Ron Brown (84 sprinter, 84 LA Rams)
Michael Carter (84 shot put, 49ers 84-)
Sam Graddy (84 sprinter (87-88 Broncos, 89 Raiders)
Other notes on some of the above comments - Renaldo Nehemiah, while probably the greatest high hurdler ever, never competed in the Olympics. He turned to pro football shortly before the 1984 Olympics.
Deion Sanders was never asked "to try out" for the Olympic relay team. It doesn't work like that. He never had world class track & field speed. There's a major difference between world class track & field speed and pro football speed. Witness the recent Olympic Trials where Trindon Holliday, the fastest guy in college football, could not even get past the heats of the 100 metres.
Thanks, Bill and Jeroen! I probably should have just asked you guys in the first place.
Deion Sanders ran a 10.26 100 meters in 1988, which qualified him for the US Olympic Trials.
I believe that would technically mean he was asked to try out for the relay team.
No, that's not what that means. It just means he qualified for the trials along with probably 60 other guys. Only the top 6-8 or so finishers at the trials meet go into the relay pool.
*Michael Bates was a kick-returner/receiver for the Carolina Panthers, he won a bronze medal in the 200m dash in 1992.
*James Jett won a gold medal as a member of the US 4x100m relay team in 1992.
Willie Gault (Chicago Bears) also was chosen for the 1980 Olympics as a track athlete, but the US did not sent the team to Moscow.
Looks like Bob Hayes was the most successful Olympian turned football player. O.J.Simpson was not an Olympian, but was a part of the world record breaking USC 4*110 yards relay team.
I always thought that USC team set a world record at 4X220 yards...track meets would have run 4x100 yards, no? Unless they were running 4x100 meters, which is abt 110 yards.
I don't see Rafer Johnson's name.
Rafrer's brother, Jimmy, is a PF Hall of Famer, but Rafer didn't really play football as an adult. He played hoops at UCLA and was drafted by an NFL team (as was Carl Lewis in '84).
I think the big omission from the initial list was Michael Carter, who was one of the greatest field throwers of all-time. He was upset in '84 and only silvered but won a SB with the 49ers that fall.
Thorpe, Matson, Hayes and Carter, I would guess, are the most renowned NFLers who were also Olympic medalists. Ron Brown had a Pro Bowl season as a returner.
I think Hines and Nehemiah were mere football experiments, and there's probably been a lot more of those in the past