Big-time athletes who are not arses?

There's a ton of them... Larry Fitzgerald, JJ Watt, Drew Brees, David Robinson, Tim Duncan, P. Manning, Grant Hill, Derek Jeter, Johnny Toews, Steve Stricker, etc.  

Ben Rothles......oh wait, never mind. 

Pakrz posted:

There's a ton of them... Larry Fitzgerald, JJ Watt, Drew Brees, David Robinson, Tim Duncan, P. Manning, Grant Hill, Derek Jeter, Johnny Toews, Steve Stricker, etc.  

Current players. I like Fitz, Watt and Brees.

Retired players? I like Randall McDaniel, who works at an elementary school in Crystal, MN. That may be a tougher gig than lineman!

But what kind of man is estranged from his own mother? Answer: Drew Brees. 

John Mayasich  

Fitz had a domestic incident that got swept under the rug pretty effectively. 

We have no idea....public persona is just that.

True, Darren Sharper at one time was considered a nice guy.

I second Grant Hill, spent some time around him when he was at Duke, classy kid back then who seems to be the same person today. 

Fandame posted:

Retired players? I like Randall McDaniel, who works at an elementary school in Crystal, MN. That may be a tougher gig than lineman!

John Randle.  Nicest guy.

Kevin Durant is a good dude and loves his mama... same for Tim Tebow. 

Kim Clijsters, at least from everything I've heard about her.

Lenny Dykstra.

Christian Yelich.

Giannis

Tauscher.  You can take the kid out of the small town but you can't take the small town out of the kid.  

Jordy.

michiganjoe posted:

True, Darren Sharper at one time was considered a nice guy.

and let’s see that was way, way, before he drugged women to rape them and that he has two different sentences in two different states because of his actions for which he’ll never see the outside for the rest of his life.  

Bart Starr. 

This discussion begins and ends with one Bart Starr.

Seriously, I'm sure there have been many fine gentlemen AND LADIES (Goldie   before and after him that have represented their teams, schools, and home towns very well, and I salute them all.
I just think Starr is (or should be) the benchmark for everyone, regardless of the sport.

bvan posted:

John Mayasich  

Don't know anything about him as a person, but what a great player! There was another kid I heard about from a long time ago in the MN tournament, a center, who wore glasses. The ref they interviewed said at every faceoff (and there were a lot because the kid scored so much), the kid would push his glasses (the days before facemasks) up his nose with his middle finger. The ref said he didn't know if the kid was flipping him off or it was just a habit.  

If you've not seen this video of Canadiens goalie Carey Price, watch it and he'll be your favorite hockey player. 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/w...r-recently-died.html

Fandame posted:

bvan posted:

John Mayasich  

..., but what a great player!  

I got to see him a lot when I was in high school and he was playing for the Green Bay Bobcats.
He had the best ass-check I've ever seen.
(Except for when he missed the target and injured his Coccsyx!) 

He's still alive in the Phoenix area and his name came up 8 years ago when his grandson was killed while competing in a 24-hour endurance  bicycle race.
https://www.phoenixnewtimes.co...lympic-roots-6639837 

RochNyFan posted:

If you've not seen this video of Canadiens goalie Carey Price, watch it and he'll be your favorite hockey player. 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/w...r-recently-died.html

Nice. What's even more impressive is that at the bottom it says Price was helping raise money for the hospice where the boy's mom stayed. I've heard sports writers say hockey pros are some of the nicest pro athletes because so many of them came from small towns, and they still have those hard-work, small-town values. Price is from Vancouver, which qualifies as a big town at 635,000 or so, but his mom was a former chief of the Ulkatcho First Nation and his dad was a goalie.

Tiger Woods

Another guy that is not only one of the worlds most accomplished athletes, handles himself with dignity during competition, but also has the reputation of being very charitable is :

Hunter Pence

Packdog posted:

Hard to beat Larry Fitzgerald. Guy is pure class.

 

Are we talking about the same Larry Fitzgerald?

https://www.tmz.com/2008/12/31...-baby-mama-beatdown/

JJ Watt is an interesting case.  I had a relative who was at UW at the time Watt was there.  He knew a number of the athletes and had good things to say about most of them.  Watt was the one guy he told me his encounters with him were not pleasant.  That all said, what Watt has done for charity since that time has been amazing.  I'd like to think that maybe he just grew up a little bit since that time.

The athlete my cousin said was the coolest of them all at UW was Rick Wagner, now OT for the Detroit Lions.  Said he was just an awesome guy. 

I've met very few athletes.  I did get to meet Michael Redd formerly of the Milwaukee Bucks at a season ticket holder meet and greet a couple years ago.  He seemed like a great guy even though he's from O$U.  We talked about his Final Four appearance for them back in '99 quite a bit.

Yikes, had never heard that TMZ story on Fitzgerald. Course I dont usually read TMZ stories. Was it proven ? 

Why is TMZ a source?  I mean it has more legitimacy than PFF but seriously, WTF?

Jack Nicklaus was good friends with the owner of a restaurant I used to cook at in Vail Colorado back in the early 80s. He would show up once or twice a year usually as we were done cooking for the night. The owner would come by and tell us to grill up some steaks or prime rib or whatever for Jack and his boys. Jack would always come up to the grill and thank us for doing that for him. Then he would hang out and BS and kid around while we made up something to eat. He was just a great down to earth good guy who made you feel like one of the guys. I'm glad he never found out that our code word for him was Fat Jack. LOL

Bobby Orr was another guy that I met at the restaurant that was another good guy. There were a few other big names that rolled through that wouldn't give you the time of day if you paid them. I suppose that was because some people handle success/fame/social demands better than others. Either that or they truly were D-bags. LOL