SportsCentury (1999)
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 20th Century, selected from North American athletes and voted on by a panel of sports journalists and observers, premiering a new biography highlighting each top athlete every week throughout the year. The episodes for the top two athletes, Michael Jordan and Babe Ruth, appeared on a special combined edition broadcast on Christmas Day on ABC. The top two names were announced in no particular order, and the final positioning was announced at the conclusion of the two episodes. An additional list of numbers 51-100 were announced on the ESPN SportsCentury website. Themed specials such as Greatest Games, Greatest Coaches, Greatest Dynasties, and Most Influential Individuals were premiered throughout the year, as well as six SportsCenter of the Decade programs. After the initial run was complete, the episodes were rerun at various times on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Classic. The original plan for the series was to expand to include #51-#100. Ultimately, the series featured nearly every athlete from #51-#100, and numerous other personalities, especially those who were recently deceased, or notable for more recent accomplishments.
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Episodes
- 1 1. 1900-491999-01-21 · 30mThe SportsCentury begins with this two-hour reflection of the major sports events that endeared themselves to the American conscience in the first half of the 20th Century. Dave A
- 2 2. No. 50 -- Chris Evert1999-01-22 · 30m
- 3 3. No. 49 -- O.J. Simpson1999-01-29 · 30m
- 4 4. No. 48 -- Pete Sampras1999-02-05 · 30m
- 5 5. No. 47 -- Edwin Moses1999-02-12 · 30m
- 6 6. No. 46 -- Eric Heiden1999-02-19 · 30m
- 7 7. No. 45 -- Bill Tilden1999-02-26 · 30m
- 8 8. SportsCenter of the Decade: 1950s1999-03-09 · 30m
- 9 9. No. 44 -- Bobby Jones1999-03-12 · 30m
- 10 10. No. 43 -- Julius Erving1999-03-19 · 30m
- 11 11. No. 42 -- Sandy Koufax1999-04-02 · 30m
- 12 12. No. 41 -- Wilma Rudolph1999-04-09 · 30m
- 13 13. No. 40 -- Lawrence Taylor1999-04-16 · 30m
- 14 14. No. 39 -- Walter Payton1999-04-23 · 30m
- 15 15. No. 38 -- Ben Hogan1999-04-30 · 30m
- 16 16. No. 37 -- Mickey Mantle1999-05-07 · 30m
- 17 17. SportsCenter of the Decade: 1960s1999-05-21 · 30m
- 18 18. No. 36 -- Oscar Robertson1999-05-14 · 30m
- 19 19. The Greatest Coaches of the Century1999-05-22 · 30m
- 20 20. No. 35 -- Secretariat1999-05-21 · 30m
- 21 21. Most Influential People in Sports1999-05-23 · 30mCounts down the ten non-athletes who left the greatest impact on the sports world in the 20th Century. Profiles include: Walter O'Malley, Branch Rickey, Pette Rozelle, David Stern
- 22 22. Greatest Dynasties1999-05-30 · 30mThe teams that dominated their sport–the New York Yankees, Boston Celtics, Montréal Canadiens, UCLA Bruins, Notre Dame Fighting Irish–are profiled. So are the Dallas Cowboys,
- 23 23. No. 34 -- Lou Gehrig1999-05-28 · 30m
- 24 24. No. 33 -- Mark Spitz1999-06-04 · 30m
- 25 25. Greatest Games1999-06-05 · 30m
- 26 26. No. 32 -- Johnny Unitas1999-06-11 · 30m
- 27 27. No. 31 -- Bobby Orr1999-06-18 · 30m
- 28 28. No. 30 -- Larry Bird1999-06-25 · 30m
- 29 29. SportsCenter of the Decade: 1970s1999-07-09 · 30m
- 30 30. No. 29 -- Arnold Palmer1999-07-02 · 30m
- 31 31. No. 28 -- Red Grange1999-07-09 · 30m
- 32 32. No. 27 -- Jerry Rice1999-07-16 · 30m
- 33 33. No. 26 -- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar1999-07-23 · 30m
- 34 34. No. 25 -- Joe Montana1999-07-30 · 30m
- 35 35. No. 24 -- Sugar Ray Robinson1999-07-30 · 30m
- 36 36. No. 23 -- Jackie Joyner-Kersee1999-08-06 · 30m
- 37 37. No. 22 -- Joe DiMaggio1999-08-20 · 30m
- 38 38. SportsCenter of the Decade: 1980s1999-09-17 · 30m
- 39 39. No. 21 -- Gordie Howe1999-09-03 · 30m
- 40 40. No. 20 -- Ty Cobb1999-09-17 · 30m
- 41 41. No. 19 -- Martina Navratilova1999-09-24 · 30m
- 42 42. No. 18 -- Bill Russell1999-10-01 · 30m
- 43 43. No. 17 -- Magic Johnson1999-10-08 · 30m
- 44 44. No. 16 -- Ted Williams1999-10-08 · 30m
- 45 45. No. 15 -- Jackie Robinson1999-10-15 · 30m
- 46 46. No. 14 -- Hank Aaron1999-10-29 · 30m
- 47 47. No. 13 -- Wilt Chamberlain1999-10-29 · 30m
- 48 48. No. 12 -- Carl Lewis1999-11-05 · 30m
- 49 49. No. 11 -- Joe Louis1999-11-19 · 30m
- 50 50. No. 10 -- Babe Didrikson1999-12-03 · 30m
- 51 51. No. 9 -- Jack Nicklaus1999-12-03 · 30m
- 52 52. No. 8 -- Willie Mays1999-12-10 · 30m
- 53 53. No. 7 -- Jim Thorpe1999-12-10 · 30m
- 54 54. No. 6 -- Jesse Owens1999-12-17 · 30m
- 55 55. No. 5 -- Wayne Gretzky1999-12-17 · 30m
- 56 56. No. 4 -- Jim Brown1999-12-24 · 30m
- 57 57. No. 3 -- Muhammad Ali1999-12-24 · 30m
- 58 58. No. 2 -- Babe Ruth1999-12-26 · 30m
- 59 59. No. 1 -- Michael Jordan1999-12-26 · 30m
- 60 60. SportsCenter of the Decade: 1990s2000-03-26 · 30m
- 61 61. Yogi Berra2003-10-13 · 30m
- 62 62. Derek Jeter2003-10-17 · 30m
- 63 63. Brian Piccolo2001-11-02 · 30mA profile of the late Brian Piccolo, the 1964 ACC Player of the Year at Wake Forest and later a member of the Chicago Bears, where he formed a friendship with Gale Sayers that was
- 64 64. Brian Piccolo2001-11-02 · 30m
- 65 65. Casey Stengel2000-10-03 · 30m
- 102 102. No. 50 - Chris Evert1999-01-22 · 30m
- 103 103. Joe DiMaggio2000-07-10 · 30m
- 104 104. Willie Mays2000-07-25 · 30m
- 105 105. Billy Martin2000-08-07 · 30m
- 106 106. Don Larsen2000-10-23 · 30m
Cast
Chris Berman
Chris Fowler
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