Image via Complex Original
The white athlete. You see them carving on the slopes of Aspen, CO, sinking puts on the 18th green, and shotgunning beers during fraternity flag football games. But outside of the bullpen, they've become an almost ghostly afterthought in professional sports. Before you stereotype white athletes as a bunch of Shawn Bradley-types who merely exist to get dunked on, check out The 20 Greatest White Hope Moments in Sports History.
Written By Sean Evans (@seanseaevans)
20. Bryant Reeves Shatters the Backboard
Date: 4/1/1995
Bryant Reeves was an enormous country bumpkin, with a badass flat top and propensity for shattering backboards. Like Paula Deen with a shoe deal. On the eve of his Final Four match-up against UCLA, the Oklahoma State big man hung from the rim on a reverse dunk and landed in a pile of broken plexiglass. Reeve's went on to do a Yeoman's job as center for the then-expansion Vancouver Grizzlies, but Big Country's biscuits were buttered on that faithful day he ended practice early.
19. Jeremy Wariner Sprints for Gold
Date: 8/23/2004
"White dude speed" is the kind of quickness that you see from a guy who's trying to beat the "Do Not Walk" sign across the street. They're moving but not fast enough to scuff their boat shoes. When it comes to Jeremy Wariner—and only Jeremy Wariner—you can throw that thoughtless stereotype into the recycling bin or homemade compost tumbler. Presumably in a pair of velcro New Balances, Wariner won gold for the 400m and 4 x 400m relay during the '04 Olympic games in Athens, Greece.
18. Peyton Hillis' Madden Cover
Date: 4/28/2011
When it comes to white guys on the covers of video games there's Zelda, Paperboy, and possibly one of those Halo guys. Possibly. The Madden video game franchise long stood in lockstep with the industry, as a controversial symbol of reverse discrimination. At least until Peyton Hillis (of the much deserving 5-11 Cleveland Browns) became Madden's first white, non-quarterback cover athlete. Like a steroid-addled Che Guevara, Hillis' struggle will be studied in text books for generations to come.
17. Seth Petruzelli Knocks Out Kimbo Slice in 14 Seconds
Date: 10/4/2008
Kimbo Slice got his start from knocking out shirtless behemoths on YouTube. When you're Internet famous for fighting your way through the bath salt-soaked streets of south Florida, you're expected to beat an inked-up club kid with pink hair. Right? Slice entered the fight as slam dunk favorite and it took Seth Petruzelli less than half of a GEICO commercial to knock him unconscious.
16. Two Words: The Professor
Date: Early 2000s
In the late '90s and early 2000s, basketball was more about making your defender look stupid than scoring. Seriously. You could miss every layup, so long as you turned an ankle or buckled a knee. Street baller brand AND1 built an on-court army of mouthy preteens with no shot, and Grayson "The Professor" Boucher was their floor general.
15. Aaron Boone's Walk Off
Date: 10/16/2003
Poor play forced Aaron Boone out of the lineup for Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS. But in the bottom of the 11th inning with the score tied at five, Boone was called upon to hit against the one pitcher he could handle: a has-been knuckleballer with a 70 mph fastball. Nice.
Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield left a spinner in the middle of the plate and the second-rate utility man crushed it into the left field seats. On that faithful night, Boone cemented his place in Yankee lore and scored a much needed point for the substitute teacher-looking everyman.
14. Jason Williams' Elbow Pass
Date: 2/12/2000
The NBA was once a league full of guys who topped out at 5-foot-9, wore belts in their shorts, and reeked of pomade. When it came to dishing the ball there was only one option: the bounce pass. The game's changed a lot since then. And if you want an assist to be on SportsCenter, you have to get weird. Cue Jason "White Chocolate" Williams and his patented elbow pass in the NBA's 2000 Rising Stars Challenge.
13. John Stockton Sends Jazz to '97 Finals
Date: 5/29/1997
John Stockton dished and irritated his way into the Hall of Fame. While the Jazz guard was known mostly for his defense and ability to distribute, dude could hit a clutch shot. Stockton's lasting image came in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals when he sunk a buzzer-beating, series-clinching three over Charles Barkley. Unfortunately for Stockton, the feel-good story of the '97 Jazz would come to a sickening end.
12. The Miracle of Tim Tebow
Date: 1/9/2012
Tim Tebow is the kind of unsung hero we can all root for, an underdog who is all too often ignored by the fans and media. During the Broncos 2011 season, the unheralded Tebow rallied the Broncos from a 1-4 start and led them to the playoffs.
In their Wild Card match-up with the Steelers, Tebow connected on an 80-yard touchdown to Demaryius Thomas in overtime, clinching the game for Denver. Do you believe in miracles?
11. Kelly Pavlik Knocks Out Jermain Taylor
Date: 9/29/2007
When Kelly "The Ghost" Pavlik and Jermain Taylor square off, pay-per-view suddenly seems like a worthwhile investment. The two have had some epic brawls and it all started in 2007. Pavlik spent much of the second round swallowing blood, clawed his way to an even fight by the sixth, and pummeled his way to a TKO victory in the seventh.
10. Steve Kerr's Jumper to win the '97 Finals
Date: 6/13/1997
Anyone who knows anything about basketball would agree with us when we say that the '96-'97 Chicago Bulls wouldn't have won 30 games without the off-the-bench guard play of Steve Kerr. That guy was a pitbull. With five seconds remaining in a tied Game 6 of the '97 NBA Finals, Michael Jordan (who was famous for choking in the clutch) found a wide open Kerr from 15 feet out. Swish.
9. Duke Beats UNLV in the '91 Final Four
Date: 3/31/1991
UNLV entered the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament against Duke with a 45-game winning streak. Behind Christian Laettner's team-high 28 points and Bobby Hurley's clutch three-pointer late in the fourth quarter, the Blue Devils upset the Runnin' Rebels 79-77. That year, Duke would go on to win the school's first ever National Championship and empower an insufferable fan base of privileged white kids for a quarter century to come.
8. John Paxson Wins a Ring for the Bulls
Date: 6/20/1993
As star-powered as the '93 Bulls were, the “three-peat” was saved by sharp-shooting afterthought John Paxson. With the Bulls down by two in the waning seconds of Game 6, the Suns defense collapsed on drive penetration, leaving Paxson open from beyond the arch. He didn't miss.
7. Bobby Morrow Wins 100m Dash in '56
Date: 12/5/1956
Next time your dad brags about the glory days of the NFL or how basketball's not the game it used to be, show him some old tape. It might be hard to contrast eras, but it doesn't take much comparative analysis to see that Dick Butkus was slow as fuck.
Another example is Bobby Morrow, an Olympic sprinter whose pedigree and gold medals might impress you, until you peep his time. Morrow's 10.2 second victory in the 100 meter was enough to win a gold medal, but it'd be good for, like, third place in this year's Texas high school track and field finals. Still, a powerful moment in whitey athletics.
6. Jason Sehorn's Pick Six
Date: 1/7/2001
Jason Sehorn was blessed with 4.3 speed, a physical gift that was mostly wasted chasing streaking wide receivers into the end zone. While below average cornerbacks are quickly forgotten in the NFL, Sehorn's image is everlasting as the only white corner since, like, 1992. Oh, and he also had a ridiculous pick six in the 2001 playoffs.
In a sloppy defensive battle, Sehorn jumped a Donovan McNabb pass to Eagles' receiver Torrance Small. The Giants corner batted the ball in the air while simultaneously diving to the turf. While on his back, Sehorn secured the batted ball, stood to his feet, and ran into the end zone. 17-3, Giants.
5. Brent Barry Wins '96 Dunk Contest
Date: 2/10/1996
People like to blame gimmicks and a lack of star power for the death of the dunk contest, but it's really the Internet. Search "turfing" on YouTube and you'll see eight-year-old kids with better dance moves than Vaslav Nijinsky. And the same goes for dunks. We're spoiled.
Before Wi-Fi jaded the way we see the slam dunk, we relied on the NBA Dunk Contest for our jump-off-the-couch-and-scream moments. In undoubtedly one of the greatest athletic events of all-time, Brent Barry went to the wire with Michael Finley for rim-rattling supremacy. With his back against the wall, Barry took off from the free-throw line (sort of) and finished hard at the rim. Thanks for playing, boys.
4. Dwight Clark's "The Catch"
Date: 1/10/1982
The Mount Rushmore of white wide receivers features guys who ran the 40-yard-dash in a little over five seconds, but rarely shied away from a debilitating concussion over the middle. Those in-routes are crucial for first downs and these guys could move the sticks. The monument's surefire George Washington is 49ers legend Dwight Clark.
With 51 seconds remaining in the '82 NFC Championship Game, 49ers quarterback Joe Montana found a leaping Clark in the back of the end zone. The touchdown lifted San Francisco to a one point win over Dallas and sent them to Super Bowl XVI. But perhaps most importantly, he became a symbol of hope.
3. Larry Bird's Steal
Date: 5/26/1987
With five seconds remaining in Game 5 of the '87 Eastern Conference Finals, the Pistons were an inbounds pass away from their third win of the series. Down by a point and seemingly lifeless, a spry Larry Bird cut Isiah Thomas' passing lane and stole the ball. With his momentum carrying the graceful Celtics forward out of bounds, Bird whipped the ball to a cutting Dennis Johnson who ended the game with a layup.
Afterwards, a thoughtful Isiah Thomas would say, ''Larry Bird is a very, very good basketball player. But if he was black he'd be just another guy.''
2. Jess Willard Knocks Out Jack Johnson
Date: 4/6/1915
Believe it or not, the term "white hope" was not created to help Complex race bait for page views. It exists because of African-American boxer Jack Johnson and his propensity for knocking out challengers, including white ones.
Johnson's dominance triggered a man hunt for the "white hope," a worthy, pale-skinned adversary. After a few failed attempts, whitey ended its losing streak to Johnson in the form of a 26th-round (the bout was scheduled for 45 rounds) knock out by Jess Willard. Jack Dempsey would later end Willard's pro career with one of the most brutally one-sided fights of all-time, but we'll save that list for another day.
1. Christian Laettner's "The Shot"
Date: 3/28/1992
In perhaps the most insufferably replayed sports clip of all-time, Duke's Christian Laettner hits a turn-around jumper at the buzzer to advance Duke to the Final Four. After the shot, Laettner high kicked his way down the court, exposing a set of pale thighs that were somehow whiter than his home jersey. It was a horrifying ending to Kentucky's season and one shining moment for college basketball's white hope.
