A History of Great Athletes Who Retired (By Choice) During Their Prime

Sport: Boxing
Retirement Age (Career Length at the Time): 32 (1948–1955)
What needs to be said about the legend of Rocky Marciano that hasn't been said before? The guy went 49-0 with 43 of those victories coming by way of knockout. He avoided the typical pitfalls of boxers who stay in the game too long for pride or money and end up being plagued with chronic injuries the rest of their life. One of the smartest dudes to ever take blows to the dome for a living. Get your mind out of the gutter, fam.

Sport: Baseball
Retirement Age (Career Length at the Time): 30 (1955–1966)
Way before juicers took over the league, Sandy Koufax was adding to the legacy of one of baseball's most storied franchises. Just 12 seasons deep and dude racked up four World Series rings, four no-hitters, three Cy Young awards, and one perfect game. Critics lie, fans lie, but numbers don't.

Sport: Football
Retirement Age (Career Length at the Time): 29 (1957–1965)
Many people consider him to be the best running back to ever play the game. In 2002, Sporting News named him the greatest football player of all time. All high praise for the three-time MVP who left the NFL at an age when many backs start posting their biggest single-season numbers. Brown left during the filming of The Dirty Dozen and would go on to achieve accolades in the acting world such as filming the first interracial sex scene by smashing Raquel Welch in 100 Rifles. #KING #legendintwogames

Sport: Swimming
Retirement Age (Career Length at the Time): 22 (1965-1972)
The man whose records Michael Phelps chased in Beijing competed in two Olympics and finished with nine gold medals, one silver and one bronze. After setting the Olympic record with seven gold medals in 1972, Spitz retired after the Games at 22 years old. It’s unlikely he would have repeated his seven medal performance, but he likely could have added to his overall total nonetheless. Maybe even stranger than his retirement, Spitz made a comeback in 1991 when he was 41 and missed qualifying times by two seconds.

Sport: Hockey
Retirement Age (Career Length at the Time): 31 (1970–1979)
Today, Ken Dryden may be known more for his career as an author and Canadian politician than a goaltender. Before spending six years as a Member of Parliament, Dryden spent nine seasons in the NHL. If we were to describe his Hall of Fame career, we'd think of him as DJ Khaled on ice skates. Yikes (#frighteningmentalimage). Nevermind. What we're trying to say is dude won a lot. By a lot we mean he was victorious in 258 games while only losing 57.

Sport: Tennis
Retirement Age (Career Length at the Time): 26 (1971-1983)
Bjorn Borg racked up 11 Grand Slam singles titles throughout the late '70s and early '80s before he shocked the world by deciding to retire in January of 1983. Borg had seemingly lost a bit of his competitive drive and in 1982 major tour officials implemented a new rule which required players to participate in at least 10 official tournaments per yer. After that rule was enforced, Borg only played in one tournament in 1982 before announcing his retirement at the age of 26. The Swede later attempted a comeback in 1991 at the age of 35 but it proved to be a complete fail as he didn't win a single match. Borg hung 'em up for good in 1993.

Sport: Football
Retirement Age (Career Length at the Time): 30 (1989–1998)
With less than 1,500 yards to go before passing Walter Payton for the all-time rushing record, Sanders decided to call it quits by faxing a letter to his hometown newspaper, The Wichita Eagle. In 2003, Sanders finally revealed that he left so early because he felt the front office wasn't committed to building a winning team. Since his retirement in 1998, the Lions have made the playoffs just once. While everyone (especially Detroit fans) was devastated by Barry's departure, we were especially distraught because we no longer had one of the most dominant video game athletes to kick our friends' asses in the next Madden game.

Sport: Football
Retirement Age (Career Length at the Time): 28 (1993–2000)
After only eight seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, Robert Smith decided to hang it up before he even reached his 30th birthday. In his final season, Robert had his best year with 1,521 rushing yards, which led the NFC. And guess who's the Vikings career leading rusher? Not Adrian Peterson, it's this dude. Many years removed from his football playing days, Smith has made a name for himself in his other career interest: Science and medicine. It's good a to see a former running back who has his mind right and isn't planning any ill-fated comeback attempts. Take notes, Tiki.

Sport: Football
Retirement Age (Career Length at the Time): 25 (1998-2001)
When Pat Tillman turned down a $3.6 million contract from the Arizona Cardinals to go serve his country after the 9/11 attacks, many were surprised to see such sacrifice from a star athlete in today's era. His untimely death during a friendly fire incident while serving in Afghanistan in 2004 only added to his legend. Tillman was truly a soldier and an American hero. FOH, Kellen Winslow.

Sport: Cycling
Retirement Age (Career Length at the Time): 33 (1992-2005)
Armstrong wasn’t exactly young when he retired in 2005 at 33 years old, but he was still the best cyclist in the world. He had just won his seventh consecutive Tour de France when he decided to walk way on top. It’s not like someone was right on his heels either as he won in 2005 by over four and a half minutes. Armstrong’s battle against testicular cancer before his streak of victories endeared him to America in the form of the iconic yellow Livestrong bracelets. Unfortunately for Armstrong, since his retirement, he made a comeback that didn’t end in another yellow jersey. Today, the seven-time Tour de France champ is facing doping charges. #itwasallgoodjustsevenyearsago

Sport: Golf
Retirement Age (Career Length at the Time): 39 (1992–2008)
Annika Sorenstam is one of the most prolific golfers in history. The Swede is the most successful female golfer with 72 LPGA tournament championship including 10 majors and has won a record eight Player of the Year awards. Looking for a challenge, she even played on the PGA at the Bank of America Colonial tournament. She finished her first day shooting a one-over-par 71, placing 73rd out of 114 players. Don't front on her just because she hits from the ladies' tee, Swedish girls with golf clubs can be dangerous. Word to Tiger.

Sport: Golf
Retirement Age (Career Length at the Time): 28 (2002–2010)
After leaving college in her sophomore year to pursue a career in the LPGA, Lorena Ochoa only needed eight years to leave her stamp on the sport. After finishing in the top-10 eight times during her rookie season in 2003, Lorena continued to improve until 2007 when she overtook Annika Sorenstam as not only the No. 1 female golfer but also the highest earning female golfer, earning more than $4 million in a season. Three years later, Ochoa surprisingly retired while still on the top of her game. Jigga talks about it, Lorena lives it.

Sport: Tennis
Retirement Age (Career Length at The Time): 29 (1998–2010)
Sometimes, athletes leave the game for reasons we could never understand and with a tarnished rep. Not Elena, though. She left tennis with a No. 9 ranking and 16 WTA titles before bowing out to focus on starting a family. We can't knock her for that. But we are going to miss her rocking those sexy tennis outfits while getting into some girl-on-girl action with players like Maria Sharapova. #keepit100