ESPN took the bait and made a list of the best American athletes for each year since 1912. Shaquille O’Neal took the title for 1995.
The United States Olympic team in Rio de Janeiro has been awe inspiring for the last few weeks.
From Simone Biles’ dominance in gymnastics to Katie Ledecky and Michael Phelps‘ dominance in the pool, there have been some truly fantastic and amazing performances throughout the tournament. The gold medals have piled up uncontrollably.
The United States have dominated the games completely.
As seems to happen every time the United States has such dominant performances at the Olympics, there comes discussions over who is the best American athlete at the games and of all time. Because the Internet exists, no one can have nice things without immediately listing and ranking them.
There were snarky tweets about football players running the 40 faster than Usain Bolt and discussions over whether Ledecky’s performance is better than Phelps’ all-time performance or who is better between a sprinter and a swimmer.
Yet, no appreciation of how special they are because they are different. C’est la vie.
This natural inclination to to rank things got Bill Barnewall of ESPN.com thinking. Thinking dangerously ambitious thoughts.
He decided to determine the best American Athlete for every year from 1912 to present. He opted to focus on how a player performed in each calendar year in relation to how others performed in other sports.
It is a who’s who of great American athletes. And one Orlando Magic player certainly worthy of the honor.
For 1995, with Michael Jordan playing baseball, Shaquille O’Neal was his pick for American Athlete of the Year, taking the belt form multi-sport athlete Deion Sanders:
"Sanders slipped a bit in 1995, playing nine games for the Cowboys without making it to the Pro Bowl. Jordan returned to basketball but played only 17 games before losing in the second round of the playoffs to the Magic. You could make a case for the smooth skills of David Robinson, who won league MVP, but Shaq was pure fury as a 22-year-old, leading the league in scoring for the first time while finishing second in the MVP voting. I mean, this was the same guy who was shattering backboards with dunks two years earlier. There are few big men in the history of the NBA who combined young Shaq’s strength and athleticism."
In the 1995 calendar year, O’Neal averaged 27.7 points per game, including 25.7 points per game and 11.9 rebounds per game during the 1995 NBA Playoffs run to the NBA Finals. He was hurt for much of the 1995 portion of the 1996 season after breaking his hand in the preseason (thanks, Matt Geiger).
O’Neal was a transcendental figure that season. He ended up finishing second in MVP voting that year. But his emergence and the Magic’s sudden surge to reach the NBA Finals transfixed the league.
The Magic were a circus everywhere they went, and O’Neal was a big reason for it.
There has never truly been a player who combined the athleticism, power and size that O’Neal had. He was truly unique. He has a style about him that still resonates today. And, as This Magic Moment proved, that 1995 team still resonates.
Calling him the best American athlete for 1995 for his exploits in the 1995 season is certainly more than warranted. This was O’Neal at the peak of his athleticism and power, even if he did not win a title.
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That season was all about him and how far he could take the Magic. Clearly it was pretty far.