Sports Greatest All Rounders

 

Max Woosnam – Football, Tennis, Cricket, Snooker and Golf

Max Woosnam was an extraordinary sportsman, not only did he captain Manchester City and England at football, he was also Olympic champion at Tennis, winning Wimbledon! He scored a Lord’s century in cricket, made a 147 break in Snooker and just to round things off he was a scratch golfer!

Fred Perry – Table Tennis and Tennis

Fred taught himself to play in this way. He was world table tennis champion at 19. Frederick John Perry was a British tennis and table tennis player and former World No. 1 from England who won 10 Majors including eight Grand Slams. Sports best all rounders

CB Fry – Cricket, Football, Athletics and Rugby

Charles Burgess ‘CB’ Fry was possibly as great an all-rounder as the world has ever seen. He represented England at both cricket and football in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He played for Southampton in the FA Cup final in 1902. He played rugby for the Barbarians, and just because he could he equalled the world record for the long jump. Cricket was his top sport, however and he was an all-rounder. He once took 6-78 with his fast bowling, had a high score of 258 not out in first class cricket.

He was also a super interesting and enigmatic man and I would urge you to read more about him.

Eddie Eagan – Boxing and Bobsleigh

Destined to remain the answer to a trivia question to which no one knows the answer, Eagan is the only Olympian to win gold at both summer and winter Games. He defeated Sverre Sørsdal of Norway to take the light heavyweight boxing gold in Antwerp in 1920, before turning to the four-man bobsleigh 12 years later in Lake Placid.

Liam Botham – Football, Cricket, Rugby Union and Rugby League

Liam followed in his fathers footsteps by playing county cricket for Hampshire but, perhaps realising he would never be as good as Dad (see later in list(who would?)), he became a rugby union wing for Cardiff, then Newcastle, and briefly made the England squad. When Leeds Rhinos came calling, Liam completed an unlikely sporting hat-trick by switching codes to rugby league.

Eddie Charlton – Snooker, Surfing and Australian Rules football

As ‘Steady Eddie’, Charlton was one of the slowest players ever to wield a snooker cue. After one match, Cliff Thorburn observed: ‘Before the match I had a suntan – now it is gone.’ Away from the taable, this was the man who was part of a winning team in the Australian surfing championship and who also played in the Aussie Rules first division for 10 years. In 1956, he was selected to carry the Olympic torch on its journey to Melbourne.

Chris Balderstone – Football and Cricket

Combining professional football and cricket hardly distinguishes Balderstone. What does make him unique is the day in September 1975 when he turned out for Leicestershire during the morning and afternoon and for Doncaster Rovers in the evening. After a night’s rest, he returned to the crease to complete the most unlikely of centuries against Derbyshire and take three for 28 in a match his team won with five minutes to spare. After celebrating Leicestershire’s first county championship title, he ran out for Doncaster again the following Saturday. Balderstone became a first-class umpire on retirement.

JPR Williams – Rugby and Tennis

One of rugby’s most aggressive full-back’s was also a Wimbledon junior champion, but JPR Williams became exactly that in 1966. A career with the oval ball was more in keeping with his scruffy demeanour, awesome sideburns and socks rolled around his ankles, even if he did maintain a last vestige of his tennis days by wearing a headband that would have sat proudly around John McEnroe’s temple. A trained surgeon, he once stitched up a hole in his cheek before returning to the field against New Zealand and I lived on the same street as him in Teddington.

Jim Brown – American Football and Lacrosse

The man often regarded as the greatest American football player of all time (he’s the only running back to average more than 100 yards a game) was also one of the greatest lacrosse players ever to pick up a stick.

Michael Jordan – Basketball and Baseball

The basketball legend packed in his first love in order to take up professional baseball. After a shaky start he settled into Minor League obscurity, but then delighted the world by returning to basketball – and was an even better player for his break.

Tonya Harding – Figure Skating and Boxing

The American figure skater became a hate figure in 1994 when her Olympic rival Nancy Kerrigan was assaulted with a metal bar. Harding’s husband later admitted being involved in a plot to attack Kerrigan. After refusing to co-operate with the investigation, Harding received a fine and community service. After winning a ‘reality TV’ fight, she turned professional in 2003. She has had six boxing bouts as ‘America’s Bad Girl’, winning three and losing three. Sports podcasts

Denis Compton – Football and Cricket

Dennis Compton was as a Test cricketer, he scored 17 centuries for England, averaging 50 in 78 matches either side of the Second World War, and as a footballer he played for Arsenal, winning an FA Cup winner’s medal in 1950, and appeared in 12 wartime internationals. Explaining his success, Compton showed considerably self-deprecation ‘Lucky… went to a decent school, you see.’

Rudi Van Vuuren – Rugby and Cricket

The first man to play in the rugby and cricket World Cup finals tournaments in the same year (2003), the white Namibian also works as a doctor and runs a wildlife sanctuary. Part fly-half, part medium-pacer, he admits he is ‘not that talented at cricket’. He was proved right when Australian Darren Lehmann hammered him for 28 in one over. Never one to be discouraged, Rudi overcame injury to play against Romania in the rugby World Cup that same year. Namibia lost 37-7, then lost to Australia by what can be only described as a cricket score. In fact, they lost all their games in both tournaments by cricket scores. At least he kept a sense of perspective: ‘How can I compete with Jonny Wilkinson? He would not expect to walk into my surgery and treat my patients.’