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Sure, Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan may have been presidents of the United States. But they would have been really influential if they had helped to break a racial barrier in professional sports.
That's one way of interpreting a list of the "100 Most Influential Student-Athletes" released Wednesday by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, as part of its centennial celebration. The top five leans heavily toward leading African-American athletes who became icons of racial integration: Jackie Robinson, Arthur Ashe, Jesse Owens are Nos. 1, 2 and 3, respectively, followed by Eisenhower and John Wooden, the former basketball coach at the University of California at Los Angeles.
The list, which was drawn up by a committee of college presidents, sports officials, faculty members and current athletes, is, like any such list, likely to be fodder for debate and discussion (to the extent anybody pays attention to it at all, given that the NCAA is releasing it at a time when most people who care about college sports are obsessing over the association's Division I men's basketball tournament).
That's because in seeking to feature "those who have made a significant impact or major contributions to society," it throws into one big mix people whose primary impact on society has been almost entirely through sports (like Wooden and Jackie Joyner-Kersee, the Olympic track star) as well as those best known for civic roles, such as Kofi Annan and Dr. Spock.
That makes for some strange juxtapositions: Althea Gibson, the black female tennis star (No. 6), for instance, followed by Madeleine K. Albright (a swimmer at Wellesley College) at No. 7, and Tiger Woods (No. 13) followed by Gerald R. Ford (a former University of Michigan football player) at 14.
Political scientists might be intrigued by the NCAA committee's ordering of the presidents on the list: Eisenhower at No. 4 is followed by Ronald Reagan at 11, Ford at 14, George H.W. Bush at 16 -- and Richard M. Nixon at 48.
The NCAA's list of athletes and their colleges and sports follows:
1. Jackie Robinson, University of California at Los Angeles, basketball, baseball, football, track and field
2. Arthur Ashe, University of California at Los Angeles, tennis
3. Jesse Owens, Ohio State University, track and field
4. Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. Military Academy, football
5. John R. Wooden, Purdue University, basketball
6. Althea Gibson, Florida A&M University, tennis, basketball, golf
7. Madeline Albright, Wellesley College, swimming and diving
8. Jack W. Nicklaus, Ohio State University, golf
9. Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Stanford University, swimming, track and field
10. Edward G. Robinson, Grambling State University, college football coach
11. Ronald Reagan, Eureka College, swimming, football, track and field
12. Billie Jean King, Cal State, Los Angeles, tennis
13. Tiger Woods, Stanford University, golf
14. Gerald R. Ford, University of Michigan, football
15. Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., North Carolina A&T State University, football
16. Kofi Annan, Macalester College, track and field, soccer
17. George H.W. Bush, Yale University, baseball
18. Donna A. Lopiano, Southern Connecticut State University, softball, basketball, volleyball, field hockey
19. Alan Page, University of Notre Dame, football
20. Pat Summitt, University of Tennessee at Martin, basketball
21. Jim Thorpe, Carlisle Indian School, football
22. Michael Jordan, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, basketball
23. Paul Robeson, Rutgers University, football, basketball, track and field
24. Jerome “Brud” Holland, Cornell University, football
25. Arnold Palmer, Wake Forest University, golf
26. Joseph V. Paterno, Brown University, football, basketball
27. Sally Ride, Stanford University, tennis
28. Leroy T. Walker, Benedict College, football, basketball, track and field
29. Donna deVarona, University of California, Los Angeles, swimming and diving
30. Bill Bradley, Princeton University, basketball
31. Wilma Rudolph, Tennessee State University, track and field
32. Dr. Denton A. Dooley, M.D., University of Texas at Austin, basketball
33. Dr. Benjamin Spock, Yale University, crew
34. Peter Ueberroth, San Jose State University, swimming, water polo
35. Edwin Moses, Morehouse College, track and field
36. Robert J. Dole, Washburn University, football, basketball, track and field
37. Patricia “Patty” Berg, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, golf
38. Gen. Omar N. Bradley, U.S. Military Academy, football, baseball
39. William “Bill” H. Cosby, Jr., Temple University, track and field, football
40. Bill Russell, University of San Francisco, basketball
41. Byron R. White, University of Colorado at Boulder, football
42. Jackie Joyner-Kersee, University of California at Los Angeles, track and field, basketball
43. Dot Richardson, University of California at Los Angeles, softball
44. Ann Meyers-Drysdale, University of California at Los Angeles, basketball, track and field, volleyball
45. Howard K. Smith, Tulane University, track and field
46. Roger T. Staubach, U.S. Naval Academy, football, basketball, baseball
47. Knute Rockne, University of Notre Dame, football, track and field
48. Richard Nixon, Whittier College, football
49. Anita DeFrantz, Connecticut College, rowing
50. Dean Smith, University of Kansas, basketball
51. Mia Hamm, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, soccer
52. Harold “Red” Grange, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, football, track and field, baseball
53. Joan Benoit Samuelson, Bowdoin College, indoor and outdoor track and field, field hockey
54. Rafer Johnson, University of California, Los Angeles, basketball, track and field
55. Dr. Cedric W. Dempsey, Albion College, football, basketball, baseball
56. Oscar P. Robertson, University of Cincinnati, basketball
57. Val Ackerman, University of Virginia, basketball
58. Annika Sorenstam, University of Arizona, golf
59. A. Lamar Alexander, Jr., Vanderbilt University, track and field
60. Betsy King, Furman University, golf, basketball, field hockey
61. Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, West Point University, football, wrestling
62. Walter Jerry Payton, Jackson State University, football
63. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, University of California, Los Angeles, basketball
64. Capt. Alan B. Shepard, U.S. Naval Academy, crew
65. Judith Sweet, University of Wisconsin at Madison, badminton
66. Mike Krzyzewski, West Point University, basketball
67. Vince Lombardi, Fordham University, football
68. Robert B. Mathias, Stanford University, football, track and field
69. Bill Richardson, Tufts University, baseball
70. Jack F. Kemp, Occidental College, football
71. Calvin Hill, Yale University, football
72. James Brown, Harvard University, basketball
73. Larry Bird, Indiana State University, basketball
74. Ervin “Magic” Johnson, Michigan State University, basketball
75. Herman R. Frazier, Arizona State University, track and field
76. Dennis Hastert, Wheaton College, wrestling
77. Otis Chandler, Stanford University, track and field
78. George P. Schultz, Princeton University, basketball
79. Jerry West, West Virginia University, basketball
80. Robert Kraft, Columbia University, football
81. William “Bill” V. Campbell, Columbia University, football
82. Dr. Kwaku Ohene-Frempong, Yale University, soccer, track and field
83. William P. Lawrence, U.S. Naval Academy, football
84. Arnold “Red” Auerbach, George Washington University, basketball, baseball
85. Phil Knight, University of Oregon, track and field
86. Edward Temple, Tennessee State University, track and field
87. Archie Griffin, Ohio State University, football
88. Thomas J. Hamilton, U.S. Naval Academy, football, basketball, baseball
89. Dr. James Frank, Lincoln University (Missouri), basketball
90. Dawn Staley, University of Virginia, basketball
91. Michael H. Armacost, Carleton College, football, basketball, baseball
92. Meg Whitman, Princeton University, lacrosse, squash
93. Cheryl Miller, University of Southern California, basketball
94. Wyomia Tyus, Tennessee State University, track and field
95. Theresa Edwards, University of Georgia, basketball
96. Roosevelt “Rosey” Grier, Pennsylvania State University, football, track and field
97. Julie Foudy, Stanford University, soccer
98. Robin Roberts, Southeastern Louisiana University, basketball
99. Alpha A. Alexander, College of Wooster, basketball, volleyball, tennis, lacrosse
100. Jerry Rice, Mississippi Valley State University, football
