SportsCentury
series not in production
Ended
Documentary
Seasons | 5
Episodes | 123
avg.Runtime | 30 min
First EP | 1999-01-21
Last EP | 2005-05-31
Overview
Stream on
SportsCentury is an ESPN biography program that reviews the people and athletic events that defined sports in North America throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. In 1999, ESPN counted down the Top 50 Athletes of the 20th Century, selected from North American athletes and voted on by a panel of sports journalists and observers, premiering a new biography highlighting each top athlete every week throughout the year. The episodes for the top two athletes, Michael Jordan and Babe Ruth, appeared on a special combined edition broadcast on Christmas Day on ABC. The top two names were announced in no particular order, and the final positioning was announced at the conclusion of the two episodes. An additional list of numbers 51-100 were announced on the ESPN SportsCentury website. Themed specials such as Greatest Games, Greatest Coaches, Greatest Dynasties, and Most Influential Individuals were premiered throughout the year, as well as six SportsCenter of the Decade programs. After the initial run was complete, the episodes were rerun at various times on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Classic. The original plan for the series was to expand to include #51-#100. Ultimately, the series featured nearly every athlete from #51-#100, and numerous other personalities, especially those who were recently deceased, or notable for more recent accomplishments.
Created by
Produced by
Season List
season 1 || Season 1
Relesed on | 1999-01-21
0
Casey Stengel
2000-10-03
1
1900-49
1999-01-21
The SportsCentury begins with this two-hour reflection of the major sports events that endeared themselves to the American conscience in the first half of the 20th Century. Dave Anderson, Dick Schaap, and Curt Gowdy sit around newspaper offices as the ""hosts"" in this newsreel-type retrospective.
2
No. 50 -- Chris Evert
1999-01-22
3
No. 49 -- O.J. Simpson
1999-01-29
4
No. 48 -- Pete Sampras
1999-02-05
5
No. 47 -- Edwin Moses
1999-02-12
6
No. 46 -- Eric Heiden
1999-02-19
7
No. 45 -- Bill Tilden
1999-02-26
8
SportsCenter of the Decade: 1950s
1999-03-09
9
No. 44 -- Bobby Jones
1999-03-12
10
No. 43 -- Julius Erving
1999-03-19
11
No. 42 -- Sandy Koufax
1999-04-02
12
No. 41 -- Wilma Rudolph
1999-04-09
13
No. 40 -- Lawrence Taylor
1999-04-16
14
No. 39 -- Walter Payton
1999-04-23
15
No. 38 -- Ben Hogan
1999-04-30
16
No. 37 -- Mickey Mantle
1999-05-07
17
SportsCenter of the Decade: 1960s
1999-05-21
18
No. 36 -- Oscar Robertson
1999-05-14
19
The Greatest Coaches of the Century
1999-05-22
20
No. 35 -- Secretariat
1999-05-21
21
Most Influential People in Sports
1999-05-23
Counts down the ten non-athletes who left the greatest impact on the sports world in the 20th Century. Profiles include: Walter O'Malley, Branch Rickey, Pette Rozelle, David Stern, Roone Arledge, and Marvin Miller.
22
Greatest Dynasties
1999-05-30
The teams that dominated their sport–the New York Yankees, Boston Celtics, Montréal Canadiens, UCLA Bruins, Notre Dame Fighting Irish–are profiled. So are the Dallas Cowboys, Atlanta Braves, Chicago Bulls, and San Francisco 49ers.
23
No. 34 -- Lou Gehrig
1999-05-28
24
No. 33 -- Mark Spitz
1999-06-04
25
Greatest Games
1999-06-05
26
No. 32 -- Johnny Unitas
1999-06-11
27
No. 31 -- Bobby Orr
1999-06-18
28
No. 30 -- Larry Bird
1999-06-25
29
SportsCenter of the Decade: 1970s
1999-07-09
30
No. 29 -- Arnold Palmer
1999-07-02
31
No. 28 -- Red Grange
1999-07-09
32
No. 27 -- Jerry Rice
1999-07-16
33
No. 26 -- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
1999-07-23
34
No. 25 -- Joe Montana
1999-07-30
35
No. 24 -- Sugar Ray Robinson
1999-07-30
36
No. 23 -- Jackie Joyner-Kersee
1999-08-06
37
No. 22 -- Joe DiMaggio
1999-08-20
38
SportsCenter of the Decade: 1980s
1999-09-17
39
No. 21 -- Gordie Howe
1999-09-03
40
No. 20 -- Ty Cobb
1999-09-17
41
No. 19 -- Martina Navratilova
1999-09-24
42
No. 18 -- Bill Russell
1999-10-01
43
No. 17 -- Magic Johnson
1999-10-08
44
No. 16 -- Ted Williams
1999-10-08
45
No. 15 -- Jackie Robinson
1999-10-15
46
No. 14 -- Hank Aaron
1999-10-29
47
No. 13 -- Wilt Chamberlain
1999-10-29
48
No. 12 -- Carl Lewis
1999-11-05
49
No. 11 -- Joe Louis
1999-11-19
50
No. 10 -- Babe Didrikson
1999-12-03
51
No. 9 -- Jack Nicklaus
1999-12-03
52
No. 8 -- Willie Mays
1999-12-10
53
No. 7 -- Jim Thorpe
1999-12-10
54
No. 6 -- Jesse Owens
1999-12-17
55
No. 5 -- Wayne Gretzky
1999-12-17
56
No. 4 -- Jim Brown
1999-12-24
57
No. 3 -- Muhammad Ali
1999-12-24
58
No. 2 -- Babe Ruth
1999-12-26
59
No. 1 -- Michael Jordan
1999-12-26
60
SportsCenter of the Decade: 1990s
2000-03-26
61
Yogi Berra
2003-10-13
62
Derek Jeter
2003-10-17
63
Brian Piccolo
2001-11-02
A profile of the late Brian Piccolo, the 1964 ACC Player of the Year at Wake Forest and later a member of the Chicago Bears, where he formed a friendship with Gale Sayers that was depicted in the 1971 film “Brian's Song.” Piccolo died of cancer in 1970.
64
Brian Piccolo
2001-11-02
102
No. 50 - Chris Evert
1999-01-22
103
Joe DiMaggio
2000-07-10
104
Willie Mays
2000-07-25
105
Billy Martin
2000-08-07
106
Don Larsen
2000-10-23
CAST
charactor:
Original: Chris Berman
Total EP: 123
charactor:
Original: Chris Fowler
Total EP: 123
charactor:
Original: Dan Patrick
Total EP: 123
charactor:
Original: Yogi Berra
Total EP: 7
charactor:
Original: Ann Meyers
Total EP: 1
charactor:
Original: Amanda Coetzer
Total EP: 1
charactor:
Original: Tommy Lasorda
Total EP: 1
charactor:
Original: Al Oliver
Total EP: 1
charactor: Self
Original: Matt Snell
Total EP: 1
charactor:
Original: Stephon Marbury
Total EP: 1
charactor:
Original: Willie Gault
Total EP: 1
charactor:
Original: Carin Jennings-Gabarra
Total EP: 1
charactor:
Original: Eliot Asinof
Total EP: 1
charactor:
Original: John Kruk
Total EP: 1
charactor:
Original: Dave Winfield
Total EP: 1
charactor:
Original: Reggie Jackson
Total EP: 1
charactor:
Original: Wade Boggs
Total EP: 1
charactor:
Original: Bucky Dent
Total EP: 1
charactor:
Original: Don Mattingly
Total EP: 1
charactor:
Original: Joe Torre
Total EP: 1
charactor:
Original: Heywood Hale Broun
Total EP: 1
charactor:
Original: Hank Aaron
Total EP: 1
charactor:
Original: Dick Miller
Total EP: 1
charactor:
Original: John Blanchard
Total EP: 1
charactor:
Original: George Will
Total EP: 1
charactor:
Original: Jeremy Schaap
Total EP: 1
charactor:
Original: Don Zimmer
Total EP: 1
charactor:
Original: Bill Gilbert
Total EP: 1
charactor: Herself
Original: Shannon MacMillan
Total EP: 1
charactor:
Original: Mario Cuomo
Total EP: 1
CREW
“I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained.” – Walt Disney