The 21st best athlete in Michigan History is...
Michael Phelps
I want to reiterate that this ranking isnt my personal opinion. If it was Phelps woudl be much higher. I also want to apologize for not making it abundantly clear that this poll was ALL athletes, Phelps would likely be much higher if that was more clear.
There will probably be some debate as to weather he should be on the list or not, and it certainly isn't because he isnt good enough. The hardliners will point out the fact that Michael Phelps never swam competatively for the Wolverines. This is because he accepted a speedo endorsement prior to his freshman year in college. He did, however, take classes and coach the swim team with his mentor Bob Bowman. That's good enough for me to claim the best swimmer, olympian, and possibly athlete of all time as a Michigan Wolverine.
As of last night Phelps has won 22 gold medals and 26 overall at the Olympics. Only 4 times has he not won gold at the olympics, and he probably just did that to see what losing feels like. He has many many more medals in international competitions but there are too many to outline here because I think you get the point he's the best...ever.
He has set 39 world records during his career and currently holds 7 world records.
here is phelps with a lot of gold medals
here is a highlight real.
here is a picture of him learning how to swim
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August 12th, 2016 at 1:11 PM ^
Does he have Olympic rings and a Block M framing his package? If so, good choices.
August 12th, 2016 at 1:20 PM ^
Last night the guy broke a record set in 152 BC. That's incredible.
And take that, Leonidas of Rhodes, you bastard.
August 12th, 2016 at 1:14 PM ^
August 12th, 2016 at 1:20 PM ^
August 12th, 2016 at 1:21 PM ^
yeah, lots of flaws with this post.
August 12th, 2016 at 1:22 PM ^
Sorry OP.
If Phelps is on your list he's got to be #1.
I have no problem with him being left off if your criteria is having to actually play the sport for Michigan but you cant have it both ways. If Michael is on your list he's #1 IMO and it wouldnt even be close.
August 12th, 2016 at 1:52 PM ^
Phelps never swam for Michigan. I don't think he even went to school here, he just trained with the team.
Phelps is great and all, but Swimming has like 4,000 events. It'd be like if Wrestling had 1 minute matches, 2 minute matches, 3 minute matches, jello matches, etc. Medal count gets inflated.
That said, I'll claim Phelps' 21 Golds.
August 12th, 2016 at 1:55 PM ^
He was a student, but honestly, I'll be damned if I ever heard anyone say they saw him in a class. I was on campus that year. He probably spent about 90% of his time in the pool, eating at Middle Kingdom, sleeping, or partying.
August 12th, 2016 at 2:03 PM ^
I'm with you, but again this isnt my list. A bunch of people had him in their top 5 and a bunch of people didn't have him at all so this is where he settled.
August 12th, 2016 at 9:55 PM ^
My bigger issue is that if this isn't a football-only list, then are players 25 through 22 really all football players? I mean...
Baseball Retired Numbers
No. 1 -- Moby Benedict
No. 11 -- Bill Freehan
No. 16 -- Barry Larkin
No. 31 -- Jim Abbott
No. 33 -- Don Lund
No. 44 -- Ray Fisher
Football Retired Jerseys
No. 11 -- Francis, Albert and Alvin Wistert
No. 21 -- Desmond Howard
No. 47 -- Bennie Oosterbaan
No. 48 -- Gerald Ford
No. 87 -- Ron Kramer
No. 98 -- Tom Harmon
Men's Basketball Honored Jerseys
No. 22 -- Bill Buntin
No. 33 -- Cazzie Russell (retired)
No. 35 -- Phil Hubbard
No. 41 -- Glen Rice
No. 45 -- Rudy Tomjanovich
That's just the three sports that have honored/retired numbers. The list goes on... Sierra Romero, Trey Burke, Lexi Zimmerman, Sam Mikulak, Kellen Russell, Steve Luke, Tiffany Ofili, Jenny Ritter, Kevin Porter, Nikki Nemitz, Zach Hyman, Justin Meram.
There's 23 non-football right there between the honored numbers and the recent greats off the top of my head.
August 12th, 2016 at 1:21 PM ^
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August 12th, 2016 at 1:28 PM ^
Yeah I didn't realize it was ALL athletes until after I had already voted in 10 football players. Phelps quite obviously would have made the list, seeing as you can make the argument that he is the greatest athlete ever.
August 12th, 2016 at 1:48 PM ^
August 12th, 2016 at 1:49 PM ^
Never swam for Michigan. Was only a student (well, technically a student) for, what, one academic year. Should not be eligible.
August 12th, 2016 at 1:57 PM ^
If we are going to include Phelps for non-Michigan related accomplishments, Brady's NFL accomplishments should be considered too.
August 12th, 2016 at 2:19 PM ^
I am done with this list and will neg bomb it the rest of the way. Cannot have a person on this list that never competed for UM. Might as well throw Kate Upton on your list along with Derek Jeter. Shoot, I will even throw a vote out there for myself, since I have the same level of competing for UM as Phelps does.
August 12th, 2016 at 2:55 PM ^
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August 12th, 2016 at 3:04 PM ^
After clicking on this thread my initial reaction was disappointment. I actually gave some thought to this earlier in the day wondering who #21 might be, considering how strong #22-#25 have been.
August 12th, 2016 at 3:12 PM ^
I think that everybody should just calm down a bit. I understand the anxiety over football starting not soon enough but geez.
August 12th, 2016 at 3:28 PM ^
He basically went to Michigan to train.
And if he is going to be on the list as a full-fledged Michigan athlete, he'd be #1.
But he's not, so it's a moot point. In order to be a "Michigan athlete," said person needs to be affiliated with the school. When they are talked about, you can remember them being at the school and being part of the program.
August 12th, 2016 at 3:41 PM ^
August 12th, 2016 at 5:43 PM ^
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August 12th, 2016 at 4:02 PM ^
I only did a list of "Top 25 Athletes in Michigan [football] History"
I inserted the football thingy.
I also wouldn't have voted Phelps even if I did placed a vote for non-football peeps. Brady didn't get my vote for things he did in the NFL. And while beind a 2 sport athlete is cool and all, he played catcher. And wasn't even the best Football/Baseball player on the team that year. Let alone as his position QB. I only included their time at Michigan.
August 12th, 2016 at 6:07 PM ^
Clearly there is some users that are highly offended by the inclusion of Phelps on this list. On the plus side, however, I don't see anyone as controversial on the remainder of the list.
August 12th, 2016 at 7:40 PM ^
August 12th, 2016 at 9:56 PM ^
Wait. So, this is not limited to football players, yet football players are 25-22 and Michael Phelps - who never swam for Michigan - is 21. And you say this ranking isn't your personal opinion? If it's not your opinion, what's the ranking methodology?
August 12th, 2016 at 10:36 PM ^
This is clearly a WD alt-ego, yes?