Many people who watch sports have an opinion on who is the greatest to ever play. It is a much debated topic with little consensus. Every great athlete has a case to be made, whether it be Lebron, Jordan, Brady or Gretzky.

Tom Brady is the most recent of those mentioned to make a contribution to the conversation. His win in Super Bowl LV cements his place as the most successful player to ever play in the NFL. He alone has more Super Bowl wins than any team in NFL history and more appearances in the game than all but one team, the New England Patriots. He has also been the starting quarterback for each of his Super Bowl victories. 

These accomplishments alone would leave him as the best to ever play football, but one cannot help but marvel at the age he reached such heights at. The majority of his titles came when he was 37 or older. Considering the average length of an NFL career is only three years, he far surpassed the expectations set when he entered the league and continues to break records in his older age (relative to most NFL players) Senior Finn Walker believes that “Brady is the greatest because of his accomplishments at such an age. Nobody has done anything like it before.” 

Another player who is held up on a pedestal due to his record-breaking accomplishments is Wayne Gretzky. His nickname is “The Great One,” and he is widely acknowledged as the greatest NHL player of all time. He won the MVP a record nine times and won 4 Stanley Cups championships in his career, with most of his accomplishments received during his time with the L.A. Kings and Edmonton Oilers. He is also one of only two players to have their numbers retired league-wide in American sports, the other being Jackie Robinson. 

The rise of hockey in the U.S. can partially be attributed to Gretzky’s mid-career trade to the L.A. Kings. His great ability, combined with playing in a major market, was a huge boost to the popularity of the NHL in the U.S, and is often cited as one of the reasons that the NHL was able to expand across California and the Sun Belt.

In the NBA, there are really only two players who are seen as the best, those two being Lebron James and Michael Jordan. Both of these players’ accomplishments are numerous, with each of them earning multiple MVPs and championships. Each has a legitimate case to be regarded as the best basketball player of all time, if not the best athlete.

The debate on who is the better player of the two mostly depends on the age of the fan, with younger fans viewing Lebron as the better player and older generations believing that Jordan is the GOAT. High-schoolers now can only see Jordan through highlight compilations and shows, while Lebron puts on nightly displays of his craft. Older generations saw the play of Jordan first-hand, and tend to consider him to be tougher and grittier than current N.B.A. players. Junior Miles Sedlin believes that “it is impossible to pick one over the other, as the N.B.A has changed so much in style over the past few decades.”

The debate on who is the greatest athlete is a hotly debated one, with possible athletes in almost every sport from tennis to golf to baseball. The ones who truly belong in the conversation though, are the ones who made a lasting impact on their sport and on the world. International superstars like Jordan and Gretzky changed their sports and expanded their audiences, and therefore are among the few who deserve to be regarded as the greatest of all time.