The 10 Best Chicago Professional Athletes of All Time

As a Chicago sports fan, I have had the pleasure of watching some amazing athletes play in the Windy City. I may not have been around to watch everyone on this list in person, but their greatness is recognized through stats and highlights. Taking all players into consideration, I have put together a list of my Top 10 Chicago Professional Athletes of All Time.

I kept this list to players who played the majority of their careers in Chicago (so players like Greg Maddux, Lou Brock, or Phil Esposito wouldn’t qualify) and played in the modern era (which eliminates Mordecai Brown, Red Grange, and Ted Lyons among others).

Ideally, this article will generate plenty of comments and spark a lot of great discussion and debate. There are several players who just missed the cut.

The honorable mentions include: Sammy Sosa (mostly because of his speculated steroid use, even though he has never officially tested positive), Bobby Hull, Nellie Fox, Johnny “Red” Kerr and Brian Urlacher.

Now on to the Top 10...

No. 10: Mike Ditka

Ditka was a tremendous tight end before he took over as the iconic head coach of the Chicago Bears. In 1999, he was ranked 90th overall on a Sporting News 100 Greatest Football Players list.

He finished his playing career with 427 career receptions for 5,812 yards and 43 touchdowns. “Iron Mike” became the first-ever TE inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1988.

He won the Rookie of the Year award in 1961 for the Bears and went on to make the Pro Bowl his first five years in the league. Ditka was part of the 1963 World Championship team for the Chicago Bears, and from his rookie year Iron Mike's legend was born.

Ditka went on to win a Super Bowl with the Dallas Cowboys in 1971 as a player and in 1977 with the Cowboys as an assistant coach. He won his last ring in the 1985 Super Bowl as the head coach of the Chicago Bears.

Da Coach is the only person that can claim to have a Super Bowl ring as a player, assistant coach, and head coach.

No. 9: Frank Thomas

Big Frank was a pure hitting machine in the '90s. Including the seasons when he won back-to-back MVPs in 1993 and 1994, Thomas had seven consecutive seasons (’91-’97) of hitting .300 while accumulating 100 walks, 100 runs, 100 RBI, and 20 HR. Those numbers are simply mind-boggling.

Thomas was only the 11th player in MLB history to win the MVP in back-to-back seasons.

We will never know if Thomas would have been able to pull off the elusive Triple Crown in 1994—he was contending in all three categories—because the league went on strike that year, and the White Sox’s hopes for a long postseason run were dashed as well.

Cementing his status in White Sox lore, Thomas was also a member of the 2005 White Sox team that won the World Series vs. the Houston Astros.

No. 8: Scottie Pippen

Perhaps Scottie will always be known as the second fiddle on the amazing Bulls teams of the '90s, but Michael never won without Scottie, and Scottie never won without Michael.

The bottom line is that Pippen was voted as a member of the NBA Top 50 and does have six rings, seven All-Star Game appearances, one All-Star Game MVP, and a very respectable 16.1 PPG/6.4 RPG/5.2 APG/2.0 SPG career average.

No. 7: Ryne Sandberg

When you think of the best second basemen in the history of Major League Baseball, Ryne Sandberg certainly needs to be in the discussion.

At a position usually considered inferior offensively, Ryno hit .300 five times, stole 30 bases five times (including a career-high 54 in 1985), and hit 20 HRs six times (including a 2B record 40 in 1990).

He won nine Gold Gloves and the MVP in 1984, which was the team that brought home a Cubs division title for the first time in almost 40 years.

He is best known for an amazing performance on June 23, 1984, where he had seven RBI, including a game-tying home run in the ninth inning and a second jack to tie it again in the 10th off the best closer in the game at the time, Bruce Sutter. To this day it is simply known as “The Sandberg Game.”

No. 6: Gale Sayers

Gale Sayers could have been a lot higher on this list, but his career was unfortunately cut short by injuries.

His Chicago career got off to a blazing start in his rookie campaign of 1965. He had 2,272 all-purpose yards, which was a record at the time. By scoring 22 touchdowns (14 rushing, six receiving, and one each on punt and kickoff returns) that year, he set a rookie TD record that still stands today.

It was a no-brainer that the Kansas Comet won the Rookie of the Year award in his first season with the Bears.

He was Barry Sanders before Barry Sanders and was voted the NFL’s No. 2 all-time elusive RB. After three very successful seasons in Chicago, Sayers suffered his first of two knee injuries.

Sayers made the Pro Bowl in four of his first five seasons, winning the Pro Bowl MVP in three of them, but after the knee injuries he was never quite the same runner, and he retired after seven seasons.

No. 5: Stan Mikita

Mikita was the face of the Chicago Blackhawks for 22 seasons. He owns virtually every record for the Blackhawks franchise, including most goals (541), most assists (926), most points (1,467), most games (1,394), and most seasons (22).

Mikita was a Chicago kind of hockey player, and his legacy will always be that he won the Stanley Cup in 1961 in his second season as a member of the Hawks. Stan the Man was a two-time NHL MVP, four-time league scoring leader, and six-time All-Star.

No. 4: Dick Butkus

This guy was the epitome of Da Bears before the Saturday Night Live skit was created. Butkus was tough as nails and played linebacker for the Bears for nine seasons in the '60s and '70s.

He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1979 and was widely regarded as the best linebacker of his generation. When you throw in the fact that he went to Chicago Vocational for High School and the University of Illinois, we have our No. 4 Chicago Athlete of All Time.

No. 3: Ernie Banks

Because of his love for the game and wanting to always play a doubleheader, Ernie is known for his phrase, “Let’s Play Two!”

Banks was known as one of the nicest players to ever swing a bat and played SS as well as 1B in his storied Chicago Cubs career.

Banks won back-to-back MVPs in 1958 and 1959, the first NL shortstop in the history of the game to do so, and was an 11-time All-Star. Banks ended up with 512 HRs, but he could never win the World Series or even make the playoffs.

Unfortunately, the man who is affectionately known as “Mr. Cub” may be ultimately remembered as the player who has the most Major League games played without a postseason appearance (2,528).

No. 2: Walter Payton

“Sweetness” played for the Chicago Bears and was the NFL's all-time rushing leader from 1984 through 2002. He won a championship as part of the greatest NFL team of all time, the 1985 Chicago Bears.

Walter Payton carried the rock 3,838 times for 16,726 yards and 125 TDs in his illustrious career. The way that Walter was both a power and finesse back simultaneously was truly incredible.

Perhaps the most remarkable statistic that Sweetness is rarely given credit for was the fact that he only missed one game (in his rookie year) in his 13-year NFL career.

No. 1 Michael Jordan

Greatest. Of. All. Time.

Six NBA Finals Appearances, six NBA Championships. Finals MVPs in every one. Does it get much better than that?

Well, let’s also throw in all of Michael Jordan's playoff theatrics, the fact that he has six regular season MVPs, three All-Star Game MVPs, 14 NBA All-Star Game appearances, 10 scoring titles, and that he is universally known as the most clutch baller ever to lace ‘em up.

MJ was so exciting to watch because he could hit clutch buzzer-beaters and thrown down rim-rattling dunks as well as anyone in the history of the NBA. It was like watching physical poetry every time you watched Michael Jordan play basketball.

When you throw in that Air Jordan averaged 30.1 PPG, most all-time, I think we have a winner.