The Top 10 Most Enduring Athletes in American Sports From the Past 20 Years

This cagey driver has tried to walk away from the sport, either electing to step away from a full-season of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing (racing the Nationwide or Truck divisions) or taking a part-time gig with one of the sport's B-list teams.

He's known as the best stock car driver to never win a championship in his illustrious twenty-seven years of competition in America's Fastest Growing Sport.

The 50-year-old ageless wonder known as Mark Martin has been showing his critics that age is simply just a number.

From his rebellious, party-going days of the early 1980s as a roughneck Batesville, AR native to one of NASCAR's most physically fit gurus behind these steel chariots, Martin has shown some of that youthful competitiveness that propelled him into one of the sport's endearing stars.

He was the sport's Jeff Gordon when it came to his cunning, calculative abilities to know when to push his car to the limits or when to save his equipment for the latter part of a race.

Martin was Carl Edwards before the latter even entered the series with his strict and disciplined exercising regime that has kept the sentimental fan favorite as one of NASCAR's most enduring drivers in recent memory.

With four victories and a legit shot at the title, perhaps this may be Martin's year where his label as the "Dan Marino" or "Jim Kelly" of racing will finally be erased from his name.

From the moment Nancy Lopez made her debut in the LPGA Tour in 1978, golfing fanatics knew they were watching a pretty remarkable woman bound to shake up their sport's complexion.

Lopez competed on the tour full-time from her spectacular '78 season to 2003, when she retired for four years from the sport.

With 50 career titles and the only woman golfer to win the rookie honors, Player of the Year award, and Vare Trophy (the latter three accomplished in '78), the 52-year-old Torrance, Calif. native has been one of the sport's staying powers.

While Lopez has not exactly lit the world on fire as of late, her determination and longevity in her sport are some of the reasons why she belongs on this list.

Long before the LPGA had Annika Sorenstam, it had Lopez to appear on Sports Illustrated's cover, propelling her as one of the sport's all-time greats.

Oh yeah, did I mention she was the Associated Press' Female Athlete of The Year in 1978 and 1985?

Although this proudly adopted son of New England never brought the Stanley Cup to Beantown, Raymond Jean Bourque will forever be remembered as one of hockey's greatest all-time defenseman.

Suiting up in the spoked B's sweaters from 1979 to 2000 and serving an integral blue liner for the Av's in the 2000-'01 season, Bourque delighted hockey fans with his punishing checks and offensive prowess.

The Saint-Laurent, Quebec, Canadian's career numbers are staggering, as he played in over 1600 games.

With 410 goals, assisted 1169 times for a career point total of 1579, Bourque is the game's all-time greatest scorers among defenseman.

Nearly as remarkable as Bourque's emotional hoisting of the Cup in 2001 are the ten seasons in which he scored at least 80 points, as well as a December night in 1987 when he "gave" hockey great Phil Esposito his beloved No. 7 back. Literally.

On that night, Bourque poignantly removed his jersey bearing Espotiso's number with another sweater underneath which read "Bourque 77," which lives in New England sports history eternally.

As one of the few athletes who have played for the same team throughout their career, Joe Sakic will perhaps be most remembered as "Mr. Avalanche."

In a 20-year career in the NHL, the Burnaby, British Columbia, Canadian played in 1,378 games, scored an astonishing 625 goals and 1016 assists.

With a career point total of 1,641, Sakic will surely be a member of hockey's hall-of-fame in the coming decade.

Starting in at least 80 games in nine of his 20 years as a Quebec Nordique/Colorado Avalanche, this gritty 5' 11', 195 lbs. center was truly one of hockey's best talents to ever lace up the skates.

Sakic announced his retirement on July 9, 2009—thus ending the career for the methodical athlete and one of the sport's true, loyal players in the era of free agency and the almighty dollars.

While Pete Sampras wasn't known within the sports media circles as congenial, on the contrary, the man called "Pistol Pete" had quite the way to talk back—with his racket.

Though Sampras only competed from 1988 to 2002, those fifteen seasons of WTA play were quite memorable.

Compiling a record of 762-222, Sampras won 64 titles in his career, including two wins in the Australian Open, seven Wimbledon titles (nearly won consecutively from '94-2000), and five US Open trophies.

Considered one of tennis' all-time greatest, about the only "blemish" in Sampras' resume is that goose-egg next to the number of French Opens he won.

No matter, the Washington D.C. native blossomed into one of the most tenacious players of the game.

Sampras enjoyed an intense rivalry with fellow American ace Andre Agassi, besting his rival in 20 of the 34 contests in which they've competed against each other.

Currently competing in the Outback Champions Series, this 2007 International Tennis Hall of Famer still has game. Witness:

He defeated John McEnroe in an event held in Boston in February and Patrick Rafter in the Del Mar Development Champions Cup in March.

You know that song by The Clash that goes, "Should I stay or should I go now?"

If any athlete fits all the criteria needed to be "enduring," NFL quarterback Brett Favre takes the cake—and contemplates about eating it as well.

The road to immortality was not exactly all set in stone for the pride of Kiln, Missouri. Favre endured pain nearly from the get-go, either on his own or because of tragedies to those closest to him.

From a car accident that was nearly life-ending to playing through heartache with the loss of his father and mentor Irvin, the three-time AP NFL Most Valuable Player learned to cope with anguish with determination.

Injured starting quarterback against one of the league's then potent AFC contenders in '92?

Favre stepped it up and won in his first real test as a member of the Green Bay Packers.

Couldn't beat those Dallas Cowboys in the postseason?

Though they stymied the Packs and Favre in three consecutive NFC playoff contests, it was Green Bay and No. 4 who got the last laugh in the 1996-'97 NFL Playoffs.

That was the season in which Titletown returned to prominence with its third and most Super Bowl championship in a rather lopsided contest against the New Engalnd Patriots.

While he's becoming quite infamous for his indecisiveness for the good life or the hard life on the field, the numbers with this enduring athlete can only speak for themselves:

- 269 consecutive starts in regular season play (291 if you count playoff games)

- Career record of 169-100

- 464 passing touchdowns

- 65,127 career yards thrown

Whatever the 39-year-old quarterback decides to do, you can be assured that Favre is a certain NFL legend, right up there with John Elway, Joe Montana, and Johnny Unitas.

This picture of a young Michael Jordan in 1984 says it all.

Look closely and you'll see that patented game face of arguably one of the NBA's greatest, with his tongue out as if he was telling the opposition that he was untouchable once he was near the hoop.

What can be said about one of the sport's 50 greatest hoops players of all-time?

Do we measure his success by those six NBA World Titles from the 1990s? Or the five MVP championships he earned in his 17 year career?

For me, Jordan is right up there as one of the greatest in any sport because of his will and determination to play in nearly any condition.

While the death of his father, James Sr., halted the sensational star's career in the mid 1990s, the skills and drive of this Tar Heeler never waned.

Even when he played as the aging and sore Washington Wizard in his late 30s, Jordan was always the crowd pleaser.

You can chalk up your favorite moments of MJ as easily as he can count the number of fingers with a championship ring.

To me, there's nothing like Game 5 of the 1996-'97 NBA Finals that pitted the Chicago Bulls against the Utah Jazz.

Playing with the flu, Jordan weathered through his pain by scoring 38 points (including the game winner). How crucial was the victory?

The Bulls would go on to wrap up the series in the penultimate game of that season's finals, winning their fifth of six titles in the 1990s.

When Refugio, Texas' Nolan Ryan made his Major League Baseball debut on September 11 of 1966 as a member of the New York Mets, the States were rocking to the Baroque pop sounds of The Beach Boys' hit album "Pet Sounds."

"God Only Knows" what baseball would be like without this iron horse of a hurler, whose career spans nearly three decades.

Ryan's legacy in the game besides his infamous fastball which reached speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour (even well into his 40s) are his 5,714 career strikeouts and seven no-hitters (leading all pitchers in that category).

Playing with the loveable losers (aka the Mets) from 1966 to 1971 (with a full season in the minors in '67 to work on his command/control, if you believe that), Ryan would be traded cross-country to the American League's California Angels.

That was where Ryan's legend would truly start and flourish. Ryan set a then MLB-record of 383 strikeouts in a season in 1973.

And about those no-hitters? The Texan achieved four of those during his years as a Halo, one with the Houston Astros in 1981, and his last two as a member of the Texas Rangers in 1990-'91.

In his impressive 27-year career, Ryan's accomplishments as a player truly shine even in these modern days.

Having played America's past time in the tumultuous 1960s, the turbulent 1970s, the bad fashion of the 1980s, and the 1990s, Ryan has played when the game was "clean" to the Steroid Era.

Even with that sore spot on baseball, what's even more unsightly, at least for opposing sluggers, was having to face that intimidating Texan who could methodically find your weak spots in the strike zone.

If Jimmy Connors was men's tennis' ironman, then Martina Narvatilova was the women's counterpart to one of the sport's most prolific players with quite the long, illustrious career.

Gracing the tennis world with her pro debut in 1975 to her retirement from the sport in her waning years competing in the mixed doubles division, Narvatilova is the quintessential athlete whose skills never deteriorated with each passing decade from the 1970s to the 2000s.

Equally as impressive as her three Australian Open titles, two French Open victories, nine Wimbledon championships, and four US Open triumphs are her 21 years as a pro tennis player and her 177 career titles.

To this day, the number of titles that she has amassed is the most for the women and men's divisions.

Simply put, when you begin to reflect on her accomplishments, you could come up with more than 177 reasons why Narvatilova is one of sport's most enduring athletes in the past 20 years.

How many athletes in today's world of sports play for the same team for their entire career?

Much less, how many athletes suit up for the game without missing a start for 16 consecutive years?

Forget the fact that he hit .276, logged in 3,184 hits, homered 431 times, and batted in 1,695 runs throughout 20 years of playing.

Cal Ripken, Jr. is not just only sport's most enduring athlete of the past 20 years, but one of the greatest to ever play any professional game.

Paving the way for taller, grittier shortstops, Baltimore Orioles fans witnessed history throughout this Aberdeen, MD's incredible career.

Needed that timely hit to score a run? Ripken could do it.

Stuck in a rut and needed a pick-me-up on defense? No. 8 was there to complete that 4-6-3 double play.

If you needed to know the modern era's face of baseball, it's Ripken who virtually did it all.

Despite winning the World Series once (in 1983), it is his individual accomplishments and professionalism on the field as an Oriole that immortalizes this legend into, shall I say, a baseball god.