The 10 Best Sports Movie Villains of All Time

What makes a good villain?

A good villain is a character who is evil, plain and simple!

What makes a good sports movie villain?

A good sports movie villain shares the same qualities as a normal villain but adds another layer. The villain in a sports movie has to be hated.

A good sports movie has heroes and winners. It has people or teams we all want to see win. There always has to be that one person or villain, that they must overcome in order to win.

That is what makes a great sports movie villain.

I have put together a solid list of the best sports movie villains of all time.

Enjoy!

Honorable Mention

Just to make sure I did not skip anybody, I decided to include an honorable mention list of the villains that almost made the top 10.

1. White Goodman—Dodgeball
2. Bill Hurley—Over the Top
3. Coach Reilly—Mighty Ducks
4. Bob Sugar—Jerry Maguire
5. Clue Haywood—Major League
6. Shooter McGavin—Happy Gilmore
7. Johnny Lawrence—The Karate Kid
8. Ivan Drago—Rocky 4
9. Ogie Oglethorpe—Slap Shot

10. David Sims - Tin Cup

How can a guy from a movie about golf be a villain?

That's an easy one, he hates old people, children, and dogs.

9. Rachel Phelps - Major League

Have you ever wanted to slap someone during a movie?

That is how most people felt when watching Major League. Rachel Phelps was one of the most destructive owners in any sports movie. She was more worried about the money and moving the team, that she did whatever was needed to make the team uncomfortable, including trading away all the talent.

One of my favorite lines from the movie was when Rachel was looking to Charlie Donovan for ideas on how to make things worse and he says, "How about a series of fines for good play? Maybe a $30,000 bonus to the guy voted Least Valuable Player."

8. Judge Smails - Caddyshack

Ted Knight was brilliant in this role. He played a snotty country club golfer who does what it takes to win.

With lines like, "I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them," and, "Danny, I am having a party this weekend (pause) How would you like to come over and mow my lawn?" Judge Smails was one of the best movie villains from the list.

7. Ernie McCracken - Kingpin

Ernie is the epitome of an evil rival.

He begins by using Roy Munson's talent to hustle a local group of bowlers but then bails on Roy when things go wrong. Roy ends up losing his hand and his way.

Without Roy Munson around, Ernie has no one to compete with and becomes a successful bowling celebrity. He does not care about anyone but himself and will do what ever he has to do to stay on top.

His hatred for Roy and people in general makes him a great villain.

6. John Kreese - The Karate Kid

The sensei of the Cobra Kai Dojo, John Kreese, played by Martin Kove was the mastermind behind the person most people would select to be on this list, Johnny Lawrence.

Lawrence was the fighter but John was the leader. John, a special forces Vietnam veteran, built a hatred for Daniel and Mr. Miyagi. He wanted to beat them no matter what it cost.

He even instructed his Cobra Kai fighters to use illegal moves on Daniel in order to injure him and remove him from the final tournament.

Most villains are the leaders behind the screen and John was that man. He was the puppet master of the Cobra Kai.

5. Warden Hazen - The Longest Yard

Warden Hazen ran his prison by fear. He believed that using intimidation and brutality would scare the inmates and keep them from crossing him.

This was a great role played by Eddie Albert. He was diabolical and bad. He wanted to win so badly that he was going to use Paul Crewe, a former NFL quarterback being arrested for drunk driving and theft of his girlfriends car among other things, to coach his semi pro prison guard team.

The warden was in charge and when he did not get his way, he made others suffer.

A prison warden is already a good villain but when you put him into the Longest Yard, he becomes a sports villain and makes my list.

4. Birdie - Above the Rim

Tupac Shakur played this role to perfection. In arguably his best performance ever, Tupac portrayed a drug dealer trying to sway Kyle Martin away from going to Georgetown to play basketball.

Birdie is the only villain on the list that killed someone.

If that does not qualify him as one of the best villains, I am not sure what does.

3.Clubber Lang - Rocky III

"I Pity the Fool"

Clubber Lang was scary. He was mean and hated Rocky. He used his hatred for Rocky to propel him into the top contender position by destroying anyone in his path.

He was the first opponent that went after Rocky's wife, Adrian, attacking her verbally at a ceremony honoring Rocky.

Clubber is the biggest of the villains on my list in size and strength.

2. Racki - Youngblood

Carl Racki, played by George Finn, was not a main character in Youngblood. In fact, if you did not see this film, you probably never heard of him.

However, he played Racki, a bully of a hockey goon that as ever been on the big screen. He was the reason Dean Youngblood, Rob Lowe, left hockey and the country after injuring Derek Sutton, played by Patrick Swayze.

How can you not enjoy a film where Rob Lowe says, "Let's go pretty boy!" and then beats up someone?

If Rob Lowe wants to fight you, you must be a bad guy.

1. Bud Kilmer - Varsity Blues

If you have ever seen this great football movie then you would already know why Coach Kilmer takes the top spot.

He is mean, hard, careless, and all he wants to do is win. He does not care what it takes, as long as he is winning.

Coach Kilmer nearly killed a player by allowing him to play after several concussions and against doctors orders. He also manipulated players into taking cortisone shots to "heal" themselves long enough to play the next game.

Spoiler Alert: Where else can you watch a head coach physically attack his quarterback in the locker room during a game?