Sports Stars Who Recently Became Superstars

Jordan Spieth went from promising young golfer to the "next Tiger Woods" in the span of one Masters tournament. Steph Curry went from respected NBA guard to wildly popular MVP during the 2014-15 season. 

The takeaway here is this: There are stars, and then there are superstars. These 11 athletes went from the former to the latter sometime in the last year.

Remember, this is green fame. Not included are guys like Bryce Harper, who are having great seasons but developed mega-fame earlier than August 2014.

Let's see if anyone tops Spieth in the battle for biggest new sports celebrity.

Kris Bryant

DAVID BANKS/Associated Press

Breakout moment: July 4, 2015. Two-homer game, including his second grand slam of the season. 

Chicago Cubs rookie Kris Bryant is a little like the new Bryce Harper. He got a lot of hype as a prospect, and the hubbub around his delayed call-up was just plain out of hand.

But like Harper, Bryant has produced in his rookie season and even made the All-Star team. His first-half numbers looked like this: .269/.376/.472, 12 home runs, 51 RBI.

Bryant's Independence Day grand slam made him the first Cubs rookie to smash two in a season since Billy Williams did it in 1961.  

Ohio State's Backfield

Jamie Sabau/Getty Images

Breakout moment: December 7, 2014. Third-string quarterback Cardale Jones throws for 257 yards and three touchdowns to win the Big Ten Championship Game, his first career start. 

Ohio State's backfield overcame injuries to its first and second-string QBs to win college football's national championship in January. And for a time, with Braxton Miller, J.T. Barrett and Jones all returning for the 2015 season, the Buckeyes had an issue—mo' great players, mo' problems.

Miller a was a Heisman contender before injury took him down, and Barrett ended up finishing fifth in the 2014 voting. Jones' stardom skyrocketed as he became the hero of the Buckeye postseason.

The OSU QB controversy has dominated offseason chatter. As it now stands, Miller will switch positions, but there has yet to be a decision between Barrett and Jones. Oh, the anticipation.

And oh by the way, running back (and national championship MVP) Ezekiel Elliott is a preseason favorite for the 2015 Heisman. 

Anthony Davis

Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Breakout moment: July 1, 2015. Signed the largest contract in NBA history.

Anthony Davis was a college basketball star at Kentucky, and he just wrapped up his third NBA season, becoming an All-Star for a second time. He averaged 24.4 points per game and led the league with 2.9 blocks per.

This guy was a big deal before, but his new five-year, $142 million extension with the New Orleans Pelicans made him a bonafide superstar.

Neymar

Manu Fernandez/Associated Press

Breakout moment: September 4, 2014. Then just 22 years old, Neymar was named captain of the Brazilian men's national soccer team. 

Neymar has been an emerging young Brazilian soccer star, but he is still just 23 years old. He, incredibly, scored 44 goals in 64 games with Brazil.

Now, as with all superstars, rumors and big bucks are flying. According to 90min (via Globo), Manchester United put in a bid of more than $200 million to get the forward from his current club team, FC Barcelona. But Barcelona says he's not going anywhere. 

DeMarco Murray

Tom Pennington/Getty Images

Breakout moment: September 28, 2014. The whole 2014 season was a breakout for then-Dallas Cowboy DeMarco Murray, but this 28-yard touchdown run against the New Orleans Saints in Week 4 was pretty boss.

The world knew Murray was a good running back (He had a 91-yard TD run and 253-yard game his rookie season.), but it found out he was a great one in 2014. The fourth-year pro ran for a league-leading 1,845 yards, 13 TDs and won the NFL's Offensive Player of the Year Award.

Murray's lore got so big, he landed a five-year, $42 million free-agent deal with the Philadelphia Eagles in the offseason.

Carli Lloyd

Rich Lam/Getty Images

Breakout moment: July 5, 2015. World Cup Final, duh.

Carli Lloyd has been an integral part of the U.S. women's national soccer team for years. The midfielder first joined the team in 2005 and has now accumulated more than 60 international goals.

However, when she scored three times in the first 16 minutes of the World Cup Final, Lloyd permanently etched her name in American sports history and gained herself quite a bit of insta-fame to boot. Shortly after the game, Claire Atkinson of the New York Post reported marketers were practically beating her door down.

Madison Bumgarner

Elsa/Getty Images

Breakout moment: October 29, 2014. Lights-out performance in Game 7 of the World Series.

Madison Bumgarner was an All-Star pitcher before Game 7. He had already put on an epic postseason display before Game 7. But his performance that night—five innings of shutout relief on two days' rest to win the World Series—that was legendary.

Bumgarner's already burgeoning fame skyrocketed. He became the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year, and his World Series hats are now sitting in the Hall of Fame.

Odell Beckham Jr.

Julio Cortez/Associated Press

Breakout moment: November 23, 2014. That catch, though. 

Odell Beckham Jr. had the quintessential breakout season for the New York Giants in 2014. He hauled in 91 balls for 1,305 yards in just 12 games, including perhaps the greatest catch of all time. He averaged more than 100 receiving yards per game and was named the NFL's Offensive Rookie of the Year.

With the football success came off-field fame (as is generally the case). In May, Beckham won a fan vote to grace the cover of Madden NFL 16—the youngest player to ever have the honor.

Ronda Rousey

Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images

Breakout moment: Let's call it February 28, 2015. Ronda Rousey took 14 seconds to defeat Cat Zingano.

Rousey first started crushing UFC opponents in December 2013 when she dispatched Miesha Tate in 58 seconds.

That said, her fame has escalated in the last year. She has gone from a dominant fighter to an even more dominant fighter plus a full-on pop culture phenomenon. She took down her last three opponents in a combined 64 seconds. And since April, Rousey has appeared in Furious 7, the Entourage movie and gone toe-to-toe with Floyd Mayweather in the ever-entertaining sport of verbal jousting.

Jordan Spieth

Chris Carlson/Associated Press

Breakout moment: April 12, 2015. His dominant win at the Masters. 

In April, Jordan Spieth went wire-to-wire to become the second-youngest player to ever win the Masters. He did so in record fashion, tying Tiger Woods' mark of 18-under par. For his encore performance, Spieth won the U.S. Open just two months later.

Before he can legally rent a car, Spieth has achieved more fame than most people could ever dream of. He recently described stardom to reporters: "It's harder to get around. You've got to find different ways to go about it, find secret passageway places and find corner booths [in restaurants]. It's not negative, it's something that's really cool. It's a great problem to have," according to Luke Kerr-Dineen of For The Win.

Steph Curry

Jeff Chiu/Associated Press

Breakout moment: May 4, 2015. Won the 2014-15 NBA MVP Award. 

Steph Curry was barreling toward stardom before he won the MVP, but now he's a full-fledged superstar. That NBA Finals title put a little icing on the cake, too.

Curry has been in the league since the 2009-10 season, but his first All-Star appearance came in 2014. A year later, he really took off, putting up insane numbers—20.9 points per game, a league-leading 286 three-pointers, 44 percent shooting from downtown and 91 percent from the free-throw line—and dropping unreal shots like this.

Curry is a superstar, and thanks to a couple of adorable press conferences, so is his daughter, Riley.