Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Who are the five greatest athletes of all time? Who's
the worst player to ever deliver an iconic sports moment,
Who's the least athletic looking athlete in history. It's time
to rank the best and the worst that sports has
to offer. Let's dive in to Lists with Chris.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
All Right, here we go. It's time for List with Chris,
with me Randy Kennedy and Chris Beckham and Craig Stevenson. Hey, guys,
I looked it up this week. I believe this is
episode number one hundred and ninety two of List with Chris.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
We're closing it on others.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
I know.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
Yeah, well, I was going to say one hundred and
ninety two. I mean, is that a special number.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
It's just to say that in a couple of months
we're gonna have to come up with a special two
hundred bi centennial edition of List with Chris. I'm not
sure what that'll be, but anyway, we do like to
try to make him as time as possible. And this week,
of course, is the start of college football, and so
the time in this here is that South Carolina has
named a starting quarterback by the name of Leonoris Sellers,
(01:12):
who was a red shirt last year as a freshman.
Now he's going to be the starter, beat out Robbie Ashford.
But the thing about Leonora's Sellers that you will notice
right away when you watch the game Cocks play is
that he is very noticeably wears glasses when he plays,
like like not even it's not subtle at all. And
so we got thinking about, Okay, who are the most
(01:32):
famous noteworthy athletes who have ever worn I wear while
competing or just in the world of sports. So this
is what we're going to go with today in honor
of Leonoris Sellers of South Carolina.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
Yes, hey, hey, Randy. While I was looking you know,
you know, as we will come to find out, it's
pretty rare. And I was googling, just trying to find
some random ones that I might have missed, and I
found a an Australian website called smart Vision Optometry, and
on their blog was the following headline, Yes, short sighted
(02:09):
people can play sport.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Oh we love leaving the off the end of sports. Oh,
no question, we love sport. Yes, and when I play sport,
I usually wear a short Yes.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
I have never heard people who were who had glasses
referred to as short sighted. No, I know Australian deal.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
I guess that's like nearsighted, right, I guess I.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
Doneah, yeah, they can play sport.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Short Sighted is kind of a pejorative, right, I mean,
like who you call it? Short sighted?
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (02:44):
Short sighted? You to wear glasses when guys trying to tack.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
So anyway, we don't know if Leonora's Sellers is Australian
or not, but we're going with that. So, Chris, there
are lots of possibilities here. Who you got athlete in glasses?
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Well, I'm gonna start off with a very recent one
who kind of caught the country by storm in the
uh Summer Olympics. Stephen Neterosic, Yes, who most people know
this is the Palma horse Guy, and he kind of
captured the, uh, you know, the the attention of America
during the Summer Olympics. Uh Asu as the on the
(03:22):
mensine men's gymnastics team as the Palmer Horse guy, and
he and the glasses was kind of part of the
whole mystique about him. He would take his glasses off
before he competed, and a lot of people compared him
to Clark Kent, you know, to you know, mild bannered
Nerd off the Pama horse world champion well Bonds memblist,
so uh yeah, that's kind of his whole and he's
(03:45):
also uh recently announced that the first uh celebrity participant
announced for the thirty third season of Dancing with the Stars.
So we'll see if he dances with his glasses. I
assume he'll have him all.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Wow, that's that's pretty good. He's also famous for being
great at doing the Ruby's cube. He does that on
the circuit. But yeah, I had him, Yeah, full nerd,
full nerd and also great athlete. Those gymnasts are an
incredible shape. I had him.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
But I'm glad you had to pronounce his last name,
So get that one out of the way a right, Greg.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
When you said caught the country by storm recently, I
thought you're gonna steal mine. Chris and that is a
former Indiana State basketball player, Robbie Avila center for the Sycamores,
who is very big but also wear very big glasses,
leading to the nicknames cream Abdul Jabbar, Larry Nerd, Larry Blurred,
(04:45):
and Steph Blurry, among others.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
I had not heard the last one, Steph Blurry. I
had not heard. Yeah, kream Abdul Jabbar is c R E. A. M. S. Yeah, Yeah, yeah,
oh boy, those are some good Those are good nicknames
right there, Now, those are really good. Yeah. He's one
of those guys who just doesn't look like he could play,
(05:09):
but he's really good. Uh. He transferred away, right right, Craig.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
Yeah, Saint Louis. Yes, you know, he didn't really go
anywhere bigger, but he just went to a different place.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yeah, well that's good. I really like that. Well, y'all
are going local, y'all are going recent. I'm going far back.
The only only person to ever win the Heisman Trophy twice,
Archie Griffith, wore some glasses, that's right, but he played.
So there we go. All right, we're on to it.
Now we're doing uh, we're doing athletes in glasses, Chris,
(05:39):
what you got?
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Well, not only is this athlete famous, but his glasses
are in the NFL Hall of Fame. Talking about Eric
Dickerson's goggles that he wore in uh nineteen eighty four
when he ran for over twenty dollars twenty one oh five,
I think the direction and because he was wearing his
goggles while he did it. They have his goggles in
the in the Hall of Fame. So he had Eric
(06:02):
Diggerhead and Maubia. So he wore goggles prescription goggles throughout
his career, but they didn't need to bother you, meaning
you know.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
The thing with Dickerson was, yeah, he wore the glasses.
He also wore every other possible protective pad or you know,
anything you could have for protection, including those goggles gonna
keep you getting from poked in the eye, whether their
prescription or not. He wore every pad imaginable and uh
then went out and punished people.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
He was great. Yep.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
Well this is also running back from a few years before.
Dickerson one of my favorite players growing up, and he
didn't bother with the goggles. He just wore the horn
rim glasses. And that is Chuck Munsey of the New
Orleans Saints and San Diego Chargers. I mean literally he
looked like he was a you know, high school biology teacher. Yeah,
with the horn rim glasses. Great great player.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
See.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
I think the good part of this category is people
who didn't wear the rexpecs but actually just like wore
glasses like they were study in for a final and
I'll go Martina Navrotulova, who was one of the all
time greats. She wore glasses, but she was constantly taking
them off and cleaning them. And they weren't like wrapped
(07:13):
around her ears or anything like I said, they were
just like study hall glasses. It always struck me as like,
shouldn't she have, you know, if she needs, you know,
her vision is not great, shouldn't she have something better
than you know, the person in the dorm room next
to me studying. You know. That always struck me about
her was that she wore glasses, but they didn't it
(07:33):
all look like athletic glasses. I'll go with her, Martina
navrot Tlova.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Well, in the state of Georgia, for a little while,
there was probably no more popular player than Rodrigo blanket Ship,
the kicker for Thedia Georgia. He's got a lot of
media attention for the thick glasses he wore, and he
was a I mean, he was a key party. He
had the big kick in Oklahoma, which kind of which
kind of got being gold in the in the Rose
(08:00):
Bowl and eighteen and so, uh, he was very I mean,
he's he keeps the NFL for uh, for a while anyway,
and uh, but yeah he was up. I mean he
was kind of a media superstar because of his uh
cause his big, big glasses he wore.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Call him Hot Rode, didn't we hot Ride? That's right, Yes,
I like it.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
Uh, this guy's pretty anonymous. Pitched for the San Diego
Padres and Pittsburgh Pirates in the late seventies. Mark Lee
became famous really on social media from a Super seventy
Sports tweet that said people made fun of Mark Lee's glasses,
but a picture is never exactly the same after having
Elton John surgery. If you see the glasses, they're like big,
(08:45):
the coke bottled lenses kind of tinted with the big
frames that really it looks like something Elton John would
wear on stage. Yeah, Mark Lee of the Padres, have
to google him if you don't know him. I mean, it's,
like I said, just kind of a run of the
mill pitcher.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Here's a guy who became really famous for his goggles
and the true like rexpecs you know that really stood out,
and that is Cincinnati Red Chris Sabo. You remember he
was like, uh, he wore the very noticeable big goggles
playing first base or other places for the Reds.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
And the crew Cut too. Yeah, crew cut. So he
looked like somebody else was out of the ymc A.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
League exactly, exactly, Yeah, was his wasn't just regular glasses.
You're like, man, look at that guy. He looks different.
So that's so I'm going, Chris Sabo, are we doing
athletes famous for wearing glasses? In honor of New South
Carolina starting quarterback Leonora's cellars. You will notice they are
very noticeable, even when he's wearing a helmet, that he's
wearing those glasses. Chris who you got?
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Yeah, I don't. I was trying to think if if
this one's career overlapped with Chris Sable. I don't think
you ever pitched to him. But Ken Tacoldy, who who was
on our list to believe the last week for Strange Delivery. Yeah,
but he always had and he had the kendid glasses
as well, which really made me like a nerd. And
plus he was just so skinny with it. Big Adams
(10:08):
Apple he did not like he you picking coming off
their airplane, as you know, one of the best pictures
in baseball, which he was for you know, a good
while as a relief pitcher. But yeah, and plus he
of course the Pirates had that funky uniform anyway, with
that weird well, I don't even call that baseball cap
with the you know, yeah yeah in the pens. Well,
(10:28):
but kids called he stood out on the mound, but
not so much anywhere else.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
I agree with that.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
Great another Pro Football Hall of Famer. And he actually
wore glasses because he was legally blind in one eye. Uh,
became the first quarterback toward glasses in the game nineteen
seventy seven. That's Bob Greasy.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
I had him. I didn't know the whole thing about
legally blind though, but I did have him.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
I did have him a like twenty two hundred vision
in one eye.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Yeah, all right, I got. I got the most famous
glasses whereever in the world of sports. And I'll let
this clip.
Speaker 5 (11:03):
I'll tell you about.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Okay, Ricky, they would like so hard, jump out over
the plate, go.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
Bust me in and don't get n up with any type.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
You listen, Red got okay, here, my man get.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Sky's the altemle weak in the whole life for that
of course, the intro for a wild thing. Rick Vaughan
from Major Leagues, who very famously had the had the Glasses.
And by the way, if you guys are officionados of
the movie Major League, you noticed a great edit right
(12:41):
there in the middle of that clip where the owner said, uh,
she was not a fan of that song, but that
was edited out for radio version.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
I thought you were gonna lead, Yeah, there's the Corbyn
Burnson line right after that.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Yeah, that got Yeah, we had cup for that too,
but the owner, you know, did not said something that
was not FCC approved. That got cut out in the middle.
If you might have noticed, right, Rick Vaughan, Rick Vaughan
with his horror riom Glasses, the reliever for the Cleveland Indians.
You know, he's not a real person, I hurdstand it,
but he was a wild thing. He was a wild thing.
(13:13):
And I will say that he threw the ball pretty
well for an actor, you know. I mean, you know,
some of them are terrible, but he was actually not
bad at it. So there you go. That's what I got,
all right, Chris. Athletes in Glasses, You're real quick.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
I was trying to find an athlete in movies, and
in my mind, the guy who played Ali in Hoosiers
who see in my mind he was wearing glasses. But
I went and looked it up he was not wearing glasses,
so kind of ruined the whole thing. But for some
reason my I guess because he was just a nerd
in my mind many years later, is.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
That the Mandela effect right there on you Christ? Yeah,
it sounds like you got.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Chris, but yeah, but a real athlete who did have
a minor role in both Little Big League and Paris
Viewer's Day Off and also famously wore glasses was a
former first based in Leon Bull Durham who who, uh,
the big glasses is back in the h I guess
he played seventies and uh but yeah, the various Dueller
(14:11):
I called it, watched it hits the file Ball, the
Paris Wool Call and he's he appears briefly. I say
he's in that movie. He saw him in the movie anyway. Yeah,
he always for me growing up. I remember him, did
you know having those big glasses along with his big appro.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
He starts in that movie, Chris, like you do. That's
you started that movie with Maria Menuondez or whatever.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
Right now you're embarrassing yourself.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
What's her name was her last name?
Speaker 3 (14:39):
Uh, my co star, Maria Menunas.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Yes, my star.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
How don't think it's mend she didn't murder her parents?
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Oh yeah, the same way, same.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Way talking to you. What are you talking?
Speaker 2 (14:55):
I knew I didn't know her name, but I said
it's too good a joke. I'm not gonna pass on
it just because I can't pronounce her name. We'll figure
it out as we go, all right, anyway. Chris Beckham,
star of A screen and film and Chray Stevens and
Your Next Yep.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
Yeah. This guy was a pitcher for the New York
Yankees in the nineteen fifties. Very famous for having big,
thick glasses through really hard, could not see very well,
kind of played up to it. Oftentimes would go to
the mound and throw the ball twenty feet over the
catcher's head to kind of intimidate the batter. Ryan Durham
was his name. Casey Stingle famously said of him, I
(15:31):
would not admire hitting against Ryan Durham because if you
ever hit you in the head, you might be in
the past tense And according to Durhan's minor league scouting report,
big guy throws like hell hitters can't see it, but
he can't see you either. He's practically blind. Can't hit field,
a run, curve, not much neither. A sinker. Just throws fast,
(15:53):
one unpredictable where it'll go.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Marn, that's not the report you want to read as
a hitter.
Speaker 4 (15:59):
No, that's rough. All right.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
My next one is not an athlete exactly, but I
think you guys will allow this. I'm going famous glasses
wearing Joe Paterno with those coke bottles that he had
on his face, coach at Penn State. I mean, uh,
you can't just have every coach who ever wore glasses
be on the list, but Joe Paterno and those glasses
very famously associated with him, Joe Paturno at Penn State.
(16:26):
All right, Chris, what you got?
Speaker 4 (16:28):
Well, this guy, it's almost like two different lives and
he boss his labor life, he looked nothing like he
did when he played. That's Kurt Rambis. I mean as
an NBA coach, he did the glass. I guess he
had lesis or something, and it's like a totally different guy.
But when you play with the Lakers, well that was
definitely part of the you know, underdog kind of mystique
and chick Hern used to name the Superman because you know,
(16:50):
Park getting all that, and there was a Superman uh
fan club, you know where all the spectators were glasses
that kind of thing at the at the Forum. But uh,
I mean he definitely had that kind of embodied the
whole underdog glasses. Look, he became a coach.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
And decided, Okay, I don't want to do that anymore.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
A totally different so yeah, he would he put tape
on the glasses and stuff. I mean like he played
it up. Yeah, absolutely, and then he would kind of
GQ right when he was a coach, he was like, man, yeah,
that guy's well dressed and put together.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
And pat Riley didn't been Superman then.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
All right, great, well, I mean, as you mentioned wild
Thing Gone, I guess I mentioned the Hanson brothers from
slap Shot.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Yes, for sure.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
But uh, in reality, Al Arbor Hall of Famer with
the Chicago black Hawks, among other teams, was the last
player to wear glasses on the ice in the mid
nineteen sixties.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Huh so, Well, since somebody else said the word before
I could, I'm gonna I'm gonna say this guy, even
though y'all man not allow it. But since you said
the word lasik, I'm gonna say Jameis Winston, who everybody
every week was like Jamis, get some glasses, you know,
because he would be on the field, they'd be trying
to signal in the plate and he would be squinting
(18:10):
so bad. It was like every fan in America is like, Jamis,
go to the eye doctor, get some glasses. And then
eventually he did get Lasik surgery, and so now I
think he's doing better, but I include him. Maybe he
wasn't wearing glasses, but he should have been wearing glasses.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
Yeah, he claimed he claimed he didn't squint because he
couldn't see and need three thirty five interceptions his rookie
year in the NFL and when got a lacing surgery.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Yeah, oh man, that's ridiculous. That is ridiculous. But he's
got to be included if we're talking about just athletes
seeing or whatever. Jamis Winston who now has lay six
and uh, he's still entertaining, but he's still you never
know what he's gonna say, but now he can at
least see and not squint all the time.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Chris, what you got the first female to ever be
named Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year, which he shared
in nineteen seventy two with John Wooden. That was Billy
jen King, the famous tennis player who very famously wore glasses.
And she, you know, credit that very much to her
success as a tennis player, because she'd always wearing them
(19:15):
and then when she started wearing them, she got very
very good. So yes, just like Martina, two of the
best and tennis.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Friends with Elton John. If we just want to make
another Elton John reference in.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
This segment, yeah you might as well.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
She was, Yeah, great.
Speaker 4 (19:30):
This is a guy who did not start wearing glasses
until he was severely injured by taking an elbow from
Bill Cartwright. And that is a chemo lodge one key.
He went. He got an elbowed in the eye by
Bill cart Wright, had a broken orbital bone, had surgery
missed I think twenty five games, came back and wore
(19:50):
respects for the rest of his career. I'm not sure
if there were a prescription or not, or if it
was just protective, but he definitely woon every year after
the All right.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
How many pairs of glasses. Did my next guy have
foe foe foe? Moses Malone. Moses Malone, who was again
like like yours, Craig. I don't know if that was
for a prescription or if it was for protection, but
he did. He was a big goggles guy, right, was he?
Speaker 4 (20:17):
The guy that was?
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Was Moses, the one that made famous when he was
shooting free throws, you know, putting the goggles on his
forehead while he shot free throws? Was that him or
is that somebody else in that era? I think it
was him. I think it was him, Like, you know,
didn't have him on when he was shooting free throws,
but then as soon as he shot the second one
would put the goggles back down and be ready to play.
So Moses Malone, most famously of the Philadelphia seventy six ers. Chris,
(20:41):
we're doing athletes and their glasses? Who you got?
Speaker 3 (20:45):
I just remember Moses Agencyings could play pool. I mean,
you know I can't swim, so is that true? Moses
could play some pool like he swims?
Speaker 2 (21:04):
I never heard that. I never heard that.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
I read it. I mean, now these things get you know,
you know, urban legend. It may be, but that definitely
supposedly happened that. Oh man, this guy was a lot
of soccer players wear glasses while not playing soccer. He
was a very few who wore white. He's playing Edgar David,
who was a very good, uh professional soccer player back
(21:28):
in the unineties and two thousands, he had glaucoma and
so he wore them while while playing soccer, which you know,
I started thinking about it, and there's I don't remember
seeing them, the soccer players playing while they were while
they were on the pitch, as I say, as a
soccer fan like to say, but uh, yeah, yeah he was.
(21:49):
I mean he was very good soccer player, the only
one at that level. I think he wore glasses why
he played.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
I like it.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
I like it.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (21:58):
This guy wore glasses playing for the Saint Louis Cardinals
in the nineteen twenties, and it was so rare that
it became part of his name. And that is Specs,
a porcer is actually known as Specx's name George, but
players who wore glasses at that time were so rare
they actually named him Specs Specs.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
I like it.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
I like it. Here this is interesting because you know,
you kind of associate wearing glasses, you know, being a
little bit nerdy or whatever. And this was the coolest
guy in America. Reggie Jackson wore glasses when he played
in the Major leagues, hitting home runs every everywhere, and
of course, I mean he was the very embodiment of cool,
and yet you know there he was wearing glasses. Well,
(22:41):
he played, so Riggie Jackson.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
He struck out a ton early in his career, and
they said, well, maybe you ought to go get glasses,
and he got classes and he's still struck out a ton.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Oh good stuff, all right, Doug Chris, you'rerope.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
I was trying to think of the Atlanta but even famously,
and it probably the ones more famous. But the guy
who I remember probably bore my time frame.
Speaker 4 (23:04):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
He didn't see much of his career with the Braves,
but loses fans will know him for the three little
words let them play, Bob Watson, let them play, and
maybe a keeps an astro. But he played three years
with the Braves. But uh, yeah, a great player and
always had glasses I think for uh his whole playing career.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
Yeah, the one I had is also a Brave and
he didn't wear them when he played, but he you
would always see him sitting on the bench wearing them.
That's Greg Maddocks. Every time he saw him away from
the field, he had glasses on. But he never wore
them on the field. Obviously. I guess he wore contacts
when he pitched, but uh, you know he wore glasses,
big thick glasses too. It's like, how did this guy
(23:49):
throw so many strikes? He can't see?
Speaker 2 (23:53):
All right, next time, I'm gonna let my next choice
represent the an entire sport page. Madden Mobile just won
two medals at the Olympics in Paris. Every swimmer wears
glasses when they're swimming, right, yeah, don't they all? You
could just Mark Spitz or uh you know, Katie the
Decky whoever. But uh, I can't just leave out swimming.
(24:15):
When every swimmer where's those where's goggles? When they swim?
Speaker 4 (24:19):
I think, well, yeah they do? Now did they do
it when Mark Spist's was swimming? I don't think he did.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
You don't think Mark Spist did.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
I don't think so. No, No, I'm looking at photos
of him in the pool with no glasses on. Okay,
they definitely do now.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
All right, Yeah, everybody does now, But I guess Mark
Spiz didn't know there he is.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Greg.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
I'm looking at a picture of him too. By the
way he'd got he could have gone faster if he
had shaved up mustache. Good, Greg, that guy had a mustache.
I mean, I knew he had a mustache, but I
didn't know he had that.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
It's kind of a style at the time.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
I know. But that can't be good for you know,
getting through the water quickly, can't it.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (24:56):
Well, I mean, yeah, well he got mustache. Lag.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Yeah, it's a little drag.
Speaker 4 (24:59):
I think.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
I think that's gonna have a little drag on him.
All right, Well anyway, all right, so all the all
the modern swimmers wear glasses, that's for sure, Chris, what
you got, uh?
Speaker 3 (25:11):
In Nascar, you don't see a lot of guys. I'n't
getting a lot of where, you know, protective goggles whatnot.
But Joey Logano started wearing you know, eyeglasses while he
was driving. And earlier this year he picked up a
sponsorship for Maxiware. They started sponsoring. They Joey's gonna make
some money off of as a bad eyesight, So that's
the way to do it. Yeah, And He's not the
only one, but he's the uh uh most recent, I guess,
(25:33):
and certainly I think the first time I remember a
eyeglass cup actually sponsoring a NASCAR.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Driver, So mm hmm, I like it.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
Uh Well, if Reggie Jackson or Eric Dickerson isn't the
most famous athlete with glasses, this Kareem aut Bilgia bar.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (25:49):
Uh, you know, we made reference to him a couple
of times. We actually hadn't entered him as a category.
And it's funny if you go back to when he
was with Milwaukee, he wore like ski goggles. I mean,
it's really like what you would wear if you were
going down the mountain, one of those big or you know,
one of those big where it's like one lens that
covers both eyes. And then after that he went to
(26:10):
the to the respects of those goggles and so on.
But yeah, it's really weird looking if you look at it.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
I got a guy whose glasses were as dominated his
face as much as Joe Perterno, except this guy actually competed,
and that is Tom Kite, the golfer. Tom Kite had
real those were not for show. I guarantee you that
guy had some real coke bottle thick glasses and was
one of the greatest golfers in the world of his time.
(26:38):
Tom Kite, Chris who.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
You got, Well, this this guy's kind of a Georgia legend.
Inter fact that he was a track coach at Georgia
for a long time and they named the track after him.
Is the spec Town's track Forrest spec Town, who was great.
He was Olympic champion back in nineteen thirty six in
the hurdles. He actually got a football scholarship to Georgia
after a sports writers say high jumping in his back yard.
(27:00):
Well things were different, bab Then I'll tell you.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
I'll tell you what.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
A serious high jumping. But he later became the track
coach at Georgia and and uh, you know, was there
for a long long time, and so uh kind of
a Georgia legend. Speck Town. Some pitchchaer old Georgia.
Speaker 4 (27:19):
You hear, like, you know, baseball scout to be driving
past a pasture or something and see some guy throwing
a ball and stopping and you're finding out he can pitch.
But I don't think you hear about people walking past
somebody's backyard and finding them high jumping. It's really strange.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
But you know, along those along those same lines is like, oh,
how did the Alabama Crimson Tide get that name? It's
because just some guy wrote it in the paper, like, oh,
we should start calling the team that. What are you
talking about. I've written lots of columns. There's never been
a team that took what I said and put it
as an official team mascot. That's crazy. Doesn't happen anymore.
(27:55):
Doesn't happen anymore, but it used to.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
The sports runner Shirley Povids. This is one of my
favorite stories. Was sitting in the press box and people
were talking about using cliches and he said, you like
the hot corner and yeah, Charley was so old. He said, yeah,
I intended.
Speaker 4 (28:10):
That that was. Yeah, that's Jerome Holtzman who was and
Lewis Grizzard was the sports editor. Yeah that was.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Gizard got to Chicago and said no more cliches, and
he said, well I made that up. He's all right,
no more cliches except for him. He can use it
nobody else. Yeah, that's the Gizzard story on that, Yes
for sure.
Speaker 4 (28:32):
Uh, well, I don't know what it was about the
showtime Lakers, but having players in classes. We've already mentioned
Kareem and Kurt Rambas, James Worthy as well, obviously Big
Yeah Rex Fax and you know, almost kind of his
became his persona as well.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
I think Worthy may have shot free throws with his
goggles on his forehead, and then when the free throws
were over, he would put I believe, I believe that
is correct.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
James Brandy. After yours so many stories about hal Heflin,
Ali thinks the word as forehead.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Perspiration pouring off his fard. That's what al Hefflin said
when he was trying to try a case right outside
of right inside from a cotton gin. Yes, he had
that perspiration pouring off his ford. Hal Heflin, the great
hal Heafy. Anyway, Hey, what about this, We're going like
real old school glasses. I'll go back to the little
(29:23):
old school tennis. Arthur Ash wore glasses just like he was,
you know, walking around the streets or you know, hanging
out in the library or something. It didn't it wasn't
like athletic specs or anything. It was just Arthur Ash
wore glasses. So he wore glasses when he was on
the tennis court way back in the day, Arthur Ash Chris,
what you got.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
The first American League MVP to wear glasses back in
the nineteen sixties, Dick Allen, who was a richie. Yep,
that's right, the great player for the play for the fieldies.
He played for a long time, played until late seventies.
But yeah, he wore glasses. I think every picture I've
ever seen the he's sporting those seventy sticks.
Speaker 4 (30:04):
Uh, this is a person who also no longer wears glasses.
But if you see some photos of Nick Saban during
his tenure at Michigan State, Uh, he's got some big
Sally Jesse Raffael really yeah, Yeah, he's a great he's
a great ball player in the day. But now, seriously,
(30:26):
if you if you did very early in his tenure
at Michigan State, he's got some very unflattering big glasses
on a lot of the time.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Man, that's a good call. Also, you know, you always
had glasses, and until the end of his coaching career,
I guess until today he's still you know, used tobacco.
But it was very obvious back in those days, Greg,
like you would just every picture he just had tobacco
in his mouth and now you basically never see it
like it's it's more a lot more incognito.
Speaker 4 (30:53):
Yeah, what was the last summer It was when he
was still coaching. He uh, he had the there was
a picture sitting in the in the ferrari and in
the door well or whatever, there was nothing but red
man tobacco. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
He always saw him with those big glasses and with
a jaw back in the day, and then he lost
both of them, at least in public pictures. He lost
both of them. So yes, yes, absolutely, I guess I
guess he's got contacts. I don't know. I mean I
I've seen.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
Him with reading he probably had.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Yeah, that's a good that's a good possibility. You see
him with reading glasses, you know. He apparently he famously
like his reading glasses are like a an intimidating prop
with his assistant coaches and stuff. Like he takes those
glasses off, puts them on the desk. You're like, oh, boy,
brace for this, you know. But that's just the reading glasses.
It's not the ones we're talking about. How about uh,
(31:51):
one of his contemporaries there for a while, Lou Holt
famously very thick glasses coach at Arkansas, Notre Dame, and
lots of other places. Lou Holt makes our list.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Chris, what you got, Well, I had become a bench
that enough, we were going to go any non athlete.
But since we are, Harry Carey absously known for the big,
big glasses with his cargo cubs and any caricature or
drawing you would see of Harry Kerey always you know,
the big glasses were the main part of it.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
That's really good. Yeah, that's an excellent one, no doubt.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
This is a coach who wore sunglasses on the sideline,
but did it for medical reasons. Another Miami Dolphins coach,
Tony Sperano, he had some kind of accident when he
was working in a fast food restaurant when he was seventeen,
and he could not His eyes were very sensitive to light,
so he had to wear sunglasses almost all the time.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
Well, if you're going down that road, I will give
you my last one of Jim McMahon, who didn't wear
him during the game, but always wore sunglasses off the
field and it was a big deal. And oh, look
at this guy thinks he's cool. Well, turns out when
he was a kid, somebody stuck a fork in his eye.
Speaker 4 (33:05):
I mean he stuck I think he stuck a fork
in his own eyes.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
Well it could be, could be. I don't know about
who his story.
Speaker 4 (33:09):
Yeah, the story it was, Yeah, seriously, I mean, he
had like some kind of cowboy gun holster and he
was trying to untie the knot with a fork and
fork slipped and went into his eye.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
When you think about that.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
For a second, yeah, so the story was, it wasn't
nearly as cool as it was, just like, oh, look
at Jimmy Mann always wears his sunglasses, which I don't
know how that was such a big deal anyway, But
back in the day, I'm telling you life was different.
That was a big deal. Like he's wearing sunglasses all
the time. Well, he needed to wear sunglasses. So it
really wasn't as romantic or as cool as what we
(33:42):
thought it was after he stuck that fork in his eye.
So there you go. Jim McMahon, Chicago Bears makes the list.
All right, Chris, you got anything else?
Speaker 3 (33:51):
Talk about something else? It makes me WinCE when you
say that. Well, one of the best linebackers played Von
Miller He famously wears glasses, wears them playing and uh
and likes to be stylists and we're all, you know,
different kinds of designer glasses. But he's he's probably one
of the best players, especially football where you don't see
it that much. One of the best players playing.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
Senior Bowl Hall of Famer Von Miller yep, correct.
Speaker 4 (34:15):
Yeah, current Atlanta Braves or elief pitcher Jesse Chavez. Where's
glasses when he pitches? It's kind of the athletic prescription lenses,
I guess you could say, but he definitely wears them.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
About the first person sports or otherwise. I ever saw
with prescription glasses that turned into sunglasses, which are pretty
common now, right. You know, you have prescription glasses and
they you're out in the sun and they turn dark.
Hayden Fry, coach at Iowa, had those, and I remember
just thinking, wait, Mante, what's happening to with his glasses.
I mean, I was a little kid. I was like
(34:50):
fascinated by Hayden Fry's glasses because they would be sunglasses
during the game. So Hayden Fry is.
Speaker 4 (34:57):
Less like was that a psychological thing? Like the pink
locker room?
Speaker 3 (35:01):
He could have been.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
It could have very well been. I don't know. So
that's all I got West Chandler, also, by the way,
the wide receiver who worked glasses at one point. But
that's all I got, all right? Anything else? Who you
got for a winner?
Speaker 4 (35:14):
Reggie or Kareem probably pretty good, unless you want to
go with Larry nerd Orr Bird.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Could we do a combo of Kareem and cream love
bil Jabbar I mean, yeah, Kareem abdul Jabbar is so
famous that it spawned another person in this generation, So
I think that needs to be the winner. Or we
could go with the South Carolina quarterback, because that's where
we came up with the idea. We'll go with Kareem
abdul Jabbar. Of course, this was in honor of South
(35:40):
Carolina's new starting quarterback Leonoris Sellers, who will lead the
game Cock starting this weekend. And he you will see
he very obviously is wearing glasses. It is not. You
don't have to look closely to see that that is
the case. But we'll go with the great Kareem abdul
Jabbar and his goggles. Guys, that's good stuff. We'll do
it again next we got there you go. That is
(36:03):
Craig Stevenson. Chris Beckham lists with Chris. We do it
every week right here on Sports Talk ninety nine five
Speaker 3 (36:53):
Mm HM
Who are the five greatest athletes of all time? Who's
the worst player to ever deliver an iconic sports moment,
Who's the least athletic looking athlete in history. It's time
to rank the best and the worst that sports has
to offer. Let's dive in to Lists with Chris.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
All Right, here we go. It's time for List with Chris,
with me Randy Kennedy and Chris Beckham and Craig Stevenson. Hey, guys,
I looked it up this week. I believe this is
episode number one hundred and ninety two of List with Chris.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
We're closing it on others.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
I know.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
Yeah, well, I was going to say one hundred and
ninety two. I mean, is that a special number.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
It's just to say that in a couple of months
we're gonna have to come up with a special two
hundred bi centennial edition of List with Chris. I'm not
sure what that'll be, but anyway, we do like to
try to make him as time as possible. And this week,
of course, is the start of college football, and so
the time in this here is that South Carolina has
named a starting quarterback by the name of Leonoris Sellers,
(01:12):
who was a red shirt last year as a freshman.
Now he's going to be the starter, beat out Robbie Ashford.
But the thing about Leonora's Sellers that you will notice
right away when you watch the game Cocks play is
that he is very noticeably wears glasses when he plays,
like like not even it's not subtle at all. And
so we got thinking about, Okay, who are the most
(01:32):
famous noteworthy athletes who have ever worn I wear while
competing or just in the world of sports. So this
is what we're going to go with today in honor
of Leonoris Sellers of South Carolina.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
Yes, hey, hey, Randy. While I was looking you know,
you know, as we will come to find out, it's
pretty rare. And I was googling, just trying to find
some random ones that I might have missed, and I
found a an Australian website called smart Vision Optometry, and
on their blog was the following headline, Yes, short sighted
(02:09):
people can play sport.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Oh we love leaving the off the end of sports. Oh,
no question, we love sport. Yes, and when I play sport,
I usually wear a short Yes.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
I have never heard people who were who had glasses
referred to as short sighted. No, I know Australian deal.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
I guess that's like nearsighted, right, I guess I.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
Doneah, yeah, they can play sport.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Short Sighted is kind of a pejorative, right, I mean,
like who you call it? Short sighted?
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (02:44):
Short sighted? You to wear glasses when guys trying to tack.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
So anyway, we don't know if Leonora's Sellers is Australian
or not, but we're going with that. So, Chris, there
are lots of possibilities here. Who you got athlete in glasses?
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Well, I'm gonna start off with a very recent one
who kind of caught the country by storm in the
uh Summer Olympics. Stephen Neterosic, Yes, who most people know
this is the Palma horse Guy, and he kind of
captured the, uh, you know, the the attention of America
during the Summer Olympics. Uh Asu as the on the
(03:22):
mensine men's gymnastics team as the Palmer Horse guy, and
he and the glasses was kind of part of the
whole mystique about him. He would take his glasses off
before he competed, and a lot of people compared him
to Clark Kent, you know, to you know, mild bannered
Nerd off the Pama horse world champion well Bonds memblist,
so uh yeah, that's kind of his whole and he's
(03:45):
also uh recently announced that the first uh celebrity participant
announced for the thirty third season of Dancing with the Stars.
So we'll see if he dances with his glasses. I
assume he'll have him all.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Wow, that's that's pretty good. He's also famous for being
great at doing the Ruby's cube. He does that on
the circuit. But yeah, I had him, Yeah, full nerd,
full nerd and also great athlete. Those gymnasts are an
incredible shape. I had him.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
But I'm glad you had to pronounce his last name,
So get that one out of the way a right, Greg.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
When you said caught the country by storm recently, I
thought you're gonna steal mine. Chris and that is a
former Indiana State basketball player, Robbie Avila center for the Sycamores,
who is very big but also wear very big glasses,
leading to the nicknames cream Abdul Jabbar, Larry Nerd, Larry Blurred,
(04:45):
and Steph Blurry, among others.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
I had not heard the last one, Steph Blurry. I
had not heard. Yeah, kream Abdul Jabbar is c R E. A. M. S. Yeah, Yeah, yeah,
oh boy, those are some good Those are good nicknames
right there, Now, those are really good. Yeah. He's one
of those guys who just doesn't look like he could play,
(05:09):
but he's really good. Uh. He transferred away, right right, Craig.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
Yeah, Saint Louis. Yes, you know, he didn't really go
anywhere bigger, but he just went to a different place.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yeah, well that's good. I really like that. Well, y'all
are going local, y'all are going recent. I'm going far back.
The only only person to ever win the Heisman Trophy twice,
Archie Griffith, wore some glasses, that's right, but he played.
So there we go. All right, we're on to it.
Now we're doing uh, we're doing athletes in glasses, Chris,
(05:39):
what you got?
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Well, not only is this athlete famous, but his glasses
are in the NFL Hall of Fame. Talking about Eric
Dickerson's goggles that he wore in uh nineteen eighty four
when he ran for over twenty dollars twenty one oh five,
I think the direction and because he was wearing his
goggles while he did it. They have his goggles in
the in the Hall of Fame. So he had Eric
(06:02):
Diggerhead and Maubia. So he wore goggles prescription goggles throughout
his career, but they didn't need to bother you, meaning
you know.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
The thing with Dickerson was, yeah, he wore the glasses.
He also wore every other possible protective pad or you know,
anything you could have for protection, including those goggles gonna
keep you getting from poked in the eye, whether their
prescription or not. He wore every pad imaginable and uh
then went out and punished people.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
He was great. Yep.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
Well this is also running back from a few years before.
Dickerson one of my favorite players growing up, and he
didn't bother with the goggles. He just wore the horn
rim glasses. And that is Chuck Munsey of the New
Orleans Saints and San Diego Chargers. I mean literally he
looked like he was a you know, high school biology teacher. Yeah,
with the horn rim glasses. Great great player.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
See.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
I think the good part of this category is people
who didn't wear the rexpecs but actually just like wore
glasses like they were study in for a final and
I'll go Martina Navrotulova, who was one of the all
time greats. She wore glasses, but she was constantly taking
them off and cleaning them. And they weren't like wrapped
(07:13):
around her ears or anything like I said, they were
just like study hall glasses. It always struck me as like,
shouldn't she have, you know, if she needs, you know,
her vision is not great, shouldn't she have something better
than you know, the person in the dorm room next
to me studying. You know. That always struck me about
her was that she wore glasses, but they didn't it
(07:33):
all look like athletic glasses. I'll go with her, Martina
navrot Tlova.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Well, in the state of Georgia, for a little while,
there was probably no more popular player than Rodrigo blanket Ship,
the kicker for Thedia Georgia. He's got a lot of
media attention for the thick glasses he wore, and he
was a I mean, he was a key party. He
had the big kick in Oklahoma, which kind of which
kind of got being gold in the in the Rose
(08:00):
Bowl and eighteen and so, uh, he was very I mean,
he's he keeps the NFL for uh, for a while anyway,
and uh, but yeah he was up. I mean he
was kind of a media superstar because of his uh
cause his big, big glasses he wore.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Call him Hot Rode, didn't we hot Ride? That's right, Yes,
I like it.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
Uh, this guy's pretty anonymous. Pitched for the San Diego
Padres and Pittsburgh Pirates in the late seventies. Mark Lee
became famous really on social media from a Super seventy
Sports tweet that said people made fun of Mark Lee's glasses,
but a picture is never exactly the same after having
Elton John surgery. If you see the glasses, they're like big,
(08:45):
the coke bottled lenses kind of tinted with the big
frames that really it looks like something Elton John would
wear on stage. Yeah, Mark Lee of the Padres, have
to google him if you don't know him. I mean, it's,
like I said, just kind of a run of the
mill pitcher.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Here's a guy who became really famous for his goggles
and the true like rexpecs you know that really stood out,
and that is Cincinnati Red Chris Sabo. You remember he
was like, uh, he wore the very noticeable big goggles
playing first base or other places for the Reds.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
And the crew Cut too. Yeah, crew cut. So he
looked like somebody else was out of the ymc A.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
League exactly, exactly, Yeah, was his wasn't just regular glasses.
You're like, man, look at that guy. He looks different.
So that's so I'm going, Chris Sabo, are we doing
athletes famous for wearing glasses? In honor of New South
Carolina starting quarterback Leonora's cellars. You will notice they are
very noticeable, even when he's wearing a helmet, that he's
wearing those glasses. Chris who you got?
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Yeah, I don't. I was trying to think if if
this one's career overlapped with Chris Sable. I don't think
you ever pitched to him. But Ken Tacoldy, who who was
on our list to believe the last week for Strange Delivery. Yeah,
but he always had and he had the kendid glasses
as well, which really made me like a nerd. And
plus he was just so skinny with it. Big Adams
(10:08):
Apple he did not like he you picking coming off
their airplane, as you know, one of the best pictures
in baseball, which he was for you know, a good
while as a relief pitcher. But yeah, and plus he
of course the Pirates had that funky uniform anyway, with
that weird well, I don't even call that baseball cap
with the you know, yeah yeah in the pens. Well,
(10:28):
but kids called he stood out on the mound, but
not so much anywhere else.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
I agree with that.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
Great another Pro Football Hall of Famer. And he actually
wore glasses because he was legally blind in one eye. Uh,
became the first quarterback toward glasses in the game nineteen
seventy seven. That's Bob Greasy.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
I had him. I didn't know the whole thing about
legally blind though, but I did have him.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
I did have him a like twenty two hundred vision
in one eye.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Yeah, all right, I got. I got the most famous
glasses whereever in the world of sports. And I'll let
this clip.
Speaker 5 (11:03):
I'll tell you about.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Okay, Ricky, they would like so hard, jump out over
the plate, go.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
Bust me in and don't get n up with any type.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
You listen, Red got okay, here, my man get.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Sky's the altemle weak in the whole life for that
of course, the intro for a wild thing. Rick Vaughan
from Major Leagues, who very famously had the had the Glasses.
And by the way, if you guys are officionados of
the movie Major League, you noticed a great edit right
(12:41):
there in the middle of that clip where the owner said, uh,
she was not a fan of that song, but that
was edited out for radio version.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
I thought you were gonna lead, Yeah, there's the Corbyn
Burnson line right after that.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Yeah, that got Yeah, we had cup for that too,
but the owner, you know, did not said something that
was not FCC approved. That got cut out in the middle.
If you might have noticed, right, Rick Vaughan, Rick Vaughan
with his horror riom Glasses, the reliever for the Cleveland Indians.
You know, he's not a real person, I hurdstand it,
but he was a wild thing. He was a wild thing.
(13:13):
And I will say that he threw the ball pretty
well for an actor, you know. I mean, you know,
some of them are terrible, but he was actually not
bad at it. So there you go. That's what I got,
all right, Chris. Athletes in Glasses, You're real quick.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
I was trying to find an athlete in movies, and
in my mind, the guy who played Ali in Hoosiers
who see in my mind he was wearing glasses. But
I went and looked it up he was not wearing glasses,
so kind of ruined the whole thing. But for some
reason my I guess because he was just a nerd
in my mind many years later, is.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
That the Mandela effect right there on you Christ? Yeah,
it sounds like you got.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Chris, but yeah, but a real athlete who did have
a minor role in both Little Big League and Paris
Viewer's Day Off and also famously wore glasses was a
former first based in Leon Bull Durham who who, uh,
the big glasses is back in the h I guess
he played seventies and uh but yeah, the various Dueller
(14:11):
I called it, watched it hits the file Ball, the
Paris Wool Call and he's he appears briefly. I say
he's in that movie. He saw him in the movie anyway. Yeah,
he always for me growing up. I remember him, did
you know having those big glasses along with his big appro.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
He starts in that movie, Chris, like you do. That's
you started that movie with Maria Menuondez or whatever.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
Right now you're embarrassing yourself.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
What's her name was her last name?
Speaker 3 (14:39):
Uh, my co star, Maria Menunas.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Yes, my star.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
How don't think it's mend she didn't murder her parents?
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Oh yeah, the same way, same.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Way talking to you. What are you talking?
Speaker 2 (14:55):
I knew I didn't know her name, but I said
it's too good a joke. I'm not gonna pass on
it just because I can't pronounce her name. We'll figure
it out as we go, all right, anyway. Chris Beckham,
star of A screen and film and Chray Stevens and
Your Next Yep.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
Yeah. This guy was a pitcher for the New York
Yankees in the nineteen fifties. Very famous for having big,
thick glasses through really hard, could not see very well,
kind of played up to it. Oftentimes would go to
the mound and throw the ball twenty feet over the
catcher's head to kind of intimidate the batter. Ryan Durham
was his name. Casey Stingle famously said of him, I
(15:31):
would not admire hitting against Ryan Durham because if you
ever hit you in the head, you might be in
the past tense And according to Durhan's minor league scouting report,
big guy throws like hell hitters can't see it, but
he can't see you either. He's practically blind. Can't hit field,
a run, curve, not much neither. A sinker. Just throws fast,
(15:53):
one unpredictable where it'll go.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Marn, that's not the report you want to read as
a hitter.
Speaker 4 (15:59):
No, that's rough. All right.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
My next one is not an athlete exactly, but I
think you guys will allow this. I'm going famous glasses
wearing Joe Paterno with those coke bottles that he had
on his face, coach at Penn State. I mean, uh,
you can't just have every coach who ever wore glasses
be on the list, but Joe Paterno and those glasses
very famously associated with him, Joe Paturno at Penn State.
(16:26):
All right, Chris, what you got?
Speaker 4 (16:28):
Well, this guy, it's almost like two different lives and
he boss his labor life, he looked nothing like he
did when he played. That's Kurt Rambis. I mean as
an NBA coach, he did the glass. I guess he
had lesis or something, and it's like a totally different guy.
But when you play with the Lakers, well that was
definitely part of the you know, underdog kind of mystique
and chick Hern used to name the Superman because you know,
(16:50):
Park getting all that, and there was a Superman uh
fan club, you know where all the spectators were glasses
that kind of thing at the at the Forum. But uh,
I mean he definitely had that kind of embodied the
whole underdog glasses. Look, he became a coach.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
And decided, Okay, I don't want to do that anymore.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
A totally different so yeah, he would he put tape
on the glasses and stuff. I mean like he played
it up. Yeah, absolutely, and then he would kind of
GQ right when he was a coach, he was like, man, yeah,
that guy's well dressed and put together.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
And pat Riley didn't been Superman then.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
All right, great, well, I mean, as you mentioned wild
Thing Gone, I guess I mentioned the Hanson brothers from
slap Shot.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Yes, for sure.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
But uh, in reality, Al Arbor Hall of Famer with
the Chicago black Hawks, among other teams, was the last
player to wear glasses on the ice in the mid
nineteen sixties.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Huh so, Well, since somebody else said the word before
I could, I'm gonna I'm gonna say this guy, even
though y'all man not allow it. But since you said
the word lasik, I'm gonna say Jameis Winston, who everybody
every week was like Jamis, get some glasses, you know,
because he would be on the field, they'd be trying
to signal in the plate and he would be squinting
(18:10):
so bad. It was like every fan in America is like, Jamis,
go to the eye doctor, get some glasses. And then
eventually he did get Lasik surgery, and so now I
think he's doing better, but I include him. Maybe he
wasn't wearing glasses, but he should have been wearing glasses.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
Yeah, he claimed he claimed he didn't squint because he
couldn't see and need three thirty five interceptions his rookie
year in the NFL and when got a lacing surgery.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Yeah, oh man, that's ridiculous. That is ridiculous. But he's
got to be included if we're talking about just athletes
seeing or whatever. Jamis Winston who now has lay six
and uh, he's still entertaining, but he's still you never
know what he's gonna say, but now he can at
least see and not squint all the time.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Chris, what you got the first female to ever be
named Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year, which he shared
in nineteen seventy two with John Wooden. That was Billy
jen King, the famous tennis player who very famously wore glasses.
And she, you know, credit that very much to her
success as a tennis player, because she'd always wearing them
(19:15):
and then when she started wearing them, she got very
very good. So yes, just like Martina, two of the
best and tennis.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Friends with Elton John. If we just want to make
another Elton John reference in.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
This segment, yeah you might as well.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
She was, Yeah, great.
Speaker 4 (19:30):
This is a guy who did not start wearing glasses
until he was severely injured by taking an elbow from
Bill Cartwright. And that is a chemo lodge one key.
He went. He got an elbowed in the eye by
Bill cart Wright, had a broken orbital bone, had surgery
missed I think twenty five games, came back and wore
(19:50):
respects for the rest of his career. I'm not sure
if there were a prescription or not, or if it
was just protective, but he definitely woon every year after
the All right.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
How many pairs of glasses. Did my next guy have
foe foe foe? Moses Malone. Moses Malone, who was again
like like yours, Craig. I don't know if that was
for a prescription or if it was for protection, but
he did. He was a big goggles guy, right, was he?
Speaker 4 (20:17):
The guy that was?
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Was Moses, the one that made famous when he was
shooting free throws, you know, putting the goggles on his
forehead while he shot free throws? Was that him or
is that somebody else in that era? I think it
was him. I think it was him, Like, you know,
didn't have him on when he was shooting free throws,
but then as soon as he shot the second one
would put the goggles back down and be ready to play.
So Moses Malone, most famously of the Philadelphia seventy six ers. Chris,
(20:41):
we're doing athletes and their glasses? Who you got?
Speaker 3 (20:45):
I just remember Moses Agencyings could play pool. I mean,
you know I can't swim, so is that true? Moses
could play some pool like he swims?
Speaker 2 (21:04):
I never heard that. I never heard that.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
I read it. I mean, now these things get you know,
you know, urban legend. It may be, but that definitely
supposedly happened that. Oh man, this guy was a lot
of soccer players wear glasses while not playing soccer. He
was a very few who wore white. He's playing Edgar David,
who was a very good, uh professional soccer player back
(21:28):
in the unineties and two thousands, he had glaucoma and
so he wore them while while playing soccer, which you know,
I started thinking about it, and there's I don't remember
seeing them, the soccer players playing while they were while
they were on the pitch, as I say, as a
soccer fan like to say, but uh, yeah, yeah he was.
(21:49):
I mean he was very good soccer player, the only
one at that level. I think he wore glasses why
he played.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
I like it.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
I like it.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (21:58):
This guy wore glasses playing for the Saint Louis Cardinals
in the nineteen twenties, and it was so rare that
it became part of his name. And that is Specs,
a porcer is actually known as Specx's name George, but
players who wore glasses at that time were so rare
they actually named him Specs Specs.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
I like it.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
I like it. Here this is interesting because you know,
you kind of associate wearing glasses, you know, being a
little bit nerdy or whatever. And this was the coolest
guy in America. Reggie Jackson wore glasses when he played
in the Major leagues, hitting home runs every everywhere, and
of course, I mean he was the very embodiment of cool,
and yet you know there he was wearing glasses. Well,
(22:41):
he played, so Riggie Jackson.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
He struck out a ton early in his career, and
they said, well, maybe you ought to go get glasses,
and he got classes and he's still struck out a ton.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Oh good stuff, all right, Doug Chris, you'rerope.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
I was trying to think of the Atlanta but even famously,
and it probably the ones more famous. But the guy
who I remember probably bore my time frame.
Speaker 4 (23:04):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
He didn't see much of his career with the Braves,
but loses fans will know him for the three little
words let them play, Bob Watson, let them play, and
maybe a keeps an astro. But he played three years
with the Braves. But uh, yeah, a great player and
always had glasses I think for uh his whole playing career.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
Yeah, the one I had is also a Brave and
he didn't wear them when he played, but he you
would always see him sitting on the bench wearing them.
That's Greg Maddocks. Every time he saw him away from
the field, he had glasses on. But he never wore
them on the field. Obviously. I guess he wore contacts
when he pitched, but uh, you know he wore glasses,
big thick glasses too. It's like, how did this guy
(23:49):
throw so many strikes? He can't see?
Speaker 2 (23:53):
All right, next time, I'm gonna let my next choice
represent the an entire sport page. Madden Mobile just won
two medals at the Olympics in Paris. Every swimmer wears
glasses when they're swimming, right, yeah, don't they all? You
could just Mark Spitz or uh you know, Katie the
Decky whoever. But uh, I can't just leave out swimming.
(24:15):
When every swimmer where's those where's goggles? When they swim?
Speaker 4 (24:19):
I think, well, yeah they do? Now did they do
it when Mark Spist's was swimming? I don't think he did.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
You don't think Mark Spist did.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
I don't think so. No, No, I'm looking at photos
of him in the pool with no glasses on. Okay,
they definitely do now.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
All right, Yeah, everybody does now, But I guess Mark
Spiz didn't know there he is.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Greg.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
I'm looking at a picture of him too. By the
way he'd got he could have gone faster if he
had shaved up mustache. Good, Greg, that guy had a mustache.
I mean, I knew he had a mustache, but I
didn't know he had that.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
It's kind of a style at the time.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
I know. But that can't be good for you know,
getting through the water quickly, can't it.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (24:56):
Well, I mean, yeah, well he got mustache. Lag.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Yeah, it's a little drag.
Speaker 4 (24:59):
I think.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
I think that's gonna have a little drag on him.
All right, Well anyway, all right, so all the all
the modern swimmers wear glasses, that's for sure, Chris, what
you got, uh?
Speaker 3 (25:11):
In Nascar, you don't see a lot of guys. I'n't
getting a lot of where, you know, protective goggles whatnot.
But Joey Logano started wearing you know, eyeglasses while he
was driving. And earlier this year he picked up a
sponsorship for Maxiware. They started sponsoring. They Joey's gonna make
some money off of as a bad eyesight, So that's
the way to do it. Yeah, And He's not the
only one, but he's the uh uh most recent, I guess,
(25:33):
and certainly I think the first time I remember a
eyeglass cup actually sponsoring a NASCAR.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Driver, So mm hmm, I like it.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
Uh Well, if Reggie Jackson or Eric Dickerson isn't the
most famous athlete with glasses, this Kareem aut Bilgia bar.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (25:49):
Uh, you know, we made reference to him a couple
of times. We actually hadn't entered him as a category.
And it's funny if you go back to when he
was with Milwaukee, he wore like ski goggles. I mean,
it's really like what you would wear if you were
going down the mountain, one of those big or you know,
one of those big where it's like one lens that
covers both eyes. And then after that he went to
(26:10):
the to the respects of those goggles and so on.
But yeah, it's really weird looking if you look at it.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
I got a guy whose glasses were as dominated his
face as much as Joe Perterno, except this guy actually competed,
and that is Tom Kite, the golfer. Tom Kite had
real those were not for show. I guarantee you that
guy had some real coke bottle thick glasses and was
one of the greatest golfers in the world of his time.
(26:38):
Tom Kite, Chris who.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
You got, Well, this this guy's kind of a Georgia legend.
Inter fact that he was a track coach at Georgia
for a long time and they named the track after him.
Is the spec Town's track Forrest spec Town, who was great.
He was Olympic champion back in nineteen thirty six in
the hurdles. He actually got a football scholarship to Georgia
after a sports writers say high jumping in his back yard.
(27:00):
Well things were different, bab Then I'll tell you.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
I'll tell you what.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
A serious high jumping. But he later became the track
coach at Georgia and and uh, you know, was there
for a long long time, and so uh kind of
a Georgia legend. Speck Town. Some pitchchaer old Georgia.
Speaker 4 (27:19):
You hear, like, you know, baseball scout to be driving
past a pasture or something and see some guy throwing
a ball and stopping and you're finding out he can pitch.
But I don't think you hear about people walking past
somebody's backyard and finding them high jumping. It's really strange.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
But you know, along those along those same lines is like, oh,
how did the Alabama Crimson Tide get that name? It's
because just some guy wrote it in the paper, like, oh,
we should start calling the team that. What are you
talking about. I've written lots of columns. There's never been
a team that took what I said and put it
as an official team mascot. That's crazy. Doesn't happen anymore.
(27:55):
Doesn't happen anymore, but it used to.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
The sports runner Shirley Povids. This is one of my
favorite stories. Was sitting in the press box and people
were talking about using cliches and he said, you like
the hot corner and yeah, Charley was so old. He said, yeah,
I intended.
Speaker 4 (28:10):
That that was. Yeah, that's Jerome Holtzman who was and
Lewis Grizzard was the sports editor. Yeah that was.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Gizard got to Chicago and said no more cliches, and
he said, well I made that up. He's all right,
no more cliches except for him. He can use it
nobody else. Yeah, that's the Gizzard story on that, Yes
for sure.
Speaker 4 (28:32):
Uh, well, I don't know what it was about the
showtime Lakers, but having players in classes. We've already mentioned
Kareem and Kurt Rambas, James Worthy as well, obviously Big
Yeah Rex Fax and you know, almost kind of his
became his persona as well.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
I think Worthy may have shot free throws with his
goggles on his forehead, and then when the free throws
were over, he would put I believe, I believe that
is correct.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
James Brandy. After yours so many stories about hal Heflin,
Ali thinks the word as forehead.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Perspiration pouring off his fard. That's what al Hefflin said
when he was trying to try a case right outside
of right inside from a cotton gin. Yes, he had
that perspiration pouring off his ford. Hal Heflin, the great
hal Heafy. Anyway, Hey, what about this, We're going like
real old school glasses. I'll go back to the little
(29:23):
old school tennis. Arthur Ash wore glasses just like he was,
you know, walking around the streets or you know, hanging
out in the library or something. It didn't it wasn't
like athletic specs or anything. It was just Arthur Ash
wore glasses. So he wore glasses when he was on
the tennis court way back in the day, Arthur Ash Chris,
what you got.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
The first American League MVP to wear glasses back in
the nineteen sixties, Dick Allen, who was a richie. Yep,
that's right, the great player for the play for the fieldies.
He played for a long time, played until late seventies.
But yeah, he wore glasses. I think every picture I've
ever seen the he's sporting those seventy sticks.
Speaker 4 (30:04):
Uh, this is a person who also no longer wears glasses.
But if you see some photos of Nick Saban during
his tenure at Michigan State, Uh, he's got some big
Sally Jesse Raffael really yeah, Yeah, he's a great he's
a great ball player in the day. But now, seriously,
(30:26):
if you if you did very early in his tenure
at Michigan State, he's got some very unflattering big glasses
on a lot of the time.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Man, that's a good call. Also, you know, you always
had glasses, and until the end of his coaching career,
I guess until today he's still you know, used tobacco.
But it was very obvious back in those days, Greg,
like you would just every picture he just had tobacco
in his mouth and now you basically never see it
like it's it's more a lot more incognito.
Speaker 4 (30:53):
Yeah, what was the last summer It was when he
was still coaching. He uh, he had the there was
a picture sitting in the in the ferrari and in
the door well or whatever, there was nothing but red
man tobacco. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
He always saw him with those big glasses and with
a jaw back in the day, and then he lost
both of them, at least in public pictures. He lost
both of them. So yes, yes, absolutely, I guess I
guess he's got contacts. I don't know. I mean I
I've seen.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
Him with reading he probably had.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Yeah, that's a good that's a good possibility. You see
him with reading glasses, you know. He apparently he famously
like his reading glasses are like a an intimidating prop
with his assistant coaches and stuff. Like he takes those
glasses off, puts them on the desk. You're like, oh, boy,
brace for this, you know. But that's just the reading glasses.
It's not the ones we're talking about. How about uh,
(31:51):
one of his contemporaries there for a while, Lou Holt
famously very thick glasses coach at Arkansas, Notre Dame, and
lots of other places. Lou Holt makes our list.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Chris, what you got, Well, I had become a bench
that enough, we were going to go any non athlete.
But since we are, Harry Carey absously known for the big,
big glasses with his cargo cubs and any caricature or
drawing you would see of Harry Kerey always you know,
the big glasses were the main part of it.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
That's really good. Yeah, that's an excellent one, no doubt.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
This is a coach who wore sunglasses on the sideline,
but did it for medical reasons. Another Miami Dolphins coach,
Tony Sperano, he had some kind of accident when he
was working in a fast food restaurant when he was seventeen,
and he could not His eyes were very sensitive to light,
so he had to wear sunglasses almost all the time.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
Well, if you're going down that road, I will give
you my last one of Jim McMahon, who didn't wear
him during the game, but always wore sunglasses off the
field and it was a big deal. And oh, look
at this guy thinks he's cool. Well, turns out when
he was a kid, somebody stuck a fork in his eye.
Speaker 4 (33:05):
I mean he stuck I think he stuck a fork
in his own eyes.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
Well it could be, could be. I don't know about
who his story.
Speaker 4 (33:09):
Yeah, the story it was, Yeah, seriously, I mean, he
had like some kind of cowboy gun holster and he
was trying to untie the knot with a fork and
fork slipped and went into his eye.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
When you think about that.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
For a second, yeah, so the story was, it wasn't
nearly as cool as it was, just like, oh, look
at Jimmy Mann always wears his sunglasses, which I don't
know how that was such a big deal anyway, But
back in the day, I'm telling you life was different.
That was a big deal. Like he's wearing sunglasses all
the time. Well, he needed to wear sunglasses. So it
really wasn't as romantic or as cool as what we
(33:42):
thought it was after he stuck that fork in his eye.
So there you go. Jim McMahon, Chicago Bears makes the list.
All right, Chris, you got anything else?
Speaker 3 (33:51):
Talk about something else? It makes me WinCE when you
say that. Well, one of the best linebackers played Von
Miller He famously wears glasses, wears them playing and uh
and likes to be stylists and we're all, you know,
different kinds of designer glasses. But he's he's probably one
of the best players, especially football where you don't see
it that much. One of the best players playing.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
Senior Bowl Hall of Famer Von Miller yep, correct.
Speaker 4 (34:15):
Yeah, current Atlanta Braves or elief pitcher Jesse Chavez. Where's
glasses when he pitches? It's kind of the athletic prescription lenses,
I guess you could say, but he definitely wears them.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
About the first person sports or otherwise. I ever saw
with prescription glasses that turned into sunglasses, which are pretty
common now, right. You know, you have prescription glasses and
they you're out in the sun and they turn dark.
Hayden Fry, coach at Iowa, had those, and I remember
just thinking, wait, Mante, what's happening to with his glasses.
I mean, I was a little kid. I was like
(34:50):
fascinated by Hayden Fry's glasses because they would be sunglasses
during the game. So Hayden Fry is.
Speaker 4 (34:57):
Less like was that a psychological thing? Like the pink
locker room?
Speaker 3 (35:01):
He could have been.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
It could have very well been. I don't know. So
that's all I got West Chandler, also, by the way,
the wide receiver who worked glasses at one point. But
that's all I got, all right? Anything else? Who you
got for a winner?
Speaker 4 (35:14):
Reggie or Kareem probably pretty good, unless you want to
go with Larry nerd Orr Bird.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Could we do a combo of Kareem and cream love
bil Jabbar I mean, yeah, Kareem abdul Jabbar is so
famous that it spawned another person in this generation, So
I think that needs to be the winner. Or we
could go with the South Carolina quarterback, because that's where
we came up with the idea. We'll go with Kareem
abdul Jabbar. Of course, this was in honor of South
(35:40):
Carolina's new starting quarterback Leonoris Sellers, who will lead the
game Cock starting this weekend. And he you will see
he very obviously is wearing glasses. It is not. You
don't have to look closely to see that that is
the case. But we'll go with the great Kareem abdul
Jabbar and his goggles. Guys, that's good stuff. We'll do
it again next we got there you go. That is
(36:03):
Craig Stevenson. Chris Beckham lists with Chris. We do it
every week right here on Sports Talk ninety nine five
Speaker 3 (36:53):
Mm HM
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