In the history of team sports, only a handful of individual athletes have been able to lay claim to being “the greatest winner of all-time.”
For the purposes of sticking to what I know, we’ll focus on the four predominant North American sports. I couldn’t tell you who the greatest winner in the history of soccer is, for example.
The first person most people say is Bill Russell, whose Boston Celtics won 11 NBA titles between 1957 and 1969, including eight straight, losing only in 1958 and 1967. More remarkably, he spent three of those years as the Celtics’ player-coach, was the first Black coach in modern North American sports history, and went toe-to-toe with one of the most feared physical specimens (Wilt Chamberlain) of all-time.
Russell also won two NCAA basketball championships with the University of San Francisco.
In the National Hockey League, the No. 1 winner of all-time was not Maurice but Henri Richard. The “Pocket Rocket” won 11 Stanley Cups in 20 seasons with the Montreal Canadiens. For most of that time, however, he was just a cog in a well-oiled machine.
Yogi Berra won 10 World Series championships with the New York Yankees from 1947 through 1963. Considering that only one team from each league went to the series in those years, that has to carry more weight. Also, he was a catcher — a more physically demanding position — for most of that time, switching to outfield late in his career.
That leaves Tom Brady in the National Football League. Sunday, he won his seventh Super Bowl, and has won more NFL titles than any other franchise, let alone player. Brady started his first game in 2001 — 20 years ago. He’s been to the Super Bowl 10 times, winning seven
Going strictly by numbers and nothing else (we readily admit there have been far more talented players in all four sports) this is our Mount Rushmore of North American winners.
But who is the lead dog? Each has his own argument.
Richard, I’m afraid, doesn’t stack up with the other three, as he was rarely his team’s focal point. He would be my first cut.
Berra was a tough out in the clutch. In fact, his most famous out was almost a two-run double (Sandy Amoros of the Dodgers robbed him in Game 7 in 1955, Brooklyn’s lone series-winning season). He hit 14 homers, knocked in 39 runs and hit .274 in 14 World Series. Painfully, though, he’s my next cut.
Brady and Russell both played for coaches who were deemed the best at what they did — Bill Belichick and Red Auerbach. However, Russell won two titles coaching himself, and Brady’s win Sunday came with Bruce Arians and not the Hoodie.
Since there is only one Super Bowl per season (as opposed to a seven-game series), there’s no room for error. Just dealing with that pressure alone is astronomical. Even when you consider Brady has had some divine luck, benefitted from some monumentally bad opposition coaching (none worse than Sunday night’s, except maybe Pete Carroll in 2015) and some unlikely plays by unlikely people (Malcolm Butler), those seven titles are remarkable.
Still, for my money, Russell wins the prize. First, 11 of 13 represents an otherworldly winning percentage of .846.
Second, while that last team you beat en route to a title certainly has its share of stars, or else it wouldn’t be there, I daresay none of them shone as brightly as Chamberlain did for the Warriors, 76ers and Lakers — all teams the Celtics faced en route to their titles. Only once, in 1967, did Chamberlain’s team (76ers) defeat the Celtics.
The only other time the Celtics lost (1958, to Bob Petit and the St. Louis Hawks) Russell was hobbled with a sprained ankle.
So if you’re looking for quality as well as quantity, you have to pick Russell. He won 11 professional titles, eight in a row, and two of them as a player-coach. Plus, he won two NCAA titles as well. Oh, and a Gold Medal in the 1956 Olympics, too.
In my book, he wins on total points.
