Who was the best HS combo Football/Baseball of all time?

[crusader_of_90]

I was going to mention him.

No Flyer love for Homer Bush?

Homer was a BALLER on the gridiron ... that JeriCurl was flowing out of the back of his helmet as he ran for TDs after the catch.

He went to U of I for football ... then concentrated on baseball, started for the Yankees at 2nd base = got a couple of rings there.

And if I remember right, Jerry Creer was a hell of a baseball player too - same time as Homer and Darond.

(From our Khourey League age group, we had THREE play in the MLB, adding Brian Daubach (Red/White Sox) from Belleville West. More than a half dozen else played minor league ball.)

 

[corey90]

Reaching back a hundred years, the name of Jim Thorpe should be remembered as one of the all-time greats. Although he was stripped of his Olympic gold for both the pentathlon and decathlon, his other achievements on the field were and remain legendary.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Thorpe

He was great we all know this, but what does it have to do with Illinois? The post was about Illinois athletes!

 

[corey90]

He was great we all know this, but what does it have to do with Illinois? The post was about Illinois athletes!

Correction!
Well after looking at the subject thread apparently the poster didn’t state Illinois. My bad.

 

[Chicago773]

Bo flowers, Walther Lutheran...all state in football & baseball, 2002 Sun Times athlete of the year...drafted out of high school then went back to Illini to get major minutes after a few years away from the game

 

[ramblinman]

Hey all you ND Dons and White Sox fans! Where's the love for Greg "The Bull" Luzinski in this thread?

 

[LTHSALUM76]

Correction!
Well after looking at the subject thread apparently the poster didn’t state Illinois. My bad.

Corey. The parameters of this discussion are very vague. I mean, who is the best ever HS combo football/baseball of all time? Does this mean his play only in high school? Is it supposed to include what he eventually went on to? This is why we have answers that are all over the board. And this is why questions like this need to be specific.

So, if we are first talking about a guy from anywhere in the U.S OK. And if we are also talking about what the guy went on to accomplish then it has to be either Deion Sanders or Bo Jackson. The winner between the two might be Sanders because he is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. We all know Jackson's careers in football and baseball were cut short so we don't know where he would have ended up. But, I would definitely give Jackson the edge in baseball. Jackson only played parts of four NFL football seasons. He appeared in 38 games and started 23 but rushed for over 2,700 yards and averaged 5.4 yards per carry. It would have been very interesting to see what would have happened if he had played both sports till age 35 or older. He was only 28 when he played his last football game and in reality, he wasn't nearly as effective in baseball after the hip injury at age 28.

 

[corey90]

Corey. The parameters of this discussion are very vague. I mean, who is the best ever HS combo football/baseball of all time? Does this mean his play only in high school? Is it supposed to include what he eventually went on to? This is why we have answers that are all over the board. And this is why questions like this need to be specific.

So, if we are first talking about a guy from anywhere in the U.S OK. And if we are also talking about what the guy went on to accomplish then it has to be either Deion Sanders or Bo Jackson. The winner between the two might be Sanders because he is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. We all know Jackson's careers in football and baseball were cut short so we don't know where he would have ended up. But, I would definitely give Jackson the edge in baseball. Jackson only played parts of four NFL football seasons. He appeared in 38 games and started 23 but rushed for over 2,700 yards and averaged 5.4 yards per carry. It would have been very interesting to see what would have happened if he had played both sports till age 35 or older. He was only 28 when he played his last football game and in reality, he wasn't nearly as effective in baseball after the hip injury at age 28.

I don’t disagree with either since we’re talking US not just Illinois. I also like to measure their teams success. Did either of them win a SB or WS?
I am sure if we looked real hard we might find some Hall of Famers that won championship titles either in Football or Baseball or both?

 

[crusader_of_90]

Dave Winfield.

He earned All-American and MVP accolades as a pitcher in the College World Series during his senior year. In 1973, Winfield was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the 17th round of the NFL Draft, despite never playing collegiate football.

 

[crusader_of_90]

John Elway.

In 1979, Elway was drafted out of high school by the Kansas City Royals to play baseball in Major League Baseball. ... In the 1981 MLB Draft, Elway was selected by the New York Yankees in the second round. The following year, he played outfield in 42 games for the Oneonta Yankees of the Class A New York–Penn League.

 

[corey90]

I don’t disagree with either since we’re talking US not just Illinois. I also like to measure their teams success. Did either of them win a SB or WS?
I am sure if we looked real hard we might find some Hall of Famers that won championship titles either in Football or Baseball or both?

After looking up their careers Deion Sanders might have a small edge. He has all the accolades and won 2 SB and appeared in 1 WS. He also had a longer career. The negative is he played for a lot of different teams. Plus personally I never cared for Sanders. To cocky for me. Bo was much more humble. “Bo Knows” was also!

 

[USD24]

Dave Winfield.

He earned All-American and MVP accolades as a pitcher in the College World Series during his senior year. In 1973, Winfield was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the 17th round of the NFL Draft, despite never playing collegiate football.

He was also drafted out of college by the Atlanta Hawks (NBA) and the Utah Stars (ABA), quite impressive.

 

[flyerforlife]

No Flyer love for Homer Bush?

Homer was a BALLER on the gridiron ... that JeriCurl was flowing out of the back of his helmet as he ran for TDs after the catch.

He went to U of I for football ... then concentrated on baseball, started for the Yankees at 2nd base = got a couple of rings there.

And if I remember right, Jerry Creer was a hell of a baseball player too - same time as Homer and Darond.

(From our Khourey League age group, we had THREE play in the MLB, adding Brian Daubach (Red/White Sox) from Belleville West. More than a half dozen else played minor league ball.)

Yes Homer and Creer was were great. But Homer also won a world series championship

 

[penlight]

Jeff Samardzija

 

[McCaravan]

Another shout out to Matt Lottich. All State Football, Basketball and Baseball. He dominated all three sports. He went to Stanford for Hoops and could have played Football and Baseball for them as well. Graduating from Stanford only tells me he was extremely smart too...and I’m just gonna guess he was the Prom King and his girlfriend was a 10! LOL

 

[McCaravan]

One to watch for is Jack Lausch at Br Rice. Outstanding Football, Hoops and Baseball player. Varsity baseball as a freshman on a stacked BR Varsity team. Personally I think he would be better then Smyth at QB as a Sophomore.

 

[Hillini74]

Craig Duppong - Lockport

 

[epicbret]

Benson IMO. Way underrated as a FB player

 

[epicbret]

Craig Duppong - Lockport

those Lockport teams were loaded with great FB/Baseball players. Serafini, Duppong, Gentiles, Chojnacki and several others were solid in both sports.

 

[LTHSALUM76]

Dave Winfield.

He earned All-American and MVP accolades as a pitcher in the College World Series during his senior year. In 1973, Winfield was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the 17th round of the NFL Draft, despite never playing collegiate football.

Very good catch and I didn't even think about him. He didn't, however, play NFL football so I have to still say Jackson or Sanders.

 

[LTHSALUM76]

Craig Duppong - Lockport

Duppong didn't play baseball his junior year at Lockport. (inside story) Someone I know, helped him in the batting cage of his senior year during winter and he was back on the baseball team that spring. I was actually going to mention him.

 

[USD24]

Pete Bersich from Providence. Went on to play linebacker at ND and had a nice career with the Vikings. Was a pretty good baseball player at PC as well.

 

[CCHS-Fan]

Sean Walker - Carmel Catholic - Tribune Athlete of the year (Football, Basketball, Baseball)
Ed Rompa - Joliet Catholic

 

[USD24]

Sean Walker - Carmel Catholic - Tribune Athlete of the year (Football, Basketball, Baseball)
Ed Rompa - Joliet Catholic

Mark Sopko is another JC guy. State champion QB and pitched and had a great career at ASU

 

[Wassup13]

After looking up their careers Deion Sanders might have a small edge. He has all the accolades and won 2 SB and appeared in 1 WS. He also had a longer career. The negative is he played for a lot of different teams. Plus personally I never cared for Sanders. To cocky for me. Bo was much more humble. “Bo Knows” was also!

Ask Carlton Fisk what he thinks of Deion Sanders.

Fisk told Sanders to respect the game or he was going to kick his a $$.

 

[corey90]

Ask Carlton Fisk what he thinks of Deion Sanders.

Fisk told Sanders to respect the game or he was going to kick his a $$.

Exactly.

 

[ClownBaby]

Ask Carlton Fisk what he thinks of Deion Sanders.

Fisk told Sanders to respect the game or he was going to kick his a $$.

It’s ironic Carlton Fisk is one of the biggest prick athletes you could ever meet and Deion Sanders is one of the nicest guys ever just obnoxious on the field.

 

[penlight]

Mark Sopko is another JC guy. State champion QB and pitched and had a great career at ASU

Geez, that sounds eerily like Johnny Ruettiger ..... same path

 

[BigGroff]

Jason Aspito form Driscoll. Played baseball at UT and was drafted by White Sox. One heck of an all state RB back in 96

 

[superac777]

Heart bigger than he Tom Tomlinson a 3 sport star at Argo must be included.

 

[PC Dad_MC Grad]

Although he can’t compare to a Mike Alstott caliber, Mike Madej from Providence was a great 2 sport athlete. He gave up his senior year of football to focus on baseball. He was an exciting punt returner and defensive back and a great second baseman and super clutch hitter. He has 4 state championship rings to boast.

 

[Wassup13]

Thinking baseball... Just a thought...

How long would a conversation with Harold Baines and Kahwi Leonard last?

 

[tomloner]

There are several MC players who excelled in both, but this Carmel fan is going to give a shout out to a Rita player, Marty Bechina. Marty was All State in Football and Baseball at Rita and has had a excellent career at Michigan St. Last fall Marty’s Father was one of the several Chicago Police Officers who succumbed to depression and took his own life. I worked with his Father many times. Marty stepped on the gas this past season and kicked ass for his Dad. I’m praying he gets drafted next week because he deserves it. Best wishes Marty!!

St. Rita Bechina '15 and Danny Gleaves '16 were both named captains of the Michigan State baseball team for the 2019 season. Also both good football players.

And McCaravan with another classy post!

 

[mchsalumni]

If we leave the precincts of high school for a moment, we'd have to give a nod to Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders.

Y tho?

 

[gw86]

Y tho?

This thread made me want to do some research on Bo. Stats aren’t all that readily available but found he rushed for 1,173 yard on 108 carries (10.9 per) and 17 td’s. That’s just about 1 td per 6.4 carries. Hit 20 home runs in 25 baseball games. Article also said he was back to back decathlon champion and was up by so much by the time the 1,500 came around he didn’t run it because he didn’t like running distances. High jumped 6’9” and triple jumped 48’8”. Won some hurdle state championships. Basically sounds like he could do whatever he wanted in high school and he’d win.

 

[corey90]

Imagine if he wanted to be a wrestler. I wouldn’t of wanted to wrestle with him, dude was a man among boys!

 

[Wassup13]

This thread made me want to do some research on Bo. Stats aren’t all that readily available but found he rushed for 1,173 yard on 108 carries (10.9 per) and 17 td’s. That’s just about 1 td per 6.4 carries. Hit 20 home runs in 25 baseball games. Article also said he was back to back decathlon champion and was up by so much by the time the 1,500 came around he didn’t run it because he didn’t like running distances. High jumped 6’9” and triple jumped 48’8”. Won some hurdle state championships. Basically sounds like he could do whatever he wanted in high school and he’d win.

Bo came to pick up his son at Montini. Montini was the team wrestling state champs that year. Bo walked into the wrestling room and asked for anyone to wrestle him. There were no takers.

One of those Montini wrestlers was a heavyweight ranked one of the top 3 heavyweight wrestlers in the entire nation two years in a row.

 

[corey90]

Bo came to pick up his son at Montini. Montini was the team wrestling state champs that year. Bo walked into the wrestling room and asked for anyone to wrestle him. There were no takers.

One of those Montini wrestlers was a heavyweight ranked one of the top 3 heavyweight wrestlers in the entire nation two years in a row.

Yeah guess who would of won in seconds? That is a bad dude.

 

[epicbret]

Bo flowers, Walther Lutheran...all state in football & baseball, 2002 Sun Times athlete of the year...drafted out of high school then went back to Illini to get major minutes after a few years away from the game

He was a man at 15

 

[Blue Ruin]

Matt Forte lettered in track and was Mr. Football in high school as well as at Tulane. A smooth runner with soft hands, he also earned good grades, and is considered to be the Bears' second best running back. His father played for the Green Wave in the 1970s, which is why LSU didn't get him. "Go to hell, LSU, go to hell!"

 

[greatgig13]

Well if people are going off the original topic then I’m throwing in Randy Macho Man Savage. Very good baseball player and an even better wrestler.