If Babe Ruth was the first baseball player to be a national celebrity, Joe DiMaggio was the first to be one part of an athlete/celebrity power couple when he was married to Marilyn Monroe.

The long and incredible career of Martina Navratilova began in the Soviet Bloc country of Czechoslovakia, where at age 18, Czech officials demanded that she return home as the budding star was becoming too "Americanized." She didn't, and sought asylum in the U.S., and would later become a citizen.

Willie Mays played two years with Birmingham of the Negro Leagues before he signed with the New York Giants, and it would not take long before the “Say Hey Kid” became the face of the franchise.

You can’t talk about scoring in basketball without mentioning Wilt Chamberlain, one of the most prolific scorers in the history of the game. Chamberlain, a seven-time scoring champion, is the only player in NBA history to score 100 points in a game and the only player to finish a season averaging over 50 points per game.

In 1936, Jesse Owens set the track world on fire by winning four Gold Medals. It was believed that in 1984, Carl Lewis could do the same thing.

Earvin "Magic" Johnson became the Los Angeles Lakers' face during their "showtime" years, which considering the number of other personalities, was no small accomplishment.

"He can run, but he can't hide."

Joe Louis said this about Billy Conn, one of the many who challenged him for the heavyweight title and failed.

One of the purest hitters in Baseball, Ted Williams, was the template by which thousands of batters followed.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won everywhere he went.

• Bill Russell is not always in the conversation when basketball fans talk about the greatest player ever, but there are many reasons why they should.