Photos: Ten best athletes to be born in Colorado

By Michael Roberts Tue., Feb. 19 2013 at 7:50 AM

Number 6: Bobby Unser

Man, there must be something in Colorado Springs' water, because here's yet another favorite son. A member of the much lauded Unser racing family, Bobby not only won the Indianapolis 500 three times, but he did so in three different decades (1968, 1975 and 1981) -- a testimony to his longevity as well as his supreme skill behind the wheel. If there's a racing Hall of Fame that has not yet inducted him as a member, we don't know about it.

Number 5: Roy Halladay

Roy Halladay.

Halladay's from Denver, and his hometown Colorado Rockies sure as hell could use him -- not that the legendarily cheap outfit would ever pay his freight. He is quite simply one of the most dominant pitcher in Major League Baseball, although it took a while for some folks to realize it, since he spent the first chunk of his career hurling for the Toronto Blue Jays. Now he's part of the Philadelphia Phillies, a perennial contender. His personal record book includes eight All-Star Game appearances, two Cy Young awards (given to the best pitcher in his league) and, in 2010, both a perfect game and a no-hitter in the playoffs against the Cincinnati Reds. When he retires, we expect he'll be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

Continue to keep counting down our list of the ten best athletes to be born in Colorado.

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Juan_Leg topcommenter

Why not :

The Top Ten Colorado Celebs You'd Most Likely LOVE To Wake Up Next To .......

Craig_Houston

How could you leave Reggie Jackson off the list? He's doing wonders for the Thunder as a third-string point guard.

Craig_Houston

How could you leave Reggie Jackson off the list? He's doing wonders for the Thunder as a third-string point guard.

crucialbee1

Buddy Werner? Billy Kidd? Lindsay Vonn? Where my skiers at?

Pam Stiffler

Depends on what you consider athletic...

Juan_Leg topcommenter

Roberts, nice job putting a difficult list together .

You did surprisingly miss Anderson,

but otherwise did a damn fine job !

David Kotzebue

Whizzer White, duh. & how about a few skiers?

dgarrettcham

1 Like

No Dick Anderson, Boulder native, All-American at CU, Pro-Bowler for the Miami Dolphins, defensive stalwart of three Super Bowl teams, winner of two?

Most egregiously, no Whizzer White, Fort Collins native, CU AllAmerican, two-time leader of NFL in rushing?

michael.roberts moderator editortopcommenter

@dgarrettchamTwo strong arguments, dgarrettcham. White, in particular, was a huge oversight, since we forgot to include him on a previous list, too -- one featuring famous people to have died in Colorado. Here's that link:

http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2012/05/ten_most_notable_people_to_die_in_colorado_part_2.php

Thanks for the post.

Aly Sotiros

Adeline Gray-Wrestling

Tim Tindle

Tim Tindle, he is a strong pedicab operator, has a nice stereo system on his bike and provides concierge level service. A Colorado athlete indeed!

Laura Grisenti de Luna

Matt Hasselbeck was born in Boulder, Eddie Eagan, Goose Gossage and Dutch Clark were all born in Colorado.

Nathan Jones

How could you not include Eric Willet or Bobby Brown? You're saying these dudes that play baseball are better athletes than them?

tandersonbank

How could you not include Glenn Morris from Simla? He won the Decathlon at the 1936 Olympics and was chosen the 1936 United States athlete of the year.