Photos: Ten best athletes to be born in Colorado

Number 4: Earl Harry "Dutch" Clark

Earl Harry "Dutch" Clark.

If you're not old enough to remember football players wearing leather helmets, then you never saw Dutch Clark compete; his heyday was the 1930s and 1940s. But the most famous person to be born in Fowler, Colorado, was so multifaceted a player -- his positions included quarterback, fullback and punter -- at Colorado College and, later, pro teams such as the Detroit Lions, that; he was a charter member of both the College Football Hall of Fame (1951) and the NFL Hall of Fame (1963), where he was inducted alongside legends such as Jim Thorpe and Curly Lambeau. He died in 1978, but his presence lives on in Pueblo, where he played high school ball. The city boasts Dutch Clark Stadium, and includes a statue of its namesake.

Number 3: Chauncey Billups

Chauncey Billups.

Okay, maybe we're a little biased ranking Denver-born Chauncey so high, since he's one of our favorites. But not only is he an incredibly skilled basketball player, as he proved as a CU Buff and, later, for NBA teams such as the Detroit Pistons (where he won a championship and was finals MVP) and our own Denver Nuggets, but he's the epitome of a modern-sports role model. He's currently a member of the Los Angeles Clippers, a team we don't wish well on most occasions -- but if the Clip Show goes deep in the playoffs this year, we'll be rooting for Mr. Big Shot. And when he finally decides to call it career, wouldn't he make a great Nuggets coach or general manager? You can go home again.

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