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Quiz: Two-Sport Athletes

By Lance Tominaga, ESPN Honolulu Web Editor.

It’s hard enough to excel in one sport, but some athletes have found success in two different competitive endeavors – or even three or more. Here’s a short Pop Quiz that celebrates some of the most notable multiple-sport athletes of our time:

QUESTIONS:

  1. Renaldo Nehemiah was a world-class track star who once held the world record in the 110m hurdles. In the early 1980s, he gave up track to play three seasons as an NFL wide receiver. Which team did he play for?
  2. Name the Hall of Fame athlete who was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings of the NFL, Atlanta Hawks of the NBA and San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball.
  3. In 1996, this world champion boxer played in a professional basketball game during the day, then defended his world title at night.
  4. This athlete played three seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays before joining the NBA and winning two championship rings as a member of the Boston Celtics.
  5. American track legend Jackie Joyner-Kersee won gold medals in two different track events at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul. One event was the long jump. What was the other?
  6. What NFL team originally drafted Bo Jackson, who is perhaps the most famous two-way athlete in sports history?
  7. This is a tough one: What NBA legend and Basketball Hall of Famer once pitched a complete-game shutout for the Chicago White Sox?
  8. Who is the only person to play in both the Super Bowl and World Series?
  9. Name the American legendary athlete who won two track and field gold medals at the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles before turning to golf and winning 10 LPGA major championships.
  10. Who is the only Heisman Trophy winner to play in the NBA?

ANSWERS:

  1. “Skeets” played three seasons for the San Francisco 49ers. His career totals: 43 receptions, 754 receiving yards and 4 TDs.
  2. Baseball Hall of Fame outfielder Dave Winfield was drafted by all three major professional sports leagues. He chose to sign with the Padres, who drafted him with the draft’s fourth overall pick…as a pitcher.
  3. On Saturday, June 15, 1996, Roy Jones, Jr. scored five points to help the Jacksonville Barracudas beat the Treasure Coast Tropics in a USBL game. (At the time, the USBL was considered a developmental league for aspiring NBA players. After a few hours of rest, the world super-middleweight champion scored an 11th-round TKO over challenger Eric Lucas.
  4. Danny Ainge batted .220 for Toronto, collecting 146 hits, 37 RBIs and two HRs in 211 games. After retiring as an NBA player, Ainge added a third championship ring as the Celtics’ President of Basketball Operations during their 2008 title season.
  5. Joyner-Kersee also earned gold by capturing the heptathlon with a still-standing world record score of 7,291 points.
  6. The Tampa Buccaneers drafted Jackson with the first overall pick in the 1986 NFL Draft. Jackson never played for the Bucs, however. Jackson later became the first (and, to date, only) athlete to be selected to the MLB All-Star Game and NFL Pro Bowl.
  7. On Aug. 14, 1963, 6’6” pitcher Dave Debusschere tossed a complete game shutout, helping the White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 3-0. He would later become an 8x NBA All-Star and win two championship rings with the New York Knicks.
  8. ”Prime Time” Deion Sanders was a member of two Super Bowl championship teams (Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers) and played in the 1992 World Series as a member of the Atlanta Braves.
  9. Mildred Ella Didrikson Zaharias, aka “Babe,” captured gold in both the 80m hurdles and javelin throw at the 1932 Olympics. Three years later, she took up golf and went on to win 10 LPGA major tournaments.
  10. Quarterback Charlie Ward won the 1993 Heisman Trophy, then led Florida State to the school’s first-ever national championship by beating Nebraska in the Orange Bowl. Ward later forsook the NFL to play in the NBA. He played 12 seasons in the league, 10 with the New York Knicks. The hustling point guard helped the Knicks reach the 1999 NBA Finals.

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