After asking one involving college sports, I want to know if there has been an athlete who was known for excelling in different sports ever won a championship in separate sports?
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1Division I only or are you also interested in Division II / III?– Philip Kendall ♦Dec 14, 2016 at 12:27
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1Well, generally Division I, but Division II and III is fine as well. I should have probably specified Division I, but any would be fine since it has been brought up.– D.k. WhiteDec 14, 2016 at 12:53
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I assume from the way your question is phrased that "different sports" means actual different activities, and an athlete who wins cross-country and track wouldn't answer this. Likewise different disciplines on the track (sprints/hurdles) aren't what you're looking for either?– pjmorseJun 10, 2019 at 18:01
4 Answers
Jim Thorpe won championships in football and ballroom dancing, an interesting combination. Surprisingly, he does not appear to have any victories in track, perhaps because there was no collegiate pentathlon or heptathlon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Thorpe#College_career
[Thorpe] also competed in football, baseball, lacrosse and even ballroom dancing, winning the 1912 intercollegiate ballroom dancing championship.
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In 1912 Carlisle won the national collegiate championship largely as a result of [Thorpe's] efforts – he scored 25 touchdowns and 198 points during the season, according to CNN's Greg Botelho.
Bob Rule of Cornell University was a goalie on the NCCA champion ice hockey team as well as a goalie on the championship lacrosse team
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Not getting the downvotes here. I've found confirmation (apart from the Cornell website linked to in the answer) that Mr. Rule was on both those teams and that they won their championships. Jun 9, 2019 at 19:23
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@GreenMatt I agree. I wonder if the issue is the specifics of "won a championship"? The Cornell site seems to imply that Mr. Rule, while on the two championship teams, did not play in the lacrosse championship (having been injured in the last game of the season) and it's not implied that he played in the hockey championship either. Seems like this comes back to a need for more specificity in the question.– pjmorseJun 10, 2019 at 17:59
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@pjmorse: Possibly, although an injured player - especially one who made significant contributions to the team's season (and starting goalie certainly qualifies, IMO) - is usually considered part of a championship team, even if their injury prevents participation is the championship game/match/series. I wonder if "excelling" is part of the issue, since the selected answer mentions one of the most celebrated athletes of all time, while Bob Rule is unknown. Jun 10, 2019 at 21:04
Anthony Munoz won College National Championships at USC in 1978 for football and baseball.
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2Welcome to Sports Stack Exchange. Can you add a reference that verifies this answer?– Nij ♦Jan 24 at 20:19