These American Sports Figures Are Still Living

They say exercise will do wonders for your health and it appears to be that way for many sports figures that are still alive into their late eighties and even their nineties. Several of them were absolute legends, such as Stan Musial and Bob Feller, Sammy Baugh and Esther Williams. Some made their living as announcers, such as Jim McKay and Ernie Harwell, while others of these still living sports figures were coaches or managers, becoming famous for what their teams did. Here are some of the oldest living people from the world of American sports.

John Wooden owns a record that will never be eclipsed, as he led the UCLA Bruins to ten national titles in men's college basketball, seven in a row from 1967 through 1973. Wooden was born in 1910, making him 97 this October 14th, and he was the first person to go into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a player and a coach. Wooden coached Hall of Famers such as Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton, and he possesses a lifetime standard of 885 victories against 203 defeats. Wooden is known for his quiet manner and for quotes like "Be quick, but don't hurry" and "When everyone is thinking the same, no one is thinking."

"Slingin" Sammy Baugh was born on St. Patrick's Day in 1914 in Temple, Texas and went on to become one of the greatest stars of early professional football. Baugh was the best quarterback and punter of his day, and also holds a piece of the record for most interceptions in a game with four, as he also played defensive back. Baugh was drafted in the first round of the NFL draft, in 1937! The last living charter member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Sammy played sixteen seasons for the Redskins and set a plethora of records.

Ernie Harwell called Detroit Tigers games for 42 seasons, and Major League Baseball for 55 years. Harwell, now 89 years old, didn't retire until 2002, and he is known for such phrases as "He stood there like the house by the side of the road and watched it go by."and "He took his cut, and now he takes his seat." Harwell was born in Georgia during World War I and never lost his southern charm. Another well-known sports voice,Jim McKay, just turned 87, the former host of ABC's Wide World of Sports. He has announced at the Kentucky Derby, British Open of Golf, and the Indy 500, but is most famous for his Olympic coverage, including the 1972 games in Munich when he presided over the Israeli hostage crisis that went terribly wrong; as McKay would later say after the men were murdered, "They're all gone."

There are a few baseball players that have lived long lives, including the Red Sox second baseman and Hall of Famer Bobby Doerr, who is 89. Doerr played with the likes of Ted Williams and was a lifetime .288 batter with a half dozen one hundred RBI campaigns. Bob Feller was a contemporary of Doerr's, one of the fastest pitchers ever and a player for the Cleveland Indians from 1936 at the age of 17 until 1956. Feller went 266-162 and would have had even more wins in his Hall of Fame career except that he joined the Army when World War II began and lost almost four full seasons to the service. While Feller is now 88, so is Monte Irvin, a great Negro Leagues star who didn't get his shot in the majors until he was thirty years old, with the Giants. Irvin would have been quite familiar during those times with Cardinal outfielder Stan Musial, who is 86 years old and, like Irvin, another Cooperstown honoree. Musial hit .331 for his career, won seven batting crowns in the senior circuit, three MVP Awards, and wound up with over 3,600 base hits, the greatest St' Louis batter of them all. Ralph Houk is another sports figure still with us, as the former Yankee skipper who guided them to titles in 1961 and 1962 is 88 years old.

Jake LaMotta, the "Raging Bull" that Robert DeNiro portrayed in the 1980 boxing movie, turned 86 in July, while Muhammad Ali's trainer, Angelo Dundee, hasn't thrown in the towel yet; he is 86 as well. Former American League president Lee McPhail is 89, while baseball labor union stalwart Marvin Miller, who every player should say a prayer to before opening their paychecks, is 90. And Esther Williams, the greatest female swimmer of her day who later made movies, is alive and well at the ripe old age of 86.