by Peter Guzik
Special to CVO
Key Takeaways:
- The article ranks top female athletes, highlighting their college backgrounds and accomplishments in various sports.
- The list includes athletes from diverse sports, showing the importance of collegiate systems in developing elite female athletes.
- These athletes have significantly impacted their sports, with numerous records, medals, and pioneering achievements in their respective fields.
This article focuses on the greatest female athletes and their alma maters. At the end of the day, sports, by its nature, declares who is the best. The Yankees beat the Red Sox. The Ravens came back against the Broncos. Worknesh Degefa was the faster runner that day. However, sports can be the source of many great arguments.
Which was the greatest game 7 in the World Series? Who was considered the greatest athlete of the 20th century, Babe Ruth or Muhammed Ali? How can you decide that? Their peaks took place 50 years apart and in different sports!! We will try to end one of the greatest sports arguments of all time: the greatest female athlete!
We have looked at several lists of the “best” female athletes (see the list below) from various eras to get a broad scope of women. There is one thing that bonds all the women on this list: They all attended college.
Some sports, like tennis and gymnastics, require their athletes to dedicate most of their time to practicing and becoming the best at an early age.
By the time they are at or approaching their peaks, they are the age of a typical college student. Other sports, like soccer or softball, have a thriving collegiate system that leads these women to go to college to practice their sports. So many famous women, while amazing and inspiring athletes, won’t be on this list.
And this is the perfect time of year to break down this amazing collection of women. March is International Women’s Month, and March Madness (and April) is the most exciting time in college sports with the NCAA basketball tournaments. So, let’s not waste another second!
METHODOLOGY
We took seven lists of top female athletes and one of the greatest athletes, male and female, of the 20th century. Some of these were rankings, and others were lists. We determined our list by counting how many rankings in which the women appeared.
When there was a tie, we took the lists that gave a ranking and took the average of where the women appeared. We hope you enjoy reading about these incredible women as much as we did!
- Business Insider (2019) – 36 women
- Glamour (2020) – 40 women
- Pledge Popular (2020) – 10 women
- ESPN All-Time (1999) – 100 men and women
- Bleacher (2011) – 50 women
- Sports Illustrated (2000) – 100 women
- CBS (2015) – 24 women
- ESPN (1972-2012) – 40 women
30. Flo (Flora) Hyman – Volleyball
El Camino College
University of Houston
Flora Hyman, known to everyone as Flo, was born and raised in the Los Angeles area. Often called the greatest American female volleyball player, she was always taller than the other kids. She was 6’3” by the time she was twelve and was 6’5” as an adult.
As a child, she had trouble dealing with being significantly taller than everyone but was finally convinced by friends and family to embrace her height.
After graduating from high school, she stayed local for her first year of college at El Camino College, a two-year community college. She later transferred to the University of Houston, where she spent three years studying.
She was the first woman to receive a scholarship at Houston but left school to join the US. National team. They failed to qualify for the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, and in 1980, the U.S. boycotted the Olympics held in Moscow. In 1984, she finally got her chance to reach her Olympic dream. Unfortunately, the team lost in the finals to China, earning the silver medal.
Tragedy Strikes
Afterward, Flo went pro and moved to Japan to play for the Daiei team. In January 1986, she collapsed in the middle of a game against Hitachi and passed away later that evening. Initially, her death was stated to have been caused by a heart attack.
Her family felt that was impossible and had its own autopsy performed upon the arrival of Flo’s body to the States. It was determined that she had been suffering from an undiagnosed case of Marfan Syndrome, a disease that affects the eyes and heart, among other areas of the body.
It was believed that Flo lived longer than most doctors would have predicted. Her brother also suffered from the disease.
Flo was inducted into the Volleyball Hall of Fame in 1988 and was the first woman admitted to the University of Houston’s Hall of Honor a decade later. In 1999, Sports Illustrated listed her as the 69th greatest female athlete of the 20th century.
29. Lynn Hill – Rock Climbing
Fullerton College
Santa Monica College
SUNY New Paltz
Lynn Hill, possibly the greatest rock climber, male or female, was born in Detroit but raised in Fullerton, California. She is a gifted athlete.
At a young age, she got involved in gymnastics, only to quit at the age of 12. She hated the way girls “had to smile and do cutesy little routines on the floor.” She took it up again in high school, but it was never her passion.
Hill was introduced to rock climbing by her sister and her sister’s fiancée. She climbed many places, including Joshua Tree National Park. School was never her thing. She attended local Fullerton College for a year before taking time off. She added weightlifting and running to her resume and was recruited to run track when she started to attend Santa Monica College.
With no training, she quickly placed near the top of state meets, helping the school win the state championship. She later moved to New Paltz, N.Y., where she continued her climbing career and received a degree from SUNY-New Paltz in biology.
Hill’s love of climbing never left her, and she began to climb competitively, winning 30 international competitions between 1986 and 1992. In 1989, a friend suggested she try to free-climb The Nose of El Capitan, located in Yosemite Park.
The Nose is one of the most difficult climbs in the world. The first route was set in 47 days, back in 1958; this accomplishment was referred to as being equal to reaching the moon. Hill was unsuccessful in the first attempt.
Four years later, she returned and became the first person to free-climb the route. It took her four days. The following year, she returned and made the climb in under 24 hours. When she completed the route in 1993, she said the phrase that had been part of her entire life: “It goes, boys!” It certainly does.
28. Alex Morgan – Soccer
Alex Morgan, one of the most celebrated women’s soccer players in history, grew up in Southern California. She didn’t play for any club teams until she was 14 but had been playing sports since she was little.
She was called up to the U.S. under-20 woman’s national team at the age of 17 but tore her ACL, delaying her debut.
Morgan attended UC Berkeley, where she was a star from the beginning, excelling in college sports, and leading the team in scoring in her first year. By the time she graduated with a degree in Political Economy, she helped Cal reach the NCAA Tournament all four years and left school as the third in goals scored and points, even though she missed a lot of time due to her commitments to the U.S. national team.
Post College Career
Morgan’s post-college career has been full of great successes. She was the first overall pick in the WPS by the Western New York Flash. The team won the regular season and WPS championship that year. She went on to play in the MLS for the Seattle Sounders Women, Portland Thorns, and Orlando Pride.
Morgan played in Europe, first for Lyon and later for Tottenham, and also played for the U.S. team in the World Cup in 2011 (finishing second), 2015, and 2019 (winning both). She also played on the team in the 2012 and 2016 Olympic teams, winning the gold medal in the former.
In 2019, she led the fight for the USNWT to get equality compared to the men’s team. The lawsuit was filed on March 8th of the year, International Women’s Day, with her name listed first in the lawsuit. In December 2020, part of the lawsuit was settled. However, as of the writing of this article, the issue of equal pay is still undecided.
27. Cammi Granato – Hockey
Providence College
Concordia University
A pioneer in women’s hockey, Catherine “Cammi” Granato was born into a hockey family. One of six children, she is the younger sister of former NHL player Tony Granato and current interim head coach of the Buffalo Sabres, Don Granato.
Her parents tried to get her interested in figure skating at a young age, but the allure of hockey had its grip on her by the age of five, playing on boys’ teams until she was 16. Additionally, she played on a boys’ baseball team and was on the girls’ soccer and basketball teams while in high school.
Granato earned a hockey scholarship to Providence College, earning Player of the Year awards on the team and in the Eastern College Athletic Conference. While attending college, she was also on the U.S. Women’s National Team.
After using up her NCAA eligibility, she attended Concordia University in Montreal and earned her Master’s in Sports Administration. Again, she was a star of the team, leading Concordia to three consecutive provincial championships. She continued to play for the U.S. national team until 2005, including leading the 1998 gold medal-winning team as its captain and winning the silver medal in 2002.
In 2006, the controversial decision not to include her on the team led to many people being upset with the decision. This was especially disappointing to fans when the team lost in the semifinals to Sweden, eventually earning the bronze medal.
Granato has continued to be a leader for women’s role in hockey since she finished her playing days. In 2010, she was the first woman elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame, and in 2019, she was the first woman hired by an NHL team to be a scout.
Along with being born into a family of hockey, she has married into one as well. Her husband, Ray Ferraro, and her stepson played in the NHL.
26. Lisa Fernandez – Softball
Lisa Fernandez is considered by many to be the greatest female softball player in U.S. history. Based on the tremendous success of the U.S. in most international competitions, that would most likely make her the greatest of all time.
She was born and raised in Southern California, following religiously the MLB teams of the area, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the California Angels. The sport was the favorite of most of her family, leading her to start playing at the age of eight. By the time she graduated from high school, her team had already won a championship, and she was off to UCLA to play for the Bruins.
There she earned a degree in psychology and four national championship finals appearances, two resulting in winning the final game.
While in college, Fernandez was already playing for the national team and winning gold medals at international competitions. This continued as she played for the Olympic team, earning gold medals in Atlanta (1996), Sydney (2000), and Athens (2004).
In Athens, she set Olympic records by striking out 25 batters in a single game and setting the high mark for the best batting average for a single tournament (.545). The natural way for her to share her knowledge and understanding of the sport was to coach. Her former coach, Sue Enquist, said, “She had a coach’s curiosity even as a freshman.
She could feel the momentum shift; she could pick up on an opponent’s signals or pitches.” This curiosity has led to her being part of the coaching staff for the UCLA Bruins softball team for 23 years.
25. Nancy Lieberman – Basketball
Nancy Lieberman, born in Brooklyn, NY, and raised in Rockaway Beach, is a pioneer in women’s basketball. She grew up playing many sports and found her passion and true calling in basketball.
While still in high school, she was named to the U.S. National team that went on to win many medals in international competitions, including the silver at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. She went on to play for four years and earned a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies at Old Dominion University, which still holds many season and single-game records.
Known for great defense and precision passing, she earned the nickname “Lady Magic” in homage to Earvin “Magic” Johnson, the all-time great LA Laker. She received the Wade Trophy award twice, given to the top upper-class woman player.
Lieberman continued to do things no one had done before. She became the first woman to play in the men’s professional league and be offered a tryout by the NBA. In 2009, she became the coach of the Texas Legends in the NBA Development League.
Six years later, she became an assistant coach for the Sacramento Kings, only the second woman to do so in NBA history. There, she was welcomed with open arms by the players. She said the players wanted “to know how they can get better, and they wanna know my perspective- on life and basketball.”
She was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame and is currently a broadcaster for the New Orleans Pelicans.
24. Mary T. Meagher – Swimming
Mary T. Meagher, born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, where the Aquatic Center is named after her, has been a star in the world of swimming since she was a girl.
Meager, or “Madame Butterfly,” set her first world record at age 14, before she had even started high school! She was supposed to go to the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, but the entire team was unable to compete as the United States boycotted the games.
In 1981, Meagher set the world record in the women’s 200-meter butterfly. Her record would stand for nearly 20 years. At one point, she held the top ELEVEN times in world history.
She decided to further her swimming career at the University of California, Berkeley, winning many awards, including the Honda Broderick Cup in 1987, given to the nation’s top female collegiate athlete. She graduated that year with a B.A. in social sciences.
Eventually, Meagher became a decorated Olympic athlete, winning a total of five medals, including three gold medals at the 1984 Games held in Los Angeles. Yet, she was never a bragger. In fact, her sister,
Anne, said, “I’ll bet that I’ve told more people that Mary T is my sister than she’s told people she swims!” Well, if you can walk the walk, you don’t need to talk the talk.
23. Diana Taurasi – Basketball
Diana Taurasi is one of those athletes it is impossible to write a summary of their career. She has so many highlights and accolades that it is impossible to mention them all.
If you print out a copy of her WNBA page that lists her awards, scoring records, and season highlights, you will find a document that is thirty-two pages long. That is not a misprint. Thirty-two pages!
Taurasi, nicknamed White Mamba by Kobe Bryant, grew up in California. Sports were a part of her blood, her father having played professional soccer in Italy. She decided to go to college across the country at the University of Connecticut, graduating with a degree in sociology.
She won multiple Player of the Year awards as she led her team to three consecutive NCAA championships. After she was drafted #1 by the Phoenix Mercury in 2004, she led them to three WNBA championships, was named Finals MVP twice, and league MVP in 2009.
She is one of five athletes in history to win four Olympic gold medals in basketball and is the all-time leading scorer in the WNBA. Taurasi continues to play basketball at an incredible level. She has played 16 seasons and just re-signed for two more years.
22. Janet Evans – Swimming
Stanford
University of Texas-Austin
University Southern California
Janet Evans, considered by many to be the greatest American freestyling, long-distance swimmer ever, first got in the pool at the age of two. By the time she was 15, she had already set world records for the 400-meter, 800-meter, and 1,500-meter freestyle distances.
She made her first Olympic appearance the following year, 1988, in Seoul. There, she beat her own record by setting a new time that would not be beaten for nearly two decades and won three gold medals.
In 1989, she began studying at Stanford University. Two years later, the NCAA put limitations on how long student-athletes could practice. Because of her goals and long practice schedules, she renounced her scholarship and left Stanford. She briefly attended the University of Texas, Austin, finally finishing her communications degree at the University of Southern California.
In 1992, she went to Barcelona and earned one gold and one silver medal. She continued her dominance over the sport, winning the 400 and 800-meter freestyle events at the U.S. National Championships twelve times…each! In 1996, at the Atlanta Olympics Games, she was not able to keep up with her historic levels and failed to win any medals.
However, her moment at that Olympics was not without highlights. Evans was one of the people who was given the honor of carrying the Olympic torch during the ceremonies. She was the next to last to hold it, handing it off to Muhammad Ali, who lit the cauldron. She attempted to come back for the 2012 games in London but failed to make the team.
21. Abby Wambach – Soccer
