The Top 25

PRINCETON ALUMNI WEEKLY TOP 25 PRINCETON ATHLETES

For the first time in about two weeks, TigerBlog is positive of what day of the week it is. 

It's Monday. Right? 

Yes, it's Monday. Today brings with it the end of that wonderful stretch of the year where one holiday blends into another, throwing off work weeks and school schedules and rendering it impossible to remember what day it actually is.

Ah, but now it's Monday. For sure. 

It's also January. If you've seen this month's edition of the Princeton Alumni Weekly or looked at it online, then you know that the magazine's big story is a countdown of the 25 greatest athletes in Princeton history. 

Way back in September, TigerBlog was asked to be part of a panel to put the list together. There were five people involved — TB, former Directors of Athletics Gary Walters and Mollie Marcoux Samaan, current Ford Family Director of Athletics John Mack and ESPN investigative reporter Tisha Thompson ’99. 

The original meeting was in the Nassau Inn, when the preliminary list was formed. After that there were many follow up emails that went back and forth as the final top 25 took shape. 

Also, making the process even more challenging was the mandate to list the 25 athletes in order.

TB would have to say that had he been asked to do this list himself, it would have looked a bit different — though he'll keep the changes he would have made to himself. That's what group projects are all about. 

The most obvious challenge is that Princeton has 38 varsity teams, so including all of them in a list of 25 was impossible. Any time one sport had multiple selections, that was to be one more team that wasn't represented. 

In other words, TB and his fellow selectors were entering into something knowing full well that the end product would make some of the audience unhappy. It was part of the assignment. 

The biggest question was whether to consider only what athletes did during the time as Princetonians or to include what they did beyond their time as Tigers, on the international or professional level. The answer was to include their full body of athletic work, Princeton and beyond. 

Also, there were no current athletes who were included.

Princeton Athletics dates back to 1864. There have been thousands and thousands of athletes who have competed here. Additionally, the number of athletes who fit this description — "great athlete. All-American. Ivy Player of the Year. Record holder. Olympian." — is way, way, way more than 25. Or even 100.

How in the world do you compare eras? How do you compare success from sport to sport? How about the fact that men had a more than 100 year head start over women? What about recency bias?

The good news, of course, is that there was no one right answer. And that brings TB to the list.

The first five athletes were pretty easy to choose, if not to order. Bill Bradley. Hobey Baker. Dick Kazmaier. Ashleigh Johnson. Caroline Lind. 

After some discussion, that order went Bradley, Baker, Johnson, Kazmaier, Lind. 

From there, it was a matter of taking about 200 names on a dry erase board and getting rid of 90 percent of them, followed by putting them in order from 6-25. There was legitimate disagreement about who belonged and who would come oh-so-close to inclusion. 

You can see the list (TB linked to it above). You can also read all of the comments underneath those on the list.

Most of those comments are of the "how could you leave off ..." variety. What those comments don't say is whom the poster would take off the list to include someone else, but that's human nature.

TB invites anyone who would like to put together a top 25 to do so and send it to him. The only issue is that you have to start with the same criteria as the committee did, which is to say that you have to include Princeton and beyond Princeton successes.

TB will keep you updated on what, if anything, he gets back.

In the meantime, it was not an easy project to take on, though TB is very glad he did so and was a part of it. He's looking forward to your thoughts.