The 50 most hyped rookies in sports history

A Sports Illustrated cover story dubbing him the "Chosen One" — when he was a high school junior. Televised games on ESPN. High school games moved to the University of Akron's gym. Constant coverage of his every move from age 16 onward. James was, simply put, the most hyped rookie in NBA history. There were no naysayers — just awestruck fans, young and old alike. James was marked for superstardom by virtually everyone who watched him play even once. When the Cavaliers won the lottery and drafted the hometown hero, it changed the franchise forever. Did he live up to the hype? Many feel he is the greatest basketball player in history. Case closed.

Woods’ level of fame is on par with that of Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali and LeBron James, but only James dealt with the kind of hype that Woods received. Woods was a prodigy, appearing on "The Mike Douglas Show" in a putting competition against Bob Hope when he was just 3 years old. He was featured in Golf Digest, as well as on ABC’s “That’s Incredible.” Woods piled up titles in his junior career, and in 1994 he became the youngest-ever winner of the U.S. Amateur. He turned pro in 1996, after a decorated career at Stanford, and immediately signed with Nike and Titleist. By the time he won the Masters in 1997, Woods had a case as the most visible and famous athlete on the planet. The overall popularity of golf skyrocketed because of him and ebbed when he stepped away from the game after his marital infidelities were brought to light. Even as he is in his 40s and no longer the best player in the sport, he still draws, by far, the largest crowds at every tournament he enters and is the overwhelming focus of media coverage.

Mandarich was supposed to represent the evolution of the offensive lineman. Sports Illustrated dubbed him “The Incredible Bulk,” when it placed him on the cover in the run-up to the 1989 NFL Draft. The magazine also described him as the best offensive line prospect ever. Mandarich certainly looked the part, as he stood 6-foot-6 and weighed 315 pounds. Those numbers are pedestrian today, but 30 years ago that kind of size, coupled with Mandarich’s freakish athletic ability, was unheard of just about anywhere. The Michigan State standout went second overall to the Green Bay Packers but never lived up to his potential. There was a holdout his rookie year, some tone-deaf quotes about his place in the league and a generally underwhelming performance. Mandarich, in fact, was the only player in the top five picks of his draft class to not make the Hall of Fame. How did Sports Illustrated follow up the “Incredible Bulk” cover? By putting Mandarich on the front of the magazine again in 1992— this time with the label, “The NFL’s Incredible Bust.”

Abdul-Jabbar, then Lew Alcindor, was not allowed to play varsity basketball his first year at UCLA because of the "freshman rule," but he led UCLA's freshman team to a 75-60 win over the varsity. That win caused some to say that the varsity team was No. 1 in the nation and No. 2 on campus. He was 88-2 during his time on UCLA's varsity team, and the Bucks won the right to select him with the first pick of the 1969 NBA Draft. Abdul-Jabbar was so coveted that he also was selected first in the 1969 ABA Draft by the New York Nets, which set off a bidding war. He ended up choosing to play in Milwaukee and led the Bucks to a 29-game improvement in his rookie year. Abdul-Jabbar went on to win six NBA titles and six MVP Awards, and he retired as the league's all-time leading scorer.

Bird was inextricably linked with Magic Johnson after their 1979 NCAA championship game showdown, a matchup that drew the best-ever television ratings for a college basketball game. Interestingly enough, he had already been drafted by the Celtics the year prior but had chosen to play his final season for Indiana State. His success in that final season caused a contentious negotiation with Boston, as Bird would have been able to re-enter the 1979 draft if he couldn’t come to an agreement with the team by the time the draft started. He ended up inking a five-year, $3.25 million contract, which made him the highest-paid rookie in NBA history. The whole saga resulted in the creation of the Bird Collegiate Rule, which rectified the issue of players being drafted before they were ready to sign. After all that hype, Bird won the 1980 NBA Rookie of the Year Award and won three titles during an injury-shortened career that still saw him retire as one of the game’s all-time greats.

How hyped was Lindros, the most anticipated prospect since Mario Lemieux? He had an endorsement deal with Score, a trading card company, while he was still in junior hockey. That was a full year before he was draft-eligible. When he was drafted, by the Quebec Nordiques, things quickly spiraled out of control, with Lindros refusing to play for Quebec because of ill feelings toward team president Marcel Aubut. This necessitated a trade, and even that was a spectacle, with the Nordiques trading him twice: once to the Flyers and once to the Rangers. An arbitrator had to settle where Lindros would go. He of course ended up in Philly as part of a blockbuster deal, one that had tentacles extending 25 years into the future. Lindros was a force on the “Legion of Doom” line, but he never won a Cup in Philly and was never the same after a series of big hits later in his career. He retired after 13 years in the league and made it to the Hall of Fame but never really lived up to the over-the-top hype that preceded him.

Johnson’s NCAA championship win over Larry Bird and Indiana State cemented his collegiate superstardom and propelled him to be the top pick in the 1979 draft. He possessed a unique combination of size and skill for the point guard position, and when paired with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, turned the Lakers into a nearly unstoppable force. The league had not seen a player like Johnson, and his ready-made rivalry with Bird was talked about as being the NBA’s salvation before either man ever played a game. They both lived up to the hype, as the Celtics-Lakers rivalry carried the league through the 1980s before passing the torch to Michael Jordan at the beginning of the 1990s. Given the NBA’s dire reputation at the time of Johnson (and Bird’s) arrival, it’s not a stretch to say that the two might have saved the league from possibly going under.

Moss' turbulent college career saw him bounce from Notre Dame to Florida State to Marshall, all without ever playing a down for the Fighting Irish and Seminoles. He was dominant for the Thundering Herd, however, putting up video-game numbers in his two seasons in Huntington. Marshall moved up to Division I-A in Moss' second and final season, and he tallied 96 catches for 1,820 yards and 26 touchdowns. Concerns about his character caused him to drop all the way to the 21st pick in the draft, where the Vikings were more than happy to scoop him up. The 1998 NFL Draft was rife with intrigue, much of it surrounding Peyton Manning and Ryan Leaf, but after those two, Moss was the most talked-about pick and he lived up to the hype in a big way, leading the league with 17 touchdown catches on his way to winning 1998 Offensive Rookie of the Year honors, the first huge season of many in what would become a Hall of Fame career.

Taylor, taken No. 1 overall by the Yankees in 1991, was thought by many scouts to be the best high school arm ever. On signing with New York, for $1.55 million, he was named the No. 1 prospect in the sport — before he had ever thrown a pitch as a pro. He progressed through his first two seasons in the minors quickly and appeared to be on the fast track to the big leagues, not to mention stardom. Then he got into a bar fight in December of 1993 and was never the same pitcher again or even particularly close to what he had shown. His career was functionally over, and the player who was supposed to be a star in the Big Apple morphed into a cautionary tale about how easily it can all disappear, even for the most talented prospects. Taylor, for the record, never even pitched in Triple-A.

“Pistol Pete” was a freakishly prolific scorer during his time at LSU. Despite having to wait until his sophomore year to play varsity because of the NCAA’s “freshman rule,” not having the benefit of a three-point line and playing before the institution of the shot clock, Maravich scored an almost unfathomable 3,667 points in three varsity seasons, which averaged out to 44.2 points per game. Both of those numbers remain NCAA Division I records to this day and are only two of many that Maravich owns. Renowned not only for his pure scoring ability but also his showmanship, Maravich was the third pick in the 1970 NBA Draft. Though his NBA career was not as statistically spectacular, he was still inducted into the Hall of Fame after averaging 24.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game.

It would be accurate to call Harper the LeBron James of baseball. Sports Illustrated did exactly that when the publication put him on its cover at age 16, with the title “Baseball’s Chosen One” plastered next to him. The sub-headline didn’t mince words, stating, “Bryce Harper is the most exciting prodigy since LeBron.” The story told of Harper’s freakish all-around exploits, from the 570-foot home runs, to the high-90s fastballs, with detailed visual aids describing the former. It all seemed a little over the top, like tall tales about Babe Ruth or Mickey Mantle hitting 600-plus foot home runs — things that were always better in the mind’s eye than in real life. Washington made the first pick in the 2010 draft, and after a quick rise through the Nationals’ system, he debuted in 2012, a full 140 days away from his 20 ^th birthday. He slugged 22 home runs and won Rookie of the Year honors as well as the 2015 NL MVP, but in some ways he still hasn’t lived up to the hype attached to him.

“Bo knows.” That was the tag line from the famous ad campaign featuring Jackson, who at the time had become the first athlete to play baseball and football in the same year. Jackson was a Heisman Trophy winner at Auburn, so there was plenty of hype around him. It reached a fever pitch once the Tampa Bay Buccaneers took him first overall in 1986 — and he refused to sign. Jackson instead signed with the Kansas City Royals, who picked him in the fourth round, and made it to the majors in short order. The Raiders ended up drafting him in the seventh round the following year once Tampa Bay’s rights had expired, and they let him play baseball through the end of the season, only starting football afterward. That may well have worked swimmingly for several years, but a hip injury suffered in a 1991 playoff game against Cincinnati ended his Raiders career and hindered his baseball career to the point that it ended a few years later. In his brief prime, Jackson was as well-known as any athlete in the country, and his athletic feats were unique, spectacular and breathtaking.

Elway was coveted by MLB and the NFL, and the Yankees in particular were enamored with him, picking him in the second round of the 1981 MLB Draft despite Elway still being at Stanford. One New York scout felt that “the sky was the limit” for Elway, had he stuck with baseball. Elway was picked first overall in the 1983 NFL Draft by the Baltimore Colts, but refused to play for them, revealing that his previous statements to that effect were not a bluff. This necessitated a trade, and the Broncos stepped up, landing Elway in Denver. Though his career got off to something of a slow start, Elway authored “The Drive” to beat the Cleveland Browns in the 1986 AFC championship game and made it to five Super Bowls, finally breaking an 0-3 drought by winning back-to-back titles in his final two seasons. Elway, despite career numbers that wouldn’t elicit a second look in the modern era, is regarded by some as the greatest quarterback ever, and by most others as, at worst, one of the handful of best to have ever played the position.

Lemieux was the crown jewel of the 1984 NHL Draft, and the Pittsburgh Penguins tanked in spectacular fashion to ensure he would be theirs. Hard to blame them for wanting a guy who scored 133 goals and 282 points in his final season in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Lemieux was widely viewed as the best young prospect since Wayne Gretzky a few years prior, and he delivered on that promise, dominating the 1980s and early 1990s along with Gretzky. In fact, Lemieux had surpassed the man whose number he had inverted by the time 1991 rolled around. Lemieux was so coveted that there were concerns about whether or not the Penguins had been unsportsmanlike in their pursuit of the league’s worst record. As for whether or not “Le Magnifique” lived up to the hype, consider this: Not only did he save the 1980s Penguins on the ice and eventually lead them to two championships, but he also saved the team from relocation by buying them and leading a hard-won deal for a new arena in Pittsburgh.

Eli Manning had a lot to live up to by the time he entered the league in the 2004. His older brother Peyton had been the more accomplished college player and had already established himself as one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks. Manning was the presumptive No. 1 pick, but there was a problem: The Chargers held the pick, and Manning didn’t want to play for San Diego. He informed the team of his wishes, but it drafted him anyway and then traded him to the Giants for Philip Rivers, whom New York had taken with the fourth-overall selection, as well as draft picks that became Shawne Merriman and Nate Kaeding. The famous last name and the draft day trade only served to magnify the hype surrounding Manning, and his playing in the country’s largest media market magnified things even further. Though he was never as good in the pros as his older brother, he did carve out a reputation as a big-game player, highlighted by two stunning Super Bowl wins over the New England Patriots, including one that kept them from posting a perfect 19-0 season.

Duncan was the rare big-time prospect who stayed in college all four seasons despite the fact that he could have come out early and likely gone No. 1 overall anyway. He averaged a double-double his final three seasons at Wake Forest and almost pulled off the feat all four years. Duncan was the kind of talent guaranteed to change a franchise's fortunes, and because he didn't come out a year early, the Spurs, normally a contender, had a chance at him because of an injury-riddled season. Pairing him with David Robinson led to the franchise's first title in 1999 and kicked off a dominant run that saw the Spurs pile up five titles during Duncan's career, one that ended with him considered by some to be both a top 10 player and the best power forward of all time.

Soccer’s popularity in the United States has been building for some time, but when it was still percolating in the early 2000s, Adu garnered boatloads of hype. He was billed as the first great American soccer star, having come to the U.S. at age 8 after his mother was selected for the Diversity Immigrant Visa program. Adu was chosen by the D.C. United in the 2004 MLS Draft at age 14. MLS set up the situation so that Adu would be able to play close to his Maryland home. He was the highest-paid and most visible player in MLS history before he ever played a game, but his was a case where the hype, which had him pegged as the future of American soccer, the best American player ever, outstripped what Adu was actually capable of. His prodigious talents and performance as a preteen were the apex of his career, and while he has bounced around to various professional teams, he has never become more than a soccer journeyman.

Tiger Woods’ success had golf looking for the next precocious young player, and observers thought they might have found it in the form of Ty Tryon, who turned professional at age 16 in 2001. The move was controversial, because even the most successful pros typically played college golf or on the mini-tours before taking on the PGA Tour. Tryon received plenty of hype, particularly after making the cut at the Honda Classic as an amateur, and when he decided to go pro he managed to survive qualifying school and make it onto the Tour full time. Things went south shortly thereafter, as he struggled to keep his Tour card, and he never finished better than 10^th in any tournament. Tryon ended up on mini-tours, and while he did notch one win on the Hooters Tour and qualified for the 2010 U.S. Open, a career that had people thinking of him as the next big thing in golf ended up fizzling out.

Heavyweight boxing had its heyday in the 1960s and 1970s, but as the careers of Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali, George Foreman and Larry Holmes were winding down, there was a void at the top. Enter Mike Tyson. Even in the pre-internet days, word of Tyson’s spectacular, often vicious knockouts traveled fast. Tyson won 26 of his first 28 fights by KO or TKO, and subsequently got the Sports Illustrated cover treatment when he was 19, with the blurb, “The next great heavyweight — and he’s only 19,” which was equal part hype and hope. Tyson would go on to be a regular cover subject for SI, and as he demolished every challenger with ease, the hype grew to epic proportions. At his peak, Tyson was one of the most famous athletes on the planet, and there was an aura of invincibility around him like few have ever possessed.

Strasburg rose from a borderline prospect out of high school, one not even drafted after his senior year, to become the No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 MLB Draft. He possessed an electric fastball and wipeout breaking pitches, and after he officially signed with the Nationals, his minor league games became major events. His Double-A debut featured 70 credentialed media members, and portions of the game were carried by ESPNews. Strasburg’s home debut for the Harrisburg Senators set an attendance record, and he had the same impact once he moved up to Triple-A. His home debut for the Syracuse Chiefs drew 13,766 fans, which was the most attended baseball game in the city’s history. When the big leagues came calling, the hype continued apace. Sportswriter Joe Posnanski called Strasburg’s MLB debut “the most hyped pitching debut the game has ever seen.” In that game, at least, Strasburg lived up to the hype, setting a team record with 14 strikeouts and no walks in seven innings.

If Venus brought the Williams sisters to national prominence and got the hype train rolling, Serena had it moving at breakneck speed and forged the kind of career that more than lived up to the advance billing. Serena turned professional at 14, and while the public was aware of her because of her sister’s rapid rise to prominence, she would prove to be the decisively better of the two players. Serena is viewed by many as the greatest tennis player and athlete, male or female, in history. Her 23 Grand Slam Singles titles are the most in the Open Era, and she has 14 Grand Slam Doubles titles, all won with Venus. Serena, along with Venus, is regarded as having helped usher in a more power-based, athletic style of tennis on the women’s tour.

Before Garnett, the last high school players to go straight to the NBA were Darryl Dawkins and Bill Willoughby, neither of whom had a particularly great career — though Dawkins made a name for himself with his thunderous dunks. Garnett’s decision to forgo college was controversial, as it had been 20 years since Dawkins and Willoughby. He was the subject of constant scrutiny and had plenty of doubters, but the Minnesota Timberwolves nonetheless picked him fifth overall. Garnett, like so many other hyped athletes, also received a Sports Illustrated cover story before he was drafted and was the subject of several more after he had established himself as a star in the NBA. His jump from preps to pros inspired a wave of players to do the same, with some having Hall of Fame careers, like Tracy McGrady and Kobe Bryant — when the latter is eligible — and others never getting drafted at all and seeing their careers end before they began.

Imagine you’re a young hockey prospect, and none other than Wayne Gretzky says that you’ll be the one to break his records. Heady stuff, isn’t it? That’s what Sidney Crosby had to deal with in terms of hype — that, and cameras and interview crews following his every move from adolescence right up until the Pittsburgh Penguins made him the first pick in the 2005 NHL Draft. Crosby faced daunting pressure right off the bat, as he was viewed as a savior on and off the ice in Pittsburgh and also the standard-bearer for the post-lockout NHL. Crosby handled the weight of expectations with aplomb, tallying 222 points in his first two seasons and topping the century mark in four of his first five. Despite dealing with some concussion issues right when he appeared to be entering the prime of his career, he still has three Stanley Cups, two Conn Smythes and a host of other awards. He’ll be 32 next season, but with 1,216 points already, it stands to reason that he could flirt with 2,000 for his career if he stays healthy and decides he wants to play for a long time. He is the most accomplished player of his era and will go down as a likely top-five player of all time, and possibly top three. Hype: justified.

The NBA had long coveted an expanded presence in China, viewing it as the league’s biggest untapped growth market. That meant that Yao Ming was the perfect prospect at the perfect time. How hyped was he? Well, consider the fact that the Chinese Basketball Association wouldn’t even release him to play in the NBA unless it had a guarantee that the Houston Rockets would take him with the first pick in the draft. Yao’s play for the Rockets sparked tremendous interest in the sport in China, and the NBA took advantage, making All-Star ballots available in English, Spanish and Chinese. That resulted in Yao being voted in as a starter over Shaquille O’Neal. Observers seemed split as to whether or not he would succeed in the league, but despite injury woes he ended his career having averaged 19 points, 9.2 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game.

There is something inherently interesting about high school players jumping straight to the NBA, or at least there was, when the practice was still allowed. Bryant, who starred for Lower Merion High School outside of Philadelphia, was a household name before he ever played a second in the NBA. Part of that might have been his skills on the court, and part of it might have been the fact that he took R&B star Brandy to his senior prom. The story made national headlines and served to further magnify the hype surrounding Bryant, who would go on to be drafted by the Charlotte Hornets with the 13 ^th pick of the 1996 NBA Draft. He would of course be traded to the Lakers, where it’s safe to say he carved out a pretty solid career for himself.

The 1998 Heisman Trophy winner with Texas, Williams was seen as a can’t-miss NFL prospect. Mike Ditka, then coach of the Saints, apparently thought of him in even more reverential terms, as he traded New Orleans’ entire stockpile of draft picks to Washington to move up to the fifth spot in the draft and get Williams. Ditka also traded the Saints’ first and third-round picks the following season. After the draft, Williams and Ditka appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated as bride and groom, with the caption “For Better or Worse” accompanying them. It was mostly worse, as injuries limited Williams in his rookie season, and Ditka was fired after said season and never coached again. Most experts consider the trade as being one of the worst, if not the worst, trades in league history.

The NHL endured a lockout that wiped out the 2004-05 season, but fans had plenty to be excited about when play resumed. Sidney Crosby, the heir apparent to Wayne Gretzky, was one of them, but he had a foil in the form of Alex Ovechkin, the first pick in the 2004 NHL Draft, who had to wait out the lockout before he could begin his career. How badly did teams want him? Florida Panthers general manager Rick Dudley tried to draft him in four different rounds in the 2003 draft despite the fact that his birthday was two days after the September 15 cutoff for draft eligibility. What was Dudley’s reasoning? He said that because of leap years, Ovechkin would “actually” turn 18 four days before his true date of birth and would therefore be eligible for selection. He was written about in glowing terms and was considered by some to be the best Russian prospect of all time and the most dynamic offensive prospect since Mario Lemieux. Though Crosby has had the superior career in terms of perception and accolades, Ovechkin takes a backseat to virtually no one else of his era.

Luck was arguably the most hyped quarterback prospect since Peyton Manning, with scouts, analysts and fans alike drooling over his combination of football acumen, physical strength, foot-speed and throwing accuracy. The only thing Luck didn’t have was truly elite arm strength, but that barely registered as a negative. His can’t-miss status was such that in 2011 so many teams were in need of his services, that after six weeks numerous teams were either winless or owners of only one victory. The rash of ugly records became known as the “Suck for Luck” campaign, as no less than John Madden said of the Stanford signal-caller, “I’ve been watching the NFL for years, and I don’t remember a more automatic, sure thing.” As luck would have it, the Colts, who had scored Manning over a decade prior, secured the No. 1 pick in 2011. Luck hasn’t yet made it to the Super Bowl, but with the Colts roster looking like one of the league’s strongest, the future might be now for Indy.

No NFL prospect captured the imagination quite like Vick. He wasn’t just a mobile quarterback: He was a truly electrifying open-field runner who was faster than virtually every opposing defender he went up against. Add to that his ridiculous arm strength and his highlight-filled performance for Virginia Tech in its 1999 BCS championship game loss to Florida State, and you had a recipe for feverish hype. Everyone wanted Vick, but only the Falcons had a chance to draft him first overall in 2001. Sports Illustrated and ESPN Magazine both had him on their covers in 2000, and many felt that NFL defenses would have to adjust to him and not the other way around. Vick’s career never matched the hype, but he does have the distinction of being the only quarterback in league history to rush for 1,000 yards in a season, a feat he accomplished with the Falcons in 2006.

There have been many ballyhooed hockey prospects, but only a handful have been lauded as all-time talents before ever taking an NHL shift. McDavid, along with Sidney Crosby, Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky before him, fits that bill. He was scrutinized in much the same way as Crosby during his junior hockey days and was talked about as the obvious No. 1 pick two full years before he was draft eligible — if not more. Edmonton made him the top pick in the 2015 draft, but many hockey fans were less than thrilled to see him go to the Oilers, partly because it made catching his games more difficult but also because the Oilers were and still are viewed around the league as arguably the NHL's most poorly run franchise. McDavid hasn’t pulled Edmonton out of the doldrums — yet — but he has led the league in points two of his four seasons and piled up 116 in 2018-19.

Quick: Who was the second pick in the 2003 NBA Draft? It wasn’t Carmelo Anthony. He went third to the Denver Nuggets. It wasn’t Dwyane Wade, either. He went fifth to the Miami Heat. Chris Bosh? Nope, he went fourth, to the Raptors. No. The second pick was Darko Milicic, a 7-footer from Serbia. His name has become synonymous with basketball bust, but before the draft it was not uncommon to see talking heads and even some scouts suggesting that he would have a better pro career than LeBron James. Those persons were numerous, and to save them embarrassment they will not be named here. If you’re curious, though, simply search the phrase “Darko better than LeBron,” and you will see some incredibly bad predictions from a handful of big names.

Venus, the elder Williams sister, was a prodigy on the USTA junior tour, with a 63-0 record by age 12. She was so good, and her game so powerful, that she turned professional at age 14. Venus’ rise, coupled with that of her younger sister, Serena, caught the attention of sports fans across the country. She was on the cover of Sports Illustrated before her professional debut, and her progress was closely followed. Her father, Richard, who was outspoken and routinely found himself at the center of controversy, contributed to the hype. Williams has seven Grand Slam Singles titles to her credit, as well as 14 Grand Slam Doubles titles, all won with her sister.

Griffey Jr. was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1987 MLB Draft, which made sense, given his status as the U.S. high school baseball Player of the Year in 1987. He had a rapid rise through the minor leagues and was a household name in part because of his famous father, Ken Sr., an outfielder on the “Big Red Machine” Cincinnati teams of the 1970s. The two made history as the first father and son to play on the same team at the same time when they played together for the Mariners in 1990 and 1991. On Sept. 14, 1990, they made history again, hitting back-to-back home runs against the California Angels, becoming the first, and still only, father and son duo to accomplish that feat. Griffey Jr. is considered one of the best players of all time, and his style influenced youth baseball players for well over a decade.

Ewing's dominant run at Georgetown had scouts salivating over him and the dregs of the NBA happily piling up losses in the hopes of landing his services. Sports Illustrated went so far as to call him, "the most recognized athlete ever to enter a major professional league." The NBA debuted a new draft lottery in 1985, and the Knicks, of course, won it. To this day, though, conspiracy theories abound, with some suggesting that commissioner David Stern rigged the draft for New York with either a frozen or creased envelope, which made it easy for him to know which one to pick. Whether you believe any of that or not is up to you, but it is a window into the kind of hype Ewing was receiving. He never won a title with the Knicks but made them a serious contender again, so in most respects he lived up to the hype.

Had Gretzky come of age in present times, his exploits would have been chronicled from age 7 or 8 onward. At age 10 he scored 378 goals and piled up 120 assists in a Brantford, Ontario Atom league. Gretzky was accosted by autograph seekers before he was a teenager and was a phenomenon in his junior days. He was so good that his parents decided to move him to Toronto when he was 14 so he could play hockey there and avoid the pressure cooker of jealous parents in his hometown. He turned professional at age 17 and played for the Indianapolis Racers and Edmonton Oilers of the World Hockey Association, sticking with Edmonton when the team joined the NHL. In retrospect it sounds preposterous, like someone worrying about whether or not Michael Jordan would be able to hold his own in the NBA, but Gretzky had his doubters when he made the jump to the NHL. His response? Rip off eight straight Hart Trophies, to this day a record, to start his career.

Before Ichiro took baseball by storm in 2001, there was Irabu. He was a phenom in Japan, and big league teams were taking major interest. The Padres purchased his contract from the Chiba Lotte Marines, but Irabu refused to sign, saying he would play only for the Yankees. That set off a complicated negotiation that eventually ended in Irabu being traded to New York. His debut with the Yankees drew a much larger than usual crowd to the Bronx as well as an uptick in media attention, particularly from Japanese media, but his career would not live up to the hype. He won two World Series with the Yankees but was the object of scorn from owner George Steinbrenner, who infamously called him a “fat toad.” Irabu was eventually traded to the Montreal Expos and also played for the Texas Rangers before ending his big league career after the 2002 season.

In most cases extremely hyped athletes are known well before they reach their late teens. That was not the case with Tracy McGrady, who was a good but not great high school basketball prospect through his junior year. That all changed when he wiped out the competition at Adidas’ ABCD Camp before his senior year. His stock went through the roof, and a strong senior season at Mount Zion Christian Academy propelled him to the NBA. McGrady went to the Raptors with the ninth pick in the 1997 NBA Draft, and while his time there was up and down, by the time he ended up with the Orlando Magic, he had blossomed into one of the game’s most exciting players. Despite playing for multiple teams, McGrady at his peak was considered one of the best pure scorers and most unique talents in the league.

These days, a preteen being offered a college scholarship isn’t exactly the norm, but it’s also not so shocking as to make major headlines. When Wake Forest offered Leak a scholarship as an eighth-grader, having just signed his older brother, C.J., it made national headlines, and from then on Leak’s high school career was closely watched. He ended up being too good for the Demon Deacons and ended up at Florida, where he flourished under Urban Meyer during his final two seasons and led the Gators to a national championship win over Ohio State. That was the apex of his career, however, as he went undrafted in 2007 and bounced between the Chicago Bears and Kansas City Chiefs before heading to Canada for a brief CFL career.

In his day, Todd Marinovich was seen as the prototype professional quarterback; a man groomed since early childhood to play the position. He also faced scrutiny because of the intense, some said draconian training methods and restrictions placed on him by his father, Marv. Sports Illustrated called him “America’s first test-tube athlete,” in a piece titled, “Bred To Be A Superstar.” Marinovich was forbidden from eating junk food of any kind, and his father started him with basic exercises at one month of age. All of this training did work, as Marinovich starred at USC and was a first-round pick in 1991. It all came crashing down for Marinovich in the pros, however, as he battled drug addiction and never put it all together on the field. To this day, he remains a cautionary tale about pushing young athletes too hard, too fast.

Perhaps no player from Asia has been more anticipated than Ichiro was when the Seattle Mariners won the bidding war to negotiate a contract with him. Ichiro had been a standout for the Orix Blue Wave of Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan, and his arrival in the big leagues was greeted with equal part excitement, anticipation and skepticism. Hordes of Japanese media covered his every move and word, and Ichiro’s presence made the Mariners one of baseball’s most interesting teams. Ichiro delivered on the hype in a big way, becoming the first rookie to take home both Rookie of the Year and MVP honors since Fred Lynn in 1975. Ichiro piled up 3,089 hits in 19 major league seasons and won 10 gold gloves as well.

The definition of irony is a teenager from Arizona being heralded as a franchise savior by die-hard fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Canada’s most popular hockey team, but that’s exactly what happened with Matthews. His reputation was such that he was the presumptive No. 1 pick for over a year prior to the 2016 NHL Draft and was the first American-born player taken first overall since Patrick Kane nine years earlier. Matthews has played three seasons, averaging roughly a point per game, but he hasn’t yet managed to break Toronto’s 52-year Stanley Cup drought. He did, however, make his mark on the league early. In his first game, Matthews scored four goals, becoming the first player in modern NHL history to accomplish the feat.

Wie burst onto the scene in 2000, when, at age 10, she qualified for the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship. She was the youngest qualifier ever at the time. The hype intensified considerably when she made the cut at the 2003 Kraft Nabisco Championship, becoming the youngest player to accomplish that feat. Wie also made the cut at the U.S. Women’s Open. After that, Wie topped all of her previous feats by shooting a 68 in the second round of the PGA Tour’s Sony Open, where she was playing on a sponsor’s exemption. She turned pro just prior to her 16^th birthday, and many assumed that she would dominate the LPGA Tour for the next decade and a half, at least. That hasn’t happened, partly due to injuries but partly due to underwhelming performance. Wie has only one major to her credit, and while she remains a major draw, her career hasn’t turned out like many assumed it would.

Tebow’s collegiate accolades are well-known. He won the Heisman Trophy as a sophomore at Florida and tacked on two national championships with the Gators to boot. There was an enormous amount of debate as to whether he could play quarterback in the NFL, with many speculating that he would fall into the later rounds, if not go undrafted altogether. It was impossible to consume any kind of sports media and not see Tebow’s name. The Denver Broncos shocked many in the football world when they selected Tebow with the 25 ^th pick of the 2010 NFL Draft. Tebow started three games as a rookie, going 1-2 in the process, then managed a 7-4 mark in his second season, including a memorable playoff win over the Steelers that saw him throw a game-winning, 80-yard touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas on the first play of overtime. After one more season, he was out of the NFL, but when Tebow was in his heyday, he was one of the most heavily covered and scrutinized athletes in the country.

Women’s tennis has long been a sport where precocious youngsters could make an early mark, and before the Williams sisters put their imprint on the sport, Jennifer Capriati made her presence known. Capriati turned professional just before her 14^th birthday and made the semifinals of the French Open before bowing to eventual champion Monica Seles. She was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated, won Olympic gold in 1992, and in her first two years in the sport she continued to go deep into most tournaments. Capriati made it to top 10 in the world rankings while still 14 years old and seemed poised to do huge things in tennis. However, she took a break from the game and battled some personal issues and would not return to form for several years, finally breaking through and winning her first Grand Slam at the 2001 Australian Open. She ended up with three Grand Slams total before retiring from full-time tennis after the 2004 season.

Clarett led Ohio State to a 2002 national championship game win over Miami as a freshman, and made waves when he challenged the NFL rule that dictated that a player must be three years removed from his high school graduation to be draft eligible. His battle was unsuccessful, though he ended up entering the 2005 NFL Draft and was picked by the Broncos with the final selection of the third round. Clarett never played a down for Denver, or in the NFL, as he was overweight and repeatedly clashed with his coaches. His battle with the NFL made him a celebrated figure with some and spurred debate on whether the rule was fair to players whose physical gifts made it clear that they could play professional ball despite possibly still being in their teens. While Clarett’s pro career never got off the ground, his one year at Ohio State was incredibly high-profile, and he was the subject of endless discussion on the sports talk show circuit.

He’s known more now as the guy who battled Tom Brady for playing time at Michigan, but Henson was a modern-day Bo Jackson — a man who captivated fans with his overwhelming potential in two sports. Henson was a Parade All-American as a quarterback while also being named USA Today’s High School Player of the Year in 1998. Henson went to Michigan and despite having success as a quarterback his junior year, he left to play for the Yankees, who had drafted him and paid him $17 million over six years to forgo the NFL. Eventually his time in pro baseball ended, as he played in only a handful of games, and he turned back to football. The Dallas Cowboys traded with the Houston Texans, who had drafted Henson in the sixth round of the 2003 NFL Draft, and while Henson made a Thanksgiving Day start in 2004, that would be the apex of his football career. Given his can’t-miss status in two different sports, Henson’s lackluster career in both was a surprise and a letdown to many.

Bush was so dominant at USC that it seemed like a foregone conclusion that he would be selected first overall in the 2006 NFL Draft. Bush won the Heisman Trophy while at USC and put up eye-popping numbers that were matched only by the highlight-reel quality of the plays that produced them. Some of Bush’s open-field moves, like going from a full sprint to a near complete stop in the space of a few feet, seemed borderline unfair. He looked like one of the most tantalizing offensive talents in years, and so the Houston Texans electing to pick defensive end Mario Williams ahead of him in the draft was seen as something of a shock. Bush’s professional career never lived up to his potential, though he did amass nearly 10,000 yards from scrimmage and 58 touchdowns during an 11-year career.

LeBron James’ smashing success as a Cavaliers rookie had other high schoolers thinking about jumping straight to the pros, and despite his relatively slight stature, Brooklyn-born point guard Sebastian Telfair was the next big name to do so. Telfair drew national attention for his play at Abraham Lincoln High School, and many of his games were televised by ESPN. Like so many other phenoms, he was the subject of a Sports Illustrated cover story. He originally committed to play at Louisville but instead changed his mind and entered the draft. Despite the hype surrounding him, there were many who were skeptical of his chances in the pros, believing that a year or more of college ball would have served him well. Telfair was picked 13^th by the Portland Trail Blazers but never turned into the kind of dynamic, game-changing point guard many hoped he would be. He bounced around the NBA for over a decade, though his performance was more in line with a career backup than anything else. After being released by the Thunder in 2014, Telfair’s NBA career was over.

Many hyped athletes do in fact go on to have tremendous professional careers, but Brian Bosworth was not one of them. A standout linebacker at Oklahoma, Bosworth was dismissed from the team after wearing a T-shirt that referred derisively to the NCAA during the 1987 Orange Bowl, a game from which he was barred due to a positive steroid test. Bosworth was the subject of plenty of hype, and he helped create this environment, in one instance sending letters to teams before the 1987 supplemental draft informing them that he would not play for them. His goal was to play for the Raiders, but he was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks and ended up signing the biggest rookie contract in NFL history. Bosworth was famously run over by Bo Jackson in an oft-replayed moment, but he never got the chance for revenge, as degenerative arthritis in his shoulder forced him to retire after the 1989 season.

Chamberlain was the most physically dominant player of his time, and the hype surrounding him after his time at Kansas was such that he became the NBA’s highest-paid player upon signing his rookie contract. Before ever reaching the NBA, he had been interviewed by multiple magazines, and because he decided to leave Kansas a year early, he was able to sell the story to Look magazine for $10,000. Legendary Celtics coach Red Auerbach also tried to convince Chamberlain, a Philadelphia native, to play college ball in New England so that he could draft him as a territorial pick. He ended up with the Philadelphia Warriors, and over the course of his career averaged 30.1 points, 22.9 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game. Chamberlain was an unparalleled specimen and scored 100 points in a single game, a record that stands today. He is regarded as, at worst, one of the five to 10 best players in history.