Sports People

This page is mainly about the non–sporting exploits of people who are or were involved in sport; but it also includes anything that doesn't fit in on other Sport pages (for example because it involves two different sports).

Arsenal and England football captain (672 club appearances 1983–2002, 66 caps): jailed for drunk driving in 1990; described his alcoholism in a highly–acclaimed autobiography entitled Addicted (1998); subsequently founded the Sporting Chance Clinic for sports men and women suffering from drink, drug or gambling addictions		Tony Adams
Former Leicestershire and England fast bowler: appointed BBC cricket correspondent in 1991, the same year as a 'giggling fit' in harness with Brian Johnston, prompted by a remark about Ian Botham 'getting his leg over', which was voted "the greatest sporting commentary of all time" by listeners to BBC Radio 5 Live		Jonathan Agnew
Boxers featured in the 1996 documentary film When We Were Kings		Muhammad Ali
		George Foreman
The most successful jockey of the Victorian era (2,748 winners, including five Derbies); committed suicide by gunshot in 1886, aged 29, suffering from depression after the death of his wife		Fred Archer
Appeared twice in the same episode of Top of the Pops in 1982: first singing We Have a Dream with the Scotland World Cup squad, and then alongside his Spurs teammates and Chas and Dave for Tottenham, Tottenham		Steve Archibald
Played cricket for Leicestershire and football for Doncaster Rovers on the same day (in 1975); next day completed a century and took three wickets; played 117 League games for Huddersfield Town and 376 for Carlisle United, before ending his career at Doncaster and then Queen of the South; also played two Tests for England		Chris Balderstone
Scottish skier: stripped of his bronze medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics after testing positive for drugs ingested from a Vick's inhaler		Alain Baxter
Sentenced to 30 months imprisonment at Southwark Crown Court, in 2022, after being found guilty of four charges concerning his inolvency; served 8 months		Boris Becker
One of 17 people awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Joe Biden in 2022 – the youngest person ever to receive this award (aged 25)		Simone Biles
Former cricketer and umpire: subject of a statue unveiled in Barnsley in 2009		Harold 'Dickie' Bird
Claimed he ate over 1,000 Chicken McNuggets during the ten days of the Beijing Olympics		Usain Bolt
Australian cricketer, reputed to have drunk 52 cans of beer on the flight from Sydney to London in 1989		David Boon
Scored over 8,000 runs in 108 Tests for England, 1964–82; after retiring, commentated for Talksport, BSkyB, Channel 4, BBC Test Match Special, Cricket on Five, convicted of assault in 1998 after being accused by former lover Margaret Moore; diagnosed with throat cancer in 2002, but confirmed clear in 2003 following radiotherapy; controversially knighted in Theresa May's resignation honours list (2019)		Geoffrey Boycott
Widely credited with transforming British Cycling from winning two golds at the Athens Olympics (2004) to eight golds at both Beijing (2008) and London (2012); became manager of Team Sky in 2010, overseeing six Tour de France wins between 2012 and 2018 (by Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas); remained as performance director when Team Sky became Team Ineos; became Director of Sport at INEOS Group in 2021, which gave him a key role at Manchester United FC from 2023 after Sir Jim Ratcliffe purchased 25 per cent of the club and Ineos Sport took control of football operations		Dave Brailsford
Born Georgetown, Guyana 1928; one of the pacemakers (along with Chris Chataway) for Roger Bannister's four–minute mile (1954); won the 3,000 metre steeplechase at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne; launched a revolutionary walking boot (with the comfort of a running shoe), 1978. Founded the London Marathon in 1981, along with the Welsh steeplechaser John Disley. He and Disley were instrumental in popularising the sport of orienteering in the UK; died in 2003 aged 74		Chris Brasher
Controversial motor racing team manager (Benetton, Renault) – forced to resign 2009 after claims that Renault driver Nelson Piquet Jr. was ordered to engineer a crash to benefit his team mate Fernando Alonso; also chairman of Queens Park Rangers FC, 2007–10		Flavio Briatore
Ivory Coast rugby player left paralysed for life after the 1995 World Cup		Max Brito
Olympic 400m hurdles champion, 1928; originator of, and still the only man ever to complete, the Great Court Run at Trinity College Cambridge (as featured in the film Chariots of Fire – although the scene in the film, where Harold Abrahams beats a character based on Lord Burleigh, is fictitious)		Lord (David) Burleigh
Leeds Rhinos and England scrum–half and hooker: at 5' 5" and 10st 6lb, known for years as "the smallest player in Super League"; diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) in 2019 (aged 37); appointed MBE in 2021 for his services to Rugby League and the MND community; see Kevin Sinfield		Rob Burrow
Arrested for shoplifting in 1993 and possession of marijuana in 1994, aged 17 and 18, during a 14–month break from tennis; became world No. 1 in 2001		Jennifer Capriati
Named Britain's Brainiest Footballer in a TV quiz, in 2002 (when playing for QPR); appeared on Countdown, winning two games, in 2010 (while Burnley captain); retired 2013, aged 33. Twice banned from driving for drink–driving (2011 and 2015); hospitalised for several weeks after being hit by a lorry in December 2014, two days after the second drink–driving episode, in what he later admitted was a suicide attempt		Clarke Carlisle
Leading British tennis player, 1986–92; later became a versatile TV presenter		Andrew Castle
Former England footballer (retired 1986), obtained a racehorse trainer's licence 1990 and enjoyed considerable success; seriously injured in 2008, in a car crash in which a friend died		Mick Channon
Carried the Olympic torch on part of its journey to Melbourne in 1956; became a pofessional snooker player in 1963		Eddie Charlton
In 2005, the stretch of the A52 between Derby and Nottingham was named in honour of		Brian Clough
Dominated women's tennis, 1951–4; retired aged 19 after a riding accident in which her leg was crushed by a truck; died of stomach cancer in 1969, aged 34		Maureen Connolly
Former Test cricketer (West Indies), became rector of St. Andrews University in 1968		Sir Leary Constantine
The first (and, up to 2015, only) boxer to be knighted		Henry Cooper
Australian tennis star: became involved with the Pentecostal movement after retirement and was ordained as a minister in 1991; has consistently spoken out against homosexuality and same–sex marriage		Margaret Court
South Africa cricket captain, banned for life 2000 for his part in a match fixing scandal; died in a plane crash in 2002		Hansie Cronje
Knighted in 2018 for services to football, particularly in recognition of his support to the families and victims of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster		Kenny Dalglish
US sportsman, 1879–1945: gave his name to one of the world's major sporting competitions, and went on to be US Assistant Secretary of War (1923–5), Secretary of War (1925–9), and Governor–General of the Philippines (1929–32)		Dwight F. Davis
Stood as the Conservative Party's candidate against Jim Callaghan in his Cardiff South East constituency, at the 1964 general election		Ted Dexter
Olympic gold medallist 1964 (2–man bob with Tony Nash) – succeeded as Lord Glentoran 1998		Robin Dixon
Played hockey for England, 1899; British ladies golf champion; Olympic silver in archery; 5 times Wimbledon singles champion; died in 1960, aged 88		Lottie Dod
US competitor: the only person to win golds in the Summer and Winter Olympics (in a summer and a winter event – Boxing, light–heavyweight, Antwerp 1912; four–man bobsleigh, Lake Placid 1924)		Eddie Eagan
Footballer killed in the Munich disaster 1958, commemorated by two stained glass windows in his local church – St. Francis's, Dudley		Duncan Edwards
Welsh rugby legend, who in 1989 set a record for the biggest pike caught in British waters (the record was beaten in 1992)		Gareth Edwards
Colombian footballer, shot dead on returning home after scoring an own goal against USA in the 1990 World Cup finals		Andres Escobar
WBC middleweight champion 1990, WBO middleweight champion 1990–1, WBO super middleweight champion 1991–5; known for his eccentricities, cultivating a persona outside the ring as an English country gentleman (jodhpurs, tweed jacket, cane, bowler hat, riding boots, monocle); named Britain's best–dressed man, in 1991 and 1993		Chris Eubank
Bought the Lord of the Manor rights in Brighton at auction in 1996
First person ever evicted from the Celebrity Big Brother house (2001)
Arrested in 2003 and 2007 for anti–war activities – both occasions involving his huge American Peterbilt 379 truck
Former motor racing champion held hostage by Castro's revolutionaries in Cuba		Juan Manuel Fangio
Premiership footballer, denied involvement in vandalising the Blue Peter garden in 1984, when aged 17		Les Ferdinand
Famous British explorer: completed seven marathons on seven continents in seven days, in 2003		Rannulph Fiennes
England cricketer: reportedly had to be rescued after falling off a pedalo, having "drowned his sorrows" (along with some team–mates) following England's defeat by New Zealand in the opening match of the 2007 World Cup (in which he was out first ball and took no wickets)		Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff
Gave his name to a lean, mean grilling machine (manufactured by Russell Hobbs, Inc. – apparently a different company from the British brand of the same name)		George Foreman
Founder of the Great North Run (1981): bronze medallist in the 10,000 metres at the 1976 (Montreal) Olympics; European 5,000 metres champion 1974, and BBC SPOTY in the same year		Brendan Foster
England Test cricketer and Oxford blue; played for Southampton in the FA Cup final; played football once for England; shared the world long jump record, 1893–4; offered the throne of Albania		C. B. Fry
New York Yankees (baseball) star, 1903–41, died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis – the same disease that Stephen Hawking suffers from – which is now known in the USA by his name. Yankees retired his jersey number (4) after his death in 1941 – the first instance in world sport of this custom		Lou Gehrig
British 100m breast stroke gold medallist at the 1980 Olympics – famous for his total lack of hair, caused by alopecia universalis; later revealed that he was dyslexic, and became a familiar media personality and motivational speaker		Duncan Goodhew
Great Britain's most decorated female Olympian, with five rowing medals (one gold, four silver); appointed chair of UK Sport in 2017; appointed a Dame (DBE) in 2017		Katherine Grainger
Born Los Angeles, 1959; set world records for the women's 100m and 200m, in 1988, both of which still stand (Feb 2012); died in her sleep in 1998, during an epileptic fit, aged 38		Florence Griffith–Joyner
World featherweight champion, 1995–2000: jailed for 15 months in 2006, and later stripped of his MBE, after being convicted of dangerous driving		'Prince' Naseem Hamed
Barred from competitive ice skating after admitting interference in an investigation into a kneecap attack on her rival Nancy Kerrigan (1994); later became a successful boxer, turning professional 2003		Tonya Harding
The man behind the Hawk–Eye ball tracking system		Dr. Paul Hawkins
Managed Steve Davis from 1976; founded Matchroom Sport to manage other snooker stars; later moved into boxing, managing Chris Eubank and Lennox Lewis (amongst others); chairman of Leyton Orient FC from 1995		Barry Hearn
Snooker player involved in match fixing allegations made by the News of the World, May 2010		John Higgins
Former British army physical training instructor and judo champion, won two Olympic golds in 2004 (Athens)		Kelly Holmes
Snooker player died in 2006, five days before his 28th birthday		Paul Hunter
US athlete (1976 Olympic decathlon champion): married Kris Kardashian in 1991, thus becoming stepfather to the Kardashian sisters; divorced in 2015 and changed gender, taking the name Caitlyn		Bruce Jenner
Canadian sprinter: stripped of the men's 100m gold medal in Seoul, 1988, after testing positive for an anabolic steroid		Ben Johnson
US athlete, jailed for 6 months in January 2008 for perjury relating to her use of steroids		Marion Jones
Footballer, had a hit in 1979 with Head Over Heels In Love		Kevin Keegan
Described by John McEnroe in 2006 as "the single most important person in the history of women's sports"		Billie Jean King
Sky Sports commentator and former England, Essex and Warwickshire opening batsman: middle name Verity, and is a distant relative of the Yorkshire slow left–arm bowler Hedley Verity, who was killed in action in World War Two aged 38		Nick Knight
England cricketer, born in South Africa in 1954: appeared on television alongside Ian Botham in adverts for British meat		Allan Lamb
Footballer, reported by Mensa in 2009 to have scored "one of the highest set of marks ever recorded by the company doing the tests" (in IQ tests carried out during neurological research by his club's doctor)		Frank Lampard
Austrian F1 motor racing driver, three times world champion: suffered a near–fatal crash in 1976; after retirement, set up a charter airline (1979–2003), a budget airline (2003–17) and bought a third in 2017 – all named after him; died in 2019, aged 70		Niki Lauda
Boxing manager and trainer, associated with Frank Bruno, Joe Calzaghe, Jim Watt, John L. Gardner, Charlie Magri, Maurice Hope, John H. Stracey (among others) – died in hospital in Marbella, Spain, Christmas Eve 2009, aged 76		Terry Lawless
Lewis Hamilton (full name Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton) was named after		Carl Lewis
Captain of the Leicestershire Schools cricket team, 1977–82 (aged 11 to 16); interviewed selling fruit and veg at his parents' market stall on Football Focus in 1985 (aged 24)		Gary Lineker
Died mysteriously at his home in Las Vegas, 1971, aged 39 (while still competing); cause of death controversially recorded as a heroin overdose		Sonny Liston
Hugh Cecil Lowther is better known, in the world of boxing, as		Earl of Lonsdale
The manager that took Lennox Lewis to the undisputed world heavyweight title: announced in 2014 that they were undertaking gender reassignment; appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in the same year		Frank / Kellie Maloney
Banned from competing in the 1994 World Cup after testing positive for 5 different recreational drugs		Diego Maradona
Last to gain full England caps at both football (Arsenal 1951–5, 1 cap 1951) and cricket (Gloucestershire 1948–74, 6 caps 1958–9); died in 2007		Arthur Milton
Scottish boxer, died 1995 as a result of injuries sustained in a fight		James Murray
Danish athlete, 1866–1955, devised (and gave his name to) a form of artificial respiration; also drew up the first modern set of rules for handball		Holger Nielsen
Former world heavyweight champion, appeared in the 1975 film Mandingo		Ken Norton
Successfully sank a record putt, claimed to have travelled 9.232 miles, on the way to the 1999 Ryder Cup		José María Olazábal
29 Rugby Union caps for Ireland, 1955–70, and 10 for the British Lions; led the controversial Independent News & Media Group, 1973–2009; chairman and CEO of the H. J. Heinz company, 1979–98; said to be Ireland's first billionaire; declared bankrupt in 2015 by a court in the Bahamas		Tony O'Reilly
Australian media tycoon who founded World Series Cricket in 1977		Kerry Packer
Came 5th in the modern pentathlon at the 1912 Olympics		(General) George Patton
Posed naked for the cover of The Observer's Sports Monthly before the Beijing Olympics (2008), and in "'sporty' lingerie" for lads' mag FHM in 2009; won two Olympic cycling golds, and nine world titles; retired from professional cycling after the London Olympics, and became a jockey – making her debut in August 2015, winning her first race in March 2016, and coming fifth in the Foxhunter Chase at Cheltenham later in March 2016		Victoria Pendleton
Olympic swimming champion, beat Terry Wogan's record for the longest successful putt on TV, in 2012, with a 53–yard putt in the pro–am Alfred Dunhill Links Championship		Michael Phelps
Sentenced to 3 years' imprisonment for tax irregularities, 1987; later stripped of his OBE		Lester Piggott
Controversial South African runner: born 1986 with absence of the fibula in both legs, had both legs amputated aged 11 months; runs on carbon fibre "blades"; ruled ineligible for IAAF competitions January 2008, decision reversed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport May 2008; failed to qualify for the 2008 Olympics; qualified for London 2012, reaching the semi–final of the individual 400m and being part of the South African team that finished last in the final of the 4 x 400m relay (qualifying on appeal after failing to finish in the semi–final); sentenced to 5 years imprisonment in 2014 for fatally shooting his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on St. Valentine's Day 2013		Oscar Pistorius
John Sholto Douglas (1844–1900) is better known in the world of boxing, as		Marquis of Queensberry
British tennis player, cleared after testing positive for nandrolone 2004		Greg Rusedski
Welsh footballer: appeared in an advert for milk, that also mentioned Accrington Stanley		Ian Rush
Mo Farah's Cuban–born US coach, from 2011: banned for four years in 2019 for doping offences		Alberto Salazar
Serbian women's no. 1 tennis player, took two years out of the game (during which time she became a US citizen) after being stabbed in the back by Gunter Parche, a fan of her German rival Steffi Graf, in Hamburg April 1993		Monica Seles
South African 800m runner, subject of a gender controversy following her victory in the 2009 world championships		Caster Semenya
The Brazilian government declared three days of national mourning in 1994, following the death of		Aryton Senna
Played 16 games for Manchester United (1972–5), and 61 for Huddersfield Town; played for Yorkshire 1973–91, and one Test match for England (1985); his son Ryan played cricket for Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and England		Arnold Sidebottom
Rugby League player: raised over £2 million (as of December 2021), initially for his Leeds and England team–mate Rob Burrow, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND) in 2019, and later for the MND Association, and other sufferers including former rugby union player Doddie Weir and former footballer Stephen Darby		Kevin Sinfield
Yorkshire–based show jumper: gave his name to the two–fingered salute, after he aimed one at the judges in the Show Jumping Derby in 1971		Harvey Smith
US tennis player (Wimbledon champion in 1972): gave his name to a popular shoe manufactured by adidas (originally named after the French player Robert Haillet)		Stan Smith
Won a gold medal in the Olympic rowing eights, 1924		Dr. Benjamin Spock
Won an FA Cup winner's medal in 1964 (in goal for West Ham), and played in the Worcestershire team that won the County Championship in 1964 and 1965		Jim Standen
Canadian snooker player (world championship semi–finalist, 1980 and 1984): always played in a white or cream–coloured suit; admitted in 1986 that he was addicted to cocaine, after being accused by Silvino Francisco (South Africa) of taking stimulants during a match		Kirk Stevens
Six times British track cycling champion; and the most successful female British Paralympian of all time, with a total of 14 gold medals in cycling and swimming; appointed a Dame (DBE) in 2013		Sarah Storey
Former Manchester City and England goalkeeper, died in the Munich air crash (reported on United's game against Red Star Belgrade for the News of the World)		Frank Swift
Award–winning sports journalist and commentator: was English No. 1 in table tennis; competed for Great Britain in two Olympiads (Barcelona 1992 and Sydney 2000); began writing for The Times in 1999		Matthew Syed
The only woman (up to and including April 2021) to gain full England caps at both football and cricket		Clare Taylor
England spin bowler: lost four toes in a boating accident while on tour in the West Indies, 1968		Fred Titmus
Manchester City goalkeeper, former German soldier and PoW		Bert Trautmann
World heavyweight boxing champion 1926–8: married socialite and Carnegie heiress Polly Lauder; friends with Ernest Hemingway (who regularly sparred with him) and George Bernard Shaw; son John became Senator for California		Gene Tunney
British boxer, born Leamington Spa 1925, defeated Sugar Ray Robinson 1951 to become world middleweight champion; shot himself 16 May 1966, aged 38		Randolph Turpin
First player to represent his country in the World Cups of two different sports in the same year (Namibia, 2003, cricket & rugby)		Rudi van Vuuren
Former boxer, famous for banging the gong at the start of J. Arthur Rank's films		'Bombardier' Billy Wells
New Zealand rugby international in both League and Union: signed a two–year deal in 2019 to play for Toronto Wolfpack, but never played a competitive game for them as the club folded before playing a game in the Super League; also fought seven professional boxing matches between 2009 and 2015, winning all seven		Sonny Bill Williams
Appeared on the pitch before England's football match in Tirana, in 2001, wearing a shirt that combined those of both the home nation and the visitors		Norman Wisdom
Kalika Moquin, Rachel Uchitel, Loredana Jolie Ferriolo, Raychel Coudriet and Jaimee Grubbs are among 120 women who have allegedly had affairs with		Tiger Woods
Pakistan coach and former England test batsman, found dead in his hotel room on the day of Pakistan's elimination from the 2007 World Cup; police launched a murder investigation, but later retracted; inquest returned an open verdict		Bob Woolmer

Sir Alec Douglas–Home, Sir Douglas Bader and Sir Geoff Hurst

All played first–class cricket

© Haydn Thompson 2017–24