(NOTE: THIS PAGE IS A WORK IN PROGRESS AND UNDER CONSTRUCTION.)
Opinions will vary on this topic, but based on the collegiate experience only, below are some of the Sun Devils who fall under "greatest Sun Devils of all time" when it comes to ASU careers only.
Don't count any professional or Olympics. No Super Bowls or gold medals or MVP awards add to the resume.
Winning matters a lot. Leading teams to highest levels is huge. Winning conference championships matter.
So here are some names and reasons why, listed alphabetically to avoid drama.
BRANDI BURTON
JACKIE JOHNSON (WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD/2004-08)
One of the most decorated and best all-around athletes ever at ASU, Johnson is a seven-time individual national champion who was an all-around great athlete and made her name in the heptathlon and pentathlon. A four-time heptathlon national champ (2004-06-07-08) and three times in the pentathlon (2006-07-08), she helped the ASU women's track and field team take home the team national championship in 2007. Her name appears in the top 10 records at ASU in an astounding ten different events between indoor and outdoor track and field. She tops the record books in the javelin throw, the heptathlon and pentathlon. Johnson was a member of the 2008 US Olympic Team in Beijing in the heptathlon, but strained her hamstring and was forced to withdraw from competition.
ERIC LARKIN
RANDALL McDANIEL
PHIL MICKELSON (MEN'S GOLF/1988-1992)
Led his team to the 1990 NCAA title and was a first-team All-American for four years who won a school record 16 tournaments, including NCAA titles in 1989, 1990 and 1992. Phil shot a collegiate career-low 63 in the first round of the 1992 NCAA Championships. Won the 1990 Porter Cup, 1992 Dave Williams Award Winner in 1992, Pac-10 Player of the Year three times (1990-92), the Pac-10 title (1990). Earned Haskins Award (coaches' vote) and Nicklaus Award Winner three straight years (1990-92). A U.S. Walker Cup member in 1989 and 1991, he played in the U.S. World Amateur in 1990 and earned the U.S. Amateur champion in 1990 and became only player to win outright NCAA crowns in freshman and sophomore seasons. A 992 graduate of Arizona State with a degree in psychology. Mickelson became the only player to win back-to-back NCAA men's golf titles since Scott Simpson of USC in 1976-77. Five others to accomplish the feat are: Ben Crenshaw of Texas (1971-72), Dick Crawford of Houston (1959-60), G.T. Dunlap of Princeton (1903-31), Fred Lampbrecht of Tulane (1925-26), Dexter Cummings of Yale (1923-24),
ZAHID VALENCI
Opinions will vary on this topic, but based on the collegiate experience only, below are some of the Sun Devils who fall under "greatest Sun Devils of all time" when it comes to ASU careers only.
Don't count any professional or Olympics. No Super Bowls or gold medals or MVP awards add to the resume.
Winning matters a lot. Leading teams to highest levels is huge. Winning conference championships matter.
So here are some names and reasons why, listed alphabetically to avoid drama.
BRANDI BURTON
JACKIE JOHNSON (WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD/2004-08)
One of the most decorated and best all-around athletes ever at ASU, Johnson is a seven-time individual national champion who was an all-around great athlete and made her name in the heptathlon and pentathlon. A four-time heptathlon national champ (2004-06-07-08) and three times in the pentathlon (2006-07-08), she helped the ASU women's track and field team take home the team national championship in 2007. Her name appears in the top 10 records at ASU in an astounding ten different events between indoor and outdoor track and field. She tops the record books in the javelin throw, the heptathlon and pentathlon. Johnson was a member of the 2008 US Olympic Team in Beijing in the heptathlon, but strained her hamstring and was forced to withdraw from competition.
ERIC LARKIN
RANDALL McDANIEL
PHIL MICKELSON (MEN'S GOLF/1988-1992)
Led his team to the 1990 NCAA title and was a first-team All-American for four years who won a school record 16 tournaments, including NCAA titles in 1989, 1990 and 1992. Phil shot a collegiate career-low 63 in the first round of the 1992 NCAA Championships. Won the 1990 Porter Cup, 1992 Dave Williams Award Winner in 1992, Pac-10 Player of the Year three times (1990-92), the Pac-10 title (1990). Earned Haskins Award (coaches' vote) and Nicklaus Award Winner three straight years (1990-92). A U.S. Walker Cup member in 1989 and 1991, he played in the U.S. World Amateur in 1990 and earned the U.S. Amateur champion in 1990 and became only player to win outright NCAA crowns in freshman and sophomore seasons. A 992 graduate of Arizona State with a degree in psychology. Mickelson became the only player to win back-to-back NCAA men's golf titles since Scott Simpson of USC in 1976-77. Five others to accomplish the feat are: Ben Crenshaw of Texas (1971-72), Dick Crawford of Houston (1959-60), G.T. Dunlap of Princeton (1903-31), Fred Lampbrecht of Tulane (1925-26), Dexter Cummings of Yale (1923-24),
ZAHID VALENCI