Please pardon the current appearance of the SportsCentury guide at TV Tome. No editor has successfully gathered the complete list of episodes in their correct order. I, theman999, the chief editor of SportsCentury, and other editors will work their hardest to make the guide correct. We now seek ESPN's help. Please write them and ask for a complete and correct list of all SportsCentury episodes, with their original air dates affixed. The address to write to is: Communications Dept., ESPN, ESPN Plaza, Bristol, CT 06010. The founder of the SportsCentury guide at TV Tome sought to honor those who were selected by ESPN as the Fifty Greatest Athletes of the Twentieth Century. Athletes ranked #50 to #3 were profiled in 48 half-hour programs, titled Fifty Greatest Athletes, broadcast on ESPN January 8-December 24, 1999. ABC televised a one-hour finale devoted to Athletes #2 and #1 on December 26, 1999. ESPN Classic ran these Fifty Greatest Athletes profiles for several mont
SportsCentury is an ESPN biography program that reviews the people and athletic events that defined sports in North America throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. In 1999, ESPN counted down the Top 50 Athletes of the 20th Century, selected from North American athletes and voted on by a panel of sports journalists and observers, premiering a new biography highlighting each top athlete every week throughout the year. The episodes for the top two athletes, Michael Jordan and Babe Ruth, appeared on a special combined edition broadcast on Christmas Day on ABC. The top two names were announced in no particular order, and the final positioning was announced at the conclusion of the two episodes. An additional list of numbers 51-100 were announced on the ESPN SportsCentury website. Themed specials such as Greatest Games, Greatest Coaches, Greatest Dynasties, and Most Influential Individuals were premiered throughout the year, as well as six SportsCenter of the Decade programs. After the initial run was complete, the episodes were rerun at various times on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Classic. The original plan for the series was to expand to include #51-#100. Ultimately, the series featured nearly every athlete from #51-#100, and numerous other personalities, especially those who were recently deceased, or notable for more recent accomplishments.