Did you have a sporting hero as a kid?

Philly_Q

guitars4you said:

Add Brendan Foster as well to my list - before the days of Ovett + Seb

I used to watch Sportsnight with my dad in the 1970s and I have this memory of Brendan Foster running round a track in the pissing rain, all skinny and bedraggled, wearing one of those string vests with GB stripes.  No idea what the occasion was and in my mind he's running all on his own, but presumably it was a Commonwealth Games or something.

Nunogilberto

You bunch of old bastards!

Mine were Ryan Giggs and Eric Cantona...

earwighoney

True Sportsmen...



Well maybe not but legends nonetheless. 

LastMantra

Not really. Tony Hawk was as close as anyone I suppose. 

Flanging_Fred

Matt Le Tissier.

slow, languid, sometimes overweight,  haircut from hell, unambitious but with utterly spellbinding, sublime levels of skill that was worth the entry fee on its own.

menamestom

earwighoney said:

True Sportsmen...



Well maybe not but legends nonetheless. 

I have Big Daddy’s autograph somewhere, from when I went to a youth wrestling championships when I was a kid.  Also Fit Finlay’s.

Hero wise, Mansell and Brian Robson. 

EricTheWeary

menamestom said:

earwighoney said:

True Sportsmen...



Well maybe not but legends nonetheless. 

I have Big Daddy’s autograph somewhere, from when I went to a youth wrestling championships when I was a kid.  Also Fit Finlay’s.

Hero wise, Mansell and Brian Robson. 

I saw Giant Haystacks wrestle once , although he was a big man he obviously wore a lot of padding and wasn't ( by the time I saw him) all that fat.

The Saturday morning wrestling was often filmed in Wolverhampton at the Civic Hall so another thing of note for the OP's forthcoming trip. 

mudslide73

thecolourbox said:

Super Super Bob, Super Super Bob, Super Super Bob, Super Bobby Taylor

I'm sure @mudslide73 will agree

@thecolourbox I'm a bit older than you.. Supes is a legend but I loved Cyrille when I was a kid. (just too young to see Laurie). Losing Cyrille really did for me if I'm honest - a super hero to a young Mudslider. 

thecolourbox

mudslide73 said:

thecolourbox said:

Super Super Bob, Super Super Bob, Super Super Bob, Super Bobby Taylor

I'm sure @mudslide73 will agree

@thecolourbox I'm a bit older than you.. Supes is a legend but I loved Cyrille when I was a kid. (just too young to see Laurie). Losing Cyrille really did for me if I'm honest - a super hero to a young Mudslider. 

I did have a soft toy badger around the age of five ish called Cyrille in fairness but I think because I liked the name. Similarly I had a teddy bear around the same time called Paddy Ashdown for the same reason (not because I was a lib Dem at age 5).

That all said I absolutely hate their shoe horned version of the Allez Allez Allez song at present, awful

prowla

I think Ali was the first sports star I became aware of.

I saw Barry Sheene racing at Mallory Park in the 70s.

guitars4you

Philly_Q said:

guitars4you said:

Add Brendan Foster as well to my list - before the days of Ovett + Seb

I used to watch Sportsnight with my dad in the 1970s and I have this memory of Brendan Foster running round a track in the pissing rain, all skinny and bedraggled, wearing one of those string vests with GB stripes.  No idea what the occasion was and in my mind he's running all on his own, but presumably it was a Commonwealth Games or something.

ditto - I wasn't a bad 800/1500m runner at school and for some silly reason I thought I could attack down the back straight with 200M plus to go - Pretending I was Foster - Worked once or twice

Memories eh ?????????????????

ronnyb

Tommy Simpson.

Sassafras

Jocky Wilson, one of the 20th century's finest athletes:

VimFuego

Sassafras said:

Jocky Wilson, one of the 20th century's finest athletes:

a training regimen we could all realistically aspire to. 

JezWynd

prowla

earwighoney said:

True Sportsmen...



Well maybe not but legends nonetheless. 

Don't bring me boys!

CHRISB50

Michael Johnson

Tone71

Mike Tyson, from '85, what a monster.

Heartfeltdawn

Elio de Angelis in F1, and then the rally heroes: Alen, Rohrl, Henri Toivanen, Colin McRae. 1986 was a traumatic year when de Angelis and Toivanen died within a fortnight of each other. 

When it comes to team sports, I was definitely more in love with the sport than individuals.  

NorthernGooner

guitars4you said:

Philly_Q said:

guitars4you said:

Add Brendan Foster as well to my list - before the days of Ovett + Seb

I used to watch Sportsnight with my dad in the 1970s and I have this memory of Brendan Foster running round a track in the pissing rain, all skinny and bedraggled, wearing one of those string vests with GB stripes.  No idea what the occasion was and in my mind he's running all on his own, but presumably it was a Commonwealth Games or something.

ditto - I wasn't a bad 800/1500m runner at school and for some silly reason I thought I could attack down the back straight with 200M plus to go - Pretending I was Foster - Worked once or twice

Memories eh ?????????????????

I ran in the National Cross Country championships at Parliament Hill Fields in 1977 the year that big Bren won it. He finished first I was about 800th of about 3,000 runners, and I wasn't bad so it shows you how high the standard was,. The course was like the Somme. Liquid mud and hilly as fuck. Nine miles of pain. No showers after. Got some funny looks on the Northern Line tube going home.. He was as hard as fuck though ...... well for a schoolteacher.