Top 10 Celebrities You Didn't Know Were Athletes
Before an actor gets their big break, they do stupid shit. You know, like lather themselves in oil, slip into a leopard thong and go-go dance like it’s 2 for 1 drink night at the gay club. Jason Statham did and he’s a big action star now.
And before Statham pick up acting, he was actually a pro athlete. I mean he is one of the group of people that not only made it to the big time as performers on the stage and the big screen, they also had a knack for playing sports at a high level.
It is in honor of those talented individuals that we present to you the Top 10 celebs you may not know were athletes.
10.Kurt Russell
Sport: Baseball
One minute, he’s playing Jungle Boy on an amazing episode of "Gilligan’s Island," and the next, he’s fielding grounders as a switch-hitting second baseman in the California Angels' minor-league system.
We shudder to contemplate a Russell-free "Tango and Cash," so we’re selfishly relieved that he and his rotator cuff were taken out by some goon while trying to turn a routine double play.
9.Sheryl Crow
Sport: Track
Before she was an award-winning singer-songwriter, Sheryl Crow used to "soak up the sun" on her high school's track team.
At Kennett High School in Missouri, Crow was an All-State track athlete who medaled in the 75-meter low hurdles.
8.Tom Selleck
Sport: Basketball
A lost scene from "Magnum, P.I."
Thomas Magnum, dressed in a Hawaiian shirt, is dribbling a basketball while also contemplating his impressive mustache
7.Dean Cain
Sport: Football
Superman went to Princeton, in case you were wondering, where he was not only captain of the volleyball team, but also a standout safety in football, where he set the school record with 12 interceptions.
He even made the leap to the NFL, where he signed with the Bills, but a knee injury during training camp killed his pro dreams. It was then that he got injured.
This trend should tell you something. If you want to be a famous actor, become a really good athlete then get horribly injured. Simple, right?
6.Ed O’Neil
Sport: Football
Al Bundy may have exaggerated his playing days, but the actor behind him, Ed O’Neil, never needed to. He played defensive line for Youngstown State and was picked up by the Steelers in 1969 (man, he’s old!) but didn’t make it through training camp without being cut. It was perhaps never meant to be, as he often feuded with his coach in college.
He has found superstardom twice as an actor though, once as the aforementioned Al Bundy on “Married with Children” and also as Jay Pritchett on ABC’s hit “Modern Family.”
5. Jon Stewart
Sport: Soccer
As a midfielder on the College of William & Mary varsity soccer team in the early 1980s, the honcho of "The Daily Show" racked up 10 goals and, more impressively, never wavered in his duty to gorge on the all-you-can-eat orange slices dispensed during matches.
4. Gwen Stefani
Sport: Swimming
Before she was a pop superstar, the lead singer of No Doubt was a member of her high school's swimming team.
According to AceShowbiz, Gwen was "on her high school's swimming team because she was chubby." We guess we now know how she got her rail-thin figure.
3. Denzel Washington
Sport: Basketball
Long before he played one-on-one street ball with Ray Allen in "He Got Game," Denzel played junior varsity hoops at Fordham University under future NBA coach (and Latrell Sprewell choke victim) P.J. Carlesimo.
Which brings up an interesting question: in their respective primes, how badly does Denzel Washington trounce David Duchovny?
2. George Clooney
Sport: Baseball
"Woulda, coulda, shoulda" applies to George Clooney’s failed audition for the Cincinnati Reds in 1977.
If the future actor, then 16, woulda been better at hitting, throwing and catching, he coulda earned a shot at playing alongside his idols Johnny Bench and Dave Concepcion, but clearly he shoulda practiced more. You totally blew it, Clooney.
1. Jason Statham
Sport: Diving
If Greg Louganis in a Speedo is still the first thing that pops into your head whenever the subject of competitive diving comes up, it should benefit you to learn that Jason Statham was a member of the British national team before he started wailing on bad guys in the movies.
See Also: Top 10 Celebrities Who Were Once Teachers
