The Best of the Rest: The Athletes Who Just Missed Our “Most Philly” List

Which Philly athletes got snubbed on our list? / Photo-illustration by Leticia R. Albano

By now you’ve hopefully checked out our 25 Most Philly Athletes of All Time list, which ran the gamut from Vince Papale to Smarty Jones to our #1 pick, Allen Iverson.

That ranking wasn’t just plucked out of thin air. Before the list was created, Philly Mag staffers and contributors sent in their top picks — some famous, some not-so-famous, some infamous. We came up with a very long list — close to 70 names — and then voted on their top 10. Points were assigned to each ranking (#1 on a writer’s ranking would receive more points than #10, for instance) then the results were tabulated. We used that as our basic framework to build the list, then used some editorial judgment to add some names and remove others.

As your comments — the many, many (many!) comments — have made clear, you, dear readers have some qualms with the list. Bernard Hopkins should be higher! Smarty Jones shouldn’t be on the list at all! How could you not make room for Jimmy Rollins? Who the hell is Stevie Williams? And that’s the point of a list like this, in a city like this. We fight because we love.

So if you didn’t see your favorite, here’s the list of the contenders who didn’t make the cut, the names we fought over, lobbied for, voted against, and yelled about. Email executive editor Bradford Pearson (bpearson@phillymag.com) to tell us why we’re wrong.

Janice Albert

Connor Barwin

Alejandro Bedoya

Bill Bergey

Larry Bowa

Andre Blake

Rod Brind’Amour

Bennie Briscoe

Kobe Bryant
(Controversial! One fan on staff had him ranked at #6. Counterpoint, per Richard Rys: “He went to high school here, left for L.A., and never looked back.”)

Diana Caramanico

Randall Cunningham

Darren Daulton

Fran Dunphy
(The only coach we also considered for his playing days)

Lenny Dykstra

Joel Embiid

Nick Foles

Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble

Johnny Gaudreau

Collin Gillespie

Tom Gola

Scott Hartnell

Ron Hextall

Ryan Howard
(Blood was spilled over the Howard/Rollins/Utley debate)

Josh Kalis

Jack Kelly Sr. & Jack Kelly Jr.
(Our lone father-and-son nominees)

Billie Jean King

Ian Laperrière

Kyle Lowry

Garry Maddox

Bam Margera

Aaron McKie

Willie Mosconi

Jamie Moyer

Terrell Owens

Jimmy Rollins

Pete Rose
(Might’ve been top 10 if not for, well, everything you’re probably thinking right now)

John Runyan

Pepe Sanchez

Jean Shiley

Lionel Simmons

Bill Tilden

Rick Tocchet

Rasheed Wallace

Reggie White

>> Click here to return to The 25 Most Philly Athletes of All Time

Published as “The 25 Most Philly Athletes of All Time: The Leftovers” in the March 2026 issue of Philadelphia magazine.