The Greatest Athlete To Wear #66- an easy choice- Pittsburgh Penguins superstar and one of the greatest hockey players ever- Mario Lemieux.

Notable #66;s- Ray Nitschke was one of the greatest middle linebackers ever- he led the Green Bay Packers on defense during the Lombardi Years of the 1960’a to 5ive championships. Larry Little was one of the top guards in the league with Miami in the 1970’s. Clyde Turner was a Hall of Fame center-linebacker back in the day with George Halas and the Chicago Bears. Two celebrated guards from the 1960’s who finally made the Pro Football Hall of Fame after long waits wore #66- Gene Hickerson one of Jimmy Brown’s lineman from the Browns in the 1960’s and Billy Shaw-from the Buffalo Bills. Conrad Dobler was a player in the 1970’s with the St.Louis Cardinals known for his dirty play. Bill Bergey was an outstanding middle linebacker for some terrible Eagles teams in the 1970’s. Joe Jacoby an outstanding offensive lineman for The Hogs in Washington in the 1980’s.

The #1 choice though at this number is a no brainer- Mario Lemieux is one of the greatest players in hockey history. He led the Penguins to back to back Stanley Cups in the early 1990’s. Now he’s the team owner. He scored 690 goals in 915 games, had  1033 assists. He won the MVP Award 3 times, was the leading scorer in the league 6 times and Stanley Cup Playoffs MVP twice.  The other day I had my students write an essay on what event in history they would like to have witnessed- one of them wrote that they would like to have gone back and witnessed Mario Lemiuex on the night he scored 5 goals in the only 5 ways you can score a goal [only Super Mario has done this} regular strength, power play, shorthanded,  empty net and penalty shot. Mario Lemieux is also the only person to win the Stanley Cup as both a player and as an owner.