Top Ten Philadelphia Athletes During Letterman Late Night Era

by Posted on

David Letterman debuted on late night television on NBC on February 1, 1982. In honor of his retirement, we decided to put together our own Top Ten List of Philadelphia’s greatest athletes during the Letterman late night era. Take a look. Did we miss anyone? If so tweet as us and let us know.

TOP TEN PHILLY ATHLETES DURING LETTERMAN LATE NIGHT ERA:

10. COLE HAMELS – one of the most dominant left-handers in his era and World Series MVP.

9. RANDALL CUNNINGHAM – truly one of the most exciting players in NFL history, the Ultimate Weapon. Randall was a human highlight reel who transformed the QB position. He was ahead of his time. If Chip Kelly had a young Randall, R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S!

8. ERIC ALLEN – Allen should be in the Hall of Fame. He was a 6x Pro Bowler and NFC Defensive Player of the Year. He had 54 interceptions and became an offensive threat once he intercepted the ball. Allen is the only player in the NFL to have 3 INT TD returns in 2 seasons. He was as shut down as shut down gets.

7. ERIC LINDROS – Every shift was must-watch Flyers hockey. The ultimate combination of power and finesse. He was a 6x All-Star and winner of the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s Most Valuable Player.

6. CHARLES BARKLEY – one of the 50 Greatest NBA Players of All-Time. Charles Barkley fit right in at Philadelphia with his blue-collar, hard work style to overcome being undersized for his position. Barkley was 4x All NBA First Team while a 76ers and is one of the greatest Power Forwards ever.

5. MARK HOWE – Maybe the greatest NHL Defenseman of his era. Definitely the greatest Flyers Defenseman ever. He’s a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame (2011 class). He’s a 4X All Star. I don’t know how he didn’t win a Norris Trophy.

4. BRIAN DAWKINS – B-Dawk, Weapon X, was the backbone of the Philadelphia Eagles defense for 13 years. As an Eagle, he was a 7x Pro Bowler and was All-Pro 6 times. He’s a member of the NFL’s 2000 All-Decade team. He was the emotional leader of the Eagles on the field and a class act off it.

3. MIKE SCHMIDT – Is he the greatest Phillie ever? Probably. He spent 18 years in a Phillies uniform. Schmidt hit 234 Home Runs while Dave Letterman was on late night television, leading MLB in 3 of those years. He’s a member of the Hall of Fame and won the NL MVP once during the Letterman years. He has two MVP awards previous to Letterman on late night TV. He’d be #1 overall if Letterman had come onto late night TV a couple years earlier.

2. ALLEN IVERSON – Total freak of nature. This guy was pound-for-pound the best player in the NBA. He led the NBA in scoring 4x’s as a 76ers being barely six feet tall. He was a 3x All-NBA First Team member and carried the team to the NBA Finals.

1. REGGIE WHITE – The Minister of Defense was the most dominant Philadelphia athlete that I’ve ever seen. During the Letterman late night era, White was a 7x Pro Bowler, 7x First Team All-Pro, NFL’s 80s-90s All Decade Teams, NFC Defensive Player of the Year. He has the 2nd most All-Time sacks in NFL history.  As an Eagle he had more sacks than games played. ESPN voted him the greatest player in Eagles franchise history. Braman screwed us all when he never made an offer to Reggie once he became a free agent. As Reggie said, “”I didn’t give up on the Eagles. It seems as though the Eagles gave up on me.” Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a highlight reel of Reggie with just the Eagles so you have to watch him as a Packer too.